The Spiritual Life of Young Americans

“The Cry of Youth Today—and The Response of Churches.”

1. “Less than half of American’s teens (43%) believe it is very important to have deep religious faith. One in three (33%) says it is somewhat important, and 23 percent believe religious faith is not very important. In this respect, a deep religious faith ranks only eighth as being very important on a list of nine values tested.” (p.v)

“By comparison, nine teens in 10 say it is very important to them to have personal peace and happiness (92%) and to be well educated (91%). Six in 10 teens or more, however, give high ratings to values associated with religion such as helping people in the community (66%) and working for peace (60%). Half of teens (52%) think it is very important to get married some day, and 45% would like to have children.” (p.v)

“Just as many teens believe that having lots of money (44%) is very important to them as feel they should have a deep religious faith (43%). Only 16 percent think seeking fame is very important for them.” (p.v)

2. “Friends, home, school, music, and television are rated ahead of religion and books as factors teen believe are having the greatest influence on their generation. Only 13 percent of the teens interviewed feel that religion has a great deal of influence; an additional 30 percent say it has some influence, and another 28 percent feel it has very little influence.” (p.v)

3. “Only one teen in four expresses a high degree of confidence in organized religion, lower than the figure recorded for the adult population.” (p.vi)

4. “A glaring lack of knowledge of the Ten Commandments and basic religious tenets is found among youth today. Many do not know the meaning of Easter.”(p.vi)

5. “A high level of credulity exists among young Americans and willingness to hold to scientifically the theologically unsound beliefs.” (p.vi)

“BASIC BELIEFS”

“Belief in God”

“Over the years past Gallup Youth Surveys have consistently reported that about 95 percent of the nation’s teenagers believe in God or a universal spirit. The latest survey shows that, far from being an abstract concept to teens, the God they believe in is thought by most (93%) to love them. Very few teens believe either there is no God (2%) or that if there is one, they are not loved by him (2%). The remaining 3 percent of teens say they are uncertain about whether or not there is a God who loves them. (p.2)”

 “Teens Religious Behavior and Belief”

                                                                                        1959-1961  1988-1993

“Believe in God”                                                                   97%            95%”

“Believe in personal God whoobserves, rewards and punishes  83%            76%”

“Believes in life after death                                                   79%            67%”

“The Bible is completely true/literally true                              62%            39%”

“Church or synagogue member                                               86%            NA”

“Attended church or synagogue last week”                              70%            50% (p.3)”

“Beliefs about the Bible”

“One of the most dramatic shifts in religious beliefs in the country is how people view the Bible. Only 30 years ago, two-thirds of adults accepted the Bible as the actual work of God, to be taken literally word for word; only 32% view it that way today.” (p.5)

“RELIGIOUS PRACTICES”

“Church Attendance”

“ Undoubtedly, some teen attendance is heavily influenced, if not demanded, by parents, but when we explored this question in an earlier study, we found that the majority (61% of teens) said they went to church solely because they wanted to do so, and an additional 24 percent went both because they wanted to go and because they knew it would please their parents.” (p.8)

“Teens, themselves, often endorse the idea that parents and their children should attend church together. A majority of teens (51%) say it is important for parents and children 12 years of age or younger to attend church together. An additional 33 percent think it is somewhat important. One third of teens say it is also very important that people their own age attend worship services with their parents, with 35 percent considering it somewhat important. Among those who are recent church attenders, 57% think it is important that parents and teens go to religious services together.” (p.8)

“Prayer”

“A majority of non-white teens (53%) say they frequently pray when alone. An additional 31 percent report they pray occasionally. By comparison, just 39 percent of white teens frequently pray when alone, and 32 percent do so occasionally.” (p.10)

“TRAINING AND INFLUENCES”

“Influence of Religion”

“How Much Influence on Teens?”

“Question: Do you feel today’s teenagers are influenced a great deal, some or very little by (these factors listed)?”

