An interesting article appeared in this month's issue of Worship Leader Magazine. It was hinged on the characteristics of the Millenial generation (born 1978-2000) and their approach to religion/spirituality. In light of my previous studies with Millenials (the students in my classes fall into this category), I found the following bulletpoints interesting:
*They perceive religion to be a choice and not an obligation
*Religious labels, including denominational identifications, are relatively unimportant to them.
*They are typically tolerant of other people's beliefs and, in fact, enjoy the variety of different religious practices they see on campus. (ummm...obviously they aren't talking about THIS campus.)
*Religious authority is internal rather than located in some external source, such as the hierarchy of a church.
*They see more value in religious experience than in a codified set of beliefs.
*They affirm the idea of being on a religious journey rather than embracing a static set of beliefs and practices.
*If they join a religious group, they are more interested in the authenticity of people- their honesty, openness, and humility- than they are in an authoritarian presentation of the truth.
*They have no problem being eclectic in their religious taste, which sometimes includes creating their own hybrid religious identities.
*They want to make a diffference in the world and therefore believe that religion should address issues of justice and equality.
Can you relate to this generation?
2 comments:
I AM this generation (Nov 16, 1978 represent!) and I'd say this is pretty close to me. Yay statistics!
Interesting . . . Justin and I were having a conversation about this shift in "religious culture" this week.
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