Why are so many teens non-religious?

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BrockH

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I am a 17 (almost 18) year old Roman Catholic and I am very excited about my faith. I pray and read the Daily Mass readings everyday, I go to Mass on Sundays (and weekdays or Saturday when possible), and I live my life differently than other teenagers who seem to be extremely liberal. I don’t support gay marriage, abortion, sex change, contraception, pre-marital sex, and all that, and I feel like I’m the only one. So…why are so many teenagers completely non-religious?
 
You know the temptations common to your age group that work contrary to the faith even better than we do. The faith makes demands contrary to the lure of the world and the desire for self-determination. The faith requires dedication. The faith can be a point of dispute or a struggle for power between teens and their parents. The false idea that the faith is at odds with science is common in the world, and teens are having their first independent contact with the world. The false idea that the faith is oppressive and superstitious is also commonly fed to teenagers.

Do not forget, too, many people do not receive the same consolations from practicing the faith when they are teens that they did when they were young children. Some have never felt any consolations in prayer at all, for a variety of reasons, and from this dryness question whether their prayers are heard at all.

As I said, if you think about the challenges that face your peers, you probably know more of the reasons than we do.
 
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” - GK Chesterton

Nowadays it’s more “difficult” because the beliefs of Christianity go against many de fide dogmas of the secularist religion. Although it’s a shame that so many are apostasizing because all we’re being asked to do is to endure a little ridicule (like John Oliver’s recent anti-Catholic tirade on HBO/youtube, or Dan Savage’s anti-Christian tirade in front of a group of teen-aged high schoolers a few years ago, out of daily examples one can find in the mainstream media-entertainment-education apparatus), it’s not like we’re really being persecuted or even put to the sword like our brothers in the mid-East or in the Roman Empire pre-Constantine. But the desire to fit in is very strong, and we’re prideful, we liked to be admired.
 
  1. Parents aren’t serious about their faith.
  2. Parents don’t live out their faith well (Weekly Mass is just another obligation like soccer practice, swim meets, etc.)
  3. Culture/Media/Internet (MTV, Kardashians, etc.)
  4. Peer pressure
  5. Lack of maturity
  6. Poor catechesis
  7. Crumbling of family
  8. Etc
  9. Etc.
  10. Etc.
However, what you describe seems pretty typical of teenagers, even when I was one 😉

Sad, but true.
 
Because unless they were graced with a devout family that actually taught them the faith and showed them how great it truly is, making them open to God… it would take a miracle for them to become interested in religion in the right way (many are interested in religion only to come across the internet’s copious supply of misinformation, sophistry, and even vitriol, and get sucked into that route of obsessively hating it). A majority of “Catholic schools” aren’t going to offer anything substantial. I can’t even count how many people I knew in high school who left it no longer being Catholic, seeing Catholicism simply as a bunch of annoying rules without anything deeper. The supposedly deeper and spiritual parts are presented in a fluffy and vacuous way. Families aren’t teaching it, thinking the Catholic school will. Then the Catholic school fails. The Internet is hit-or-miss, mostly miss. To whom do they go? There’s definitely a culture out there more than ready to endow them with its corruption. Being in college now, I get to see many of my former Catholic school buddies embracing modern feminism and libertine ideologies. Having been betrayed by those who were supposed to show them the splendor of the supernatural, they have turned to the best “the world” has to offer them, which is brute pleasure. In pursuit of that pleasure they’ll take up quite disturbing ideas, if they even stop to think about it at all. Anyway, everyone knows life is about being happy and having fun, so if anything for a moment even appears to stand in the way of that, it’s disqualified. It’s sad, really.
 
Teen years and even early adulthood is a time of rebellion. It is a very common stage in life. The attitude of no one knows what they are talking about, “it was different then, you don’t get it,” “I’m grown” mentality. Lots of teens are trying to find their places in life and some have to stumble and fall, scraping their knees and elbows.
 
DaddyGirl said:
With the young people I know who are your age…they have done their historical research into religions and come to the conclusion that they are man-made and often based on myths…so they don’t want to be a part of a specific religious structure.
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Sigh

The real irony here is that it’s actually the opposite, it’s only the ignorant who make statements like that.

