Here’s a Change. . .

It was 50 years ago when Time Magazine asked, on the cover of their magazine, Is God Dead? Almost everyone said no. It is different now, according to the latest polls.

A 1965 poll by Lou Harris found that 97% of Americans still believed in God. By the time Gallup asked the same question in 2014, that number had fallen to 86%, with 12% of Americans claiming no belief and 2% with no opinion. (TIME)

In addition, there are polls that indicate Americans are moving away from affiliation with any “religious organization.”

Increased honesty around spirituality may also account for the rise in those who claim no religious affiliation, known as the “nones,” a group Newport [Frank Newport, Gallup] explores in his book God Is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America. He explains that “there were virtually no ‘nones’ in the 1950s—1-2% max—but almost all contemporary surveys show it’s now closer to the 20% mark.” (IBID.)

Some 2000 years ago writers were telling everyone that this “falling away” would happen. They said that as the “end of the age” came, more and more people would forsake belief in God and abandon the Truths of Scripture.  I personally think the true number of genuine Believers is far, far – far, far – less than 86%. I am convinced the “nones” are far, far, (ad infinitum) more than 20% if one considers “affiliation” to be a corollary of “involvement.”

Perhaps a wise, genuinely intellectual individual might be more prone to “believe” based on the reality that those writers so long ago had it right all along. Of course you might want to take into account that they were listening to God at the time.