Being the light
1 in 3 Americans don't know if God exists. Christians have a responsibility to them.
I spend a lot of time thinking.
Maybe even overthinking.
The truth is, it’s just hard for me to turn my brain off most of the time. I think about work, I think about this newsletter, I think about what I’m having for dinner tonight, and tomorrow, and this Saturday…it gets noisy in there.
One question I keep turning over in my mind is this: What is the use of apologetics? The work of salvation is done through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. Why does it matter if I know how it all works?
And then, articles like this one drop and remind me how important it is to know what I believe and why.
Only half of Americans are confident God exists
For 50 years, NORC at The University of Chicago has used the General Social Survey (GSS) to understand Americans’ beliefs and opinions on religion, politics, civil liberties, gender, and a handful of other hot topics.
This new stat, that only 50% of Americans are confident in God’s existence, was a finding in the 2022 survey. But, the information actually isn’t that new—the previous survey, conducted in 2021, reported the same finding.
Here’s the full picture. Survey respondents were asked to indicate which of the following options “comes closest to expressing what you believe about God.” The results:
I don’t believe in God: 7%
I don’t know whether there is a God and I don’t believe there is any way to find out: 7%
I don’t believe in a personal God, but I do believe in a Higher Power of some kind: 14%
I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others: 6%
While I have doubts, I feel that I do believe in God: 16%
I know God really exists and I have no doubts about it: 50%
I’m going to be a bit more gracious than some of the reporting I’ve seen and lump in the “doubters” with the confident believers, raising our number to 66%. But, you can still see the need for urgency: 34% of respondents have an inconsistent belief in God at best. A whopping 7% don’t even think there’s any reason to think about it.
Why does it matter?
This new GSS data shows that 1 out of every 3 Americans does not have confidence in God’s existence.1 Nearly 1 in 10 don’t think there’s any reason to look into the topic further.
These are the people that you interact with every day: your coworkers; the people at your gym; your fellow shoppers at the grocery store.
Christians, this should spur you to action. Here are my two main takeaways:
1. Conduct yourself well
Once, in high school, I was having a conversation with my dad about a classmate of mine. I don’t remember the details of our conversation, or even who the other student was—but I remember the advice he gave me: “You may be the only Jesus that person ever sees.”
I think this echoes the sentiment of many New Testament texts, like Philippians 1:27, in which Paul instructs us to “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
As Christians, it is our duty—and honor—to be ambassadors for Christ, beacons of hope to all those who interact with us.
We who have known salvation, who have encountered the One True God, who have the promise of resurrection, have a responsibility to share that joy with everyone we encounter, especially as the culture continues to turn away from religion.
I grew up in a small, Bible Belt town, where it was uncommon to find anyone without at least some church affiliation. But that way of life appears to be waning and has been for some time now. Don’t spend too much time lamenting this; instead, be encouraged to act.
Please, continue to attend church and invest in a local body of believers. It is more important than you know. But, be aware of the reality that, in a culture of dwindling church attendance, we cannot rely solely on institutions to point people toward Christ—that’s a task that we and we alone are responsible for, and even directly commanded to do. It must be taken seriously.
2. Know what and why you believe
Just as we are commanded by Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations,”2 we are also exhorted later, by Peter, to “always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”3
Friends, this is why it’s important to a) know the Bible and b) be associated with apologetics, natural theology, and the flourishing field of Christian philosophy.
If that sounds like a tall order, don’t worry—you literally have all the time in the world to work on it. It can be easy to look at the pile of things you don’t know and feel discouraged at how far you have yet to go. I fall victim to this way of thinking on a near-daily basis. But, I’d encourage you to take it on as a challenge.
Your faith in Christ, and your relationship with God, is the most important project you’ll ever be entrusted with. It underlies your duties to your family, contextualizes your responsibilities at work, and imbues your every breath with meaning. Treat it as such and the benefits will be immeasurable.
Start by reading your Bible daily. Then, start incorporating other sources into your daily routines—I’ll include some of my favorites below.
1 out of 3 people you interact with today is unsure about God’s existence. You, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can be the person who challenges their assumption.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16
A few recommendations:
I’m probably beginning to sound like a broken record, but that’s because these resources are so good. Here’s what I recommend, in a few different categories:
Podcasts: BibleProject; Reasonable Faith Podcast
YouTube: BibleProject; ReasonableFaithOrg (Sensing a theme yet?)
Books: Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis; The Reason for God, Tim Keller
It's also worth mentioning that these numbers may be inflated, as there's no distinction in the research between belief in the Christian God and other religions. Suffice it to say, the harvest is plenty.
Matthew 28:19
1 Peter 3:15