My redoubt in Swampland, Mississippi, often resembles the Alamo. There, beyond the mission walls or beyond the borders of Mississippi, are the forces of Satan, vast and snarling. Openly repugnant, they nevertheless invade our institutions and, to an extraordinary degree, capture the allegiance of our young people.
Like Colonel Travis, I drew my sword, drew a line in the sand, and summoned volunteers to support me against the raging demons. But as you know, it is difficult to find a morally courageous man.
Too often I hear, “Thank you, sir, but I will join the satanic forces of darkness – they are not that bad.” » To which I respond: “Then God will come with you…you idiot.”
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
Register to get Crisis articles delivered daily to your inbox
“You idiot» is crucial to this exchange. This is, I believe, one of the most useful but neglected expressions in any effective evangelical strategy.
It’s one thing to tell the rebels, “I understand your decision and I will love you forever, no matter what.” » We can, however, admit that this is not really a deterrent. Something more striking is needed.
This is particularly true when we understand why so many young people become “nones” (without religious affiliation). Their abandonment of Christianity has nothing to do with surprising criticisms of St. Thomas Aquinas. This has nothing to do with profound philosophical retorts against the proof of the existence of God given by Saint Anselm. This has nothing to do with in-depth textual analysis disproving the Gospels as reliable history. No, it’s more the result of young people cultivate superficiality, superficiality and solipsism as a philosophy of life – and this from a very young age.
A recent and fascinating report Lyman Stone of the Institute for Family Studies shows that the recent sharp decline in religious affiliation in the United States does not come from adults lose their faith but children lose their faith much sooner than their parents realize. A young person is less likely to lose his faith in college than if he lost his faith before the age of fifteen, when he accepted that social media, online computer games, pop culture and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were all the philosophy he needed. ; religion didn’t matter.
According to Stone, parents of children born between the late 1990s and the 21st century have “particularly failed to pass on their faith to their children.”
For religious people, and especially religious parents, this has several important points to remember. Children, even 16 and 17 year olds, generally do not have extremely sophisticated apologetic type arguments. The arguments that persuade children to believe certain things are not necessarily rationally coherent or convincing, and when people are old enough to fully absorb the content of religious debates (their twenties), they tend to not change religion. In other words, most of the rise of secularism in America probably has little to do with a lack of rational arguments for religion, or the strength of the arguments against it.
The loss of religion is more about childhood socialization.
This socialization has, to a large extent, left young people to their own devices; and as Pope Benedict once said (before he was pope): “The meaning of what is done by oneself has, in the final analysis, no meaning. In other words, the foundation on which our existence as a whole can stand and live cannot be created but only received.
The meaning of “self-made” is usually not even that; it is rather a callous adoption of the madness of crowds; it is also a denial of objective reality. Just like you don’t invent your own version of math or science and call them good, the same is true with true religion, which is why “Oh, I’m spiritual, but not religious” is a such a crazy expression.
During World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Archbishop Robert Barron said:
We have dumbed down the faith for too long. My generation had a stultifying Catholicism and it was a pastoral disaster. And it’s not just my private opinion. You can see this in every survey. When we ask people why they disaffiliated, in the Western world at least, they often answer: “I never had answers to my questions, religion seemed stupid to me, it is not in phase with science”, etc., etc. an attempt to make it relevant and we undermined ourselves. It’s a vibrant, intelligent, beautiful Catholicism that people find compelling.
Yes, I think we can all agree with that. But before we can reach adults with the good, the beautiful and the true, we must take them out of their willful imbecility.
As things stand, they fear “missing out” if they don’t conform to the world, they fear the scorn of their peers, they fear the lashings of the awakened (which is why they cherish so much restrictions on speech – in order to stay alive). on the right side of the commissioners).
But what they really have to fear is our mockery, our derision of their youthful prejudices, our contempt for their childishness.
Until this goal is achieved, arguments about truth will fail. Christian humility, charity and generosity will not shake them. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; and as we know in Mississippi, it often starts with fearing what Dad might think if we don’t live up to the family name and walk right in God’s ways.
You want to win the no? Treat them roughly.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
