Religion is universal. Although people may have different ideologies and practices, everyone believes in something, whether they deem it their religion or not. In this way, religion is a powerful connection between all of humanity; thus, it is important to understand the people behind religion and how their unique characteristics correlates with and influences religion—whether that be their social class, ethnicity, gender, or politics. However, ethnicity and gender, along with the closely linked topics of sexuality and politics, are the most significant concepts to understand religion in our modern world.
Abstract: The Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a religion invisibly growing amongst U.S. teenagers. It is an interfaith religion which is has been developed on a book by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton called Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. The article on “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” as U.S. Teenagers ' Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith ...
Dean has written a disturbing yet thought-provoking book on the current religious state of America’s teenagers. The background research for this book was the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). This was one of the largest studies ever of the religious views of teenagers. Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In other words, it’s a watered-down faith that depicts God as a “divine therapist” whose primary objective is to boost people’s self-esteem.
“Most church youth programs tend to focus on providing entertainment and pizza rather than building up young people in their faith. As a result, teens are ill-equipped to face the challenges they will encounter upon leaving home. It’s no wonder that some young people fall away from the faith, if they were never grounded in the faith to begin with” ("Why Are So Many Young People Falling Away from the Faith?"). With youth groups not providing as much guidance it makes it much harder to establish your faith. If continued on this trend every generation is going to be less and less involved in their church and their
Throughout history, religion has impacted the lives of millions whether at school, work, with friends, or by some tragedy. Religion can change the way people view their existence. Religion also plays a big role in the infiltration of values into the loves of many young people today. In a recent pole printed in the USA Weekend Paper, “34% of respondents [said] Religion plays a powerful role in their everyday lives.” These student respondents “cited religion as the second-strongest influence in their lives outranked only by parents.” Religion also surpassed the world-renounced media as an influence in their lives (Lerman. 1).
"JESUS in the classroom!" Are you feeling uncomfortable yet? Religion in the public school systems is among the top of the list of controversial topics in American society, We've long been advised to avoid this and other religiously politically intertwined subjects in polite conversation. If you're like most Americans, this topic makes you frustrated, high strung, or at least a little queasy. From the day the 1st amendment right appeared in the U.S. Constitution, to this present day, and surely into our nation's tomorrows, the proper role of religion in public schools has been, is, and will continue to be a subject of great debate. It is important for school officials, parents, and students
In America today we all have choices to make in regards to our religious beliefs. Many young children are brought up today confused about religion and the significance it plays in their lives. There are many sanctions and rules now on what can and can 't be thought or displayed to people on public property, but it wasn 't always like this. In this paper I will be discussing the American religious experience in regards to the impact religion has in the public schools.
The youth today are so buried in their phone, buried in a world of texting, social media, Netflix binging, buried in a world of pure laziness and no production. People waste most of their time watching videos or movies, being on social media all day or whatever other excuse there is to not focus their time on God, and eventually end up living most of their life without being an active religious follower. Social media became a place where the youth can share their ideas and views in many different religions. The youth can be pushed into one religion if they aren’t knowledgeable enough to direct themselves or they can open their eyes and keep in mind that there are other religions in which they can fall back to because of peer pressure.. Public schools teach the youth about the world’s religions which, again, can cause them to believe one is better than the other or have the freedom to pick and choose which religion best fits them. For example, someone may want to remain sexually active before marriage and they will pick a religion that allows that such as atheism, or may just become confused because of all the in depth knowledge about so many religions that they just think picking atheism is easier to live with and may just come to conclude that religion isn’t all that necessary. A
Individuals seem to develop a greater attachment to religion as they grown older. Religious belief is lowest among those under 34, and highest among those over age 55. Young people are not only less likely to participate in mainstream religious activity than older people; more than half of them say they don’t regard themselves as religious at all, as shown in such studies as the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Values study.
Religion, whether we realize it or not, is a major element of American society (and also worldwide history). For many, religion is a significant part of their cultural identity. Religion plays a part in all levels of politics and is often an aspect of community events and organizations. Everyday, we all interact with people who have different religious backgrounds and personal beliefs. Children born into religious families are very connected with their religions from birth and this affects the way they will see the world for the rest of their lives. Even those who later explore other faiths or convert to other religious ideas will be affected in
Religion had and still has (in countless countries) major influence and control over people's lives, from day to day activities to businesses and educational environment, and many more aspect of life. The level of religious institutions power and authority over the law of a country plays a key role, which is fortunately not the same case for the Americans because of separation of religion from politics and public places. In some cases, such split-up results are quickly visible; however, the main outcome is noticeable in years ahead to come in shape of change of people's mindset because of the freedom of citizens of the country to think without religion thoughts are imposed on them. With the advancement of science especially in the past years, a higher number of Americans with college degrees as never before, use of religion as a tool in hatred and wars caused
Donahue, M. J. & Benson, P. L. (1995). “Religion and the Well-being of Adolescents” in
Teens discover new friendships, new interests, and new beliefs about everything from family to faith. When asking a leader a question like "Why do we think that we are right and everyone else is wrong about how we get to heaven?" Some people may shut it down and not give an answer. We are told and taught to follow blindly but that just doesn't cut it. We have questions, which need to be answered. A teens faith a big part in the puzzle of discovering one's self and identity. This journey of finding identity with the support of loved ones is essential in resulting in deeper faith. The church offers nothing more than a moralistic therapeutic deism which means a disinterested divine power who wants to give them personal peace and prosperity. In
Regardless of adopted faith, it is informative to acquire knowledge about who influences young people to a particular faith the most. To achieve this goal of a survey was conducted on a sample of young people, a youth leader was interviewed and information was researched in the literature with the following outcome.
Educators need to understand the impact of religion on the lives of their students. According to Gallup poll data, nearly 95% of teens believe in God and 86% believe that Jesus Christ is either God or the Son of God (Gallup & Lindsay, 1999 as cited in Ream, 2003). These and other similar statistics demonstrate the importance of considering religion when dealing with young people. Ream