OMG! LOL! I H8 U!

And then there's this.

With a silly name, OMG! How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith In The iPod Era argues that there is an increasing non-Christian majority emerging in the Generation Y (currently 18-25 year old) era. With Tivo's, iPods and other devices allowing us to program our own lives, we apparently also have the abiliy to program our own beliefs, more of which are seemingly secular (imagine that...religion and government...separate???)

Amongst their major findings:

1. Religious Identity: Religion plays a central role at a critical time in young people’s development, as they try to figure out who they are, religion helps not only to carve out the images they have of themselves, but also provides the social and political networks in which they make friends, find lovers, think about civic and political issues, and develop a political worldview. However, the relative priority of religion in young people’s lives varies and less religious youth are somewhat more directionless as they try to figure out who they are and what they should be doing with their lives.

Sounds about right...who isn't concerned with their spirituality in some way as a relatively young adult? However, it is not a 'primary' concern in a lot of ways, but is more something that is very personal, typically private, and something that is more of a journey, a search for fulfillment, much like many other aspects of life.

2. Religious Practice: It is difficult to catalog religious practice among young people, in part, because they are at the stage of their lives where they drop off from traditional religious involvement and, in part, because informal and non-traditional forms also play an important role in young people’s lives. Here we categorize Generation Y into three groups:

• The Godly (27%) for whom religion and God are a central part of their lives and are comfortable with traditional forms of religious practice;

• The God-less (27%) for whom religion plays little role, but who may have spiritual or ideological aspects to their religious identity;

• The Undecided, in the middle, (46%) who are uncertain, yet positive, about their religious identities and lean towards informal and expressive practices over the formal and institutional involvement.

This is something that makes me pretty happy. We always see polls and research suggesting that the US is one of the most 'religious' countries in the world, with Christianity leading the way. Here we see that the "God-less" equal to the "Godly." Now God-less in this instance does not refer to heathens, but instead those that have some form of 'relationship' with personal religion, but for whom religion is not something they're sure of. Additionally, the nearly 50% group of Undecideds, for whom formal/institutional involvement does not exist, yet they are involved informally. Why am I comforted by this? Because with the 'rise' of the Christian majority and the religious right, I fear for my civil liberties, civil rights, and for the current form of government we have, one where religion is supposed to be expressed in a government official's personal, private life, not in policy, politics and public. These statistics show a religious group of people that allow religion into their private lives. Does this mean they won't change as they get older? Clearly not, and that's one aspect of research this study doesn't take into account. What is the likelihood of these 18-25 year olds retaining their ability to maintain a religious identity outside of their political and policy beliefs?

3. Civic Participation: There is a strong and intimate relationship between religious faith and commitment and civic life. This study confirms that even among younger people, more religious youth are more likely to volunteer in both religious and non-religious venues than the less religious. As we see a decline in traditional denominational life, young people are finding other routes to participation in civic life as well. A near majority of the God-less, for example, participate in some form of civic activity, but only 5 percent do so through religious institutions.

Particular points of note in the report:

• Most diverse generation in history. Generation Y is the most diverse generation in the nation – only 61 percent call themselves white compared to 84 percent among Americans older than 65 years. Fueled by waves of new immigration and birthrates in immigrant communities, this generation is on the vanguard of transforming the nation, which will be majority non-white by mid-century. (page 8)

• Denominationalism on the decline and pluralism on the rise. The country remains majority Christian with a plurality belonging to Protestant denominations such as the Baptists or Methodists. There are important changes afoot, traditional denominationalism is on the decline and there is a concurrent rise in the number of people unwilling to align with a denomination. In fact, many young people cannot identify what faith tradition or denomination they belong to and fully 23 percent do not identify with any denomination at all. (page 9)

Pluralism! Whoo hoo!

• Faith expressed in highly personal, informal ways. While many young people continue
to attend worship services on a regular basis, just as many – if not more - practice their faith informally. Young people simply believe it is possible to be “religious” or “spiritual” without belonging to a church, synagogue or mosque. On a monthly basis, 68 percent talk about religion informally with friends; 64 percent of pray before meals and 55 percent read religious books, newspapers or magazines. (page 10)

• Social circles diverse. Regardless of religious tradition or intensity of religious commitment, youth are fully integrated into diverse social networks. While previous generations often lived in homogeneous religious communities, among Generation Y, only 7 percent of youth report that all of their friends are the same religion as themselves. Even the most religious youth maintain diverse networks of peers with only 9 percent of the Godly saying that all of their friends are the same religion. Among the God-less, at least half of their friends are not of the same religion. (page 12)

• Religious teens are more self-aware. Despite assumptions we might make about youth’s disengagement from faith and community life, religion remains a core component of young people’s identity. Moreover, religious youth have a distinctive worldview and approach to life; they are more connected to family and community, have higher self-esteem and a sense of self and hold more traditional views about family, sex, and marriage. (page 15)

• But STDs, jobs, grades come before God. Generation Y faces a distinct set of challenges as they negotiate their entry into adult life. Figuring out how to deal with sex and relationships, the changing economy and finding a good job and the desire to get a decent education, all compete with more intangible concerns. One’s relationship with God is lower on the list of things to worry about and plays a subtler role except for very religious youth. (page 16)

• Religious young people more active in politics, community. In this study, we find a strong relationship between religiosity and a broad range of volunteer activities with 79 percent of the most religious participating in volunteer activity in the last 12 months compared to 43 percent among the least religious. Religion is less closely tied to political and cultural involvement. (page 25)

• Generation Y is disengaged from politics. Politics falls on the bottom of the list of issues that young people worry or think about, though certain groups such as Jewish youth and African Americans take politics more seriously. There is clearly great potential political energy to be harnessed, as we saw in the 2004 Presidential election, but politics is not seen as particularly relevant to daily life. (page 26)

Jew power!!

• Progressive social views dominate. Generation Y is more liberal and progressive than older generations on social issues such as gay marriage and immigration. In fact, a majority favor gay marriage (53 percent) and women’s legal right to abortion (63 percent). For a group characterized by diversity and pluralism, the political divisiveness of cultural politics seems fairly irrelevant. (page 28)

This makes me happy. Again, while we still have no idea how these young adults will ultimately change their views as they age, progressive social views are awesome. More than half favoring gay marriage and over 60% supporting abortion rights? Wow. If only these people were to vote as much as the religious right... Hmmm....