Give us that Old Time Religion….But Not Yet.
Christian Smith has written a follow-up to his widely praised book Soul Searching, a thorough and incisive treatment of religion among America’s youth. While I have not yet read his new work, Souls in Transition, Naomi Schaeffer Riley has, and she summarized it in last Monday’s Wall Street Journal.
Smith’s conclusion is that young people are becoming increasingly irreligious. “Only about 20% attend religious services at least once a week, a 22% decline from Mr. Smith’s survey, five years ago, of the same group of young people.” But paradoxically, young people still expect to maintain their religious habits–when they grow up. And that appears to be farther away for many young people than ever. While statistically, my generation is not so different than our parents, we will spend longer away from religion (and a longer time before we marry, have kids, and “settle down”) than they did. We want religion, but not yet.
Smith’s analysis is that religions haven’t done a very good job of inculcating young people into their respective belief systems and practices. And on this point, I suspect he’s right.
But there is a deeper question there about why religion matters for young people at all. Riley suggests that it helps save us from the “a vacuous and dispiriting moral relativism” (no editorializing here). And that might be right. But I wonder whether even those young people who are retaining their religious heritage are touched by a bit of moral relativism themselves. The young adult Riley quotes–”Morality is how I feel too, because in my heart, I could feel it”–could be any number of religious young people. Substitute “God” for “morality” and I suspect the point would have significant agreement, at least among the religious high schoolers I have sometimes been fortunate enough to teach.
My generation’s desire for religion–but not yet–is indicative of the sort of relativism that Riley clearly disdains. The Anglican scholar C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” The same, I think, could plausibly said of all religions. They are more than lifestyles that we adopt, and they are deeper than our decisions to “settle down” and raise a family. It is precisely that notion of religion that my generation clearly fails to understand.
Matthew, thanks, most interesting comments here. Thanks for the link, as well; I hadn’t seen that. I believe it was “Soul Searching” that showed high levels of religiosity among Mormon youth. This spurred a little self-congratulation and some speculation as to what made the difference among our own people; I’m not satisfied that we really know, but I would guess that the highly developed youth programs plus the paramount importance of marriage to another Mormon might have something to do with it.
In any case, I agree with your assessment that a kind of relativism is attenuating traditional concepts of God and morality. I don’t know whether you saw my post yesterday, but I linked to a very interesting exchange between Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405030643556324.html
Armstrong’s argument—that God is a symbol and to be apprehended intuitively rather than rationally—appears to correspond with the (much less coherent and elegant!) remarks of the young adult you cited.
Rosalynde,
I did see your post, and I thought it quite well done. In fact, I plan to respond to it later this week, as it sets a great foundation for civil dialog on matters of religion, which I think postmodernism actually undercuts. But I’ll save that argument for another post. : )
And thanks for the note about Mormon youth. I think you are right about the youth programs and the view of marriage, both of which my own tradition (evangelicalism) could learn much from.
Best regards,
Matt
It sounds like modern kids are figuring it out for themselves that Believers are full of Baloney. Believers rail against “moral relativism”, yet their very own God (All Love, you know, All the Time) serves as a the Supreme Example of Moral Relativism Gone Wild… killing, slavery, lies, misogyny, animal sacrifice, etc.. More and more of them can “smell a rat”!
Let’s see, 2% points in five years… if this trend continues, in 30 years young Believers will only account for 10%, and in another 40 it will be under 5%. No wonder Ted Haggard turned to drugs and a desire for gay times. Time to start preaching the truth, not The Truth!
Shakespeare,
Yup, we silly believers just haven’t caught on yet. Someday, my friend, someday.
But let’s remember: religions are growing worldwide, not receding. The whole secularism thesis seems to be in grave, grave trouble.
And what strikes me of your criticism (Religion relativistic? Really?) is that its precisely the opposite of that which is so often made (too moralistic, judgmental, etc.). Religion must be an odd thing if it can be criticized for the opposite vices at the same time…
But I’m sure we’ll keep having this conversation. Is there any specific charge against the God of Christianity you might like me to address? I’m happy to take requests… : )
Best,
Matt
Thanks for your post, Matthew. As you rightly point out, the trend in the West is not global, though who knows what the future holds. Many denominations are even treating the U.S. as a mission area & sending missionaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America into the U.S. I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts on postmodernism some time. I think it’s got it’s good points - even theologically - but also it’s downside. I don’t see too many people as young as yourself examining it critically.