Why are so many teens non-religious?

[TK421]

The teenage brain is massively geared towards the desire to please their peers. The pre-frontal part of their brain remains undeveloped while their higher brain functions are rapidly developing. Think of a car with an amazing acceleration pedal and a brake pedal that barely works.

It is the one and only time period in a person’s life where differences are not popular. Think of young kids: young kids are crazy about things that are different. They see a man in a crowd with a yellow hat and they want to run up and look at him and talk to him. An adult at a cocktail party stands out in some way, and everybody wants to talk to him. Teenagers are the exclusive demographic that don’t act like this. Faith, morals, habits: they all get pushed aside in order to satisfy the #1 priority: pleasing peers and gaining acceptance.

Teenage years aren’t an easy time in any society. Compound this with a society besieged by the two beasts that have come to wage war on the children of Mary: A) the corruption of state, and B) the corruption of religion. Wars aren’t pretty. There are casualties.

 

[Mike_Dye]

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.

Thanks for saving me from having to answer the OP. Your answer is right on.

 

[marymary1975]

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.

^^^^ this!!! My daughter goes to a catholic school and the priest in every parent meeting repeat. Do not expect that sending your kids to this school is going to make them good Catholics. The faith is transmitted at home by the parent. I’m this school we can only reinforce what is being thought at home but if you (parent) do not live your faith, don’t educate your kid and leave your kid’s home education to the TV, no matter how many catholic schools or teachers, your kid will lose the faith.

Parents are the first catechists of children and they must teach it both by example and words. Unfortunately many kids do not have a stable fily environment and the parents themselves don’t know the cathecism or don’t think that religion is that important. And yes this happened too when I was a teenager so it is nothing new.

 

[Flopfoot]

Every generation there are people who claim that the current generation are significantly different than the generation before. But when those teens grow up to be adults, they turn out to not be so different than the adults from the previous generation. Society does change, but it changes slowly. If you look at what percentage of the world’s population is Catholic, it’s the same as it was 30 years ago.

Here are some reasons why it might appear that more people are non-religious, even though they aren’t…

• Groupthink (people repeat what they heard other people say and once it’s said enough it gets accepted as truth)
• Perhaps religion is under-represented in the media
• People don’t walk around with signs on their heads saying “I’m religious”
• People on the extreme end of the bell-curve don’t realise that they are on the end, and expect that all religious people will be like them. So they don’t notice the average religious people who make up the majority of most religions
• For teens in particular, it’s a normal part of development to take more risks than usual as someone explores their new freedom / adulthood which can be misinterpreted as a departure from religion

 

[eightydeuce82]

Every generation there are people who claim that the current generation are significantly different than the generation before. But when those teens grow up to be adults, they turn out to not be so different than the adults from the previous generation. Society does change, but it changes slowly. If you look at what percentage of the world’s population is Catholic, it’s the same as it was 30 years ago.

Here are some reasons why it might appear that more people are non-religious, even though they aren’t…

• Groupthink (people repeat what they heard other people say and once it’s said enough it gets accepted as truth)
• Perhaps religion is under-represented in the media
• People don’t walk around with signs on their heads saying “I’m religious”
• People on the extreme end of the bell-curve don’t realise that they are on the end, and expect that all religious people will be like them. So they don’t notice the average religious people who make up the majority of most religions
• For teens in particular, it’s a normal part of development to take more risks than usual as someone explores their new freedom / adulthood which can be misinterpreted as a departure from religion

We have roughly 3 generations of disobedience in the church which has led to the current state of affairs IN the church and in society that sort of disproves your generation theory.

Catholics are NOT growing up and getting it…actually its the opposite.

 

[ineeda]

I was not religious as a teen. I went to Catholic school for eight years. Family background here - My mother was a big time volunteer for the church and school. Took us to church, every Sunday. If we were too sick to go to church, we were too sick to do anything that day. Even, if we had a “recovery” during the day. Not allowed to leave the house, or have friends over. My father, was a man that fulfilled his Easter duty. Not a regular church goer.

