Soul Searching - Fr. Steve Ryan

A Presentation of the Book

by

Steve Ryan SDB

A. Purpose

In all the flurry of activities to help teenagers, let’s look at their

Religious and Spiritual Lives

Introduction

B. How

Through a study

(surveys & interviews)

conducted between 2001-

2005 by the University of

North Carolina

Introduction

To validate or falsify diverse claims about the religiosity

& spirituality of American teens (ages 10-19)

What Claims?

Introduction

Claims that…

1. American religion is widely diverse among ethnicity and denomination.

2. American religion has become culturally individualistic and subjective.

3. American religion is anti-institutional.

4. Most people are opting out of faith altogether.

5. People create their own eclectic (mix & match) spirituality. - Boudean-

6. American people (especially youth) are returning to religious tradition & orthodoxy. – Carroll -

Introduction

Soul Searching attempts to describe and evaluate the shape and texture

of American religion thru the lens of religious and spiritual practices of

American youth.

religious & spiritual practices of American

Youth

Introduction

Methodology



NSYR conducted random telephone surveys of U.S. households with at least one teenager in them



NSYR researchers conducted 267 in-depth interviews in

45 states

Introduction

Breakdown of the Book

 Chapter 1  Chapter 2

Interview of 2 Baptist girls

Examination of survey findings

* affiliations

* beliefs

U.S.

Adolescents

* experiences

* practices

Introduction


Chapter 3: Focuses on 3 groups of teens:

Spiritual but not religious

Disengaged from religion

Religiously devoted teens

Introduction


 Chapter 4

American adolescents’ thoughts, beliefs & feelings about religious faith & spirituality

 Chapter 5

Social forces & factors that form the lives of

U.S. youth


 Chapter 6

U.S. Catholic Teens

Focusing on the question of WHY

(on the whole) they score lower on the religiosity measures of this study

 Chapter 7

Focuses on how religious practices associate with life outcomes in adolescents’ lives

Chapter 1

Two Baptist Girls

Joy a 16-yr old girl with loss, guilt, disappointment & low self-esteem

I was a Christian. Right now, I don’t

Believe in anything since 9 th grade.

I’m not strong enough to lead a Christian life.

God is just “up there” watching

If people believe & get something out of it – fine!

I choose to be lukewarm about faith

All religions are true if the person believing gets something out of it.

Chapter 1: Two Baptist Girls

Joy largely unsupervise d sexually promiscuous using drugs

& alcohol


Kristen (16 yr-old)

 Came to religion thru tragic suicide of her father when she was 6

 Her mother & siblings turned to devotions & scriptures

 She is a down-to-earth, fun, clear thinking, religious kid

Why?

Mom’s strong religious leadership

Mom’s strong supervision


Her religious practice is very regular

She feels close to God

Kristen

She sees God’s work in daily life

Her moral life is consistent With her religious practice

She is involved in volunteer activities


The two teen girls reflect some themes in the book:

 There is an immense variety of religious experience among teens.

“They are all over the map” .

 Religious practices activate and form faith!

 “Spiritual but not religious” is not to be bought into.

 Many kids (like Joy) are inarticulate about faith.

The agents of religious socialization are largely ineffective in helping kids articulate faith


 When religious institutions overlap with many relational & social aspects of a teen’s life, there’s a stronger bond between faith & life.

 Parents exert a huge influence in the lives of

American adolescents.

 Religious practice and involvement = more positive outcomes in life for teens.


Chapter 2

Mapping the Big Picture

Statistical findings on adolescent religion and spirituality from the

NSYR study

Religious Affiliations of U.S. Adolescents

(13-17 years old)

Protestant

Catholic

Mormon

Jewish

Don’t Know

Not religious

Other denominations

52%

23%

2.5%

1.5%

1.8%

16%

3.2%

Chapter 2: Mapping the Big Picture

How similar or different from their parents are U.S. religious teens?

According to table 4, page 35:

 Only 6% of teens consider their religious beliefs different from that of their mothers

 Only 11% consider them very different than their fathers


Deserting their faith for non-religious practice

Mormons

Catholics

Mainline Protestant

Conservative Protestant

13%

12%

17%

10%


Attendance to Religious Services

 40% of U.S. teens studied attend service once a week or more

 19% attend at least once a month

 22% attend a few times a week

 18% never attend


Catholic Teens & Mass Attendance

 34% of Catholic teens attend Sunday

Mass

 Catholic teens attending with both parents is 53%; with 1 parent 20% & with neither parent 7%

 31% attend mass only a few times a year or never

 34% would attend if it was only totally up to them


Importance of faith in their lives

(all respondents)

 50% faith is extremely important in their lives

 8% not important at all


How close to God do you feel?

