Public Trust in Government, Media, and the Church Has Fallen. Is There Hope for Change in 2025?
With President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory and a Republican majority in both the Senate and the House, 2024 seems to be ending on a high note for conservatives. And yet, polls show that there is a significant lack of public trust in government. Not only that, but Americans are increasingly losing confidence in the media. What kind of obstacles or difficulties could this bring going into 2025?
Americans are navigating “through a rapidly evolving cultural and political landscape,” guest host Jody Hice said on Thursday’s episode of “Washington Watch.” Already, “there are certain … trends that reveal that we have both challenges as well as opportunities facing us.” As Hice explained, Americans seem to be going through a bit of a mental and spiritual crisis, with “Gen Z … bucking the downward trend of Bible engagement … [and] a troubling rise in things like anxiety and depression and suicide rates.”
Hice continued, “I look at 2025 right now on the horizon, [and there’s] no doubt there are many changes that are coming.” Most notably is the Republican control of the White House during “a time when overall confidence in government is probably at historic lows.” He asked, “Is there any way that we might see an increase in trust among the American people with the government?” George Barna, senior research fellow for the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, joined the conversation.
“Well,” he said, “there are a couple of ways of looking at that.” In one sense, it “could easily get higher because it’s so low right now. There’s not too much lower that it can drop.” However, Barna admitted that any increase in the trust Americans have in their government likely won’t come easily. “[C]an it get higher?” he asked. “Yes, it can. But it’s going to take some significant steps forward. One of those would be casting a compelling vision of the future for our nation, and describing ways in which everyone in government is going to work together to see that happen.”
“People are tired of the standstill in government, of all the obstacles that they’re seeing … the outrageous amounts of money being spent, [and] the debt that’s being piled up,” Barna noted. Many Americans “also have this perception that a huge proportion of public officials are corrupt. And so, if we want to change people’s sense of trust in their government, they’re going to have to address those issues full on. They’re going to have to see actual leadership skills demonstrated.” Hice agreed, stating how “that’s a big hill to climb in the current environment.” But beyond Congress, he added, trust in the media has dwindled as well.
In fact, Hice explained how this year saw a significant increase in people who relied on social media platforms for gathering information. With this in mind, he asked, “Is that likely to change or not change in the coming year?” According to Barna, it is unlikely to change. Rather, as he put it, “I think what we’re going to see is a continued movement away from traditional sources of media … toward independent media.” Barna argued that this is because mainstream media now comes across as more subjective and biased than before. So, Americans are “going to look elsewhere,” he argued, further asserting that this also explains why podcasts, for instance, have “skyrocketed in terms of their popularity.”
Barna added, “Is traditional media going to be able to win back their popularity and the sense of trust of Americans? I don’t really see that happening in the next three or four years at least, because people now have set their minds to the point where they’re saying, ‘I can’t trust them. There’s no reason for me to even listen to them.’”
There’s one more notable area where people seem to be losing trust, Hice observed. “I hate to even bring this up, but there’s also seemingly … an increasing distrust for churches, a lack of trust. What do you think this next year holds for the church? Is there anything that they can do to become a greater influence in our culture?”
“[I]t’s interesting,” Barna replied, “because when you look at what’s going on with churches, in some ways it’s very similar to what’s happening with government, where people have less and less trust in the leadership of their churches.” Additionally, he explained how many Christians “feel like they’re not getting real value from their churches. And as we’ve been evaluating that, one of the things that’s become clear is that, often, that’s because they feel they’re not being given practical advice, practical guidance — real, tangible value for their life. … [This] come[s] from preaching God’s word on a consistent basis and breaking it down for people so that they know how to apply God’s truth principles in their personal life.”
But if churchgoers feel that church is not serving them, the question becomes why is that the case? Barna contended that a lot of it boils down to how churches “evaluate their success in ministry … based on how many people show up, how many programs they offer, how many … people they’ve hired, how much money they’re raising, [and] how much square footage they’ve built out.” This is problematic, Barna argued, because “if you think about those five objectives that most churches in America consistently measure to evaluate their ministry effectiveness, one conclusion we can come to is … [that they’re] bound to fail as a set of measures.”
“Why?” he asked. “Because Jesus didn’t die for any of those. That’s not what His life, His ministry, [or] His teaching is all about.” At the heart of the matter, Barna contended, is that “we’ve gotten away from the Bible not only in what we’re teaching, but even in how we’re measuring success and impact in ministry. … [I]n the last five years … half of all adults in America attending a church at least once a month on average [has gone] down to roughly one third of Americans. That’s a huge drop in a short period of time. And … the reason is they’re not getting biblical value from churches.”
“Wow,” Hice sighed. “[T]his is an extremely important issue because the well-being of our whole culture ultimately comes down to the spiritual health of the culture, which ultimately obviously rests upon the health of the church.” Considering this, he asked, “What does the church need to do to get people to come back to church? What kind of changes need to be taking place within a church body to fulfill the mission that God has given them to do?”
According to Barna, it “comes back to the whole issue of worldview. Why is it that young people in particular would say that they often are struggling with fear, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts? … [I]t comes back to their perspectives about how life works. When you’ve got a young adult who doesn’t believe that there’s a God who’s all knowing, all powerful … merciful … just … involved and engaged in their lives, [and] when you’ve got generations of people who say that they don’t believe that there’s anything that happens after they die,” he urged that “it’s imperative that if … churches or families want to be uplifting [and] … a source of strength and hope and optimism, particularly for younger adults, well, then they’ve got to get back to God’s word.”
“[O]ur entire culture [is moving] in the wrong direction,” Barna warned, “and it’s up to churches and parents to raise their children up, to understand the truths of Scripture … to trust the Bible, to know God, to trust Jesus personally, [and] to understand that we’re sinners.” People must understand that “success in life isn’t by your material goods. … It’s not by your fame. It’s not by your popularity. It’s not even by feeling good. It’s about consistent obedience to God.” Another part of this issue is due to a lack of discipleship, he argued, and disciples who aren’t properly equipping themselves.
For anyone grappling with fear, anxiety, or depression, Barna concluded that “Jesus is the antidote. … The Bible shows us an alternative way of living,” and “the more that we can address worldview issues, the more that we can not only rebuild the church, but we can bring back a sense of life and hope and optimism to all Americans.”
AUTHOR
Sarah Holliday
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.
EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.
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