The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said at least two-thirds of young people are leaving the Southern Baptist church between adolescence and adulthood.
    
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler warned in a speech at the seminary in Louisville, Ky., that if this trend is not reversed, the Southern Baptist Convention will die out.
    
Mohler said Southern Baptists can come across as "cranky" but he said standing by the scriptures means saying tough things to a culture who views his denomination as intolerant.

"If we stand by the Scriptures, we are going to have to say hard things to a culture around us that will consider us backward, unloving, intolerant," he said.

He added that many of today's young people have a misconception of Christianity and they believe that God just wants them "to do well and to do right and to be happy."

*Originally published August 25, 2009