Monday, December 27, 2004
A surprise stronghold of religion: The young
In a national survey conducted on behalf of MTV last August, a majority of young adults said they believed in God, and thought that religion or spirituality was a very important part of their life.
Yes, a majority: As in, 80 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds believe in God or some other higher being. Two-thirds identify with a particular organized religion or church. Only 21 percent say that religion plays a small or unimportant role in their life.
The results came as a surprise to the people who run a television station synonymous with cutting-edge youth culture, and all the glitz, skepticism and outrageousness that implies.
From the generation that gave us gangsta rap and bare midriffs, there's a yearning for a new Madonna.
There's no doubt that this is a nation in the midst of a profound consideration of the role that faith plays in personal and public life, and we ought to listen to what the future is saying. Not only to be nice - the way young people envision "moral values" could provide a template for the politics of tomorrow.
And, if the data are to be believed, young people do have their own take on morality. They see it as an individual imperative to do what is right rather than a preemptive judgment on others' behavior.
"Young people are less interested in what other people are doing, and more concerned about what they, themselves, are doing," says Paul B. Raushenbush, associate dean of religious life at Princeton University, who, as "Pastor Paul," answers questions from teens on the Web site Beliefnet.com.
Indeed, the MTV research found that young people are tolerant and open-minded toward those who hold different beliefs. The vast majority of the 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed, for example, "follow their own religious and spiritual beliefs, but also think that other religious beliefs could be true, as well."
They are also more likely to see individual choice, fairness, and social justice in religious contexts. Although they mirror the rest of the nation on abortion (fairly evenly split between those who think it should remain legal and those who think it should be banned), they break with their elders on gay rights, with strong support for civil unions and same-sex marriage.
And they also split with their elders on issues of economic justice. John C. Green of the University of Akron released a major study of the American religious landscape and political attitudes in September. Last week, he graciously agreed to separate the responses into two groups: 18 to 29-year-olds, and respondents 30 and over. No wild swings between the generations (except on gay rights), but plenty of subtle differences.
The under-30 crowd was more inclined to think that minorities and the disadvantaged deserve government assistance and that public spending should be increased to provide services. That could provide one explanation for why this demographic voted Democratic in November.
Here's another, hidden in the minutiae of a huge, ongoing UCLA study of spirituality among college students: As expected, students who are highly engaged religiously differ from their less religious classmates on casual sex, abortion, and marijuana and are more likely to identify themselves as conservative. But the religious kids are also more in favor of federal control of the sale of handguns, and of abolishing the death penalty.
It is good to have our stereotypes scrambled, to envision a 25-year-old who goes to church regularly and is against abortion, but favors gun control and government help for the poor. It is good to be reminded that the simplistic characterizations of what it means to be "religious," so prevalent in the national discourse, mask the complexity of the real thing.
By Jane Eisner
Contact columnist Jane Eisner at 215-854-4530 or jeisner@phillynews.com. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/janeeisner.
Permalink
