Faith: Church year begins with perplexity

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Christians in the United States are about to enter a new church year this coming Sunday spiritually bewildered, according to a nationwide survey.

For 17 centuries now, the Western church has begun its liturgical year on the First Advent. This festive day ends the long "green" season when ministers wore vestments and altars and pulpits were decorated in that color. The green season began on the Sunday after Trinity. On the Sunday before Christmas, the preferred liturgical color is purple or, in some Lutheran churches, blue.

Blue, in a different sense, is also the mood of many priests and ministers. They had hoped that the manifestation of utter evil on Sept. 11 would prompt more Americans -- especially the young -- to embrace absolute moral truth.

But a new survey by the Barna Research Group of Ventura, Ca., shows that the exact opposite has been the case. If anything, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington have exacerbated moral relativism in the U.S., a post-modern mindset many religious and civic leaders find alarming.

In the wake of Sept. 11, a mere 22 percent of a sample group of Americans told Barna's researchers they still believed in absolute moral truth, as compared with 38 percent in January, 2000.

According to pollster George Barna, the Baby Buster generation (ages 18-36) is most afflicted by this perplexity about what is right and what's wrong.

Of these young Americans, only 13 percent are convinced that ethical principles do not change depending on external circumstances. Early last year, 25 percent held that view.

At the same time, though, the share of Americans considering themselves Christians slipped only marginally from 86 to 84 percent.

The percentage of those praying regularly has even risen from 84 to 85 since Sept. 11. The Americans' personal commitment to Christ remained stable at 68 percent, and even increased among the youngest group from 58 to 61 percent.

But while they affirmed Christ, who according to Biblical theology -- but evidently not in their own mind -- is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), most did not recognize the devil as anything other than a metaphor.

Just before the terrorist attacks, 28 percent of all Americans and 25 percent of the young strongly disagreed with the statement, "Satan/the devil is not a living being, but is just a symbol of evil."

After Sept. 11, these percentages slipped to 23 and 21 percent, respectively.

United Press International interviewed clergymen from four different traditions -- Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, evangelical and Lutheran -- about these results. They reacted unanimously with horror.

"Einstein has won, everything is relative to contemporary Americans," said The Rev. Russell Saltzman, editor of the Lutheran Forum Letter, and the Rev. Fred R. Anderson, senior pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

On the other hand, Anderson agreed with Father Gerald E. Murray, pastor of Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Manhattan that Sept. 11 had surfaced a spiritual tragedy: While young New Yorkers showed a hunger for God, they knew nothing about the essentials of the Christian faith that had forged Western civilization for the last 2,000 years.

"They believe in a Creator, but are oblivious of the meaning of the incarnation, redemption, salvation, the Holy Trinity and all the other key categories of Christianity," said Murray, who -- like Anderson -- spent much of his time doing ministry among New Yorkers reeling from the terrorist attacks.

Murray, Anderson, Saltzman and Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, squarely blamed the Church -- irrespective of denomination -- for this widespread lack of catechetical education.

"Our churches have failed," each of them said in separate interviews.

"Evangelical pastors are just as much to blame as their liberal counterparts for this amazing degree of ignorance," insisted Cizik, who agreed with Murray and Anderson that the church at large suffered from a dearth of competent leadership.

He added the Barna survey showed that most of the respondents were no longer Christians in the true sense of the word.

Father Murray made it clear that his own denomination had not fared any better that its Protestant counterparts, a fact borne out by Barna. According to his survey, only 16 percent of young American Catholics believe in moral absolutes.

All four clergymen roundly blamed the theological relativism taught at U.S. seminaries for the last decades, especially the "God is dead" doctrine that had become fashionable in the U.S. in the 1960s.

"Should we be surprised by Barna's findings when the people in charge of our churches are incapable of stating seriously what they are supposed to believe in?" Murray asked.

"On the positive side," said Anderson, "there has never been a more opportune moment to proclaim the Gospel than now that we appear to be living in the last days and looking forward to Christ's return."

Father Murray appealed to fellow clerics in all denominations to make haste in mastering the new pulpit -- the media.

"We must not leave the spiritually starved millions to charlatans. What America needs is a new Protestant Billy Graham and a new Catholic Fulton Sheen," he thundered, referring to the former archbishop of New York, who was probably the most influential American Catholic in the 20th century.