A new report from Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center examines the possibility that poor mental health is linked to maintaining an anti-biblical worldview.
The report relies upon several studies analyzing adults with anxiety and depression. According to the research, those holding to an “unhealthy worldview” are more likely to struggle with “anxiety, depression, fear, and even suicidal thoughts.”
George Barna, the Director of Research at the Cultural Research Center, acknowledged that some people have chemical imbalances and genetic issues contributing to negative mental health outcomes. Many people, however, fail to “recognize the consequences of harmful worldview beliefs and behaviors may result in costly, futile, and potentially debilitating misdiagnoses.”
Federal research shows 23% of all U.S. adults have some kind of mental illness. Those in the millennial and Gen Z groups are more likely to have mental disorders than baby boomers. These generations are also more likely to lack a biblical worldview.
The report explains that a majority of Gen Z (56%) regularly experience anxiety, depression, and fear. Only one percent of this group is reported to hold a biblical worldview.
Baby boomers, the generation with the least reported mental health concerns (14%), have the “highest incidence of biblical worldview,” the report notes, with 8% maintaining a Bible-based outlook.
Other factors contributing to negative mental health outcomes include the feeling of having no purpose, rejecting God, denying objective truth, and believing in reincarnation. These ideas are more often held by younger demographics than baby boomers.
People who are disengaged from both political involvement and Christianity are very likely to experience mental health challenges (82%), the report notes.
Barna explained that it is “not uncommon to find a young adult who trusts feelings more than facts, sees no inherent value to life, believes in Karma, and rejects the existence of the biblical God and the availability of eternal security available through Jesus Christ.”
By believing that truth is “personal, subjective, and circumstantial,” and lacking “any sense of purpose,” one adopts a lifestyle that is “likely to be one that is inconsistent, chaotic, frustrating, and lacking in hope and lasting attachments,” Barna added. “It would be a life in which anxiety, depression, and fear would be virtually inescapable as a result of those choices.”
