What about gay marriage, abortion, women’s role in the church?

In reading religious publications, particularly Catholic ones, you get the impression that many people believe that if the church would change its position on the moral/social issues – like abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, women and gay clergy, etc. – young people would return to the church in droves.

I don’t think so. I think the crisis of faith is much deeper. From what I’ve read and experienced, it’s basically a matter of relevance, or the question, “Why do I need faith?” and “Why do I need religion?”

If it were simply a matter of the moral/social issues, the mainline Protestant churches – many of whom do not oppose abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage and have women and gay clergy – would not be experiencing the exodus from their churches that nearly matches that of the Catholic Church.

“While only 11% of Millennials were religiously unaffiliated in childhood,” says a recent survey, “one-quarter (25%) currently identify as unaffiliated, a 14-point increase. Catholics and white mainline Protestants saw the largest net losses due to Millennials’ movement away from their childhood religious affiliation.”

The rise of the nones

Millennials are defined in the survey as Americans 18-24 years old. These young people have become known as the “nones,” those who answer “none of the above” on surveys asking their religious affiliations. Other surveys have shown similar views from people up to ages 40 and 50.

Back to the moral/social issues (abortion, etc.), I’m not saying they are unimportant. They’re just an overlay on the basic issue, which is the value of faith and/or or religion.

In Skeptical Faith, I intend to get around to individual moral/social issues, but I first want to tackle the basic stuff, so I ask that readers between the ages of 20 and 40 (I hope there are some) place those issues in brackets and focus for now on what I believe are the basics.

But just one other idea about the moral/social issues: I believe that those whose views on these issues are at odds with their churches are nonetheless motivated by their churches’ moral values. Most young non-believers, I believe, are motivated by an innate sense of fairness, of equality, of the compassionate treatment of others – values they undoubtedly derived from the faiths they may now reject. So they are not as far from the love of God as the surveys suggest.

Ok, so why do I need faith and/or religion? It’s hard to answer this question until you attempt to see things “as they really are,” not as our culture portrays them. Interesting that young people who are searching and older people of faith often accuse each other of cultural reasons for believing or not believing. The young of the old: They uncritically adopt the faith of their fathers and grandfathers. The old of the young: They are so influenced by the popular culture that they aren’t open to faith and religion. In my opinion, both are right, and wrong.

Answering the basic questions

Anyone who wants to answer the question, “Why do I need faith/religion?” needs to be interested in and answer questions such as, “Why am I here?” “Is there a God?” “If so, does he/she have anything to do with me?” “Is this all there is?” These are the same questions that have been asked for centuries, regardless of popular culture, and each of us – using all the resources available – has to answer them for ourselves. Religion can help, as it has for millions of people for thousands of years.

The critical issue is recognizing the importance of these questions. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, many believe the questions are unanswerable, so why bother? Just live your life and leave those questions to the philosophers and religious enthusiasts. This is a cop-out, an attempt to deny the heritage of humanity, which has the brain power to grapple with life’s basic questions. It also is failure to oneself, excluding a viewpoint on life that has made life worth living for billions of people throughout the centuries.

So, once again I appeal to openness about the questions, and answers. As important as they are, the moral/social issues, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. are secondary. Studies show the basic questions are really what concern young people, and people of every age. Above all, don’t let these issues interfere with your search for God.