“Friends                               87% 11% 1% 1%”

“Home                                  51  31   14  4”

“School                                 45   36   14  5”

“Music                                  41   35   17  1”

“Television                           32    43  18   7”

“Movies                                19   48   22   11”

“Religion                              13   30   28   28”

“Magazines                            9    41   32  17”

“Books                                   3   23    41  32”

“Topics Teens Often Discuss With Peers”

“Question: How often do you talk about these topics with your friends: very often, sometimes, rarely, or never…Question about what is right to do and what is wrong? Question about who we are, what does life mean, what is the universe. etc? Questions about is there a God, is there life after death, etc. September 1988 (Telephone)”

“Right or Existence Meaning Number of Wrong of God of life interviews”

“National 38% 23% 21% 500”

“Fatherlessness”

“In an America today, one-third of teenagers cannot talk about life with their father. When asked what relatives live at home with them, although 91 percent of teens mention mom, only 67 percent say that their father lives with them.” (p. 36)

“IDENTITIES”

“Priority of Religious Faith”

“Ratings of Importance.”

“Ratings of the importance of values was obtained through the following question: For each of the following please tell me if it is important, somewhat important, or not important to you.”

(Very Important, Somewhat Important, Not Important)

“Having personal” “peace and happiness 92% 7% 1%”

“Being well educated                               91   7   2”

“Helping people in the community            66  31  3”

“Working for peace                                 60  34  6”

“Getting married                                     52  33 14”

“Having children                                      45  34  20”

“Having lots of money                              44  37  19”

“Having a deep religious faith                   43  33  23”

“Being famous                                          16  28  56”

“The findings are based on telephone interviews by the Gallup Youth Survey with a representative national cross section of 500 teenagers, 13 through 17, conducted between March and April 4, 1990.” (p.42)

“SOCIAL ISSUES”

“Suicide”

“Teens and suicide-44% of teen-agers say they know someone who actually tried to commit suicide.” (p. 62)

“What is the cause?”

“Which of the following reasons do you think causes teen-agers to think
about committing suicide? Of these, which is the most important or number
one cause?”

“Drug Abuse 86% 19%”

“Getting Alone with Parents 84 13”

“Peer Pressure 82 16”

“Problems in Growing Up 81 24”

“Alcohol Abuse 71 3”

“Involvement in satanic cults 65 4”

“Teen Pregnancy 62 2”

“AIDS 56 5”

“Copycat behavior 42 2”

“Heavy Metal Music 24 1”

“Playing Dungeons and Dragons 17 *
(*Less than one-half of 1 percent)”

“Source: Based on telephone and mail interviews by the George H. Gallup International Institute and the Gallup Organization with a representative national cross section of 909 teen-agers, ages 13-19, during April & May of 1994 & sponsored by the Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Could vary 1 to 3 percent. Points in either direction.” (p. 62)

“Hate Crimes”

“Crimes Teen Consider Very Serious:
A husband beating his wife 93%
Rape 92%
Sexual Harassment 81%
Prostitution 74%
Hate crimes against people of different races 82%
Hate crimes against people of different religions 77%
Shoplifting 56%
Cheating on exams 44%
Spray painting graffiti on walls 43%
(p.69)”

 “Voluntarism”

“Nine teens in 10 say that doing charitable or voluntary work in the community is very important (51%) or somewhat important (41%) factor or being a good citizen. Previous Gallup Surveys have consistently demonstrated strong linkage between religion and voluntarism, and so it is not surprising that attending religious services also is considered an important civic trait by three teens in four. Religious attendance is very important in the opinion of 36% and somewhat important by 37% of the teens. Rejecting the importance of religious attendance as a civic virtue are 18% of the teens who say it is of little importance and 8% who believe it is of no importance at all.” (p. 73)

“PRESCRIPTION”

“Young People See Few Religious Boundaries”

“Who Thinks All Religions Are Equally Good”

