Western culture generally prides itself on being open-minded and tolerant of everyone and everything—but do they live up to their own ideals? Not according to a new study out of Great Britain. This study found that Gen Z (today’s 13–24-year-olds) “is less open-minded and more intolerant than older generations.”
According to the report, “[a] quarter of Gen Z say they ‘have very little tolerance for people with beliefs that they disagree with.’ They don’t believe in unrestrained free speech, with nearly half agreeing that ‘some people deserve to be canceled.’”
According to an executive of the group that conducted the research,
These are progressive people in that they support the freedoms won by earlier generations who changed social attitudes toward issues such as sexuality and equality. Indeed, they are significantly more progressive than their parents and even than millennials on some issues…
But, and it is a big but, young people could be said to be less liberal because they are less tolerant of the views of others than their parents and grandparents — surely a novelty.
This is actually not surprising! Over the past few years, we’ve seen massive (and often violent) protests on college campuses over speakers the students don’t like (I was even “canceled” by the University of Central Oklahoma before being reinstated), pro-life centers being vandalized and firebombed after Roe v. Wadewas overturned, and even protesters playing “soccer” with Bibles before throwing them into portable toilets.
Why? Why are so many of today’s young people so militant against those with whom they disagree morally or politically? Because, as I’ve said so many times before, there’s no neutrality! Everyone has a worldview or religion! As the Bible states, people are either for Christ or against.
Those who are “progressive” and “liberal” don’t want equal space for all ideas because they aren’t seeking neutrality. They have a religion (humanism) and want to impose it on others—and Christianity stands in their way. The truth claims of Christianity fly in the face of their religious beliefs of relative morality, sexual “freedom” (really slavery), and “anything goes.”
It’s all part of the spiritual battle we’re in as people who hate God and therefore hate his people (John 15:18) and his Word, loving their darkness instead (John 3:19), suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). How can we stand firm and fight in the battle that seems to be heating up every day? By putting on God’s armor.
Ephesians 6:10-18 KJV – “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
Equipping Children to Stand Strong
My wife and I have talked before about how different the world is that our grandchildren are growing up in from even the world our children grew up in—not to mention the world we grew up in! There’s always been a spiritual battle raging (since sin entered the garden 6,000 years ago), but the ferocity with which it is raging hasn’t been seen in our lifetimes in the West.
Children need to be equipped to stand and not fall prey to humanism, one of the many “broad ways” that leads to death.
