His research for “Abandoned Faith,” which includes dozens of interviews with teens, twenty-somethings, professed ex-Christians, and religion and culture experts, points to factors like these:
1. Mindset of “digital natives” is very much separate from other generations. Millennials are eclectic on all fronts—economically, spiritually, artistically. There is little or no “brand loyalty” in most areas. [Not just millennials, many people lack a center. This center is God. Without God at one's center, one is easily tempted and trapped by the many worlds of Satan.]
2. Breakdown of the family. It has long been recognized that experience with an earthly father deeply informs the perspective about the heavenly Father. [Is the author talking about a biological father or a priestly father? If he is talking about a biological father, that recognition is in many cases a myth. If he is talking about a priestly father, that recognition in non-pedophiliac cases could possibly have merit in rare instances.]
3. Militant secularism: Embraced by media and enforced in schools, secular education approaches learning through the lens of “methodological naturalism.” It is presupposed that all faith claims are merely expressions of subjective preference. The only “true” truths are claims that are divorced from any supernatural context and impose no moral obligations on human behavior. [The Godless media is controlled by Satan.]
4. Lack of spiritual authenticity among adults. Many youths have had no, or very limited, exposure to adult role models who know what they believe, why they believe it, and are committed to consistently living it out. [In this blog, the word is hypocrisy.]
5. The church’s cultural influence has diminished. The little neighborhood church is often assumed to be irrelevant, and there is no cultural guilt anymore for those who abandon involvement. [Christ never intended His Church to be a center for culture.]
6. Pervasive cultural abandonment of morality. The idea of objective moral truth—ethical norms that really are binding on all people—is unknown to most and is rejected by the rest. [God's Truth is neither objective nor subjective, nor is God's Truth subject to man's judgment or categorization. God's Truth is simply God's Truth and is undeniable and feared.]
7. Intellectual skepticism. College students are encouraged to accept platitudes like “life is about asking questions, not about dogmatic answers.” Claiming to have answers is viewed as “impolite.” On life’s ultimate questions, it is much more socially acceptable to “suspend judgment.” [No man ever suspends judgment. Anyone who claims to suspend judgment is a liar.]
8. The rise of a fad called “atheism.” Full of self-congratulatory swagger and blasphemous bravado, pop-level atheists such as the late Christopher Hitchens made it cool to be a non-believer. Many millennials are enamored by books and blogs run by God-hating “thinkers.” [It never ceases to amaze this blogger that atheism can only exist with reference to God. The fact that atheism cannot exist without any reference to God proves that God exists. Incidentally, atheism is not a fad; it is in this blogger's opinion, a belief and is therefore a religion.]
9. Our new God, Tolerance be Thy name. “Tolerance” today essentially means, “Because my truth is my truth, no one may ever question any behavior or belief I hold.” This “standard” has become so ingrained that it is now impossible to rationally critique any belief or behavior without a backlash of criticism. [If no one is permitted to question, it is not called "tolerance;" it is called "stubborn Godless self-righteousness."]
10. The commonly defiant posture of young adulthood. As we leave adolescence and morph into adulthood, we all can be susceptible to an inflated sense of our own intelligence and giftedness. The cultural trend toward rejection of God—and other loci of authority—resonates strongly with the desire for autonomy felt in young adulthood. [Who are the "we" here? Is there nobody who is humble enough to realize that without God, human intellect would not exist?]
[1] http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/alex-mcfarland/youth-are-turning-away-god-churches-peddling-christianity-lite-share-blame
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