Lessons Learned from First Year of Belief Blog

This grabbed my eye recently:  One year ago (and about 5 days) CNN started their Belief Blog.  I have to say, I haven't visited CNN's "Belief Blog" very frequently, but their observations about the climate of faith in the US today interested me. Here are a few that stood out.

Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com

#3 People are still intensely curious about the Bible, its meaning and its origins.  

So often we hear that the youth are walking away from the church and that church has lost all relevancy. I think rumors of the scripture's (and the church's) demise have been grossly overstated.  People are searching now as much as they ever have been.  Recently, I heard in a sermon, "it isn't my job to coerce you or trick you into showing up on Sunday or to meet in small groups." The gospel is compelling, even to those that will ultimately reject it> The question of meaning and existence is something we are all wrestling with.  It is a part of the human experience.  And people know that the scriptures address these issues.

This is counter balanced by...
#4: Most Americans are Religiously Illiterate.

If you are involved in the local church, you see this all the time.  Many people are not able to lay out the basics of their faith.  The Belief Blog pointed out that oftentimes the ones with the most 'religious literacy' are atheists.  And most of that is in the form of tools meant to fight belief. 


In the name of sensitivity, I think we have stripped out "unpopular" areas of the church that ultimately make the church stronger and feed Christians that need knowledge.  I am excited to see ways that we can feed the quest for meaning and not just stop at "spiritual milk", but build strong and mature believers in the church.