Cathy Lynn Grossman reviewed some of the prevailing trends in religion as revealed in the research by George Barna in his book Futurecast. Barna found that earlier trends for personal customization of religion have increased over time, with the percentage of the “unchurched” growing from 24% to 37% from 1991 to 2011. There was a decline in the percentage who believed the Bible as “totally  accurate” and in those who defined God as an all knowing, all powerful ruler. Today, 57% of Americans seldom or never attend religious services, with 34-37% saying they never walk through the door of a church building, synagogue, or mosque.

More and more are like Sheila, profiled in Robert Bellah’s 1985 book, Habits of the Heart. Sheila said of her religious beliefs: “My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just  my own little voice. … It’s just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself.” Barna suggested that our “designer society ” makes America headed for a nation of “310 million people with 310 million religions” (More Americans customize religion to fit their personal needs, USA TODAY, September 13, 2011 2A).

While it is disheartening to realize that fewer and fewer of our neighbors believe the Bible to be totally accurate, it should not surprise us. People see that their denominations are deviating from the Bible, as well as what hey believed in the past. A corrupt system must ultimately fall from its own internal contradictions.

This trend toward individual, customized religion may make it more difficult to convince people of the objective truth found in the Bible, but it opens doors for the truth of the gospel, because a man-made religion cannot ultimately satisfy the yearning of the heart. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice” (Proverbs 21:2-3).

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) asserted, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried” (What’s Wrong With the World, I, 5). Perhaps that is why so many have turned to their own form of “Sheilaism.” “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15).