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
BrockH said:
I am a 17 (almost 18) year old Roman Catholic and I am very excited about my faith. I pray and read the Daily Mass readings everyday, I go to Mass on Sundays (and weekdays or Saturday when possible), and I live my life differently than other teenagers who seem to be extremely liberal. I don’t support gay marriage, abortion, sex change, contraception, pre-marital sex, and all that,
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🙂
BrockH said:
and I feel like I’m the only one.
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😦
BrockH said:
So…why are so many teenagers completely non-religious?
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Because, I believe from what I have heard/read, especially in America, their youth (and others) are surrounded by propaganda in favour of disbelief. 😦

I hope this has helped

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
DaddyGirl said:
.
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From dialogue with you on other threads DaddyGirl, I know you have read Dawkins’ ‘God Delusion’ and I don’t know whether you still believe a lot of what you have read in that book, but Id just like to say that I believe there are many fallacies in that book that have been successfully exposed, if you would like I would be happy to share some with you.

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
slh3016 said:
  1. Parents aren’t serious about their faith.
  2. Parents don’t live out their faith well (Weekly Mass is just another obligation like soccer practice, swim meets, etc.)
  3. Culture/Media/Internet (MTV, Kardashians, etc.)
  4. Peer pressure
  5. Lack of maturity
  6. Poor catechesis
  7. Crumbling of family
  8. Etc
  9. Etc.
  10. Etc.
However, what you describe seems pretty typical of teenagers, even when I was one 😉

Sad, but true.
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Absolutely. Teens who have not been exposed to faith, will not have faith.
Pretty simple, really. 🤷
 
josh987654321 said:
Sigh

The real irony here is that it’s actually the opposite, it’s only the ignorant who make statements like that.

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh
Click to expand...
Yeah. I was a really arrogant teen (big surprise) and grew up without religion, and I definitely had an attitude that religious people were d-u-m-b dumb, though of course it’s impolite to say so.

Only later did I realize how much subtle antireligious material I’d been exposed to, and how much my disdain for formalized religion was based on total ignorance on my part, and tired stereotypes and memes (Galileo, Church hates women, blah blah…)

I’m still a young adult, and a lot of my secular peers get this strange look in their eye if I mention prayer or going to church - like I turn from a human capable of rational thought to some cute little animal they’d like to pet. That’s how they talk about religion too - they might not be outright hostile, but certainly THEY are above such limiting things and more enlightened. :rolleyes:
 
For me personally when I was a teen, I lived for the moment. I thought I had a lot of time to think of religion in a deep way. There was a lot more fun things to do then to think about my death and getting into heaven, and that’s what I thought religion was all about.
 
DaddyGirl said:
With the young people I know who are your age…they have done their historical research into religions and come to the conclusion that they are man-made and often based on myths…so they don’t want to be a part of a specific religious structure.
Click to expand...
Really? Because I’ve found few teenagers, or indeed adults, who have ever undertaken the type of rigorous historical research needed to reach the conclusion you suggest. I know many who have bought into myths and opinions expounded by a secular world, which actually have no basis in fact.

Further, I have advanced training as an historian - I took a Masters’ degree in history - and I barely consider myself able to really parse the historical sources needed to discover the truth about the foundations of our faith. I find it a little ridiculous to think that your average fifteen year old managed to read all that there was and reach an informed opinion. They didn’t. They just managed to follow a popular opinion.

Why are many teens non-religious? Because we are told that we should not NEED religion in this day and age, and teenagers are especially susceptible to that kind of peer pressure. In the media - which is targeted to younger audiences - religion is held up as something antiquated and ridiculous, while the secular world and its values are trumpeted. My experience has been that when you balance out the effect of the secular world with a strong faith-filled upbringing, teens embrace their faith. They just need to be told it is okay to do so.
 
casslean said:
Really? Because I’ve found few teenagers, or indeed adults, who have ever undertaken the type of rigorous historical research needed to reach the conclusion you suggest. I know many who have bought into myths and opinions expounded by a secular world, which actually have no basis in fact.