(All respondents)

36% Extremely close

35% Somewhat close

25% Somewhat distant

3% Distant from God

Catholic teens feel more in the ‘somewhat close’

43% than the very close 22%.


Overall

Catholic

Belief in God

80% Yes

11% Unsure

3% Definitely No

85% Yes

14% Unsure

1% Definitely No


Various Beliefs & Teachings,

Spiritual Realities & Paranormal e.g.

life after death demons reincarnation

Lots of ‘maybe’ answers give hints of significant slippage in the religious education of youth


Catholic Slippage between the Official

Catechism & Actual Professed Beliefs is Significant

57% Yes or maybe to reincarnation

46% Yes or maybe to astrology

48%

32%

Yes or maybe to communicating with dead

Yes or maybe to psychics & fortunetellers


Personal Prayer Practice

Catholics and mainline

Protestants pray alone with moderate frequency.


Confession & Communion

Overall for Catholic Youth

 71% have taken First Communion

 40% go to confession once a year


Religious Youth Group Experiences

Involved

Have a youth group

Have a youth minister full-time

Once a week youth group attendance

Never attended a youth group

Teens allowed to be leaders in youth groups

Overall Catholics

38% 24%

69% 67%

30% 21%

18%

62%

13%

11%

76%

5%


Catholic Teens participation in Youth Groups

 Among denominations we have the lowest participation rate – 32%

 2/3 of Catholic teens who attend

Church don’t participate


Other Religious Activity

Participation

CCD, retreats, summer camps, service projects

Catholic teen participation is low


Parental Influence on Faith Practice

Most parents profoundly influence

(often more than their peers) the lives and faith lives of

American teens.


Friends Influence on Religiousity

About ½ of all teens consider their 5 closest friends as having similar religious beliefs as they do.


Significant Conclusion at the end of Chapter 2

 U.S. teens tend to be like their parents when it comes to religion.

 Youth Group involvement holds significance.

 Most U.S. teens hold positive views toward religion and their own congregations.


Chapter 3

Spiritual Seekers, the Disengaged, and Religiously Devoted Teens

Focuses on 3 different populations of American Teens:

A.Spiritual but not religious

B.The non-religious

C.Highly religiously active and devoted

A. The Spiritual Seekers

There is a myth that today’s teens are: spiritual seekers

 Non-devoted to any tradition

 Hostile to institutions

 Spiritual consumers

 Spiritual nomads

Is this so?

NO!

But…

Chapter 3: Spiritual Seekers, the Disengaged, & Religiously Devoted Teens

The NSYR concludes

Relativism is high

60% say many religions are true

71% of Catholics view all religions as equally true


The NSYR tells us that…

• American teens are not in favor of proselytizing

• 43% believe that everyone should leave everyone else alone (55% of

Catholic teens)

• Many teens believe it is ok to pick

& choose teachings to believe in or disregard (46% overall, 54%

Catholic teens

Are our youth

“spiritual but not religious”?

NO!

They are not converting to a personal style of spirituality that pulls away from their religious traditions.


 2 or 3% are spiritually seeking if by that we mean personally experimenting with religious or spiritual practices from other faiths.

 Many more non-Christian teens are seeking out religion rather than vice-versa.


B. Teens Entirely Disengaged from Religion

Non-religious teens

 8% consider themselves atheists

 8% agnostics

 The rest are confused


Non-attending Youth

Still consider themselves part of a denomination

43%

Don’t know why they don’t attend

 They are disproportionately white & living in the Northeast.

41%


C. Religiously Devoted Teens

Girls more likely than boys

Parent religiosity

Good relationship with parents

Contributing factors

Parental education

Mormons &

Evangelicals then mainline

Protestants, then

Catholics

Involvement in religious youth groups

Organized activities


Parental marital status

Conclusions from Chapter 3

• Religious truth is pretty relative & pluralistic.

• Very few teens are spiritual seekers who are looking for spiritual practices outside their tradition.

