Perilous
Times and the Great Falling Away
Why young evangelicals are leaving church
By Laura Sessions Stepp, Special to CNN
updated 10:46 AM EST, Fri December 16, 2011
Laura Sessions Stepp says young church dropouts are tired of being
told how they should live their lives.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Many young evangelicals are abandoning their churches, says
Laura Sessions Stepp
These young dropouts are tired of being told how they should
live their lives, Stepp says
Because of social issues, former evangelicals may very well
vote Democratic, she says
Stepp: In a very tight presidential race, millennials' votes
might make the difference
Editor's note: Laura Sessions Stepp is a Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist, formerly with The Washington Post, who specializes in
the coverage of young people. She has written two books:
"Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at
Both" and "Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children through Early
Adolescence." She is a consultant to the National Campaign to
Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
(CNN) -- Republican conservatives should be worried. Evangelical
churches that frequently support conservative candidates are
finally admitting something the rest of us have known for some
time: Their young adult members are abandoning church in
significant numbers and taking their voting power with them.
David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the Barna Group, an
evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the alarm. In
his new book, "You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving
Church and Rethinking Faith," he says that 18- to 29-year-olds
have fallen down a "black hole" of church attendance. There is a
43% drop in Christian church attendance between the teen and early
adult years, he says.
I'm not surprised. These young dropouts value the sense of
community their churches provide but are tired of being told how
they should live their lives. They don't appreciate being
condemned for living with a partner, straight or gay, outside of
marriage or opting for abortion to terminate an unplanned
pregnancy.
This doesn't mean that they necessarily will vote for President
Obama in 2012. Jobs and higher wages are their priority just as
they are for everyone else; the nominee who convinces the
millennials that they'll be better off financially will get their
vote. But if neither party is persuasive, the former evangelicals
may vote Democratic because of that party's more moderate stance
on social issues. Or they could simply sit out the election.
Brittany, a 24-year-old veterinary technician, is an example of
the newly disaffected. In high school, she attended a conservative
Episcopal church in northern Virginia. She enrolled in college
thinking of herself as a conservative and not wanting to have sex
until she was married. Her views changed when she met her
boyfriend. She began to question the theology of her home church
on a number of social issues.
"I know I'm a Christian and believe in God, but the church hasn't
helped me in my struggles," she says. "It really doesn't affect
anything in life right now."
The result? "I don't go to any church." And how does she feel
about next year's election? "There are many times I think I'd
rather not vote at all."
In lifestyle and beliefs, she is far from an outlier. Consider the
following facts about millennials in general:
• Seven in 10 millennials say sex between an unmarried man and
woman is morally acceptable (PDF). (According to Kinnaman, young
Christians are as sexually active as non-Christians.)
• Most women in their early 20s who give birth are unmarried.
• More than six in 10 millennials (including 49% of Republican
millennials) support same-sex marriages.
• Six in 10 millennials say abortion should be legal (PDF), a
higher proportion than found in the general population. A higher
percentage say abortion services should be available in local
communities.
Millennials also part ways with conservative orthodoxy on wealth
distribution and caring for the environment. According to a report
in The Christian Science Monitor, three out of four say that
wealthy corporations and financiers have too much power and that
taxes should be raised on the very wealthy, and two out of three
say financial institutions should be regulated more closely. In
addition, most say that creationists' view on evolution is
outdated.
Sounds a lot like Democratic ideology to me.
Of course, every generation rethinks its beliefs and values during
young adulthood. Even the most liberal tend to moderate their
views once they marry, have children and start paying a mortgage.
Some of them return to church, if only for the structured support
of a congregation and the moral instruction their sons and
daughters can receive.
But here's the thing: This particular generation is marrying later
than prior generations, if they marry at all. They're having
children -- and assuming a mortgage -- later. The longer they stay
away from church, the less likely they are to come back.
"What used to be two or three years of dropping out is a decade or
more," author Kinnaman said.
In 2008, then-presidential contender Obama received a healthy 33%
of the young white evangelical vote. If he and his team offer
millennials concrete ideas for improving their dismal job
situation, he could repeat or even improve upon that in 2012.
So far, however, Obama and mainstream Democrats have done little
to reach out to younger voters other than ease the burden of
paying off college loans, a not-insignificant move. Perhaps they
hold to the theory that presidential elections are the domain of
the 40-plus crowd, an assumption increasingly outdated by the
speed and breadth with which millennials communicate over the
Internet.
In a very tight race, votes cast by this generation -- which has
grown in number by 4 million since the last election -- might make
the difference. Their votes will be significant for sure by the
end of this decade because by then, millennials will make up a
third of the U.S. adult population.
And that's a good thing. As the most diverse generation ever,
they've shown themselves to be better than their elders at seeking
areas of common ground and making compromises. They're also more
optimistic: Despite the economic instability of their generation,
more than two-thirds believe they can achieve success regardless
of race, ethnicity or social class. All of us, whether we're
churched or unchurched, could use that kind of faith.