(Agree or Disagree)

“National 64% 35%”

“Ages 13 to 15 61 38”

“Ages 16 to 17 69 31
(p. 88)”

“Teens: Teach Us to Tolerate”

“Teen Tolererance”

“Acceptance of people of different races and ethnic backgrounds” 92%

“Acceptance of people who hold different religious beliefs” 84%

“Acceptance of people who hold unpopular or controversial political or social views” 75%

 “Acceptance of people with different sexual orientations, that is homosexuals or bisexuals” 57%
(p. 97)

“What Teens Want From Parents”

“Teens want a lot of things from their parents: happily, these do not include cars and a big allowance. Instead, teens want some fairly basic things, and they enumerated them for us in a recent Gallup Youth Survey. One area they rated as most important is sex education dialogues-teens in great numbers said they want this from their parents. Some 70% of teens said they believe it is very important for parents to educate their children about sex. Another 16% said it was somewhat important, so that the total of teens allotting some degree of significance to this issue is nearly 90%. And they are not simply talking about a quick conversation on the birds and the bees at age 12. All teens, but young women especially, feel it is important to continue a dialogue about sexuality all the way through the teen years.” (p. 98)

“What Teens want From Parents”

“How important do you think it is for parents to do the following for people who are your own age?” (Very Important, Somewhat Important, Important)

“Teach them about sex 70% 16% 14%”

“Give them a hug at least once a week 46 34 19”

“Help them with their homework 42 38 20”

“Go to church or other place of worship with them 38 35 27”

“Talk with their teachers regularly 32 42 25”

“Encourage them to bring friends home 32 44 23”

“Be active in school, like PTA 24 42 34”

“Have mother stay at home instead of working 10 24 66 (p. 98)”

“What I Want to Talk About With My Parents”

“The surprising news is that more teens want to discuss the one subject that is probably verboten in their homes-not sex, not religion, or politics, but finances. Parents seem to believe that the subject is of no interest to their teens, will fill them with apprehension or is frankly none of their business. But nearly four teens in ten (38%) say this is the one subject they would most enjoy talking about more with their parents. They want to hear about the family coffers, and they would like information on investments and saving money. Slightly fewer teens, 35%, think the issue of finances comes up often enough in their homes, and 27% think money should be talked less often.” (p. 99)

“Teen Expectations:” (Very Confident, Somewhat Confident, Confident)

“Will earn more money than your parents did 48% 39% 13%”

“Will have a better standard Of living than your parents 41 46 13”

“Will have better health and live longer than your parents 40 47 13”

“Have more leisure time than Your parents now have 37 45 18”

“Spend more time helping other people 39 46 15”

“Be more religious than your parents 22 43 35
(p.100)”

“Six Basic Needs”

“Six Basic Needs of Young People.”

1. “The need to believe that life is meaningful and has a purpose. During a time when sociologists observe a self-obsessive sense of person in America, most young Americans nevertheless believe is ‘very important’ that life be meaningful and have a purpose. Yet a high percentage of these same people believe that ‘most churches and synagogues today are not effective in helping people find meaning in life.’ Here is a basic need apparently being only partially met. The fact is, significant numbers of teens find churches to be irrelevant, unfulfilling and boring.”

2. “The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships. Many factors conspire to create separateness in our society-high mobility, divorce and the breakup of families, and other factors. The world is becoming increasingly impersonal with the growth of megacities. ‘Radical individualism’ has taken hold in the religious lives of Americans-the large majority of Americans, for example, believe that one can be a good Christian or Jew without attending church or synagogue.”

“One of the poignant consequences to this separateness is loneliness. We discover from surveys that American are among the loneliest people in the entire world. As many as three persons in 10 say they have been lonely ‘for a long period of time’ in their lives, with half of these people saying that this experience has affect their thoughts ‘a great deal.’”

