New research reveals U.S. teens’ and adults’ comfort levels with big questions and keys to discipling doubters

Rachael, a 40-something singer / songwriter and mom to two school-age kids, has her doubts about Christianity. “There used to be an old bumper sticker that said ‘Jesus, protect me from your followers.’ That kind of sums it up,” she says. “I am so down with Jesus, but it’s the organized religion aspect of it and the dissonance between Christianity and Christian nationalism that has turned me off.”

In her view, the message of Jesus has been corrupted and, specifically in our culture today, religion has been exploited by people who want to attain or maintain political power. “Christian nationalism is not Christianity, but too many people don’t know the difference today.”

Though Rachael’s perspective on faith and politics has affected and informed her spiritual journey, she remains curious and open to learning and growing spiritually—traits that align with many of the trends and themes emerging from a new Barna Group study about spiritually open people in the U.S.

In this article, the first in an ongoing series to explore findings from Barna’s Spiritually Open project, we’ll dig into doubts that keep people away from the Church and ways Christians and ministry leaders can more effectively come alongside spiritual explorers wherever they are on their faith journey.

First, the good news.

Spiritual Openness on the Rise

Barna has been tracking the state of Christianity for nearly four decades. Though the trajectory of Christian commitment in the U.S. has been on a downward slide, our latest study, conducted in partnership with Gloo and He Gets Us, gives Christian leaders some cause for hope.

Across every generation, we see a desire to grow spiritually, a belief in a spiritual / supernatural dimension and a belief in God or a higher power.

This trend toward spiritual openness reveals a remarkable opportunity: A majority in our midst is open to tapping more deeply into their spiritual life. They’re curious. They are more open to Jesus than we might otherwise imagine. This should be welcome news for churches in the U.S., which have seen a general decline in attendance and affiliation and corresponding increases in atheism, agnosticism or no faith.

Further fueling hope for the future of the Church is the notable widespread openness and curiosity that teens in particular feel toward Jesus. Data from our recent The Open Generation: United States study show roughly half of U.S. teens (52%) are very motivated to continue learning about Jesus, and another one-fourth (25%) is somewhat motivated to do so.

Amid all the handwringing over the faith of the next generation, teens (at least at this point in their lives) want to know more about Jesus. That’s good news for the Church.

Doubts About Faith

With this openness across all generations comes opportunity—and doubts. Our new data sheds light on the doubt that often accompanies people on their spiritual journeys.

Over half of teens and adults (so, the U.S. general population ages 13+) report that they’ve experienced doubts about their religious beliefs at least sometimes (12% frequently, 16% occasionally, 24% sometimes) in the past few years. Similarly, exactly half of those who are Christian or who have some Christian background or experience (50%) say they have gone through a “prolonged” period of doubt.

Many Christians view doubt as a necessary part of one’s faith journey, though perhaps as a phase to move through. Overall, arriving at certainty is the preferable end goal.

Interestingly, teens and adults of other faiths and especially those of no faith have more comfort with doubt, less often seeing it as something to be overcome—and even seeing it as something to be praised. Forty-two percent of teens and adults of no faith and one-third of those who belong to other religions feel “it is good to be skeptical and doubting” (vs. 13% of practicing Christians). Those of no faith are often content to not have answers (37%). More than half of practicing Christians (52%), meanwhile, say they are “comfortable and certain” in their beliefs.

(Not Quite) Grappling with Doubt

Overall, people say they value honesty and openness over certainty when it comes to their spirituality. This top selection holds true, with some variation, across faith groups. Practicing Christians are almost evenly split on which is more important to them, either openness (51%) or certainty (49%) in their faith.

It’s no surprise, then, that people of no faith say that, if they end up in spiritual conversation with a faith leader, they hope their conversation partner is honest about their doubts. (We’ll explore what honesty looks like in action and what makes for better spiritual conversations in future installments in the Spiritually Open series.)

Generational Doubts

Doubts and what people do with them differ, especially when viewed through a generational lens. Just looking at the likelihood of reported experiences of doubt, we see an ebb and flow across the age cohorts.