• Parents, parents, parents! They mean a lot.

• Peer religious influence works.

• Busy teens also are religiously involved teens.


•Catholicism takes a hit! Compared to mainline Protestants & especially compared to Mormons & Evangelicals, our kids are less religiously devoted.

•The disengaged can not explain their apathy.

•Religious organizations with organized youth groups (and paid full-time youth ministers) attract more involvement and thus more devotion.


Chapter 4

God, Religion, Whatever

Analysis of major themes derived from the 267 interviews will be summarized:

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

I. Theme One:

Religion is not a Big Deal

In general, there is not some great struggle going on between teens and religion

Go along

& get along

Chapter 4: God, Religion, Whatever: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

A. I’ll follow in my family’s footsteps

Overwhelmingly, they are content to follow their parents beliefs


B. Religion is not worth fighting about

Go along & get along with your parents

Religion is not a contested or conflictive aspect of their lives.


C. Religion is a nice thing

It’s good for lots of people

A benign light


They are not spiritually seeking

Are you experimenting with various spiritual practices, looking into new religions, mixing & matching?

What?


II. Theme Two:

Religion Operates in the Background of their Lives

 Their inability to articulate religion’s role in their lives shows this

 It’s a ‘taken for granted’ backdrop


A. They are not excited about religion

Many other forces & experiences excite them in their structured life.

Religion is very compartmentalized


B. Teens are very inarticulate about their faith

Mormon & conservative Protestant teens were sometimes an exception.

Overall, articulate teens re: faith are few & far between


C. Teens express much fallacious knowledge regarding Doctrine

They screw things up pretty good

Conclusions:

 Teens are not investing

 Communities of faith are educating poorly


D. Is religion important to you?

I guess

(70%)

Yes

(25%-30%)


Importance of Religion

Important yes but I don’t know why?

(as a backdrop)

Very important in my ordinary life

Important only when I’m doing something religious

Religion is part of the furniture.


E. Teens don’t want to be known as

“too religious”

People who are too religious have a negative image

It is better to be mediocre


III. Theme Three:

Everyone Decides for

Themselves

We live in a profoundly individualistic culture

Autonomy & self direction is coveted


Who am I to judge others?

If it works for him or her – fine.

“Whatever” is Fine

Each individual is the final arbiter.

If that’s what they choose whatever


There are No Objective

Truths

There is no right answer.

Who am I to tell another person what to do?


IV. Theme Four:

Religion is Utilitarian & It’s

Goal is to Help Me Feel

Happy

Religion is not about an external tradition or authority that makes compelling demands on their lives – especially to change and grow


A. “ I Practice Religion to Feel Good”

 Hardly any teens reflect on the demand of religion for transformation.

 Teens value religion

 Not for the sake of God

 Not for the common good of a just society

 BUT for the instrumental good it does them


Utilitarian Religion

 It helps me stay out of trouble.

 It helps me get thru problems.

 It gives me security.

 It teaches a positive attitude about life.

 Most of all – it makes me feel happy.


Utilitarian Religion

Welcome to

America today!


B. You Don’t Need

Religion to

Good be

It doesn’t hurt but it’s OPTIONAL.

Basically, a good person follows the “don’t hurt” rule


C. There is a Moral Order in the Background

BUT

That moral order is not defined by religion


V. Theme Five:

Religion Is Something

I Should Do

definitely a nice thing to have in the backdrop of your life


A. When You Get Older & Settled

Down, You Get into it More

 When kids come, it’s good.

 When we get married, we’ll be more involved.


B. Religion Should Be Very

Civil

Private

That means

Ambiguous when discussed with others

I should be open toward

(if not outright accepting) of everything that comes along

Being careful not to upset anyone


VI. Theme Six:

Religion Is Somewhere

On the

Priority List

Religion holds a small place at the ‘end of the table” for a short period of time each week.


Summary of These Six

Themes

Equals

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

This is defacto the dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers.


The Creed of the MTD

1. God watches over human life on earth.

2. God wants us to be nice & play fair.

3. The central goal of life is to be happy.

4. God is needed when there is problem.

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.


MTD’s Moralistic

Approach:

be moral & decent

i.e. pleasant, basically respectful, work at self-improvement and do what is best to be successful.

This is a religion of subjective well-being.


