It was written by Rodney Stark and Byron Johnson, and it was titled Religion and the Bad News Bearers. The story is primarily concerned with how the news media tends to pick up on trends and surveys that are negative to the church, but don't seem to notice those that are positive for the church. I guess we all know that unless it's bad news, it doesn't get covered, but I guess I didn't realize how much so.
For example, here is an excerpt I found really interesting...
The national news media yawned over the Baylor Survey's findings that the number of American atheists has remained steady at 4% since 1944, and that church membership has reached an all-time high. But when a study by the Barna Research Group claimed that young people under 30 are deserting the church in droves, it made headlines and newscasts across the nation—even though it was a false alarm.The article also spoke of women in the church, young evangelicals remaining conservative like their parents, and other trends in the church that were reported in negative terms. In reading this, perhaps the church is doing better than I feared.
There are so many conflicting stories out there, it's hard to know what to believe. But you can believe this: Remain faithful, stay in the Word, pray daily, be an active part of the church, and the rest will work itself out.
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