Millennial Data

The Pew Forum has finally tabulated all the studies of the last few years and made their statement about the Millennial generation. No surprises. But what will it do to the community? Will Orthodoxy form a reactive ideology against the younger generation? Will Orthodoxy gain an influx of those for whom the issue of Gay rights pushes them out of their liberal communities? Another point, we see the children of Evangelicals giving up Literalism, even while remaining in the fold.How will the break of literalism 47% to 53% play itself out? Debates in the classroom? Fights over which books to read?
Anything else in full report worth noting? – Full report here.

According to a new report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the gap on some issues has widened into a chasm, notably on issues related to gay rights and tolerance.

‘Young people are more accepting of homosexuality and evolution than are older people. They are also more comfortable with having a bigger government, and they are less concerned about Hollywood threatening their values,’ said the report, which was released on Wednesday.
For example, the report said that Pew’s massive 2007 US Religious Landscape Survey found young adults to be almost twice as likely to say homosexuality should be accepted by society as those 65 and older, 63 per cent versus 35 per cent. Overall in the 30+ age group only 47 per cent said homosexuality should be accepted. The report also said surveys showed that less than a third of Millennial adults saw Hollywood as a threat to their moral values compared to 44 per cent of those 30 and over.

Differences between young people and their elders today are also apparent in views of the Bible, although the differences are somewhat less pronounced. Overall, young people are slightly less inclined than those in older age groups to view the Bible as the literal word of God. Interestingly, age differences on this item are most dramatic among young evangelicals and are virtually nonexistent in other groups. Although younger evangelicals are just as likely as older evangelicals (and more likely than people in most other religious groups) to see the Bible as the word of God, they are less likely than older evangelicals to see it as the literal word of God. Less than half of young evangelicals interpret the Bible literally (47%), compared with 61% of evangelicals 30 and older.