Further, I have advanced training as an historian - I took a Masters’ degree in history - and I barely consider myself able to really parse the historical sources needed to discover the truth about the foundations of our faith. I find it a little ridiculous to think that your average fifteen year old managed to read all that there was and reach an informed opinion. They didn’t. They just managed to follow a popular opinion.

Why are many teens non-religious? Because we are told that we should not NEED religion in this day and age, and teenagers are especially susceptible to that kind of peer pressure. In the media - which is targeted to younger audiences - religion is held up as something antiquated and ridiculous, while the secular world and its values are trumpeted. My experience has been that when you balance out the effect of the secular world with a strong faith-filled upbringing, teens embrace their faith. They just need to be told it is okay to do so.
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Well stated! Yes.
People see having faith as somehow being “needy” or delusional.
But they’ll eat up that reality tv alright!
Seriously, we had a lesson on SSA (what the Church REALLY teaches about this)
and the reaction from the teens was ridiculous. They had already been indoctrinated by secular media about these matters and their remarks were absolutely nonsensical, they were so sad. No thoughtful discussion, no tolerance, no interest in learning what the church says. Just “you’re wrong”. Their parents had no clue. There’s no discussion in many homes of morality in general, much less specific religious beliefs.
If people think they can drag a teen to Mass and class once a week and someone else will “fix” them and their attitude…oh well.
We can’t work magic. You reap what you sow.
 
18 year old Catholic here, just so you know that you are not alone. I second what laircy said about Catholic schools from personal experience. There is a tendency for catechists and religious studies teachers to dumb down religious to make it fun or easier to understand. I can 99.999% guarantee that it will back fire on you. It is an insult to the teenager’s intelligence and they will walk away thinking that there is no reasonable reason to believe in Catholicism. Not to mention that there is a dearth of Catholic role models either in the family or outside. Which that, the teen is never going to seriously look at religion unless he or she starts pondering what is truth, the nature of things, why is this the way it is, etc.

That is my take. And, for educators, for goodness’ sake stop it with the coloring and the poster-making and the pop psychology. Ditch those flimsy textbooks that are repetitive and resemble more like comic books. How about actual history books and Churcj documents instead of the watery version. By the way, more colorful doesn’t make things better. The graphics and colors in my Catholic youth bible for high school were rather obnoxious.
 
BrockH said:
I am a 17 (almost 18) year old Roman Catholic and I am very excited about my faith. I pray and read the Daily Mass readings everyday, I go to Mass on Sundays (and weekdays or Saturday when possible), and I live my life differently than other teenagers who seem to be extremely liberal. I don’t support gay marriage, abortion, sex change, contraception, pre-marital sex, and all that, and I feel like I’m the only one. So…why are so many teenagers completely non-religious?
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It is a mistake to put this non religious question in only the context of teens. Teens are people. I’m 40 and all that you said applies for my contemporaries as well. We are called to be different. We are called to faith. It should not surprise us that the world is against what we are called to be. This is not a teen issue it is a humanity issue.
 
It is counter-culture (and not in a hipster kind of way lol) to be religious, especially Catholic. Im a youth minister and the teens in our youth group seem like great kids I only pray that they don’t distant themselves from the faith as they get older.

The world is very alluring, and teens are the most susceptible to the brainwashing because their brains haven’t fully developed yet! Females are bombarded with the need to sexualize themselves in order to have “self-esteem” and males can feel judged by how many females (or males) they’ve “conquered”. Catholicism is so drastically against all these allures that it may seem logical to the young person who embraces this culture to be against it.
 
pianistclare said:
Absolutely. Teens who have not been exposed to faith, will not have faith.
Pretty simple, really. 🤷
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Let me add this too as it completes the list
  1. Lack of reverence for those who do attend which pours down to the kids
  2. Lack of obedience to the faith
  3. a loss of the sense of the sacred
  4. a loss of reverent liturgy
  5. abuse by some of a reverent liturgy leading to 1,2, and 3
  6. Loss of the above = a loss in what we believe
 
[BIBLEDRB][/BIBLEDRB]
BrockH said:
So…why are so many teenagers completely non-religious?
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Look to their home life and parental example for the primary reason. There are always exceptions, but this will be the primary source of their instruction and example in the faith.
 
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