My mother was a young widow at age of 49. She became more religious after my father died. Attending Holy Hour and prayer groups, weekly.

I left the church as fast as I could, at the age of 18. Mainly, because I was just lazy. My peers did not attend. I lived according to the world at the time. Parties, fun, etc…

I would agree with being poorly catechized. In spite of the fact, I attended Catholic school, and CCD during high school. Also, we were not a family that prayed, together. It was just a rule that we must attend weekly mass.(My father only fulfilled his East duty) My mother took us to Sunday mass.

I was somewhat of a social outcast from the age of 12. I did not want to be religious, as it was not cool. I wanted to do whatever to fit in.

Perhaps, if my family prayed together at home, outside of church, it would have been different. No blame on my parents, here. As, I did the same with my children. Oh wait, correction, it was until they were confirmed, then I no longer pushed it. I set a poor, poor example! I was LAZY!!! I did not have strong religious beliefs! I only went through the motions.

I am now 58. I just came back to the church, recently. And, I never fully agreed with all of our beliefs, until I recently returned. Better late than never, but I wish that I would have come to this realization many years, ago. I do preach to my adult daughter, and tell her how wrong I was. I tell her that premarital sex is wrong and contraception is wrong. She tells me that it is 2015, and that is how it is today. Same things I said growing up. I have convinced her to attend Eucharistic adoration with me. I believe that is what totally changed me around and accepting all of the Catholic beliefs. I have been attending for about three years. I prayed to increase my faith. Now, I pray for the conversion of my husband, who has no religious instruction at all. He is from a family that was Orthodox faith, but they only attended on Christmas and Easter. My husband believes that the church can be at home, and the churches are all about money. And, I pray for my young adult children to return to the church.

I really think that better catechism, religious education in the home, and family prayer can help teens. Also, some good youth groups. I worry about my eight year old grandson, now. I am trying to practice what I am saying here.

And, after getting carried away in a long post. I see others have already stated what I have in the paragraph above.

 

[casslean]

We have roughly 3 generations of disobedience in the church which has led to the current state of affairs IN the church and in society that sort of disproves your generation theory.

Catholics are NOT growing up and getting it…actually its the opposite.

I’m curious about your statement of “disobedience in the church”. What do you mean by that? What is it that you feel that Catholics are not “getting”?

I came into the faith as an adult. The current church - and for the most part, the parishioners - have created a welcoming and embracing environment, where I felt I could belong. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the feeling that there were a host of rules I needed to learn and obey. I spend much of my time trying to explain to my friends who have embraced secularism that religion is not just rules and obligations - it is something much deeper. So I find it disconcerting to hear you talk about “disobedience” as if that’s exactly what religion is.

I think Flopfoot has a point in noting that the proportion of the people who identify as Catholic has remained roughly stable over the last three generations. What the statistic misses is that there is a difference between identifying as Catholic and actually practicing Catholicism. The latter is harder to measure and what we need to address.

 

[pianistclare]

We have roughly 3 generations of disobedience in the church which has led to the current state of affairs IN the church and in society that sort of disproves your generation theory.

Catholics are NOT growing up and getting it…actually its the opposite.

That’s not true.
There are good Catholics.
No one can expect to “know” something without study.
This sky is falling mentality is really insulting to those who try hard to live their faith and return God’s love.
Does no one have any HOPE anymore?
It’s tiresome to constantly be bombarded with what WRONG with everyone else.
There are lousy Catholic in every generation.
Let’s not write off the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead.
There are PLENTY of great priests and Bishops out there.
Reality does appear bleak at times, but God is in control.
Most definitely. And He will prevail.

 

[eightydeuce82]

That’s not true.
There are good Catholics.
No one can expect to “know” something without study.
This sky is falling mentality is really insulting to those who try hard to live their faith and return God’s love.
Does no one have any HOPE anymore?
It’s tiresome to constantly be bombarded with what WRONG with everyone else.
There are lousy Catholic in every generation.
Let’s not write off the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead.
There are PLENTY of great priests and Bishops out there.
Reality does appear bleak at times, but God is in control.
Most definitely. And He will prevail.

