Issue 20 - Waning Religious Belief Among Gen-Z Women, and Other Links
Pretty much since such things have been measured, women have been more religious than men. Recent research finds that, in the US, Gen-Z women are more likely than men to leave their faith, and less likely overall to be religiously affiliated. According to the article, this may be attributable to the fact that the average views of Gen-Z women are increasingly out of alignment with orthodox Christian teaching (homosexuality is a sin; abortion is wrong; women cannot be pastors, etc.) to an extent that is not true for Gen-Z men. I’ve also seen some online commentators claim that women aren’t actually less religious, they’ve just become adherents of a new religion, which is not inconsistent with the reasons cited in the article. Regardless of the cause, this has massive implications for society and the Church. It also means that special care needs to be taken in discipling our children. Our daughters may need particular inoculation against popular secular ideologies, while now, more than ever, our sons need to be taught to live out male leadership in a way that is attractive rather than threatening for their female peers. Moreover, it is not enough to simply teach our children Christian doctrine, they have to understand the underlying “why.” Simply saying “the Bible says so” will rarely suffice for passing on beliefs that contradict the mores of society.
This essay argues that the strong intellectual tradition inherent in Catholicism (coupled with a strong anti-intellectual strain within American evangelicalism) makes Catholicism the more compelling form of Christianity for many US elites. While I do not view Catholicism as outside Christianity, Catholicism as a denomination holds many un-Biblical beliefs, and so I view it as unfortunate that many of the highest-profile Christian thinkers and leaders in the US subscribe to those beliefs. I think this limits the ability for Christians to influence our culture and defend our faith.
Near death experiences (NDEs) are a phenomenon I have not spent much time thinking about. However, one of the most interesting podcasts I listened to last year was on the topic of NDEs, hosted by a well-known Christian Apologist and professor Sean McDowell . (Sean’s father Josh McDowell wrote the bestselling apologetics book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”). Most interesting is that the researcher he interviews describes some well-documented cases of NDEs that have no natural explanation (for example, individuals accurately reporting on events that occurred while they were clinically dead, giving details that they couldn’t possibly know if their brain wasn’t functioning at the time). The podcast also describe reported instances of people meeting deceased relatives they’d never met (such as grandparents who died before the person was born) or that they didn’t even know existed (such as miscarried siblings).
None of this proves that NDEs are real, but the evidence seems fairly compelling - enough to nudge my belief in the probability that they are real above the roughly 0% where it was before.
While the existence of NDEs may seem like a threat to Christian beliefs, many of the documented experiences are either neutral or seem to correspond with Jesus and the God of the Bible, even in cultural contexts where visions would not default to Christian imagery. Personally, I find atheistic materialism the most compelling worldview besides Christianity. NDEs, if real, would demonstrate conclusive evidence for the supernatural, including consciousness and sensory perception distinct from the physical body. This would completely undermine the materialist worldview. Evidence for NDEs may or may not bolster your faith, but I encourage you to take an hour this week to listen to it and see what you think.