According to Josh McDowell, who in case you’ve never heard the name, is a Christian apologist guru, especially popular (or used to be) among young evangelicals. I would occasionally have students bring his books to my office hours in their attempt to defend themselves from my apostasy.

In any case, McDowell sees the Internet’s growth and egalitarianism as undermining authority and orthodoxy. Apparently McDowell gave a talk to that effect:

His talk, titled “Unshakeable Truth, Relevant Faith,” had detailed a certain uncomfortable fact in anticipation of the question: that young Christians in America are rejecting Christian fundamentalism—and doctrinaire concepts such as absolute truth and biblical infallibility—in droves. Why is faith in God being supplanted, earlier and earlier, by relativism, secularism and skepticism? McDowell’s answer was simple: the Internet.

So the Internet joins that long list of other cultural innovations (the printing press, dancing, the automobile, movies, radio, television) that will destroy the faith of our youth.

It’s not just conservative Protestants who are attuned to epochal changes in attitudes toward religion. In fact, McDowell is behind the curve. In fact, it’s not the internet that’s the problem anymore. It’s the iphone:

Anyone who today works with or near young people cannot fail to see this: for members of the present generation, the smartphone has become an amulet. It is a sacred object to be held and caressed and constantly attended to. Previous generations fell in love with their cars or became addicted to TV, but this one elevates devotion to material objects to an altogether different level. In the guise of exercising freedom, its members engage in a form of idolatry. Small wonder that aficionados of Apple’s iPhone call it the Jesus Phone.