Courtesy of Patheos:
Dear Millennials,
I know it’s kind of creepy. We want to know where you live, and what classes you take in school (and how much you pay for it). We want to know where you drink coffee; who you date and for how long; what you read, where you spend your money, and what you GIVE your money to; what kind of relationship you have with your parents, how far you wander from home, and how often you go back there. We want to see the depths of your soul, and then we want to take you out for a local craft beer. (You like that, right??)
And for the love of all that is holy, we want to know why you left us?? Why did you leave the church? Why? Were we not sexy enough for you? Not smart enough? Too needy? Is it something we said? We can be better! Just give us another chance.
We know. We’re like the bad ex who just can’t quit you. We are the Facebook trolls who want to like everything you like and then tear you apart when we disagree with your politics or your spending habits. We know it. We see it in ourselves. And we are sorry.
The thing is, we are scared. We are afraid, now that you’ve dumped us, that no one will ever love us again. The generations before you—X and Y—staged pretty massive exoduses (exodi?) on their own. But you…well, we’ve never seen the likes of your kind of leaving. It is epic. It is destructive. It is breaking our hearts.
The author, one Rev. Erin Wathen who is the Senior Pastor of Saint Andrew Christian Church, then goes on to admit that if the church loses the Millenials that they will have no shot at the children of the Millenials, which kind of makes this incredibly creepy plea even MORE creepy.
She then identifies that the problem is not with the young people, but with the church itself and promises to change.
However I must say, keeping with the whole "ex-lover" theme, that I had a girlfriend make me the same assurances. Not only did she not change, but she got even more clingy and scarier to be around.
I think this is rather amazing, and wonderful news. The idea that churches in this country might really be about to take a major hit when it comes to attendance numbers and monetary support, can only mean good things for the nation going forward.
You are right - it is creepy. The first paragraph would be a turnoff to anyone with half a brain.
ReplyDeletePat Padrnos
I linked to the original Patheos article. The comments thread is so enlightening. I really think if there is a future for mankind it is in the millennials. This creepy, desperate "letter" is scary on so many levels.
ReplyDelete"The thing is, we are scared. We are afraid, now that you’ve dumped us, that no one will ever love us again. The generations before you—X and Y—staged pretty massive exoduses (exodi?) on their own. But you…well, we’ve never seen the likes of your kind of leaving. It is epic. It is destructive. It is breaking our hearts."
A rational person reading this would translate it to, "run away, run away".
The recent Vatican Synod shows how inflexible the church is in facing reality.
Just another comeon. Once they get their victim back into church, the real brainwashing begins.
ReplyDeleteI read the comment thread on Patheos. These kids are smart. It doesn't bode well for religion. It may be that science will become the new religion -- the truth is that which we can observe.
ReplyDeleteMillennials are also more liberal than all the other generations combined. The next fifty years should be interesting as they take the reigns.
Perhaps the creepy article should make a correction, the Millennials are Generation Y.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I get the designations mixed up so I wouldn't have saw the mistake in the original.
DeleteShe can't understand why people aren't listening to her message, coming up with lots of reasons why, yet ignoring the simplest explanation: Your message is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteShe must be a republican.
I find it particularly telling that the entire letter is all about 'ME'.
ReplyDeleteLike so many conservatives today, it's all about ME and MY and MINE.
Don't take away MY guns.
Don't give any of MY money to the poor or sick or use it to help feed needy children.
Don't let those icky brown people vote because it may contradict MY vote.
Don't even let those icky brown people into MY country.
Put MY church's kind of prayer back into schools and teach children MY church's creation fantasy.
Change the laws so they more closely follow MY church's arbitrary rules.
* * * * * * *
I just turned 54 last week and went to Catholic school for K-6. I remember my generation as the first to leave the church in massive numbers. I left because of the blatant hypocrisy that went against everything I believed was morally right.
We live in a time when access to information is literally at the click of a computer mouse or the touch on a screen. This quote is from a comment on the original article: "For centuries, for millennia, even, religion was the centerpoint of the human experience. It explained everything that couldn't be explained, it provided comfort in a world that offered no other comforts, and it created crucial meaning in a time where just to live another day was an enormous effort."
We no longer need those fairy stories to explain our lives and the universe around us. We have science to do that. We recognize that much of the violence in the world, and throughout history, has been caused by religious extremism. We also recognize that most of the stories in the bible, particularly in the NT, were meant to teach a lesson, NOT to be used as a scientifically and historically accurate reference book. Clearly, the current church, and its followers, have NOT learned the real lessons that the bible was intending to teach.
