http://www.facsnet.org/issues/faith/youth.php
“The single most important social influence on the religious and
spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents – not their peer group,
not their own individual searching, not even their youth ministers,”
said Christian Smith, principal investigator of the National Study of Youth
and Religion, a research project being conducted at University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. Smith said parents who are from the “Baby Boomer”
generation (1944-1964), who experienced the mass generational rebellion
in the 1960s, mistakenly expect their children to react the same way. “The
youth today have more in common with grownups than not. They have embraced
the mainstream values. Their main concern is to succeed in the society that’s
been given to them.” The lesson for parents, Smith said, is to
stop thinking about teenagers as strange, impenetrable beings. “Parents
have an enormous influence over teens they are often unaware of.”
Among the survey questions and answers:
1. Are teens disconnected from religion?
One third of teens surveyed are religiously involved.
One third are sporadically involved or loosely connected.
One third are disconnected from religion.
“It is a big spread, and there is a lot of variance,” Smith
said. “Many people assume teens are disconnected and not interested
in religion, but that is not the case.”
2. Do teens today reflect the increasing religious diversity of
the United States?
No. The vast majority of US teens identify themselves as Christians, according
to the survey. “Adolescents are no more varied today than they have
been for a very long time,” Smith said. “But the area that has
grown the most is the non-religious category. These are the people who quit
saying ‘I’m Catholic’ just because their family background
is Catholic, whatever.”
3. Are teens hostile toward religion?
“There is very little hostility toward religion among teenagers,”
Smith said. “Almost no teens we surveyed launched an attack on religion.
Most think religion is a good thing.”
4. What is the impact of religion on teens?
“Very religious teenagers appear to be doing better in life than less
religious teenagers or non-religious teens,” Smith said.
5. Are US teens “spiritual seekers”?
Only two to three percent of those surveyed could be considered as spiritual
seekers, Smith said. “Contrary to many popular assumptions and stereotypes,
the character of teenage religiosity in the US is extraordinarily conventional,”
Smith said. “The typical answer is, ‘This is what my family
does; this is how I was raised. I am happy to follow how I was raised; this
is what I’ve been taught; it’s good enough for me.’ There
is not a lot of questioning; not a lot of searching.”
6. Do American teenagers consider themselves “spiritual but
not religious” or follow esoteric spiritual fads?
“Very few American teens appear to be exposed to, interested
in, or actively pursuing ‘spiritual-but-not-religious’ personal
quests or eclectic spiritual seeking,” Smith said. “Of course
there is a minority of teens who are rebellious; who are searching. But
the vast majority in the middle is conventional. And there is a minority
that is extremely religious.” “I Don’t Know” Although
the majority of the teens surveyed claimed some form of Christianity as
their religion, very few could describe the tenets of their religion and
what it means. “For many of the teens interviewed in the survey, it
was the first time any adult had asked them what they believed. It was like,
‘What? I’m supposed to give an account of this?’ Teens’
most typical response to what their religion required was, “To be
a good person ...?” or simply, “I don’t know,” Smith
said. More likely, he said, “religious educators are failing to socialize
teenagers to talk about their faith. And I don’t mean to single out
teens. I think teens are reflective of their parents. Teens are not the
problem. They reflect what is true of the adult world. They are just being
socialized into it.”
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Out of the vague answers the teens provided about faith, Smith detected
a pattern of thought, a particular religious outlook that he calls “Moralistic
Therapeutic Deism,” or MTD. The creed of MTD, based on what emerged
from the survey, breaks down as follows:
Faraway God- A god exists who created and ordered the world and
watches over human life on earth. “But God is distant. God is
inaccessible and far away. He is out there somewhere, but he is not really
involved in history or world events,” Smith said, summarizing
the teens' opinions.
Don't be a jerk- God does not make demands of us that we need to
respond to. “But God wants people to be good, nice and fair to
each other, as taught in the Bible and most other world religions,”
Smith said. “Some teens summarize their moral worldview as ‘Just
don’t be an a------’”
No bad feelings- “The central goal in life is to be happy
and to feel good about oneself—not to be a disciple, not to be a servant
of the most high; not to be a part of a people from a very long tradition
that shapes who you are,” Smith said. “The primary
idea is to be happy, not feel bad about oneself or have bad feelings.”
Cosmic therapist- God does not need to be involved in one’s
life except when He is needed to resolve a problem. “God is there
to call when you are in trouble or when you have a problem. He is there
to call when you have bad feelings. Otherwise God can stay away,”
Smith said. “God is a combination of a divine butler and a cosmic
therapist.” Be good. You just need to be “good,”
and you will go to heaven. Good people go to heaven when they die.
Moral Relativism
In the broader survey, he said the teens could account very little of why
something is right or wrong. “There is very little connection
to the tools to help think through moral issues beyond ‘this is how
I feel,’” he said.
Life Outcomes
Despite the apparent weakness of conviction and understanding of faith,
American teens who are religiously affiliated generally perform better in
life. “Although teens aren’t able to articulate, when we
step back and look at the difference between religious and nonreligious
teens, there are enormous differences on literally every life outcome, such
as not engaging in risk behaviors, getting along with parents, doing better
at school—any outcome you want, even considering other variables such
as income, parents’ education, region, race,” Smith said.
“Although religiously active teens are significantly less likely
than non-religious teens to engage in risk behaviors, significant numbers—between
20 percent and 40 percent—of religiously active teenagers are involved
in serious risk behaviors involving alcohol and drugs, according to the
survey. Religious congregations benefit teens by being one of the few non-age-stratified
places where toddlers, teenagers, middle-age adults and senior citizens
all come together in one place”, Smith said. “Simply
the structure of going to church every Sunday, hearing the moral teachings
of religion, and mixing with adults serve important functions for teens,”
Smith said. “Religion has a positive and constructive influence
in teens’ lives, despite the act that teens don’t know much
about their religion and can’t articulate it. It shows people are
formed by forces they might not even be aware of or understand.”