A book published last month by Christian author David Kinnaman surfaces the struggles that younger Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 have with the Christian faith.
Kinnaman is the president of the Barna Group, a Christian research firm. His book, titled "unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity," features statistics showing that a substantial number of people between the ages of 16 and 29, especially non-Christians, view Christianity as anti-gay and hypocritical, among other things.
The survey, conducted online, polled 867 participants, 440 of which were non-Christian. The survey asked 20 questions, 10 featuring favorable perceptions of Christianity and 10 with unfavorable perceptions.
The study revealed 87 percent of the participants felt Christianity was judgmental, 85 percent said they believed it was hypocritical and 75 percent believed Christianity was too involved in politics.
Kinnaman, a trained statistician, has worked with the Barna Group for 13 years. He said he hopes the book will promote change in the Christian faith and in the lives of the young people who read it.
"[Christian] leaders need to understand and deal with the situation," Kinnaman said. "And [the book can] help individual believers to see their own lives more clearly."
Clint Mitchell, associate pastor and campus minister at University Presbyterian Church, said the church has more to offer than judgment and hatred.
"The popular image of the church isn't really reflective of the church as a whole," Mitchell said. "We are an open and affirming congregation."
Mitchell also shared his views on issues of faith in youth of today.
"In young adults within the church and young adults outside of the church, I see the same hunger to be religiously fed," he said. "I think the biggest difference is personal experience with the church."
Shannon Rutherford, church minister to collegiate students at University Baptist Church, was also only partially inclined to agree with the study.
"I think that people perceive the things that they maybe want to see or what people may have told them," Rutherford said.
The survey found that only 3 percent of 16- to 29-year-old non-Christian participants had a positive view of evangelists. Rutherford commented on the tradition of heated discussions between students and evangelists in Free Speech Alley.
"In some ways, I appreciate their boldness, but those who yell or put people into categories, I don't approve of," Rutherford said. "I don't think that will ever show people what it is to be a Christian."
Rutherford said something can be done about the negative opinion some people have of Christianity.
"[We should] be out in the world living out our faith, really taking the time to know one another and share life with one another," she said. "The world would see a different type of Christianity."
Emily Territo, biology sophomore, said she questions the necessity of the negative way the Christian faith is portrayed.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Territo said. "[People are] making a big thing out of something that's ultimately good."
Territo said she has an issue with the amount of judgment that seems to come with the faith.
"I do find that there are hypocrisies in the church," she said. "They say judge not, but then they judge you."
Mallorie Brown, general studies senior, said she agrees with the negative perception of the Christian faith. Brown is the president of the LSU-based student organization, Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics.
"I stayed away from Christianity because of its tendency to be judgmental and hypocritical at the same time," Brown said. "One of the reasons I left [the church] was hatred toward my friend who was gay."
According to the American Religious Identification Survey taken in 2001 by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, the percentage of adults who claim they are not part of any religion has doubled from more than 14 million in 1990, and the proportion of adults who classify themselves as Christians dropped 9 percent from 1990 to 2001.
"We're not here to bash and put down Christianity," Brown said. "We do table sits every Wednesday, but no one knows about us because we don't shout at people."
--- Contact Joy Leopold at jleopold@lsureveille.com
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