I want to believe.
Zero Hedge: The story of religious trends in America has been one of increasing disaffiliation among younger generations. But a new study reveals an unexpected resurgence of faith among youngsters in a post-Covid era.
Some young adults had an awakening during Covid as the entire world crumbled around them. They were in search of a higher power to get through the government-forced lockdowns and controlled demolition of the economy, as well as watching loved ones and friends contract Covid-19 that some federal government agencies believe leaked from a Chinese lab.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, a new study commissioned by Springtide Research Institute found about one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds believe in a higher power, up from one-quarter in 2021. The findings were based on polling data from December.
Church leaders and young adults attribute the increase in faith to believing in a higher power during the Covid crisis:
For many young people, the pandemic was the first crisis they faced. It affected everyone to some degree, from the loss of family and friends to uncertainty about jobs and daily life. In many ways, it aged young Americans and they are now turning to the same comfort previous generations have turned to during tragedies for healing and comfort. –WSJ
Rev. Darryl Roberts, the pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., said the pandemic, job loss, inflation, and increasing economic worries had left many young people feeling vulnerable and are turning to God for protection.
“We are seeing an openness to transcendence among young people that we haven’t seen for some time,” said Abigail Visco Rusert, associate dean at Princeton Theological Seminary and an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church.
Me again.
I’ve been saying that the great Big Atheist push from ten years ago failed miserably. People did not turn to atheism. They didn’t believe in nothing. They still believed in a higher power. But sadly, they didn’t turn to the faith of their parents. They’re turning to Wicca and weird new age paganism. They are accepting that there is more to this world than a material world. But the Church is not appealing to them.
Why?
For many reasons. One, because the Church is demeaned, derided, and scorned. Priests are seen as sexual abusers. The Church is seen as an oppressor.
If we are, we are the worst oppressors in the world. Right now, churches throughout America and the western world are being vandalized, torched, and destroyed at record levels. Pro-lifers are being rounded up by SWAT teams. The FBI is infiltrating traditional Catholic parishes.
Does that sound like an oppressor class to you?
The time will come when the forces of darkness put their heels on the throats of Christians, seeking to stamp it out but the only thing they will accomplish is showing the difference between the dark and the light, between love and hate.
That is when we will see people returning to the Church, seeing it in a new light. I don’t want it to go there but it’s happening. The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves.
God help us all.
April 27, 2023 at 1:01 pm
I disagree. People don’t see the Church as oppressors. That is just the excuse they use. If the Church was as strong as in, let’s say, 16th century Spain, churches would not be torched or vandalized. In fact, the same kind of people doing that would probably be ratting on their neighbors as possible heretics. No, the reason churches are being attacked is because the Church is weak. The powers that be are openly anti-Christian. Attacks on churches are encouraged by politicians and media, and go unpunished by law enforcement. In fact, I suspect many (or most) of those attacks do not happen spontaneously, but are planned from above. The same kind of things are happening in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Yet, supposedly, different people (Moslems, American Indians, feminists, Black Lives Matter, transsexuals) are doing them. I suspect this is all part of the great reset, build back better plan, and that at least the first attacks were perpetrated by paid agents.
However, life under the liberal globalist establishment sucks, specially for young white men. Resistance to the system began a few years ago, with the dissident right and the Manosphere. This kind of resistance was insufficient, as it was based in this world, attributed worldly motivations to our enemies and proposed worldly solutions. But it was a start. More and more of the young men who participated in this resistance are coming to realize that the main battle is spiritual, and that we are not facing men, but powers and principalities. So they are coming to Christ.
On the other hand, we should not discount the action of the Spirit: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
April 30, 2023 at 3:55 pm
I can only give you my personal experience.
I belong to a poor, smallish parish with a beautiful antique church here in the Rust Belt of the Midwest. We are twinned with our sister parish, even smaller and also poor, a mile away, and share a young (38-year-old) pastor and retired (80-year-old) vicar. The Newman Center from our local secular university meets at our parish, and our pastor is their chaplain. Our sister parish also has a grade school, which is 92% non-Catholic with poor, inner-city children.
This past Easter Vigil, 13 people, from a 3-month-old baby to a young man of about 28 entered the Church from our parish.
An 18-year–old young man from our sister parish has been accepted to our seminary in the Fall. And two young men from my parish and the Newman Center are seriously discerning transferring to the seminary as well. This is after a drought of priestly vocations – none – for the last 50+ years at both parishes.
One of the young ladies of my parish joined the Nashville Dominicans about 5 years ago. She is now teaching grade school children in Indiana for her Order. Two other young ladies have also joined the Mercedarians in the last 4 years.
A young man of our parish is a novice with the Benedictines in Oklahoma.
When our pastor was assigned to us a little over 4 years ago, the Newman students asked if he would offer Adoration one Friday evening per month. He agreed, opening this to parishioners of both parishes and adding a homily, a holy hour, and Confession. The students provide soft guitar music. It is well-attended.
I do not know why we have been so very blessed. We still have problems and room for improvement, no doubt about it. But I think a lot of it comes from strong, confident, enthusiastic, and faithful leadership. Both parishes pray the St. Michael prayer at the end of every Mass, and devotion to the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet is highly encouraged. Our Hispanic parishioners are devout and are a blessing. We are happy.
I hope these blessings continue, for us and for other parishes! Peace to all here!
May 1, 2023 at 2:00 am
Encouraging news about da yutes. Today my wife and I witnessed the first Communion of our Godson in a medium sized parish in Seattle. About 30 kids, a full church, and a holy young priest who celebrated Mass and didn’t look like the wind would blow him over. He’s a Seattle native and a convert from non practicing Protestantism. Yes, the Spirit blows in surprising places. Thank you, Jesus!
May 1, 2023 at 10:00 am
“Da yutes” – I love that!!!
So glad to hear your good news! As you can see, this is the experience we have had at our parish as well. I am *greatly* impressed and encouraged by the young men being ordained at our seminary over the last 10-15 years or so, and even happier that our good bishop is sending them our way. If this is any indication of the state of our Church, I think we are in very good hands for the future!
God bless and protect all here – and pray for vocations (we are praying a Memorare every day for our young men who are heading for the seminary!)
May 1, 2023 at 10:05 am
“Da yutes” – I love that!!!
So glad to hear your good news! As you can see, this is the experience we have had at our parish as well. I am *greatly* impressed and encouraged by the young men being ordained at our seminary over the last 10-15 years or so, and even happier that our good bishop is sending them our way. If this is any indication of the state of our Church, I think we are in very good hands for the future!
God bless and protect all here – and pray for vocations (we are praying a Memorare every day for our young men who are heading for the seminary!)