The Church, Science and Teen Faith

 

A few years back I found myself on the same program as creationist Ken Ham.  If you are not familiar with Ken Ham, you probably have heard of the Noah’s Ark Creation Museum.  Ken Ham is the Australian who was behind the project.  His “Back to Genesis” lecture series focuses on the first eleven chapters of the Bible.  In Ken Ham’s opinion, evolutionary theory has led to cultural decay in our country.  We were both speaking at a teacher’s conference.  I remember his statement to the audience of mostly Lutheran grade school teachers.  “More students lose their faith in high school than in college.”   The litmus test is evolution.  What happens when what they are taught in Biology Class runs contrary to what they heard in Sunday school. If the church cannot be trusted on that issue, what else can they be lying about?

Even among churchgoing teens there are shadows of doubt when it comes to how they view science and the church.  According to research from the Barna Group, 49% of Christian teens feel “the church seems to reject much of what science tells us about the world.”  When you add the reality that many teens do not “see the church as a safe place to express doubt (27%}, you can begin to see the problem.  Many Christian teens see the Bible and science in conflict and when that happens almost one in four (24%) consider themselves on the side of science.  That compares to only 17% who would consider themselves on the side of the Bible in such a debate.  Just a little over one in four (28%) see the Bible and Science as being “complementary,” meaning they support each other. 

This becomes a predicament when they head off to college, especially if they attend a public university.  What happens when the professors share a “world view” perspective that not only runs counter to what they were taught about creation but many of the values that Christians hold dear?   That puts a tremendous burden on parents and those who are involved in church youth ministry.  According to a report from the Barna Group, less that half (48%) feel “very prepared” to discuss science and the Bible with their teens. 

The current pandemic has brought this issue even more to the surface.  The question in the minds of many teens is not over who to listen to, but rather why are we not listening to the scientist who have the information?  Here again the church must take the lead in responding to the situation with appropriate action.  It also means creating a forum where the issues of science and The Bible can be discussed.