Thursday, April 14, 2005

Updated! Which religion (or lack of) is the right one for me (or you)?

Today there was a confluence of events that had to do with spirituality and religion. The first was one of those stupid on-line polls and the other was the release (Washington Times story) of a report on Generation Y and faith sponsored by Reboot, a non-profit to encourage the traditions of Judaism for a modern age.

As is often the case when I read these types of reports, I find myself going, "Oh, I knew that," and "How interesting."

"This study is informed by three goals:

  1. To ascertain how young people are coming to understand
    their religious identity;
  2. To describe what their religious practices look like in
    this era of customization and change; and
  3. To explore the ways religious identity informs the civic
    participation of today's youth. Throughout, we were careful to note that
    religious life does not operate in a vacuum and we embed the role religion in
    the context of their other concerns, such as finding a job or getting good
    grades in school."

The breakdown is that in Gen Y (18-25 year olds) 27% are Godly, 27% God-less, and 46% are undecided.

The Godly are becoming less focused on denomination though. They are more interested in expressing faith in more personal ways. They are diverse, only 7% reported friends being the same faith.

Gen Y members are more liberal that previous generational groups. They are not as engaged in politics though. But the Godly are more involved than the God-less or undecided.

It's an interesting report.

The results of my on-line survey are no surprise. I define myself as a searcher. I'm not happy as an agnostic, or atheist, or one of the saved. I'm like the teaser for the X-Files; I want to believe.

I am not sure what "Gen" I am. Depending on time and place I'm a Boomer, an X-er and a touch of Y. Religiously, I am a agnostic theist. I look at the world and say to myself, "Self, something wonderful had to have put all this in motion." Followed by, "Self, this place is a mess. Who would do a thing like this?"




You scored as agnosticism. You are an agnostic. Though it is generally taken that agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, it is possible to be a theist or atheist in addition to an agnostic. Agnostics don't believe it is possible to prove the existence of God (nor lack thereof).

Agnosticism is a philosophy that God's existence cannot be proven. Some say it is possible to be agnostic and follow a religion; however, one cannot be a devout believer if he or she does not truly believe.


Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)


Update: UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute released another survey Wednesday. Their report expresses a view that young people are looking for spirituality but not religion. [Executive Summary]


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