What\u2019s missing? This exceedingly important discussion usually slides past a huge societal disruption in the early 21st century, the palpable decline in vitality for much of American religion, with shrunken youth groups, disappearing Sunday school programs, slumping worship attendance by teens and young adults \u2014 and with it the loss of congregations as natural places for young people to meet possible mates.<\/p>\n
Writing about the CDC report for World magazine, Allie Beth Stuckey adds a spiritual crisis to all the other ills. She contends that social media help exchange \u201cthe god of self\u201d for the true God through constant focus on ourselves, as in \u201chow we feel, how we look, how we sound, what we want, what we like.\u201d<\/p>\n
We hear constant calls to teach girls \u201cto love themselves more.\u201d Yet she suggests that such \u201cself-idolatry\u201d is \u201cdriving teens into feelings of purposelessness and depression.\u201d <\/p>\n
Solutions do not come from the place where girls\u2019 problems lie. Instead, people throughout history \u201chave needed purpose, joy, and satisfaction that exists outside of themselves, namely in the God who created them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n With alarming new reports on American youth, what should religious leaders be doing? https:\/\/t.co\/rPH7DLbtky<\/a> on the CDC report that shows rising percentages of hopelessness and suicide, much connected with increasing singleness and relational dysfunction pic.twitter.com\/bIAx8VGBUM<\/a><\/p>\n — Jayson Casper (@jnjcasper) March 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n