spiritual issues
The percentage of young adults (Generations X and Y) who claim no religious affiliation has risen to between 30% and 40% in the last 20 years, a significant increase from the historical norm of 5% to 10%. Robert Putnam, an academic expert on American civic life, characterizes the results of his research in this area as "a huge change" and "stunning." Putnam's research will be published in his upcoming book American Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives. He postulates that those with no religious affiliation aren't necessarily atheists, but instead they have been turned off to religion because it has been, he argues, overly politicized. [abcnews.com, 5/6/09 stats - Plugged In Online 6/12/09] While 72% of today's 13- to 18-year-olds say they pray each week, only 33% regularly attend a church youth-group event. That's according to a recent Barna Group poll, which also revealed that just 31% of adolescents read their Bibles on a regular basis. Barna's researchers also checked in with young adults and found that 61% of the twentysomethings they polled who participated in church activities as teens no longer do so. Christian Smith, a University of Notre Dame sociologist and the author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, commented, "The vast majority of teens who call themselves Christians haven't been well educated in religious doctrine and therefore don't really know what they believe. With all the competing demands on their time, religion becomes a low priority, and so they practice their faith in shallow ways." [Time, 10/31/06 stats - Plugged In Online 1/12/07]
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