There are a number of factors fueling the exodus of Millenials from organized religion not the least of which is the fact that modern science and knowledge are making it harder and harder to believe the myths upon which the Bible and Christianity are based. Then their is the rank hypocrisy and ugliness of so many of the "godly folk" who make the Pharisees of the Bible look like down right nice and wonderful people in comparison. And in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, there are also the issues of the Church's positions on gay rights and contraception. A piece in Crux looks at new findings on Millennials rejection of the Church's teachings. Here are some highlights which ought to make the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican shudder:
Catholics between the ages of 18 and 34 – the so-called Millennial generation – are split on their support for abortion rights, but reject Church teaching when it comes to contraception and LGBT issues. Those are the findings from a report issued Friday by the Public Religion Research Institute in Washington.
About 18 percent of Millennials identify as Catholic, a sharp decrease from the roughly one-quarter of those 65 and older who are Catholic. The most common religious identifier among Millennials: unaffiliated, at 33 percent.
The findings:
Contraception.[L]arge majorities of Catholics, white and Hispanic, report having taken a sex education class in school, and believe promoting contraception in those classes is a better method for preventing unintended pregnancies over abstinence-only sex education.
About 70 percent of Catholic Millennials believe “it is morally acceptable to use contraception.”
Most Millennial Catholics also tend to believe that private companies should be required to cover contraception in employee health plans. Sixty percent of white Catholics agree with this, and 68 percent of Hispanic Catholics.
LGBT issues.
Gay rights garners an even higher percentage of support among Millennials. More than eight in 10 white and Hispanic Catholics favor laws that would protect gays and lesbians against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing,” a bit higher than the overall rate of 73 percent.
The report said that 7 percent of Millennials identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Among religiously unaffiliated Millennials, 12 percent identify as LGBT, but the number drops for Catholics: Just 6 percent of Hispanic Catholics and 2 percent of White Catholics identify as LGBT.
Meanwhile, demoted Cardinal Raymond Burke is saying that gays, remarried Catholics and murderers are all the same. Talk about trying to drive younger Catholics away! Because of mindsets like Burke's, I suspect that the percentage of Catholic Millennials is so low because most simply leave the Church and no longer consider themselves Catholic. My children, while straight, have walked away from the Church and have not looked back.
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