Paging Michael Stipe

Two 80s/90s rock star headlines in a row! If I can find a way to work Michael Hutchence into the next post’s title, I will.

Two MSM headlines that seem to be going interesting seperate directions. ABC reports that the number of youths that report not attending church is skyrocketing. Charles Blow finds that those raised without religion later find one. So in a generation those trend lines will reverse?

Over at Secular Right, Andrew Stuttaford said the following concerning the Blow piece:

“Belief in a deity (or deities), and the desire to worship it or them, is an almost universal aspect of human nature. This not something that can be wished or indoctrinated away, and it’s pointless and maybe even destructive to try. It’s far better, surely, to channel that impulse by giving children some sort of gentle religious grounding, preferably in a well-established, undemanding, culturally useful (understanding all that art and so on) and mildly (small c) conservative denomination that doesn’t dwell too much on the supernatural and keeps both ritual and philosophical speculation in their proper place. Better the vicar than Wicca, say I.”

James Joyner disagrees: “This strikes me as akin to giving your children powdered cocaine lest then try crack on their own.  After all, it’s natural to want to experiment with mind-altering chemicals!”

More posts on either trendline and I will add them. (H/T Sully)

UPDATE: Michael Gerson in WaPo today.

Michelle Cottle in TNR on Gerson.

Ronald Bailey in Reason on Gerson

Kevin Drum on Cottle.

UPDATE #2: We got Julian Sanchez on the original Stuttaford post.

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