LifeWay Resarch--an organization that The Living Church magazine (Episcopal) says is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention--apparently has produced a report showing that young people 18-30 may be dropping out of regular church attendance in increasing numbers. The cohort of the study was young Protestants of various denominations, but I suspect that similar findings could be produced for Catholics and, for that matter, Jews.
Most common among the reasons for poor church attendance by youth, according to the survey, are (in the words of The Living Church), "life changes, unhappiness with the clergy or other people at church, and ethical or political reasons."
Personally, I suspect that another and possibly connected reason is that the age cohort in question includes a lot of students who have been propagandized against faith in college (or even high school) classrooms, not least of all by Darwinism. Certainly doubts are raised. The host of New Atheist books make it clear that Darwinism, in fact, frequently has that intended purpose. Unfortunately, few churches even recognize this problem, let alone have a clue about how to defend their flock against creeping agnosticism.
Many young people are serious about religious faith, of course, and for that you usually can credit various para-church organizations, not the churches in which the young adults were raised. These same faithful kids are put off by science in college, however, once they realize how hostile many of their professors are to religion. Unfortunately, their discomfort not only is real but also justifiable. Students who might question Darwinian theory on scientific grounds are likely to get down-graded. If, with such views being known, they want to major in science or aspire to an advanced degree in one of the natural sciences, many of them realize that their chances are compromised by the prejudice of their departments. (Please don't contest this; there are plenty of statements by Darwinist professors themselves that make the institutional hostility plain.) If somehow they get an advanced degree while it is known that they harbor scientific doubts about Darwinism, they are unlikely to get hired as teachers or professors, or later to get tenure, or (if already tenured) promoted or given pay increases. The academic career ladder is slippery enough with out greasing it further with ideologically unacceptable views.
So how many are such turned-off students? Is it enough to help explain why the United States is doing so poorly at producing young scientists? Surely it is at least a contributing factor. The Darwinists will hate this argument, but maybe a few of the more honest ones will own up to it.
Dogmatic Darwinism kills rather than excites curiosity. It blights science as well as the culture.