Talkin’ ’Bout My Generation
Does the meaning of "faith" depend on your age?
![Talkin' 'Bout My Generation Talkin' 'Bout My Generation](http://omaha.net/sites/omaha.net/files/imagecache/layout-large/thumbnails/1/buddhist-cell-phone.jpg)
- Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. One in four adults under age 30 (25%) are unaffiliated, describing their religion as "atheist," "agnostic" or "nothing in particular" compared with less than one-fifth of people in their 30s (19%), 15% of those in their 40s, 14% of those in their 50s and 10% or less among those 60 and older.
- The intensity of the religious affiliation among Millennials (those born after 1980, also known as Gen Yers) who are affiliated with a religion is as strong today as among previous generations when they were young.
- Young people who are affiliated with a religion are more inclined than their elders to believe their own religion is the one true path to eternal life (though in all age groups, more people say many religions can lead to eternal life than say theirs is the one true faith).
- Yet, young adults are also more open to multiple ways of interpreting their religion. Nearly three-quarters of affiliated young adults (74%) say there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith, compared with 67% of affiliated adults ages 30 and older.
- People under 40 have grown up exposed to greater levels of religious diversity in their schools, neighborhoods, and in the media than people over 40. I find that many people over 50 are more curious about just learning what different religious groups are out there and what religious diversity is present in our community. The big question they are asking is: “Is there religious diversity in our community, and if so, what is it?” Meanwhile, among people under 40, I find a different question on their minds: “Of course there is religious diversity in our community—so what do we do with it?” It’s easy to assume that because one has grown up around people of different faiths and beliefs that they know more about religious/spiritual diversity. But from my observations, that’s a dangerous and often inaccurate assumption to make. The issue is that just because one is familiar with religious/spiritual diversity doesn’t mean that one knows about religious/spiritual diversity in any meaningful way. This is especially true if you live, like I do, in a community where there are still generally low levels of interaction among people of different faiths and beliefs.
- In general, I see people under 40 defining and deriving a sense of community differently than people over 40. It seems that people over 40 tend to think of community in terms of institutions and formal groups, whereas I think many people under 40 see community more in terms of relationships, and those relationships can take many forms (online or in person) and can be formal or informal. I see this impacting faith communities as we see many younger people gravitating away from faith institutions and forming less formal, more intimate faith communities—whether it’s small-group bible circles at megachurches, the burgeoning “home church” movement, or the growing numbers of alternative settings in which people meet to connect and worship.
Comments
Richard Flory (not verified) says:
April 13, 2011 : 13 years 20 weeks ago
I was searching for something related to your post on religion and generations, and came across your blog post on religion and generations. I thought I would send along titles of a few books you might find interesting, each related to religion and generations:
GenX Religion (Routledge, 2000) edited by Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller
Passing on the Faith: Transforming Traditions for the Next Generation of Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Fordham Univ Press, 2006), edited by James L. Heft
After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion (Princeton Univ Press, 2007), by Robert Wuthnow
Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generations (Rutgers Univ Press, 2008), by Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller.
Best,
Richard