MTD’s Theology of God

God is watching from above

God is not particularly & personally involved in people’s affairs


MTD Is Not Just a Teen

Religion

 They pick this up from their parents & from U.S. culture.

 MTD’s adherents stay loyal to their denominations.

 MTD is a philosophy or theology within denominations & world religions.

 MTD is colonizing religious traditions.


Chapter 5:

American Adolescent

Religion In Social Context

Why do they believe & practice religion the way they do?

I. Therapeutic

Individualism Saturates

Our Culture

 Subjective, personal experience is the touchtone of all that is authentic, true and right.

 Personal sentiments & emotions are now the grounds for knowledge & morality (not external morality)

 Since each person feels differently, every person feelings must not be violated.

Chapter 5: American Adolescent Religion In Social Context

Therapeutic Individualism is a

Product of American Culture Today

& is Sustained by Institutional

Forces

 A reaction to impersonal bureaucracies

 A reflection of consumer mentality –

Advertising hammers home

“Have it your way”


Spirituality is Detached from Tradition

Spirituality is now about

 Finding personal integration

 Self-help

 Self-improvement

 Personal well-being

Check out the book stores


II. Mass-Consumer

Capitalism

Mentality of Capitalism

You are an individual, autonomous, rational, self-seeking, cost-benefit consumer

This is NOT the philosophy of person, nor the theology or ecclesiology of traditional religion.


Religion becomes…

One product among many seeking to satisfy people’s subjective WANTS.


A Central Issue:

Where Does Religious

Authority Reside?

Under Consumer Capitalism:

 NOT with 2,000 years of Tradition

 NOT with Theological experts

 NOT with the Scriptures

 NOT with a Magisterium

But

With the individual


Advertising appeals to the darker side of human potential & the youth are its biggest target.

envy vanity image

Short-term gratificatio n

“Be selfish”

Sexual objectification


III. The Digital

Communication

Basically, the new world of knowledge is:

Revolution

 Increasing visual

 Decentralized

 Unclassified

 Disjointed

 Unregulated

 Fragmented

 unevaluated

Religious knowledge is very much included


IV. Logic & Experience

(Scientifically Proven Ways to Truth)

 Make metaphysically oriented Philosophy

& Theology obsolete

 Without positive evidence nobody can make a claim!


V. Structural

Disconnection from the

Adult World

 Contemporary teenage autonomy from adults is unprecedented & astounding.

 If teens define religion as an adult affair, they automatically feel distant from it.

 Someday – “when I’m age appropriate I’ll get into it”:

Accompaniment of the young by the entire religious community of all ages – How important?

 Making parallel religious programs for youth & adults with little or no integration can be harmful.


VI. Adults with Problems

 Teen problems are products of adult promotion

 When ‘religious’ adults have problems that injure teen lives – religion can be negatively associated with those problems.

 Religion can become the source of hypocrisy!


VII. Many Other Cultural

Contradictions

 Adult respect for authority

 Adult use of sexuality

 Adult over-working or consumerism

 Adult schedules before youth needs

 Breakdown of family life


Chapter 6:

On Catholic Teens

 ¼ of all U.S. teens are Catholics.

 They score consistently lower on most measures of religiosity.

 Many of them are living far outside the official Church norms that define Catholic fidelity.

Emphasis of Chapter Six

Majority of Catholic teens are religiously & spiritually indifferent, uninformed and disengaged.

Chapter 6: On Catholic Teens

Explanation of Religious

Laxity among Catholic

Teens

A.Demographic Differences

The Northeast – a less religious region of the country

Even so … Catholic youth scored lower


B. Parental Religiosity

 U.S. Catholic parents are somewhat less likely to attend Church than conservative

& black Christian parents.

 U.S. Catholic parents are much less likely to be involved in organized Church activities.

In summary:

Parental uninvolvement really hurts.


C. Parish & Diocesan

Institutional Commitment

Catholics invest fewer resources into youth ministry & education

 81-86% of Protestant teens belong to Church congregations that offer youth group programs

 67% of Catholic youth do.

 37-44% of other Christian denominations have full-time youth ministers.

 21% of Catholic parishes do.

Youth ministry is not an institutional priority for Catholic Church (yet?)


D. Transformation &

Crisis in Catholic

Schools & CCD

Catholic schools

& CCD no longer function as they did prior to 1980

We could spend all day on this problem.


