Even evangelical Christians agree with this assessment that the internet poses a real threat to religion’s survival. Listen to Josh McDowell of Cru, the organization formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ.
Atheists and skeptics now have equal access to our children as we have, which is why the number of Christian youth who believe in the fundamentals of Christianity is decreasing and sexual immorality is growing, apologist Josh McDowell said.
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“The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have… whether you like it or not,” said McDowell, who is author of two books on Christian apologetics, More than a Carpenter and New Evidence that Demands Verdict.
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“Now here is the problem,” said McDowell, “going all the way back, when Al Gore invented the Internet [he said jokingly], I made the statement off and on for 10-11 years that the abundance of knowledge, the abundance of information, will not lead to certainty; it will lead to pervasive skepticism. And, folks, that’s exactly what has happened. It’s like this. How do you really know, there is so much out there… This abundance [of information] has led to skepticism. And then the Internet has leveled the playing field [giving equal access to skeptics].”McDowell, who lives in southern California with his wife Dottie and four children, said atheists, agnostics and skeptics didn’t have access to kids earlier. “If they wrote books, not many people read it. If they gave a talk, not many people went. They would normally get to kids maybe in the last couple of years of the university.” But that has changed now.
Jesus and Mo pick up on McDowell’s comments.
Daniel Dennett once said that arguing with religious people is like playing tennis with someone who raises the net when you make your shot and lowers it for theirs. The internet is like a more impartial person who has taken over umpiring duties.
noenkz says
Today, internet is becoming the easy tool to find anything. Knowledge, news, entertainment or even the religion perspective. Oslo bombing is one effect from internet, where people can see, how the Christian make a revolutionary action. People now can see also, the religion is become more reducing or enhancing to growth. Do not worry, people is also growing to be mature. They can pick the right and wrong choice. Best regards from me Young Entrepreneur
James LNB says
Regardless of how much or how little information we may have or not have, the fact of the matter is that we live by the choices that we make. The person who chooses to search for truth, genuine, sincere truth with no preconceived ideas of what it should or sholud not be, God said that man (or woman) will not be disappointed, but that he/she will find Me because God (Jesus Christ) is the ‘truth’. So it’s not really the internet/information that causes us to be skeptical, but rather our own unbelief and preconceived ideas of who God really is or is not…
Alvaro says
Yes, that is definitely true, I was raise in a Christian home where my mother was constantly repeating that everything that happens in our surrounding was because God had planned that way, but after watching YouTube channels like Thunderfoot or darkmattter2525 just to name a few and having the opportunity of listening to Sam Harris or Neil Degrassi and so many others that regularly would never be on TV, has obviously open my understanding. And now I’m not defending a myth that human species got off from a 450 foot ark after a big flood. It sounds so silly, but that’s exactly what religion does.