The religious and spiritual lives of teenagers Philip Hughes Pointers: Bulletin of the Christian Research Association, Vol. 16, No 1, pages 1-6

This article is part of the results of The Australian Study of Youth Spirituality funded by 17 organisations and conducted by the CRA. More details will be published by CRA later. This article focuses on the results of a survey of 809 young people between the ages of 13 and 18.

The survey argues that the militant secularism of a previous generation is not evident among young people today. All the young people surveyed enjoyed talking about religion and 100% agreed to a second interview. 75% agreed that there is an 'inner being' within each, which we can discover. But while open to spirituality there is a greater hesitancy about belief in God and the actual importance of the spiritual dimension is not perceived as highly as 'deep friendships' and 'exciting life'. Yet is does rate above 'having a lot of money'. While they are open to spiritual matters it is not central to their thinking or high on their priorities. They are interested in exploring alternative forms of spirituality, with half believing definitely or possibly in reincarnation. They believe spirituality is a personal matter, feel that it is OK to pick and choose one's religious resources, and want to be able to make up their own minds and not be told what to believe. Many young people have the idea that God is there for us, rather than we being there for God.

This is an important area of research for churches today. Those involved with young people should consider looking further at this material.

For the full text obtain Pointers from the CRA, see http://www.cra.org.au for details.