Cnn why millennials are leaving the church

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Mainline Protestants make up about Church members pray at a Baptist church in Baltimore. Black Protestants make up 6. In modern America, that circle may not be completely shot, but it is wobbly and badly bent, according to a new landmark study conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Released Tuesday, the survey of 35, American adults shows the Christian percentage of the population dropping precipitously, to In , the last time Pew conducted a similar survey, In the meantime, almost every major branch of Christianity in the United States has lost a significant number of members, Pew found, mainly because millennials are leaving the fold.

More than one-third of millennials now say they are unaffiliated with any faith, up 10 percentage points since The alacrity of their exodus surprises even seasoned experts. Read More. It's not just millennials leaving the church. Armed with the latest surveys , along with personal testimonies from friends and readers, I explain how young adults perceive evangelical Christianity to be too political, too exclusive, old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

I point to research that shows young evangelicals often feel they have to choose between their intellectual integrity and their faith, between science and Christianity, between compassion and holiness. I talk about how the evangelical obsession with sex can make Christian living seem like little more than sticking to a list of rules, and how millennials long for faith communities in which they are safe asking tough questions and wrestling with doubt.

Time and again, the assumption among Christian leaders, and evangelical leaders in particular, is that the key to drawing twenty-somethings back to church is simply to make a few style updates - edgier music, more casual services, a coffee shop in the fellowship hall, a pastor who wears skinny jeans, an updated Web site that includes online giving. In fact, I would argue that church-as-performance is just one more thing driving us away from the church, and evangelicalism in particular.

Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions - Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against. We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation.

We want to be challenged to live lives of holiness, not only when it comes to sex, but also when it comes to living simply, caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing reconciliation, engaging in creation care and becoming peacemakers.

Now these trends are obviously true not only for millennials but also for many folks from other generations. The views expressed in this column belong to Rachel Held Evans. Their Jesus has no standards of right and wrong —except the wrong of thinking you are right for believing the Bible. They believe that Jesus is "liberal" which comes from cherry-picking from the scriptures while they accuse the devout of doing such "cherry-picking. But He didn't recommend confiscatory gov't that steals from the people his tax collector-turned-disciple repented for such theft.

He didn't say there would be no judgment for not investing the master's talent with which we servants are entrusted. He confirmed the teaching of a Heaven vs. He didn't say all the poor and sinful people would go to heaven while His followers and the righteous would go to Hell. He didn't re-define righteousness — or marriage —he fortified the definition of marriage in Matt.

He said the Church would suffer for righteousness' sake and for faith in HIM. And so we are —starting in Iraq and Iran and most Muslim states. But also here —with the hostility of the rainbow crowd and abortion advocates expressed toward any who disagree —which Bible believers do. We are supposed to practice PC speech only —or they say we are racists and bigots. I feel the hatred toward me —not from me. Ladies and gentlemen: This is what "bearing false witness against your neighbor" looks like.

As their version of Jesus says, "Unless ye become as a braindead bigot, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. I just think it's never been tried. You're a perfect example why I don't do church.

Who would want to be associated with someone like you? Why would someone want to believe what you believe? I'll pass. The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. How to really measure the 'Francis effect'. Is the Internet killing religion? Stop dressing so tacky for church.

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