Perhaps due to Elders’ seasoned state in life, the data often shows them navigating paradoxes of belief. Though they rarely experience doubt in this season (just 17% say they frequently + occasionally have in the past few years), they balance feeling comfortable and certain in their beliefs (44%) with feeling content to go without answers (42%).

Gen Z and Boomers are more aligned in their views of doubt than one might expect. They are equally likely to say doubt is a necessary part of life’s journey, just not the end goal (52% each, respectively). However, Boomers don’t as often claim to experience doubt—one in three (33%) says they “never” have in recent years—while Gen Z’s views on doubt seem to come from more immediate experience. Three in 10 in this younger generation (30%) have doubted their religious beliefs occasionally or frequently in the past few years.

While Gen X largely represents the average views across the total sample, Millennials seem to be the generation who most experience doubt and most wrestle with what to think about the nature of doubt. Given their stage of life—the oldest Millennials are nearing mid-life, and many Millennials are now raising kids, amid challenges in vocation, culture and community—it’s not surprising that this famously skeptical generation would feel some angst over not being certain about their faith beliefs, who to turn to for answers and not having answers to life’s biggest questions.

Gen Z and Millennials’ doubts require listening ears and empathy to allow them to openly explore their faith questions. Unfortunately, there isn’t a guarantee people will view the Church as a safe place to explore their doubts. For example, those who identify as being of “no faith” describe present-day Christianity in particularly negative ways—mainly, calling it hypocritical (76% say to at least “some” extent) and judgmental (77%).

What’s Driving Doubt?

For those with some distance from Christianity or the Church (whether we analyze by people of no faith, the unchurched, those who could be described as deconstructing and so on), the “hypocrisy of religious people” is the top driver of doubt.

Remember Rachael’s story at the beginning of this article? Hypocrisy was one of her biggest hang-ups about Christianity, and this mirrors the number-one reason for doubt, including among her Millennial peers (selected by 29%).

Elsewhere, and throughout many years of Barna’s research, our data shows that those who are reluctant to affiliate with a church say Christians seem closed and judgmental, or that they often value being right in their beliefs over and above helping others make their own faith discoveries.

Interestingly, pastors seem attuned to this reality. By an overwhelming majority, pastors assume that past experiences with a religious institution (83%) or the hypocrisy of religious people (80%) cause people to doubt Christian beliefs. These are indeed among the top responses among people of no faith, along with science and human suffering. Those in the pews, meanwhile, seem less aware of—or less willing to admit—potential barriers to belief.

Discipling Doubters

The fact that many people are spiritually open, curious and willing to ask questions about faith is a remarkable cultural reality that represents opportunities to engage in spiritual conversations inside and outside of the Church.

“People are looking for answers to life’s toughest questions,” says David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. “As Christ-followers, we know that every question and need can be answered in and through Christ. But for people to submit to this truth, they need to see it demonstrated in us first. Are we living transformed lives that offer a glimpse of the sanctifying and sustaining power of God to overcome all that this world throws our way? Are we making space for them to freely ask questions without judgment, to wrestle through the very real challenges people face at work, home, school, online and with their peers?”

For the Church to embrace spiritually open people, it needs to offer space for honest conversations more than providing certainty or definitive answers to their questions.

Unfortunately, Christians often don’t know how to have spiritual conversations with people who are grappling with their faith. In fact, when Christians come across as having the answer to all their questions, they may risk turning non-Christians and open Christians alike away from the faith. After all, questions aren’t the main driver of doubts; the reputation of the Church and Christians is.

If you’d like to turn insights into action and explore how to engage with the doubts that keep people from becoming part of your church, check out Understanding & Engaging with Doubts: A Field Guide for Faith Leaders.

You can also get a pulse on your congregation’s beliefs and perspectives on Jesus with the Jesus Pulse Assessment, or gauge how equipped your people feel to share Jesus with spiritually open non-Christians with the Sharing Jesus Assessment.