When Faith Is Just an App

Much has been said about a Christian revival among Gen Z. Some statistics are disputed, but there does seem to be something happening.

I am curious about Christianity myself, and have noticed changes lately, conversations with young people who were raised as atheists and almost wish they hadn’t been, who wonder what it would have been like to grow up with more guidance and guardrails. That does seem new, different from even when I was a teenager. But part of me is still skeptical. For a while, I thought my generation might be finding God. Now I worry we are just finding content about God.

There is a lot of Christian content online. Learning about the faith feels easier than ever: Follow Christian influencers, listen to Christian podcasts, scroll through Christian hashtags; the Bible is bite-size now! Of course, this has been happening for a long time, Christianity being made easier and more convenient. Neil Postman warned in the 1980s that TV was turning faith into a form of entertainment. But now it feels as if all of Christianity can be done on a screen. To stay connected with God, all we need to do is subscribe, download, press play.