The Real Reason Young People Are Leaving the Faith

Marriage rates are plummeting. Faith in Jesus Christ has taken a nosedive. Are these related? What can we do to fix it? J.P. DeGance explains.

[jamesremus]

Is he serious? 🤨 WOW! They missed this by a mile and to be honest….it shows why the decline continues.

[Alaniz]

I grew up with married parents. I did not leave the church due to my parents relationship. The Church's hypocrisy, corruption and antiquated views lead me to leave the church. I'm happily married for almost 10 years now, only civil marriage.

[figment]

I have met one ‘Christian’ in my 51 years that exemplifies what Christ was as an example. 99% have been hateful, and fearful animals who don’t follow their models example.

[conchitacasiano]

My parents didn't have a divorce, but they took their anger & hurt on me & my siblings. They abused us physically & verbally. My parents were good & kind in the presence of people, especially nuns & priests, & when we were at church. But most of the times, & when we were not in church, our parents were jerks. They put on a facade. Sometimes, they were sincerely good & kind to us.

[boboakes]

Evangelicals have hurt the church with its politics and hypocrisy. Admit it

[RoninOtter]

This entire video is a textbook example of “correlation does not equal causation.” There are so many other factors that this video completely ignores, such as the 2002 Boston archdiocese sex scandal. Turning a blind eye to reality (such as what’s being done in this video) is the main reason why churches are failing at keeping attendance.

[Indijammer]

The church is in denial. It's not about married couples, it's the obvious fact that even 13 year old kids are smart enough to figure out that's it's a means of controlling people and thoughts and prayers are useless.

[deborahfields]

I consciously left the Catholic faith behind at age 7 even while forced for another 11 years to go to church and Catholic school in a married household, because I recognized that Divine Love, compassion and an understanding for how how the Universe works is lost in that religion.

[jakeself]

Yes, the problem must be the erosion of marriage, not the failure of Christians in general when it comes to conveying the value of Christianity. I gave up on religion way back in 2007, and I’ve found that outsiders like ex-Christian comedians, spiritual teachers of Eastern traditions, and unconventional Christians are better at making Christianity make sense than diehard, traditional Christians, who value quantity of seats filled over the quality of the message that’s presented.

[Infinityand]

This is horribly out of touch with why we are leaving. My parents had (and still have) a fantastic marriage. The reason so many of us are leaving is because Christianity (and religion as a whole) is filled with claims that cannot be supported by evidence. This worked fine for churches when information was not as easily available, but now I can literally just google my exact question and read tangible proof that the claims I am hearing in church are wrong. Further, the behavior of Christians and other religions on the national scale has gotten so hypocritical and embarrassing to watch that I absolutely do not want my name to be associated with that. In conversations I've had with other friends who left the church as well (most of whom also come from strong marriages), they have generally agreed that these are the primary motivations for them as well. Obviously, this is anecdotal, but I would bet good money that these items would rank far higher in polling than "mArRiAgE!!!11!!1!"

[newtothis]

I can tell you for a fact that it has nothing to do with people being raised in homes with married parents. People are just sick and tired of the hypocrisy, intolerance and mightier than thou mentality. I saw this first hand growing up at a church that I no longer attend. In fact, most of the kids I went to high school with stopped going too.

[winter]

Hilariously off. Why would the “cultural revolution” that started in the 2000s be a decline in marriage, instead of, oh, I don’t know… the fucking INTERNET? Like, an unprecedented time in the spread and collection of knowledge and truth, that seriously didn’t come to mind? I know many people offhand who grew up in religious households who simply just, became skeptical, educated themselves, and lost their faith. Isn’t giving people all sides of a story, and then letting them form their own opinion, only fair?

[GabrielEddy]

Education, knowledge, science and reason are the prevailing antidotes for religion, ignorance, dogma and superstition, respectively.

[jasonworks]

A homeschooled kid like me left the church my dad pastored when I was 16 because I got tired of taking prescription amphetamines, taking communion with gossiping abusive predatory people, getting lied to, and getting coerced (processed) by the 10% cartels groomers for/into volunteer/missionary work. My dad's been a pastor for a 10% franchise for 50 years. I had to see a therapist for most of 20 years. Add in the wasted cost of Bible college, the 35 years of preventable pills, doctors, and side effects....

[daddyaf]

Uh, rational thinking recognizing a scam?

[savagepanda]

I'll tell you why I stopped attending your church. 1. You told me my mother's divorce from her drug-addicted ex-husband was wrong. 2. You told me, that my being mixed race was wrong. 3. You told my mother her racism was valid. 4. Your congregation told me that being LGBTQ+ was wrong. You told me my mother's mental illness, my abuse, and my lack of a family support system due to my mother's mental illness were wrong, and my mother's racism was correct. That all my suffering was imposed by my sexuality. 5. You attempted to heal my mother's mental illness with prayer while validating her racism. 6. You did all the things prior in this list. 7. you claimed to be a progressive rock church but didn't stand by your values and filled your wallets.

[solbanner]

And it has nothing to do with the awful people in political and social leadership that do and say awful and egregiously unkind and unloving things in the name of Christianity. It has nothing to do with the Catholic Church protecting pedophiles…..Marriage may have some cause but WE are ultimately the reason. People look at us and think: “If that’s a Christian, I can do bad all by myself”

[rowdyjohnson]

They aren't leaving the faith, that's just how certain folks spin it. They are exiting the country club POSING as a church, not " the church", not " the faith".

[zoobyisbambam]

Our society has undergone massive changes in the last 100 years, so many things are following a similar trend, to Cherry pick one of them and say “AHA!! I’ve discovered the reason people are leaving religion!” Is beyond absurd, and I hope people can see through this nonsense

[wuebc]

I think marriage has nothing to do with the decline of faith. I believe it has to do with the easier communication of information. Notice how the graphs drastically change around the year 2000, which is when access to the internet really started to take off. So teenagers instead of asking the priest or their parents questions about controversial topics and getting the religious answer, they could hop onto the internet and get answers from every point of view and why other views are wrong and then decide for themselves.