 5% of today’s 8,000 Catholic schools are staffed with priests, sisters & brothers.

 Catholic Schools have become increasingly institutions for affluent Americans.

 Concentration on College prep toward prestigious colleges & sports prowess sidelines religious education.

 Today 13.5% of Catholic school children are non-Catholic.

 Fewer than 15% of Catholic youth attend

Catholic school anyway.


Upward Mobility & Acculturation

 U.S. Catholics are now the best educated, occupationally privileged & most affluent

Americans.

 Catholics are large, privileged, skeptical & very independent.

 ‘Catholicness’ has slipped into the background.


Conclusion

 Catholic teens are faring rather badly.

 Catholic teens are weak on most measures of religious faith, belief, experience & practice.

 The Catholic school & CCD models are not cutting it.

 There is a low institutional priority toward youth evangelization, formation & ministry at the parish & diocesan levels.

 Catholic parents have become lax & so their children have followed their example.


Chapter 7:

Adolescent Religion & Life Outcomes

 Examining the relationship between American adolescents’ religious involvement & outcomes in their lives

 Outcomes measured:

 Risk behaviors

 Moral reasoning

 Media consumption

 Emotional well-being

 Quality of family & adult relationships

 Community participation

 Sexual activity

How do these four types of American

Youth make out?

The devoted

The disengaged

The sporadic

The regulars

The result clearly show that the devoted

(the more religiously active & participative youth) outshine their counterparts in all outcome categories.

Chapter 7: Adolescent Religion & Life Outcomes

Examples:

RE: Relationship with adults other than their parents

(Tab 38)

RE: Moral reasoning & honesty behaviors (Tab 40)

RE: Community participation &volunteerism (Tab 42)


Theorizing why & how religious teens are benefiting

Religion produces positive outcomes for youth because of 9 specific factors:

1. Moral directives

2. Spiritual experiences

3. Role models

4. Community & leadership skills

5. Coping skills

6. Cultural capital

7. Network closure

8. Extracommunity links


Conclusion

• The Book is a Sociological Study of

Youth & Religion that is intended to be a catalyst for soul-searching conversations about adolescents & religion.

• Soul Searching leaves us with eleven learnings.

Religion is significant for U.S. teens today.

They are anything but areligious or irreligious.

Conclusion

U.S. teen religiosity is very conventional

Youth are content to follow in the footsteps of their parents.

Conclusion

Young people are not actively pursuing eclectic spirituality

They are content to stick to the one religion in which they were raised.

Conclusion

We are a Christian nation

Recent popular claims that the United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world are simply false.

Conclusion

Mormons are faring the best &

Catholic youth are scoring low

Conclusion

The single most important influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their

parents.

Conclusion

More = More

The greater the supply of religiously grounded relationships, activities, programs & opportunities, the more likely teens will be religiously invested.

Conclusion

Teens can’t explain what they believe

Their articulation is miserable. This suggests that religious communities are doing poorly in religious education.

Conclusion

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism has established a significant foothold among U.S. teens

Is this the new mainstream

American religious faith in our post-Christian, individualistic society?

Conclusion

Social and cultural forces such as consumerism, the digital revolution, empiricism, the media & the hectic schedule of teenage activities influence teen religiosity.

Conclusion

There are sizeable & significant differences in life outcomes between more & less religiously devoted teens.

Unscientific Post Script

Reflections for Religious

Organizations beyond the

Sociological Study

The best way to get youth involved in religion is to get their parents more involved.

Unscientific Post Scripts

Don’t be shy about teaching teens

Don’t just “expose”, rather “impose”


Religious Educators:

Work harder on articulation


If youth are inclined toward individualism then challenge them to “stand out” religiously.

- Leverage individuality!


Teach that committed personal faith does not have to be sacrificed for the sake of civility.

This relates to the ‘whatever’ approach to morality


The whole adult community needs to engage youth in the faith dialogue.

Relational ties with adults are important.


Religious activities beyond the weekly congregational worship matter very much.


Capitalize (especially with parents) on the ‘outcomes’ findings of Chapter 7.


Finally

Adults in religious communities must STOP thinking about teenagers as aliens!

Having a view that youth are “so much different” than adults only increases the distance between teens & their faith communities.


Salesian Offices of Vocation & Youth Ministry

Tel. No. (973) 761-0201 www.salesianym.com

www.salesianvocation.com