In many ways, it is not surprising that another generation finds that secularism leaves a void not only in their souls, but also in the souls of their friends, and in society as whole.
I have a dear friend who was born in 1960 at the very end of the Baby Boom. He has two siblings who are eight and five years older than he, both born at the height of that era. His experiences of the 1960s, and how they impacted his formative years in the 1970s, are vastly different than those of his older siblings.
The Baby Boomers were known for rejecting their parents’ values, including religious faith, and embracing what was then referred to as the “counterculture” of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”
While my friend’s older siblings still celebrate their teenage years in the 1960s, he had a vastly different experience growing up as a teenager in the 1970s, watching his peers suffer from hopelessness, which then drove them to promiscuity and drug abuse, with the accompanying negative side effects.
While his siblings see the 1960s through rose-colored glasses, he saw instead a dangerous and dark road that led many of his peers astray—sometimes fatally.
It was those observations of the moral and societal bankruptcy of secularism that led him to faith in Christ in 1982. He also saw several of his peers reject the ethos of the 1960s and return to faith and conservative values as they hit young adulthood in the early 1980s. Much of the Reagan revolution was the result of young conservatives who had rejected the ‘60s counterculture.
And, as it is said, what goes around comes around, with the millennial generation repeating many of the behaviors of their Baby Boomer ancestors, including rejection of religious faith while exalting personal autonomy, and Gen Z seeing the futility of a life without faith and moral guideposts, and returning back to faith and conservative values.
My friend, who with his wife leads a weekly young adults Bible study, had this discussion with them a few weeks ago, and the young men and women verified this fact. All of them are at the very end of the millennial generation or at the beginning of Gen Z and are seeking authenticity in faith and relationships. Instead of rejecting the values of those who have gone before, they yearn for a return to them and lament their loss in our culture.
In fact, it is the more conservative evangelical and Catholic churches that are receiving renewed interest from Gen Z and other young adults, rather than the old mainline denominations that embraced the secular culture and its values. Many of those latter churches are literally closing their doors on a daily basis.
Thus, it is my hope and prayer that this return is not just a fleeting revival, but one that extends into succeeding generations—a positive and transformational rebellion that once again exalts self-sacrifice over self-fulfillment, corporate responsibility over personal autonomy, faith over atheism, and hope over despair.
A vibrant faith will lead once again to a vibrant society that affirms human dignity and life, the importance of faith, and the institution of the family. It is the rediscovery of this inheritance, which so many feel they have been deprived of, that will bring healing to our land, and ultimately to our world.
