Janice Crouse, a senior fellow with Concerned Women for America, says it’s disturbing that many young people in evangelical churches are experimenting with the Wiccan religion. Church leaders and Christian parents, she warns, must be ready to counter that growing interest among their youth.

Crouse cites an article inReligion Journal which said youth pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention were worried about large numbers of evangelicals taking part in Wicca, a religion that involves nature worship, stresses moral autonomy, and includes remedies and spells — beliefs that Crouse points out are distinctly different from orthodox Christianity, not to mention incompatible with the Bible.

“… Wiccans believe in moral autonomy — [that] ‘nobody can tell me what to do.’ And I think particularly with young people … that’s a very desirable thing; they don’t want the church telling them that there are boundaries, [that] there are things that they can’t do,” she explains. “Another one is that they don’t believe in having authorities beyond human constructs; that we as individuals have the responsibility to shape our own beliefs and there’s no evil beyond that.”

Full Article: ‘Earth worship’ on the rise among evangelical youth

If there is a rise among evangelical youth towards “Earth based worship” it certainly would be coming from the ‘Y Generation’ who appear to have the characteristics of questioning everything in life and challenging authority.  It’s no wonder with these characterisitics that there is a move away from the evangelical church amongst others.

If the church took the time to truly understand the drive to Earth based worship they would understand why they are losing membership.  This article relates back to a previous blog entry [ Kids need spirituality: study ] where the article relates that children need a sense of spirituality in life to be happy, not the role of structured religion that the church offers.

Is there anything wrong with questioning and exploring your beliefs; if anything it can only make the individual stronger and confirmed in their path in life.