75% Of Children Are Leaving Church;
Who’s To Blame?

Apologetic Dr. Frank Turek: Interview Part I

Why do 75% of Christian young adults leave the church after attending higher education? Is it the fault of the church, or parents? Can we reverse this trend? Apologist Dr. Frank Turek of Cross Examine thinks he understands the root of the problem, and has a solution.

Dr. Frank Turek is a dynamic speaker and award-winning author or coauthor of three books: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Correct, Not Politically Correct, and Legislating Morality. As the President of CrossExamined.org, Frank impacts young and old alike at colleges, high schools and churches with hard, yet entertaining evidence for Christianity. Frank has debated atheist Christopher Hitchens, and defends Christianity with He hosts a hour long TV program each week called I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, and radio program called Cross Examined with Frank Turek. He has been a guest of The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, Faith under Fire, Politically Incorrect, The Bible Answer Man, and Focus on the Family. Frank has a Masters from George Washington University and a Doctorate in Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary.

I had the privilege to ask Doctor Turek how we can reverse this alarming trend affecting the future generation of the church.

* 75% Of Children Are Leaving Church After Attending Higher Education!
* College Professors… Are Five Times More Likely To Be Atheist Than The General Public!
* When Young People Go Out Into Society And Particularly Onto A College Campus, They’re In A War!
* Are Chruches Doing Enough… Generally, No!

Apologetic Doctor Frank Furek

Frank, 75% is an alarming number. What is the cause?

Churches don’t know what to do with high school kids. Once they go off to college they are at the mercy of liberal professors who despise Christians. About 75 percent of those who are brought up in the church will go away from the church once they leave home. There are a number of reasons for this;

One reason, they don’t understand intellectually why Christianity is true, because we’ve never told them why it’s true. We just simply say believe, don’t ask questions.

When they get to college the professors don’t say just believe. The professors give reasons for their world view even if they are naturalistic philosophy clothed in what appears to be scientific evidence. So when we send our kids off they don’t know how to deal with that kind of thing. They don’t understand the evidence for Christianity!

There are a number of factors that conspire against belief in God. When you go out on your own for the first time, you might not want to do everything your parent taught you, you want independence. You also don’t want to be seen as the bible thumper on campus. You want to fit with everybody else, and you definitely don’t want to be the target of the atheistic college professors. Who by the way are five times more likely to be atheist than the general public!

The easiest way to get picked off in a war is to not know you’re in one. When young people go out into society and particularly onto a college campus, they’re in a war. They may not know they’re in a war, but it’s a war against Christianity, natural law, and Christian values, and for atheism and liberalism. If our children are not trained intellectually, they can easily succumb, and come home a completely different person with a completely different world view. That’s tragic, particularly for parent who’ve spent thousands of dollars to have atheistic college professors talk their kids out of the truth.

What can kids do to combat these issues? If they speak up, they pay with bad grades. They’re forced to tolerate these attacks against Christianity, because the schools will not support Christianity.

They can start by downloading my free phone app called “The Cross Examined App”. In there is a quick answer section. Many of the objections which are brought up in the classrooms, and by their friends are answered there. So if a professor says something which you think is wrong, you don’t have to refute what the professor says. You just have to get them to support their view. As an example; the professor says “The bible’s been changed throughout the centuries. You ask a question. You don’t stand up and say “no it isn’t.” You ask, “What do you mean by that.” See if the professor even understands his own statement. I can almost guarantee you, in most cases they will not know what it means. Then the second question is “how did you come to that conclusion”. There are questions like this in the app that help young people deal with many of the objections they will face.

A friend of mine Gregory Koukl wrote a book called Tactics. In the book he explains how to interact with people, particularly college professors in a classroom setting. You never want to make a frontal assault on a superior position. The professor is older, and they own the classroom. They can shut you down at any point they want. It’s not your job to take the bait, and have the professor ask a student to stand before the classroom to offer an explanation of why Christianity is true. What you can do is tell them, “I’m here to learn.” I would like for you to tell me why what you say is right; I’m just asking for evident.” By asking questions, you can often reveal the flaw in the ideas the professor is putting forth. Other students will recognize those flaws as well.

How can parents better prepare their children?

We have resources on our website at CrossExamine.org. We have a book I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. We have a DVD series I Still Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist, which comes with a workbook and a curriculum, those can prepare young people. It’s for parents, youth group, Sunday school teachers, and small groups of any kind. Just put in the DVD, and go through the workbook. When the kids walk out, they will know why Christianity is true, understand the basic objections and know how to handle them. I encourage they go to our website. They can watch free videos there and order books, and curriculum.

Apologetic Dr. Frank Turek: Interview Part 2
Who Defines Morality: God & Bible, Society or the Government?

Are churches doing enough?

Maybe some churches, but generally no. If they had been, we wouldn’t be having this problem right now. Kids are always going to walk away, they have free will. It’s easy to walk away from something you doubted your whole life. It’s hard to walk away from something you believe within a reasonable doubt is true. The Christian faith believes we ought to have evidence for what we believe. It’s all throughout the bible, “Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have” 1 Peter 3:15. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” says Jesus in Matthew 22:37, “Demolish arguments and take every thoughts captive to Christ”, Corinthians 10:5. From the old Testament “Come let us reason together” Isiah 1:18. The Christian faith is based upon evidence. And the evidence you should definitely know before going into a hostile environment like a college campus.

Each year we run the Cross Examine Instructors Academy (CIA) in Charlotte NC, where we teach others how to teach material from “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist”. There was a a doctor who attended from the University of Michigan. He referred to the campus as 36 acres surrounded by reality. A college campus is like an alternate universe, everything is upside-down.