According to a new report from the Barna Group in partnership with Impact 360 Institute, most teens and young adults subscribe to the philosophy of moral relativism, believing that many religions can lead to eternal life.
The results found 65% of Americans ages 13-21 believe "many religions can lead to eternal life," a 7% increase since 2018.
Researchers also found that 74% of that age group at least somewhat agreed with the idea that what is "morally right and wrong changes over time, based on society." Thirty-one percent of respondents strongly agreed with that statement, a jump of six points. Our society is changing.
"That means literally moral reality ... moral truth shifts as society shifts," Impact 360's director of cultural engagement and student discipleship, Jonathan Morrow, said. He added,
"That will have devastating consequences for everyone trying to live according to God's good design and flourish as He designed them to function in this world as His image-bearers."
Christian organizations have been documenting the American culture's slide away from belief in objective truth and morality over the course of several decades.
"But the simple fact of the matter is, moral relativism hasn't just crept into the worldview of Gen Z," Morrow explained. "It is now the majority opinion."
The study was conducted between June and July of 2020.
What This Means for the Church
From Oprah Winfrey and her “Speak your truth” mantra, to the exaggeration, lies and false witness growing in our culture, the 9th Commandment has never been more important. The Church is commissioned to speak the light of truth in a world of increasing darkness. How can we do that?
Speak the truth, and speak it in love (Ephesians 4:15). Say it, don’t use it to attack people, but say it nonetheless. This reaches the ears of the hearer.
Reject the notion that morality is a fluid construct. Morality is a transcript of God’s character, not an internal construct to be manipulated by your emotions.
Speaking of emotions. For Generation Z, culture shapes our emotions and emotions are a guide to subjective truth. They are also a guide on how to treat people. This has led to a society that has little interest in facts, and loves to live off of the adrenalin rushes of self-righteous emotional outbursts. This is an opportunity to live the truth in love where it reaches both the eyes and the ears of people.
Truth is a property of assertions that conform to the real world. Our task is to accept the truth, speak it, live it and love it. That is true religion, which sets us free (John 8:32).
Adventist self-identity once rested on adherence to external truths found in and accepted from the word of God. The experiential element has always truth there, but it was used to define my reaction, my surrender to a new birth, my response to the call of Christ.
We are witnessing a remarkable migration of religion among us—from objective to subjective premises. This parallels the postmodern concept of individualized auto-developed reality.
Today’s Adventist church has moved measurably from the description I have just given you. Emphasis falls rather incidentally apart from objective truth (true because it was revealed by God). The stress today is falling on a relationship that relies no longer on revealed truth as it does on inner emotional experience.
How do we fix this it? We ask God for a love of the truth to fill our hearts (2 Thessalonians 2:10). When it does, we ask for opportunities to share it with others. We need to find our voice with these young generations, and for that we need the Mind of Christ.
The people in the end of time love the Truth so much that they refused to be separated from Him (John 14:6; 3 John 4:3). There is hope for each one of us.
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“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5).
