In May 1960, the FDA approved a new oral contraceptive, which ushered in a veritable revolution in American culture?indeed for the whole world. It truly was one of those watersheds in human history. Today, over 100 million women use this oral contraceptive. But we are still working through the massive effects of this pill, which altered so much in our culture. How should we think about the social revolution brought about by the pill?

Religion remains a powerful force in Western civilization, especially the United States. . . As I argued in a recent edition of Issues in Perspective, the God of many Americans, especially teens and emerging adults, is a moralistic therapeutic deistic God, not the God of the Bible. So, where does this leave us as a civilization? Is genuine, biblical Christianity viable in the United States?

One of my favorite authors today is sociologist Christian Smith, who has authored a series of books that superbly analyze the culture of American teens and emerging adults (18-30 years of age). In his 2005 study, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Smith summarizes the worldview of America?s teen culture. In this Perspective, I want to summarize Smith?s thesis.

If you have a young daughter or granddaughter, you have no doubt heard of The Hunger Games, the first of three novels written by Suzanne Collins. A remarkable best-seller that has enthralled young girls and boys, it is now a blockbuster movie, setting records for a just-released movie. It is an engaging and provocative story, filled with themes and underlying messages, not incompatible with biblical Christianity.