"When all is said
and done, Tiger, we’ll either hold fast to the truth, or we’ll face the
consequences." – Doc Noebel, President, Summit Ministries
THE IMPORTANCE OF
WORLDVIEW TRAINING
MANITOU SPRINGS, CO - Recent surveys of
worldview thinking have illustrated that even students raised in
Christian homes, who attend church regularly, and who are enrolled at
Christian schools, nevertheless tend to think like humanists rather
than like believers in biblical revelation. Christians are rejecting
the biblical notions of absolute truth and an alarming number are even
turning away from Christianity. Worldview training has never been more
important.
Christians Renouncing Their Faith in College:
According to findings published in a UCLA dissertation, Dr. Gary
Railsback notes that between 30% and 51% of Christians renounce their
faith before graduating from college. Shockingly, there wasn’t any
statistical difference whether these students were enrolled at secular
or Christian institutions of higher learning.[1]
Christians Thinking More and More like Humanists:
Showing that this trend has continued in more recent years is the work
of the Nehemiah Institute. Their P.E.E.R.S. Test [2] is scored along a spectrum from "Biblical Christian"
(100-70) to "Moderate Christian" (69-30) to "Secular Humanist" (29-0)
to "Marxist" (anything below a ‘0’ score). >From 1988 until 2000 it
was found that students enrolled in Christian schools moved from an
average in the low 50s (meaning they scored at the lower end of
"Moderate Christian") to an average in 2000 of about 20 (meaning they
responded to key social, political, and religious issues the same as a
"Secular Humanist"). [3] In
addition, Christian students in public schools scored considerably
lower, with an average last year of 8.2!
Rejection of Moral Absolutes among Christian Teens
and Adults: As if that trend was not disconcerting enough,
consider the recent figures reported by George Barna. Among adults,
only 32% of those who claimed to be "born again" said they believe in
moral absolutes compared to just half as many (15%) among the non-born
again contingent. Among teenagers, a mere 9% of "born again" teens
believe in moral absolutes versus 4% of the non-born again teens. [4]
Liberalism among College Freshman: More
college freshmen today describe themselves as politically liberal than
at any time since the Vietnam War, according to a nationwide survey
taken last fall. [5] The
researchers measured liberalism by asking students to describe their
political views and take positions on certain benchmark issues. Results
indicated that…
- 57.9% think gay couples should have the legal right to
marry
- 36.5% say marijuana should be legalized
- 32.2%, the highest score since 1980, advocate ending
capital punishment
- 29.9% say they are liberal or "far left," the highest
figure since 1975
These trends are indeed alarming. We must remember, however,
that truth is more powerful than the false ideas that have captured the
minds of our culture. Join us at the battle front with thousands of
others who are standing firm, engaging their culture in the arena of
ideas, and who are equipping themselves to "understand the times so
that they may know what they should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). You, too,
can stand firm in the faith, championing the cause of Christ.
Footnotes:
- Gary Lyle Railsback, "An
Exploratory Study of the Religiosity and Related Outcomes Among College
Students," Doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los
Angeles, 1994.
- The acronym P.E.E.R.S is short for
Politics, Economics, Education, Religion, and Social Issues
- http://www.nehemiahinstitute.com/index.php
- http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=106&Reference=C
- The CIRP Freshman
Survey, based this year (2001) on responses from 281,064 students
at 421 four-year colleges and universities, is the nation's oldest and
most comprehensive assessment of student attitudes. It is a joint
project of UCLA's Higher Education
Research Institute and the American Council on Education,
based in Washington, D.C.