First off I never said there wasn’t good Catholics, priests, etc…stop adding what isn’t there

 

[slh3016]

^^^^ this!!! My daughter goes to a catholic school and the priest in every parent meeting repeat. Do not expect that sending your kids to this school is going to make them good Catholics. The faith is transmitted at home by the parent. I’m this school we can only reinforce what is being thought at home but if you (parent) do not live your faith, don’t educate your kid and leave your kid’s home education to the TV, no matter how many catholic schools or teachers, your kid will lose the faith.

Parents are the first catechists of children and they must teach it both by example and words. Unfortunately many kids do not have a stable fily environment and the parents themselves don’t know the cathecism or don’t think that religion is that important. And yes this happened too when I was a teenager so it is nothing new.

And this is not a new occurrence. My husband attended a Christian school K-college and he says that his classmates were all heavily into sex, alcohol, tobacco, and pot. The parents seemed to think they’d done their parental religious obligation simply by sending their kids to a Christian school.

Even more sad is that fact it was well-known that the Catholic kids at the school down the street were even worse than they were

 

[Irishmom2]

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 think this is absolutely true. Today’s teens spend a lot of time with social media. They read a LOT of things, true and untrue. Many are influenced by their friend’s (non) beliefs, or celebrities endorsements of their causes and values, or just by the liberal, and often non-believing press/media. It almost doesn’t matter what is taught at home, or in Catholic school, teens come up with their own ideas of what they think. Unfortunately, they follow what is trending, or tweeting, pinning or posting.

 

[pianistclare]

First off I never said there wasn’t good Catholics, priests, etc…stop adding what isn’t there

You IMPLY, in nearly every post, that the Church is going down and people are disobedient. the way people word things makes a difference.

 

[eightydeuce82]

I’m curious about your statement of “disobedience in the church”. What do you mean by that? What is it that you feel that Catholics are not “getting”?

I came into the faith as an adult. The current church - and for the most part, the parishioners - have created a welcoming and embracing environment, where I felt I could belong. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the feeling that there were a host of rules I needed to learn and obey. I spend much of my time trying to explain to my friends who have embraced secularism that religion is not just rules and obligations - it is something much deeper. So I find it disconcerting to hear you talk about “disobedience” as if that’s exactly what religion is.

I think Flopfoot has a point in noting that the proportion of the people who identify as Catholic has remained roughly stable over the last three generations. What the statistic misses is that there is a difference between identifying as Catholic and actually practicing Catholicism. The latter is harder to measure and what we need to address.

I have heard just as many stories of being welcomed and comfort that I have shunned and distanced. So really its on where ever you are and your particular parish. RCIA in most places is pretty bad. As one poster already mentioned its bad catechesis that’s a root of many problems we are experiencing. That includes RCIA. Its good that you were not overwhelmed many people are and its one of the biggest factors outside of divorce that keeps people out of the church. In reality there are a lot of difficult precepts that you must prescribe to in order to be a faithful catholic. that fact that this wasn’t difficult for you to me means you received a big glom of grace from God (which is great) or your not aware of all the rest (poor catechesis). I have no idea how long you have been in the church or your education level (on a catholic level) so its all speculation at this point.

We are in a crisis of faith across the board and not just here in the church. All denominations and faiths are experiencing this. I have posted this before but ill do it again for your benefit. I had a priest here recently ordained (less than a week) the guy was roughly 30 years old if that. Awesome very traditional priest. I talked with him for some time about remaining faithful, obedient and bringing a sense of tradition with him where ever he goes. He was certainly in agreement and discussed with me how for the last 40-50 years it seemed that there was a spirit of disobedience in the seminaries and that the young priests coming out now have a different spirit than what he has observed with the older generations. Those were his words.

In my world I go by the old adage lex orandi lex credendi lex vivendi. these things are completely intertwined. Remove one or change one and you will effect the other. This is what you are seeing.

Here’s what I didn’t just say. There are not good obedient priests and parishes out there. All Catholics are disobedient. and the sky is falling.