No matter what the church does to entice them, I highly doubt that the younger generations will ever go back to worshiping and pledging to blindly follow a fictitious deity. However, if the church starts getting back to the concept of Loving Thy Neighbor, perhaps they may find a few more backsides in their pews on Sunday mornings.
What a thoughtful and beautifully written comment.
DeleteThank you.
This sentence sums up the entire feeling of that generation, "I left because of the blatant hypocrisy that went against everything I believed was morally right".
DeleteTo add a little comedy concerning that sentence, I would like to add that I said the say thing about the church I used to attend to a priest who was interviewing me and my fiancée' before he would marry us. He got angry with me and almost refused to marry us. Looking back I wished he had refused to marry us because she ended up being a true mental case who I ended up divorcing 14 years later. That happened in 1971. I think in my case, and in a lot of other cases for people my age the Viet Nam war opened our eyes on not just the war, but on religion too.
m baker -
DeleteI'm anon 5:29 and your comment about the priest reminded me of something that happened to my sister.
When my niece was born in 1979, my sister (who was not the most religious person in the world, but more church-going than I was) went to her local (and enormous) Catholic parish to schedule a baptism. A nun interviewed her and berated her for not having a history of envelope donations from weekly Mass. I never even knew they kept track of such things, but apparently they did!
The nun scolded my sister for not attending Mass regularly and asked he how she planned to raise her daughter in the faith if she did not practice it properly herself.
My sister may have been raised with a fear of nuns (as all of us Catholic school students had been) but she was also half Irish, and was highly offended by what this nun was saying.
First of all, she told the nun that she had no idea if my sister attended Mass regularly since she very well could have been putting cash in the collection plates instead of using the church-provided envelopes. Secondly, she informed the nun that she was exactly the kind of person that parish SHOULD want to baptize her daughter since it would help to bring the whole family closer to the church.
My sister got up and left, joining instead a small Eastern-right Catholic parish (the other half of my family is Ukrainian) whose members were mostly people who had been turned off by the attitude and greed of the large Catholic parish. The priest was the chaplain of the NY Islanders hockey team and often wore a "Go Islanders!" button on his cassock. He had an active teen group and did many wonderful things (mostly in secret) to help the members of his church who were suffering, needy or grieving. He truly embodied the teachings of Jesus, living as frugally as possible so that most of the money raised by parishioners would go to people who needed it. My sister never regretted switching churches and remained a member of that small church until she moved out of the area.
The really sad thing is, you've failed to understand who is asking: it's the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) It's one of the most liberal churches out there, with no doctrine, no science denial, and no homophobic social agenda.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect you to care because it's clear you know everything (except this) and have it all figured out (except this) but I just thought I'd point out that most of your comments are dead wrong about this particular message.
"However, if the church starts getting back to the concept of Loving Thy Neighbor, perhaps they may find a few more backsides in their pews on Sunday mornings." 5:29AM
Well, that's always been the message of this particular denomination. Contrary to the evidence that promulgated by headlines, there are a few churches out there that never jumped on the socially conservative bandwagon. Another one is the ELCA, the denomination that Track was briefly married into.
Then this denomination needs to stand up and shout as loudly as the bigoted idiots from other denominations. Maybe if one of them starts it will reverse a trend. Sending out some whiny assed titty baby email to young people works about as well as teats on a bull.
DeleteIt's difficult to do that when people only want bad news. The Methodists tried it with their "what if church looked like . . . a food bank?" campaign that I doubt anyone remembers.
DeletePlus, these kinds of churches aren't media machines. You've got to employ a lot of people for that plus spend a lot of money. These aren't megachurches with big bucks. They probably worship 150 people on a Sunday.
It's also a question of priority. When these churches look at the Gospel, they can't justifying spending money to make themselves look good when there's important things Jesus commanded them to do like "feed my sheep."
Maybe that denomination is not a bunch of jerks, but they still believe in bronze-age fairy tales. I don't need them in my life to not be a jerk.
DeleteBut I guess you have me all figured out, don't you?
Hmmmm. I suppose being considered a member of Generation X, I can only speak for myself why I left organized religion. Basically--- its an ongoing nightmare and a dodge for grifters and psychopaths.
ReplyDeleteJonestown, The "Moral" Majority, PTL scandal, pedophile priests, American evangelicals spreading homophobia worldwide, Televangelist and the prosperity gospel, American politicians pimping Jesus for money . . . . I could go on.
I know a lot of spiritual people----half of them don't attend church.
Agreed--GenX'ers spoke loudly and clearly about the hypocrisy around them, but the Boomers drowned them out, and now the Boomers' kids, the Millenials, are being worshipped for saying the exact same thing the X'ers before them said.
