{"id":6633,"date":"2023-05-19T13:33:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T17:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=6633"},"modified":"2023-05-19T13:33:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T17:33:56","slug":"hope-for-gen-z-post-pandemic-belief-in-god-higher-power-on-the-rise-in-young-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/05\/hope-for-gen-z-post-pandemic-belief-in-god-higher-power-on-the-rise-in-young-adults.html","title":{"rendered":"Hope for Gen Z? Post-Pandemic Belief in God, \u201chigher power\u201d on the Rise in Young Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Springtide Research Institute has released a new poll that revealed more young adults aged 18-29 profess a belief in God or some form of a \u201chigher power\u201d post-pandemic. <\/span>According<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to the study, \u201cAbout one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds say they believe \u2013 more than doubt \u2013 the existence of a higher power.\u201d That is an uptick from 2021, which was around one quarter.\u00a0<\/span>The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/em>, reporting on the findings, credited the pandemic with increasing young adults\u2019 faith. \u201cFor many young people, the pandemic was the first crisis they faced. In many ways, it aged young Americans, and they are now turning to the same comfort previous generations have turned to during tragedies for healing and comfort,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The Journal<\/span><\/em>\u00a0stated. The increase is encouraging, considering that belief in God in the U.S. remains lowest in the youngest generations. But what does the increasing faith of Gen Z really mean for the Christian landscape in America?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal <\/span><\/em>interviewed several young people, and most would be described as \u201cspiritual but not religious.\u201d Despite more young adults professing a belief in a higher power, that is not translating into higher church attendance or most young adults professing a certain church doctrine or moral outlook. One such person interviewed was Desmond Adel, a self-described \u201cagnostic theist\u201d who professed openness to a belief in God but \u201c[not] like any Gods described by major religions.\u201d The type of faith described in\u00a0<\/span>The Journal<\/span><\/em>, according to\u00a0<\/span>The Daily Citizen<\/span><\/em><\/a>,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0can be more accurately described as \u201c<\/span>moralistic therapeutic deism<\/span><\/a>,\u201d a term coined by Christian Smith in his book,\u00a0<\/span>Souls in Transition<\/span><\/em><\/a>. Smith and a team of researchers conducted a study on the religious habits of teenagers, summed up in a report entitled \u201cSoul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Eyes of American Teenagers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moralistic therapeutic deism, according to Smith, agrees that there is a god who created the universe, who desires people to be nice and kind to others yet does not need to be directly involved in people\u2019s lives. Moralistic therapeutic deism also asserts that good people go to heaven. Smith\u2019s study found that most U.S. teenagers could not articulate their religious beliefs, and \u201cmost are virtually unable to offer any serious theological understanding.\u201d Smith wrote in his report that \u201c\u2026it became clear that most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe, or they do understand it and simply do not care to believe it. Either way, it is apparent that most religiously affiliated U.S. teens are not particularly interested in espousing and upholding the beliefs of their faith traditions, or that their communities of faith are failing in attempts to educate their youth or both.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Springtide, noting this \u201cspiritualism\u201d in young adults, still interpreted the results positively, sharing that \u201cThose indicators cannot tell you, for example, that numerous young people engage with crystals and herbs, anime, activism and politics, tarot, and nature as spiritual exercises. Before dismissing these practices as New Age frivolities, consider that young Latter-day Saints and Muslims \u2014 groups that traditionally hold more conservative\/orthodox religious beliefs \u2014 were among the most likely to engage with tarot or other forms of divination on a regular basis (38 percent and 35 percent, respectively).\u201d The Institute encouraged churches to utilize young adults\u2019 openness to faith by establishing relationships with them and opening up discussions about doctrine.\u00a0<\/span>The Daily Citizen<\/span><\/em>\u00a0agreed with this assessment but with a caveat. \u201cIt\u2019s good that some young Americans are becoming more open to \u2018faith\u2019 in a general sense. But it\u2019s not sufficient, especially to the extent that Americans are turning to faith for a sense of \u2018comfort.\u2019 Make no mistake, believing in a God who cares for humankind and loves us unconditionally can be comforting, but belief for \u2018comfort\u2019 sake is not enough,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The Daily Citizen\u00a0<\/span><\/em>asserted. \u201cNo one should believe in something or someone because it makes them comfortable. They should believe in something because it is\u00a0<\/span>true<\/span><\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Springtide Research Institute has released a new poll that revealed more young adults aged 18-29 profess a belief in God or some form of a \u201chigher power\u201d post-pandemic. According\u00a0to the study, \u201cAbout one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds say they believe \u2013 more than doubt \u2013 the existence of a higher power.\u201d That is an uptick from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":6639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHope for Gen Z? Post-Pandemic Belief in God, \u201chigher power\u201d on the Rise in Young Adults<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new study revealed that more young adults believe in God or a "higher power."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/05\/hope-for-gen-z-post-pandemic-belief-in-god-higher-power-on-the-rise-in-young-adults.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope for Gen Z? 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