Daniel Darling: Good news in troubling times

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 18th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. We talk a lot about the rise of the nones, that is n-o-n-e-s, those who identify as having no religion. But WORLD Opinions commentator Daniel Darling says that trend may be shifting.

DANIEL DARLING: In his recent analysis of new data from the General Social Survey, American political scientist and sociologist Ryan Burge noticed that the steady rise in non-religious Americans has plateaued. This cluster includes “nones,” who claim no religious affiliation, combined with atheists and agnostics. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of non-religious Americans rose from 21 percent to 30 percent, and in 2019 rose to 35 percent. But in the last half-decade, this number has remained steady.

Burge then digs into the generational cohorts and discovers something interesting. Among baby boomers, non-religious activity continues to rise, but among Generation X, it remained steady. And among millennials and Generation Z, there was a significant decline.

We should be careful not to read too much into one year’s survey data. But the march of secularism in American culture seems to have hit a wall and, it seems, receded among the youngest generations. Perhaps these numbers are beginning to reflect what we are hearing and seeing among Generation Z anecdotally. Last year, at Asbury University, thousands of young people gathered for days to repent, pray, and seek God in a powerful moment that spread to other college campuses. Today, there are continued reports of students on college campuses hearing the gospel, getting baptized, and pledging to follow Christ.

Why might secularism be waning among Generation Z? Perhaps this is a move of the Spirit to turn the hearts of people toward Christ in a time of trouble and tumult. History shows that God often moves in a powerful way during the most troubling times in the world. We should be thankful for the many churches and campus ministries who labor faithfully to share the gospel with students at institutions around the country.

But Christians should recognize that secularism and expressive individualism is a spiritual dead end. It has left people enslaved by their passions and lied to by the false ideologies of the age. God has wired into the human heart a yearning for purpose and meaning behind this life. Perhaps the emptiness of the culture of self in a time of tumult is causing many to turn once again to Christianity.

Late last year, former Muslim turned atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali professed faith in Jesus. She now says the message of Christianity is one of love that speaks powerfully to the human condition.

In a time of confusion, let’s pray Ali is joined by millions of others. But the Christian mission remains the same, regardless of what the trend lines show. To a hopeless world, the message of the cross is the power of God for salvation.

God’s people might often be concerned about the times in which we live, but we shouldn’t retreat into cynicism and despair. God has called us to communicate the good news of the gospel to a confused world. Secularism won’t have the last word, because Christ has overcome the world.

I’m Daniel Darling.

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