DeleteThese Biased Ideas Are Presented As Fact In Texas Curriculum Standards
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/22/texas-social-studies-standards_n_6029224.html
Would a rational person give 10% of their income to an insurance company where there is no proof of pay off? Millens may pay $5 bucks for a pumpkin latte when there is no pumpkin in it but at least they are getting a nice warm glass of sweet-spiced milk in the here and now.
ReplyDeleteTake that to your Values Voters Summit.
RJ in BBistan
TheRevErin sounds like the leader of a meangrrls club who can't figure out why the followers have left. She's preaching at folk. Christianity is not a club. Not proof of worthiness to be in a club. Political only as it guides THE INDIVIDUAL's conscience.
ReplyDeleteIf you are in Denver, drop in on this breath of fresh air. http://www.nadiabolzweber.com/ She is also on Facebook. Come as you are, bring only your thinking cap. Lutheran!
I won't start to believe that the Christian church in this country is loosing followers, and power, until I start seeing For Sale signs on the lawns of those mega churches on every F'n corner.
ReplyDeleteI live in Greece, NY which was recently in the news because of the SCOTUS decision regarding prayer at town meetings (and yes, I cringe at both the decision and the notoriety).
DeleteShortly after the court decision and after an atheist was permitted to say a few words to open a meeting, the town passed a rule that ONLY members of established religious institutions within the town could request to give an invocation at the meetings. NOT coincidentally, the ONLY established houses of worship within our town borders are of one Christian denomination or another. No Jewish or Buddhist temples, no Islamic mosques, nothing but Christian churches. This rule also eliminated anyone who was not a member of a recognized religion, thereby preventing another atheist from ever being permitted to open a meeting.
However, despite this overwhelming Christian presence, over the past few years quite a number of churches have closed their doors and sold their buildings. One church property was empty and for sale for at least the last 6 or 7 years. Several of the Catholic churches have combined because of falling attendance, and at least three of the Catholic elementary schools have closed.
Even though my town made national news for being such a stronghold of Christian faith (and discrimination), even we are losing the faithful at an ever-increasing rate. Granted, our churches do not have the religious control over the communities that the Southern and some Western states do, but the trend away from organized religion is beginning to pick up the pace everywhere.
It's already happening o the RCC here in IN, they closed down no less than three churches within 10 miles of my house due to declining membership, lack of funds, and no priests. Wonderful news!
ReplyDeleteThey are closing them down because they can't afford to pay the pedophilia law suit fees, lol.
Delete"I know it’s kind of creepy. We want to know where you live, and what classes you take in school (and how much you pay for it). We want to know where you drink coffee; who you date and for how long; what you read, where you spend your money, and what you GIVE your money to; what kind of relationship you have with your parents, how far you wander from home, and how often you go back there. We want to see the depths of your soul, and then we want to take you out for a local craft beer. (You like that, right??) "
ReplyDeleteGee, Erin, that is kind of creepy given that it's the same kind of fucked-up omnipotence you seem to relish on the part of God.
This reverend's comment sounds creepily similar to, "we're sorry IF you were offended . . . . " The 'church' has not been preaching the true gospel for almost as long as I can remember, and I am an old person now. The younger generations have no tolerance, zip, zero, nada, for hypocrisy, shallowness, pretense, and a powerless (non-transformative) gospel. The church decided to chase money, fame, and worldly power long ago, and now it is reaping the fruit. Its remaining members are completely impotent, spiritually speaking, and their children want no part of what they see/have seen, either in the church or at home. To see a real church these days, one that is vibrant (no Palin joke intended), and that actually lives according to the gospel, one may have to travel to Africa, India, or elsewhere in Asia, where an uncompromised gospel is still being preached. Just to be clear, whenever the church gets into condemnation of the 'unsaved', it has no clue as to what the true gospel is all about. The gospel is to transform the lives of those within the church, not to be used as a finger-pointing tool to those on the outside. I, too, have become unchurched in recent years: I pray, read the Bible, and meditate on the Scriptures at home, where no one is trying to convince me that politics and religion are one and the same animal, and there are no 'us versus them' or 'we've got to obtain wide-sweeping worldly power no matter what it takes' games going on.
ReplyDeleteI suspect millennials are fleeing organized religious groups for the same reason I left in 1999: Most of those in organized religious groups today talk like, but don't behave like, Christians.
ReplyDeleteToday's Christians are only a figure of speech.......
ReplyDeleteHey, Rev Denim Jean Jacket,, it's not you, it's me, ok I can't lie, it IS You. Denim Jean Jackets were the rage when I was a teenager. Someone's trying too hard!
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I never "left", I got dragged to the curb like the trash by the archbishop and I'm not going back.