While watching a Democratic presidential debate in 2019, Christian author Richard E. Simmons III saw a TV advertisement in which Ron Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan, boldly promotes atheism.
“Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in Hell,” read the tagline for the Freedom From Religion Foundation ad.
Two days after viewing the commercial, Simmons read an article in The Wall Street Journal about the faith decline in America, and a short time later, another article that reported 44% of Americans ages 18 to 29 identify as religious “nones.”
“It was truly shocking,” Simmons, an author, speaker, and the executive director of The Center for Executive Leadership, a nonprofit, faith-based ministry in Birmingham, Alabama, told The Christian Post. “It really concerned me and made it clear that this is a really big issue in our culture right now.”