“Our churches, synagogues and other faith communities need to deal frontally with the separateness and acute loneliness in our society by encouraging corporate worship, as well as participation in small groups. A growing number of people, it would appear, are coming to the conclusion that small groups, rooted in prayer and Bible study, many be the best hope for a renewed church in the next century.”

3. “The need to be appreciated and loved. This is certainly a basic and fundamental need, yet as many as one-third of the American people have a low sense of self-worth or self-esteem, arising in considerable measure from not being loved or appreciated. Low self-esteem brings with a host of social problems, including alcohol and drug abuse, child and spouse abuse, lawlessness and crime, and many other problems.” (p. 101)

“Significantly, we have discovered that the closer people feel to God, the better they feel about themselves. They are also satisfied with their lives more than are others; they are more altruistic; they enjoy better health and have a happier outlook. We also discovered that experiencing the closeness of God is a key factor in the ability of people to accept God’s forgiveness and to forgive others.”

4. “The need to be listened to—to be heard. The main theme of a book I wrote with Jim Castelli, entitled ‘The People’s Religion,’ is that religion in the future is more likely to be shaped from the bottom up and the top down-from the people in the pews rather than by the hierarchy. In a special survey we conducted for ‘The People’s Religion,’ we discovered that Americans overwhelmingly think that the future of the church will be shaped to a greater extent by the laity than by the clergy. This is also what the laity would like to see happen.”

“Those in the survey most eager to play a stronger leadership role in the church are young adults, and the well-educated, two groups of potential leaders churches can ill afford to lose or alienate.”

“In specific terms this means, for example, that the laity should play a great leadership role in the administrative function of churches, freeing up the clergy to perform what the laity expects of them-to listen to people’s religious needs and to provide spiritual counseling. When the unchurched in one survey were asked what would most likely draw them back into the community of active worshippers, the lead reason given was ‘if I could find a pastor, priest or rabbi with whom I could share my religious needs and doubts.’”

“The clergy need to listen more carefully to what the laity are saying, both in one-on-one discussions, as well as in group discussions. Incidentally, one way to enhance the listening process, I believe, is for churches to undertake carefully designed surveys of church members, as well as those who are now unchurched.”

5. “The need to feel that one is growing in faith. People want to deepen their faith, and the fact is we go through passages in our faith lives, just as we do in our secular lives. Seven persons in 10 say they have experienced a change in faith during their lifetimes.”

“Churches need to pay close attention to the passages people experience in their faith lives, and to religions experiences which often change the course of one’s life. People need to help in understanding the significance of these experiences and building upon them.” (p. 102)

“It would appear that, basically, people aspire to the good life. Significant numbers of people have given thought to living a worthwhile life, to their relationship to God, to the basic meaning and value of their lives, and to developing their faith.”

6. “The need for practical help in developing a mature faith. I believe that it is fair to say that clergy often tend to make assumptions about the depth of religious commitment in the lives of members of their churches. They assume that their members’ prayer life is more developed, and that people have a higher level of knowledge about their faith and the traditions of their denomination than actually is the case. Clergy therefore can find themselves in the unfortunate situation of trying to win support for programs and causes from a laity that is sometimes spiritually listless. We pray and believe in the power of prayer, but our prayer life sometimes tends to be a hit-or-miss affair. We believe the Ten Commandments to be valid rules of life, but we are unable to name them. We would be hard pressed to defend our faith-we are uncertain about what we believe and why.”

7. “Ungrounded in biblical faith, many Americans of all are vulnerable and are drawn to a wide variety of bizarre spiritual movements. Through inattention on the part of churches, and lethargy on the part of the laity, the churches of our nations have permitted a huge spiritual vacuum to develop, one which is drawing in millions of unwitting and unsuspecting Americans.” (p. 103)

(George H. Gallup, Jr. “The Spiritual Life of Young Americans: Approaching the Year 2,000.” The George Gallup International Institute. Princeton, New Jersey.)