Why are so many teens non-religious?

[EasterJoy]

A study of 16-29 years olds that was done by The Barna Group about 8 years ago gives some indication of why many young people are skeptical about religion:

While Christianity has typically generated an uneven reputation, the research shows that many of the most common critiques are becoming more concentrated. The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians. The most common favorable perceptions were that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82%), has good values and principles (76%), is friendly (71%), and is a faith they respect (55%).

Even among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

Interestingly, the study discovered a new image that has steadily grown in prominence over the last decade. Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is “anti-homosexual.” Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a “bigger sin” than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.

barna.org/barna-update/teens-nextgen/94-a-new-generation-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity#.VXJLBs9Vikp

This brings up a question. Has the rapid rate of change in the last 100 years given young people the idea that the attitudes of the past are entirely wrong, that humanity itself has gone through significant changes, and that everything about human behavior has to be tested and re-decided from scratch? Is the whole concept of an unchanging and faithful Apostolic Tradition something that is rejected outright?

Is there anything in education that puts value in “the classics”? Isn’t contemporary education geared towards questioning everything, denigrating the idea of authority, and making the individual the ultimate judge of all truth? Are patients not encouraged to challenge their physicians and presume to educate themselves on the internet so that they can feel their medical decisions are every bit the equal to their physicians, even though the patient does not have the scientific aptitude to even get in to medical school? Hasn’t the attitude among patients become that it is arrogant for a physician to believe he or she knows more about medicine than his or her patients? Is it possible we have swung from arrogant know-it-all physicians to arrogant know-it-all patients? Is it possible the same is true in the realm of spirituality?

If the “positives” of contemporary thought were to be applied to a religion, that religion would be utterly neutered. It would be like going back to the days when physicians visited rich people and the rich people told the doctors how to practice medicine. The result is a pandering form of quackery that indulges the whims of the patient but does not pose the least bit of threat to the actual disease. This is essentially what some young people have come to believe is the ideal–that is, the idea that they ought to be considered the experts on themselves not just in what they are feeling, experiencing, or want to undergo, * but in every respect*, whether or not there is a bit of evidence to support that assumption.

I will wager that there are young people who would contend that a physician who dared to tell any of them that he or she understood their bodies in ways they didn’t begin to appreciate, the physician would be deemed arrogant. True or false?

 

[Buck_Crosswhite]

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?

Their parents didn’t say a daily Rosary with them when they were younger. A daily rosary will help a person keep his faith for life.

 

[josh987654321]

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.

Hi pensmama87

Thank you for the reply, may I ask what the turn around for you was? (feel free not to answer if you don’t want to).

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

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 agree.

“Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will work wonders.” - St Anthony Mary Claret

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

It is the vision of what Christ has suffered for us on Calvary which inspires the love that compels me to bend my knees and say with St Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh