By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
Much has been in the news lately about the growth of the “Nones.”
“Nones” claim to be former Christians who identify as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.” This movement is one of the most significant demographic shifts in modern history.
Their share of the U.S. adult population has skyrocketed from just 5 percent in 1972 to roughly 30 percent today. This massive cohort now outnumbers both Catholics and Evangelical Protestants, making the religiously unaffiliated the single largest religious demographic in the United States today.
A major reason given in surveys as to why former church members leave their church upbringing beliefs was that they no longer believe in God as our creator, choosing instead to accept evolution as our creator.
Of the 51 percent who stopped believing in their religion’s teachings, and often in God as well, the most common reason given was that they now accept science’s non-theistic explanation for the origin of life and the universe, i.e., evolution. The Pew report summarized its findings as follows:
About half of current religious “nones” who were raised in a religion (49%) indicate that a lack of belief led them to move away from religion. This includes respondents who mention “science” [i.e., evolution] as the reason they no longer believe in religious teachings.
One respondent put it this way: “I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles.” Others referenced “common sense,” “logic,” or a “lack of evidence” for rejecting theism, or simply say they no longer believe in God.
Intellectual skepticism and being convinced that there exists a lack of evidence for creation are major reasons for their loss of belief in God. The Pew Research Center studies revealed that roughly 50 percent of religious “Nones” cite a fundamental “lack of belief” as their main reason for leaving.
When asked to explain, a significant portion explicitly point to science, logic, or learning about evolution in college as the catalyst that made belief in an intelligent creator untenable.
The 18 percent who say they are religiously unsure include people who claim to be in some way religious despite being unaffiliated (“I believe in God, but in my own way”). Some of these people hold religious beliefs, but are not currently taking part in any formal religious practices.
The religious “nones” consist of three broad subgroups: self-identified atheists, those who call themselves agnostic, and people who describe their religion as “nothing in particular.”
An overwhelming majority of atheists who were raised in a religion (82 percent) say they simply no longer believe in God because they are not aware of any good evidence for God’s existence. In fact, apologists have proved that overwhelming scientific evidence exists.
Common reasons why people no longer believe in God include, in order of their commonality: “Learning about evolution when I went away to college.” “Lack of scientific or specific evidence for a creator.”
“Rational thought makes religion go out the window.” “Religion is the opiate of the people.” “Too many Christians are doing un-Christian things.” “I just realized somewhere along the line that I didn’t really believe in God.”
“I’m doing a lot more learning, studying, and making decisions myself rather than listening to someone else” (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/).
Part of the problem is the widespread uncritical acceptance of evolution in Christian colleges. One example is Rosemary Radford Ruether, professor of religion at Howard University, who wrote that “the discovery and vindication of the doctrine of organic evolution gave to the idea of Progress a scientific inevitability that it had not had before… when modern man appeared as the pinnacle of the evolution of species that began when the first organic cells began to float in the primal sea” (The Radical Kingdom, 1970, p. 52).
Her book, approved by the Catholic Church, was given an imprimatur (Latin for “let it be printed”). Before the imprimatur is granted, a church reviewer must first issue a nihil obstat, meaning “nothing hinders” the book from being printed.
The defense of Christianity, an area called apologetics, is a formal, reasoned defense of Christianity based on history, science, and reason. This has been my focus for over half a century.
I am scheduled to present my apologetics sermons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as in four churches and three schools in Indianapolis, two churches in Dallas, Texas, and several in University Park, Pennsylvania.
In the past, I have presented the creation message at over 400 churches, and I have spoken over 2,000 times to high school, college, and university groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. Overwhelming evidence exists against the evolutionary claim that apes can become human by damaging genes (DNA) and natural selection.
Our bodies are designed not to evolve due to their effective DNA repair process, which repairs 99.9 percent of all mutations, effectively preventing evolution.
Many forms of life, such as dogs, cats, horses and cows, have inbuilt mechanisms to produce an enormous variety within each kind of animal, but this is not evolution. Dogs are still dogs, and cats are still cats, not elephants.
In Williams County, Ohio, not counting my own church in Montpelier, in the past decade I have been invited to present the apologetics message in a grand total of only one church.
I have to ask, “What is the problem with Williams County churches?” The newest Pew research of those who left their childhood religion found 84 percent did so because they no longer believe the teaching of their church about God and the Bible, a problem apologetics effectively responds to.
I still have some openings in October and would be honored to serve any local church.
.———————-
Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. He has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com Bergman’s website is: https://crev.info/author/jbergman/