Youth Survey: Teens lose faith in droves
Islam and atheism are on the rise while Christianity fades
Written by Kate Lunau on Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Read the full Maclean's article here: http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/04/07/teens-lose-faith-in-droves/
Excerpt from Article:
"...For Canada’s Christian teens, meanwhile, the community is shrinking like never before. Since 1984, the percentage of teens who call themselves Christian has almost been cut in half while the number who call themselves atheist has grown to 16 per cent, up from just six per cent in the mid-1980s. Just as the boomers shifted toward agnosticism, teens are now going a step further and rejecting religion entirely. “Belief is learned, pretty much like the multiplication table,” Bibby writes. “So is non-belief.”
It’s a huge shift, and Bibby says it may be a worrying one. While it’s true that today’s teens seem to
be more responsible and mature than previous generations, the surveys still find that teens who belong
to an organized religion—including Christianity, Islam and other faiths—tend to put a higher value on trust, honesty and concern for others. Religion has long been a “source of stability,” he says, not to mention a moral compass of sorts. For instance, 95 per cent of young people who “definitely” believe in God or a higher power also think this entity “expects us to be good to each other,” while just three per cent of atheists agree. As the percentage of religious teens falls, Bibby wonders just how that will affect our ethics and behaviour. “We may well find Canadian society doesn’t need belief in God to hold onto our values. But right now, it appears to be a source,” he says. “The question is, do we have any functional alternatives in place?”..."
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