Young Christians of today have three false beliefs, according to American Family Association

Christian youth of today hold three religious views that do not stem from the Bible, and these views are causing them to lose their way, according to the America Family Association.

In an article recently posted on the organization's website, Ed Vitagliano, AFA's executive vice president, cited a 2005 study, titled "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers," by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, who were then with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The said paper utilized a comprehensive study of teenagers and religion undertaken by the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), supplemented with follow-up interviews with more than 250 of the NSYR study respondents.

The "Soul Searching" study discovered that the new generation of kids hold beliefs that are not based on the Bible, with the two sociologists calling it "moralistic therapeutic deism."

Moralistic belief, as Vitagliano explains, pertains to an understanding that faith is "essentially related to mere human goodness." Vitagliano cautions that goodness is not an "inherent human trait;" it is also not enough to save one's relationship with God.

The second belief is described as therapeutic, with many young people wrongly associating religion with feeling good about themselves. In the interviews conducted by Smith and Denton, concepts that are usually associated with Christian faith, such as "sin," "obedience," "the kingdom of God," or "the grace of God," were rarely mentioned. Meanwhile, the phrase "feel happy" was commonly mentioned by the youngsters.

The third belief — deism — makes God "vague and unreachable." The sociologists noted that the young ones' idea of God is "one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one's affairs – especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved." They added, "Most of the time, the God of this faith keeps a safe distance. He is often described by teens as 'watching over everything from above.'"

Because of this belief, the kids know more about their favorite celebrities than Moses and Jesus, the sociologists observed.

Vitagliano cautions that the modern young people are on the verge of a "spiritual catastrophe." He concluded by saying that "If we are not careful and if we don't change the way we do business within the four walls of American church life, it won't matter what happens outside them,"