Thursday, April 14, 2005

God and College Students

For some reason, a spate of studies are coming out all at once on the religious/moral/spiritual lives and beliefs of college students.


The first is a book called Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by sociologists
Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. Andy Crouch at CT writes:


I
have good news for the sainted souls who serve on youth minister search committees at churches across the land. Your job just got easier.

To identify promising candidates, you only need to ask two questions. First, “Have you read Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers?”

If the answer is no, politely move on to another interview. If the answer is yes, your second question should be, “What are you going to do about it?”


Crouch writes: “The results overturn nearly every piece of conventional wisdom about teens and faith.” Some examples include the finds that (1) there is no generation gap; (2) teens like church; and (3) teens are not “spiritual seekers.”


But Al Mohler also picks up on a troubling trend:


…if most of the teenagers reflected conventional beliefs and practices, very few were able to offer even a rudimentary explanation of what these beliefs and practices mean. These teenagers were remarkably incoherent and inarticulate in speaking of their own convictions…. American teenagers are very religious, with a vast majority indicating a belief in God. Yet the God in whom many of these teenagers believe bears virtually no resemblance to the God of the Bible.


Mohler’s article concludes with this summary and encouragement for us to be missiologically aware:


In the main, the researchers found that the contours of adolescent belief--across all institutional and denominational boundaries--can be reduced to what they called “moralistic therapeutic deism.” This “de facto creed” was found most commonly among mainline Protestant and Catholic youth, but this profile was also visible among some conservative evangelicals. According to “moralistic therapeutic deism,” God's main concern is that individuals be happy, good, moral, and pleasant. In the main, this religion is “about providing therapeutic benefits to its adherents.”

This important new study offers a wealth of sociological analysis. Soul Searching is a thoughtful and credible investigation of adolescent beliefs and practices. We must recognize that sociology has its limits, and the response of the Christian church should be based in theological conviction rather than sociological strategy. Nevertheless, this research project should serve as a catalyst for careful Christian thinking, and as an impetus for missiological awareness as we consider the vast mission field represented by America's teenagers.


For those who want more, Books & Culture recently interviewed Christian Smith—Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill—one of the authors of the study.


Another new study out is called OMG! Generation Y is Redefining Religion, Identity and Community—a comparing the identities of young Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims and their relationship to both religious identity and institutional religion. The survey, conducted by a Jewish group called Reboot, opens their survey as follows:

A word about the title of this survey: OMG! is one of the most popular expressions used by communicating by email, instant message, or cell phone text messaging. In order to minimize of keystrokes, writers use OMG! as shorthand for Oh My God! If you needed this explanation, not know what instant messaging is, you probably should give this report a close read.


You can read a summary of their findings here.


Also just released is the study Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute of UCLA. They surveyed 112,000 students attending 236 four-year colleges and universities. You can read an article about it here.