 

[eightydeuce82]

You IMPLY, in nearly every post, that the Church is going down and people are disobedient. the way people word things makes a difference.

Mirrors are a good thing to look into sometimes.

I get the sense from your posts that everything is just peachy and if only we had a good DRE everywhere the world would be saved. Ignoring obvious glaring problems in the Christian world under the false charity or just being P/C solves nothing. We have a mass exodus of people leaving the faith not just the catholic faith. This is ALL we should be talking about! Ignoring it does nothing.

 

[casslean]

In reality there are a lot of difficult precepts that you must prescribe to in order to be a faithful catholic. that fact that this wasn’t difficult for you to me means you received a big glom of grace from God (which is great) or your not aware of all the rest (poor catechesis). I have no idea how long you have been in the church or your education level (on a catholic level) so its all speculation at this point.

I have a remarkable amount of education, both on a academic and Catholic level. I know and accept all of the precepts of the church. But not because I am willing to be obedient to a set of rules. Rather, I follow those precepts because I understand why I am asked to follow them. I was taught that obedience should stem from love - we don’t follow God and His commandments because we are told to, but because we love Him, and He loves us, and when you truly love someone, you want to make them happy and to be close to them. God gave us His commandments not because He wanted a bunch of obedient little lambs, but because He wanted us to be close to Him.

The church is experiencing difficulties, but I think you offer a very narrow, very pessimistic perspective of the cause. Do you really believe that if the church wholeheartedly embraced a traditionalist practice, the pews would be full every weekend? Or would it seem even more distant and foreign than it presently does? Would it just be another institution of meaningless rules, rather than a place to find God’s unconditional love?

In my world I go by the old adage lex orandi lex credendi lex vivendi. these things are completely intertwined. Remove one or change one and you will effect the other. This is what you are seeing.

As we worship, so we believe, so we live. This is the adage you claim to go by. But your posts don’t reflect that you really have a full understanding of what it means. If our worship is simply blind adherence to a set of rules and obligations imposed on us, where is the belief really grounded? In God or in your rules?

You haven’t really answered my question. What is the “disobedience in the church” that you feel has been so damaging? Is it actually disobedience? Or is it that you (and those to whom you have spoken) have decided that your “traditional” methods of practice are superior and thus those who do not follow are wrong?

 

[Flopfoot]

Well, if you want to say that people are different now than they were before Vatican 2, that’s not really surprising - society may change slowly, but 50 years is a long time.

But is that really the scope that the OP is looking at? They are only 17, so their ideas of religiousness are probably not rooted in that time.

And is it a question of quality “people are less religious” or of quantity “less people are religious”? Is there a certain cut-off where someone could be religious but not religious enough, or is there a definite gap between religion and non-religion?

And does different necessarily mean worse? By what metric do we measure how good the Catholics of today are compared to the Catholics of pre Vatican 2? You could do a survey about how obedient people are to certain church teachings, but which teachings would you pick? Do you have a time machine to get authentic results from people in the past? Do you think people in the past would answer as honestly as people of today considering that there was social pressure to appear good even if you weren’t?

How about a more realistic metric: We would assume that if the church became worse, then less people would want to be a part of it. Since we have the same number of people wanting to be part of it now as before, then it must not be any worse.

 

[eightydeuce82]

I have a remarkable amount of education, both on a academic and Catholic level. I know and accept all of the precepts of the church. But not because I am willing to be obedient to a set of rules. Rather, I follow those precepts because I understand why I am asked to follow them. I was taught that obedience should stem from love - we don’t follow God and His commandments because we are told to, but because we love Him, and He loves us, and when you truly love someone, you want to make them happy and to be close to them. God gave us His commandments not because He wanted a bunch of obedient little lambs, but because He wanted us to be close to Him.

I’m glad you have expansive education! That’s a great thing to hear. I think you have an awesome grasp on obedience! I think you missing the other side here thou…Yes he loves us and we follow because we love him but he expects our obedience precisely BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM! This is a covenant after all.

