In case you've never heard of Ken Ham, he's the big cheese at Answers in Genesis, a creationist "institute". Ken Ham is a scientist in the same way that I am a ballet dancer. Ken Ham is to science what my dog is to art. Ken Ham is the Carrie Prejean of evolutionary biologists. (Feel free to add your own analogy.)
Ken Ham is about to run out of money.
Oh, he says he's all concerned about the fate of fundamentalism, but Ken's smart enough to run the numbers, and if he's right about the future of fundamentalism, people like him and Ray Comfort, whose incomes depend on the generosity of many, many fundys, are screwed.
Good for ya, bichez.
From Ken Ham's blog, A Shock to the Church.
A new book entitled Already Gone, authored by highly respected market researcher Britt Beamer (from America’s Research Group) and me, will be released this coming Tuesday.
We believe this book is going to be a shock and a wake-up call for the church. In fact, I believe this is the most important book I have ever authored or coauthored. BUY IT! NOW! I NEED A NEW BEEMER! The contents are based on statistical research Britt Beamer conducted for Answers in Genesis (and paid by one of our generous supporters please, be generous again.). We interviewed people aged between 20–29 -5 points on style. that was awkward who went to church when they were younger, but no longer go to church. i'm guessing a lot of those people are hanging out on this blog. And we only included participants who attended conservative evangelical churches so that the results are the best they could possibly be. that weirded me out at first, but it's probably valid. he, and the readers of his books, don't care why catholics stop going to church, they care why their own kind stop going to church.
I have to give Ken and Britt (weren't those two of Barbie's friends?) credit, the research, if it is valid, is really quite interesting, and counterintuitive. (I don't trust Ken with anything, but Britt could be a very good researcher for all I know.)
The purpose of the research was to find out why they left church—what caused them to do this.
The results are shocking and a real wake-up call. If God’s people take this research to heart give me more money! that inground pool won't build itself!, it could revolutionize our churches. i thought the point of fundamentalism was to not revolutionize things. Here are just a couple of the many things we found:
1. Over 40% in the survey had decided to leave the church by the end of middle and elementary school, and another 40+ % by the end of high school. that makes sense to me. most atheists i know used to be christians, and this matches the personal anecdotes i've heard from them. These people–now young adults—were already having doubts about Christianity through elementary, middle, and high school. It wasn’t in college where most of them were lost—it was before that. the reason Ken points this out is because most fundys view colleges as dens of iniquity where satan steals souls, and their precious little spawn will become drug addicted, promiscious atheists within 5 minutes of setting foot on campus. (I am not kidding. This comes up on Rapture Ready all the time. "My child was accepted to Brown with a full scholarship, but I can't let him go there!") Most fundys believe that christian schools, or better yet homeschooling, will ensure their children grow up faith intact.
2. The second chapter in the book is one of the most shocking—we call it the “Sunday School Syndrome.” We found that those that went to Sunday school regularly as kids were worse off than those who didn’t—that Sunday school overall has been detrimental to a child’s spiritual health! this was what i found counterintuitive. i would have thought the opposite, and i imagine most fundys would have agreed with me. Now we don’t advocate eradicating Sunday schools, but do advocate radical changes for teachers and the curricula. such as buying my books! designer clothes? not cheap, people! But you can’t deny the statistics—they are overwhelming. For instance, those who went to Sunday school were more like to defend abortion and pre-marital sex than those who didn’t attend Sunday school: again, i would have thought the opposite. which is why i recommend that all fundys continue to send their children to sunday school. clearly it is a force for good.
Now, we do give what we believe are the reasons for this shocking situation—and it relates to how the Bible is taught—it also relates to belief—and it relates to the fact that the curricula does not by and large have an apologetics emphasis. We give the many reasons, and the book suggests solutions.I'm sure the book does- for the low, low price of $29.95. call in the next twenty minutes and receive a free booklight! i doubt the real problem is apologetics, however. children are natural skeptics. they have to be. the only way children can learn is to question. spend 10 minutes with a four year old and you'll find out exactly how much you don't know. in fact, my friend was playing spiderman with his 5 year old son, and the boy kept asking about the background extras. every time a random person in the game would walk or drive by, my friend was bombarded with questions as to that person's name, job, likes, dislikes, hobbies, marital status, etc.
Fundamentalist christianity, especially young earth creationism, is filled with logical gaps, inexplicable stories, and completely irrational reasoning. children do recognize illogic and irrationality. they generally can't verbalize it, but they do notice. more apologetics will not help the fact that a faith based on irrational illogic is irrational and illogical, and in the end, indefensible.
bottom line: children are ignorant, but they're not stupid.
But this is just a part of what is in this book that we believe is vital to the church today. buy it! buy my book! In fact, we are using this book to call for a new reformation in our churches—a badly needed reformation. ken's a modern day Martin Luther!
We are so convinced this publication needs to get into the hands of every Christian there are millions of you! i can finally buy that island! and every Christian leader that we are making them available in case lots. BWAHAHAHAHAHA Can I urge you to buy cases of them and hand to every Christian leader in your church? oops, used the maniacal a little too soon. In fact, get them to everyone in your church. if enough people listen to Ken's advice, they'll all be handing each other copies of the book. lulz.
Statistics show that if you were to line up all the elementary, middle, high school, and college students in your church, then at least 60% and maybe 70–80% will leave the church one day. sunday school ftw! They are your children—your grandchildren—and this research shows why this is happening and how we can stem the tide. with my book- buy it! by the case!
You can order Already Gone from the AiG website. i love the smell of desperation in the morning.
