The public view of religion among young people, according to a YouGov poll – well, alright it’s a poll, but ”¦ [laughter] the reputation of religion among young people is actually more negative than neutral: 41% ”“ this was a poll in 2013, when they still got them right ”“ 41% of 18-24 year olds agreed that “religion is more often the cause of evil in the world” and only 14% say it is a cause for good.
The Faith Action Audit reveals something different. It shows the breadth of commitment across the country, the depth of commitment, and above all the strength of experience and good practice. Thanks to Cinnamon [Network] and other bodies like it, this is not mere do-goodery. It is seeking to find best practice and put it into action in the most professional way that can be imagined.
We’ve heard some of the figures, but just a reminder: the faith sector collectively is delivering, according to the audit ”“ I’ll round it ”“ 220,000 social action projects, from which 47 million people benefit.
It’s interesting putting this statistic together with the piece by Peggy Noonan in WSJ below, about the closed-mindedness of young people today, caught in the grip of a secular mindset. The latter is the more powerful in being the glasses through which the world is perceived, without the glasses being noticed. I think Christians too often beat their breasts about their failure to win the hearts and minds of the young. But when you think of the relentless drumming they get about bigoted Christians, or about religion (code word) being the cause of violence, etc, it’s hard to push against that. And perhaps we shouldn’t. A bit of me feels that if a younger generation wants to give up the power of independent thought, then it is free to do so. Yes, I want to see pews crowded with representatives of every generation, but perhaps we need to have the courage to be counter-cultural, and to accept that we are in an age when in the West we are unfashionable, despised and a minority.