The church is experiencing difficulties, but I think you offer a very narrow, very pessimistic perspective of the cause. Do you really believe that if the church wholeheartedly embraced a traditionalist practice, the pews would be full every weekend? Or would it seem even more distant and foreign than it presently does? Would it just be another institution of meaningless rules, rather than a place to find God’s unconditional love?

First off no I don’t think that if the church completely accepted a traditional form of practice it would fix all things. I think if the Church would be obedient it certainly be much better weather that be the TLM or the OF. Although the traditional seminaries are packed and I haven’t been to a TLM that wasn’t full…I think if one realizes that this IS the church that Christ established and the rules said church has presented to us are HIS rules. there is no difference BTW. We know that following those rules provides a happy life. This requires obedience but we know we will fall and have a lifeline.

As we worship, so we believe, so we live. This is the adage you claim to go by. But your posts don’t reflect that you really have a full understanding of what it means. If our worship is simply blind adherence to a set of rules and obligations imposed on us, where is the belief really grounded? In God or in your rules?

I have complete understanding of this lexicon! No one is calling for a blind obedience to rules. The rules are from God so yes they are IN the rules. By following them and remaining obedient you are showing God you intend to live the covenant (which is a contract with rules) not just a personal relationship with God in your heart. Of course a personal relationship is necessary and good! But that’s not what this means or what I was implying by using this saying. What I was saying is that the disobedient past in the liturgy has given rise to how people pray and live. The loss of reverence (in many not all) and a falling away in Christianity and belief in many of its core tenants in general. I think we would be fools to think these things are some how just coincidently happening at the same time we changed the liturgy and the way we pray. Considering the Mass and the Eucharist are the source and summit of our faith…id say that more attention to this aspect is needed. What we have and what the Popes have been hammering home as well as the Cardinals who have sat in the seat of the doctrine of the Faith have said as we are in an era of confusion with the liturgy and its been detrimental and damaging. That’s a known issue. That’s where I was going with the saying. So no its not a set adherence to a set of rules but that is certainly a big neglected part of it.

You haven’t really answered my question. What is the “disobedience in the church” that you feel has been so damaging? Is it actually disobedience? Or is it that you (and those to whom you have spoken) have decided that your “traditional” methods of practice are superior and thus those who do not follow are wrong?

Answered above. Yes its disobedience. No traditional methods are not superior. These are not applicable everywhere obviously but their seminaries are packed full with long waiting lists. I’ve never been to a TLM that wasn’t full ad reverent with people who want to be there as opposed to going because its a cultural norm or something Gmaw did.

 

[eightydeuce82]

sorry about the way that posted but im sure you can get what I was saying from that

 

[eightydeuce82]

Well, if you want to say that people are different now than they were before Vatican 2, that’s not really surprising - society may change slowly, but 50 years is a long time.

But is that really the scope that the OP is looking at? They are only 17, so their ideas of religiousness are probably not rooted in that time.

And is it a question of quality “people are less religious” or of quantity “less people are religious”? Is there a certain cut-off where someone could be religious but not religious enough, or is there a definite gap between religion and non-religion?

And does different necessarily mean worse? By what metric do we measure how good the Catholics of today are compared to the Catholics of pre Vatican 2? You could do a survey about how obedient people are to certain church teachings, but which teachings would you pick? Do you have a time machine to get authentic results from people in the past? Do you think people in the past would answer as honestly as people of today considering that there was social pressure to appear good even if you weren’t?

How about a more realistic metric: We would assume that if the church became worse, then less people would want to be a part of it. Since we have the same number of people wanting to be part of it now as before, then it must not be any worse.

I’m not going to get into post or pre VATII. I don’t think there is a comparison these issues have always been here pre and post.

What I do think is people of the past had a better grasp of the spiritual aspects of our faith. There are a number of factors for that. Not just church matters or a council. I don’t want this to be a bash on VATII because its not. BTW the population has grown you forgot that.

 

[CthgeDelendaEst]

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.

.

The majority of American teens couldn’t point out China on a map yet they have done historical research into religions and come to a great rational decision that God does not exist? That’s quite risible.