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Daniel_Marsh
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The research also compared born again Christians across age groups. Born again Busters were much less likely to act in a “moral” manner than were born again adults over 40. On nine of the 16 activities, young believers were less conventional than older believers, while engagement in the other seven activities was indistinguishable between the generations.
In terms of attitudes, the typical pattern was for born again adults over 40 to be most closely aligned with biblical perspectives, followed far behind by other segments, including younger Christians. For example, just 33% of born again pre-Busters believe that cohabitation is morally acceptable. However, among born again Busters nearly twice as many (59%) agreed, representing a majority of young Christian adults. Among non-Christian older adults, 65% concurred, while 80% of non-Christian Busters felt cohabitation was acceptable. This same response pattern was evident when it came to gambling, sexual fantasies, abortion, sex outside of marriage, profanity, pornography, same-sex marriage, and the use of illegal drugs.
barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=249The director of the research, David Kinnaman, pointed out, “The research shows that people’s moral profile is more likely to resemble that of their peer group than it is to take shape around the tenets of a person’s faith. This research paints a compelling picture that moral values are shifting very quickly and significantly within the Christian community as well as outside of it.”