Growing Religious Apathy According to a Baylor University Religion Survey

An article in the December 25, 2011 edition of USA today reports on a recent Baylor University study that suggests growing numbers of people are switching their religious affiliation to apathetic. I will make note of two points of interest in Cathy Lynn Grossman’s article on the Baylor findings:
First, if the Baylor findings are an accurate reflection of current trends, and apathy or indifference towards religion is on the rise, Christians must be able to recognize the difference between apathy and principled atheism if they hope to share the gospel effectively. The first step in witnessing to a principled atheist is to identify the reasons for their rejection of the belief that God exists and to proceed from there. The first step in witnessing to someone who is indifferent towards metaphysical questions (for instance, is there an afterlife? If there is, what does it look like? Does God exist? Will I go to heaven or hell?) is not to answer the questions, but to demonstrate their importance.

Secondly, when religion comes to be understood ahistorically, it becomes flat, and worse, irrelevant. In the article, Rabbi Micah Greenstein demonstrates what ahistorical Judaism looks like:
 

"Judaism teaches that spirituality is practical. When you see something that is broken, fix it. When you find something that is lost, return it. When you see something that needs to be done, do it. In that way you will be taking care of the world and fulfilling your role as God's partner, know it or not," the rabbi says."Spirituality is about the relational — whether you are relating to God, to others, to the world or to yourself. I do believe most people see life more as a mystery than as a machine. I would call that God even if they don't," Greenstein says. 

Greenstein’s understanding of religion, or ‘spirituality’ as he refers to it, is about a way of relating. Religion is about how one relates to God, others, the world, or even oneself. It has little to do with the story of how God acts in history, either in delivering the Jewish people out of Egypt (a historical event) or delivering the people of God from Satan, sin, and death by means of the death of Jesus on a Roman cross (another historical event).  

If religion is not about having particular beliefs about these events and God’s acting and is about a way of thinking and acting instead, then religion is not necessary. At this point, apathy is completely understandable because religious practices (e.g. going to church once a week) are not needed to think charitably or give generously to causes. In short, one of the best defenses against apathy growing within our churches is to stress the historical nature of religion (that Christianity is about events that happened in human history and its truth or falsehood is determined by whether God did, in fact, act that way in history or not).