Last week Springtide contacted me and I had a very nice conversation with Dr. Josh Packard, their Executive Director. Dr. Packard has a Ph.D. in sociology from Vanderbilt \u2013 he and his institute are doing serious research using a combination of surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews.<\/p>\n
Their findings are important. You can like them or you can not like them, but if you\u2019re a religious leader (in any sense of the term) you ignore them at your peril. They provide good insight into the beliefs and practices of young people \u2013 the people who are the future of Paganism, of Christianity, and of every other religion in this country.<\/p>\n
This is simply unprecedented.<\/p>\n Throughout history, the vast majority of people have followed the religion of their parents and their parents before them. They may have followed it less devoutly (or more devoutly) but they still identified with the religion of their childhood. A few converted, but they usually converted to another branch of the same religion (such as Catholic to Evangelical, or vice versa).<\/p>\n But now, almost four out of ten young people describe their religious identity as \u201cnone of the above.\u201d They aren\u2019t staying in their parents\u2019 religion and they aren\u2019t converting to another religion.<\/p>\n They won\u2019t take anyone\u2019s package deal. Rather, they\u2019re trying to build their own package of beliefs and practices \u2013 what makes sense to them, and what works for them.<\/p>\n Young people are abandoning beliefs and practices that don\u2019t make sense to them, or that offend their innate sense of right and wrong. Some are becoming atheists. But for most, it\u2019s what Dr. Packard calls \u201cfaith unbundled.\u201d<\/p>\n (Like many Pagans and other non-Christians, I have an issue with saying \u201cfaith\u201d when what you mean is \u201creligion\u201d \u2013 religion is a lot more than what you believe. But it\u2019s clear what Dr. Packard means when he says this, and in the interview he followed that comment with \u201creligion unbundled.\u201d)<\/p>\n Young people aren\u2019t abandoning religion \u2013 they\u2019re abandoning religious institutions. Some of this is the fault of institutions that cling to outdated cultural norms and insist they\u2019re eternal truth. But much of it is the fact that so many different religions are available \u2013 we live in the most religiously diverse culture in the history of humanity. And so young people \u2013 and some not-so-young folks too \u2013 are trying to build a set of beliefs and practices that make sense to them.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t all that different from what I\u2019ve done on my spiritual journey<\/a>. But where I\u2019m an outlier as a late Boomer (who really belongs in Gen X), this DIY religious approach has become quite common among younger people.<\/p>\n Most religions draw clear lines around what are and aren\u2019t acceptable practices. Today\u2019s young people are ignoring those lines. That was the theme of Heather Greene\u2019s Religion News Service article on Gen Z and Tarot<\/a> that inspired my post last month. They\u2019re reading the Bible and<\/em> they\u2019re working with crystals.<\/p>\n This is a problem for institutional religions. Over on the Patheos Evangelical channel, Roger Olson (one of the few Evangelical bloggers I enjoy reading) has a new post<\/a> where he looks at this phenomenon. Unsurprisingly, he\u2019s against it. Christianity in general and Evangelicalism in particular have always condemned divination, even though ordinary Christians have always practiced it, to one degree or another. But they no longer have the power to enforce their doctrines \u2013 either with governmental authority or social pressure \u2013 and so people are largely ignoring them.<\/p>\n Humans have always been rather utilitarian around religious practices \u2013 if something works, we\u2019ll do it. If not, we\u2019ll abandon it. But most people have been constant when it comes to their religious identity. Now that\u2019s changing.<\/p>\n According to the Springtide research, families remain the #1 influencer of young peoples\u2019 religion. But social media is #2.<\/p>\n To say this concerns me would be a gross understatement. For all that I enjoy the social aspects of social media, and for all I appreciate finding information I would otherwise never see, I\u2019m worried about the vast amounts of misinformation circulating around the internet.<\/p>\n Then again, those of us who learned our craft from the shelves of Barnes & Noble remember that for every helpful book that became a classic, there were several more that were filled with wild conjecture pretending to be ancient lore (like much of Edain McCoy\u2019s work<\/a>).<\/p>\n And let\u2019s not forget that the Christian shelves were \u2013 and still are \u2013 full of fundamentalism and other bad ideas that are far more harmful than any Pagan fabrication.<\/p>\n We learned to separate the wisdom from the garbage \u2013 the younger generations can learn to do that too. Our job is to present good, accurate, helpful information for those who want it.<\/p>\n I keep repeating this because it\u2019s important: the English word \u201creligion\u201d comes from the Latin word religare<\/em>, which means \u201cto bind together.\u201d Religion provides the common beliefs and practices that make us a tradition and a community, rather than simply a collection of individuals.<\/p>\n What binds us together when everyone is doing their own thing? Religiously, that answer is \u201cnot much.\u201d<\/p>\n But there are things we can gather around. We see this in the Pagan community with those who don\u2019t give the Gods much thought, but who love celebrating the changing seasons. There is no creedal test to dance the Maypole.<\/p>\n I can gather with all kinds of people to discuss Tarot, even though as an animist and a polytheist I have very different ideas about how it works compared to those who approach it from a New Age, non-theistic, or even a Christian perspective.<\/p>\n Will these interest-group gatherings build the kind of communities that will last for many generations? No. Communities will have to be built around something else, and I don\u2019t know what that is.<\/p>\n But how many people have stayed in a religious community long after they\u2019ve abandoned any religious practices? Perhaps what we\u2019re moving toward is simply a more honest approach.<\/p>\n Paganism is not a proselytizing religion<\/a>. We don\u2019t pretend we have the One True Way. And that\u2019s a good thing. Because the Springtide research shows that young people are turned off by \u201chard sell\u201d approaches.<\/p>\n Instead, they\u2019re looking for a conversation. They want to know what you believe, what you do, and why that\u2019s meaningful and helpful to you. They want you to hear their ideas and their concerns.<\/p>\n That means we have to listen. And it means we have to be very careful how we respond. They may be young, but they have no trouble recognizing rote answers grounded in arbitrary authority.<\/p>\n Dr. Packard says \u201cyou can\u2019t win, but you can lose.\u201d Give them a hard sell, tell them they have to believe something they know isn\u2019t true, and they\u2019ll write you off.<\/p>\n And you\u2019ll deserve it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2021\/09\/sunset-09.10.21-01-1024x561.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n39% identify as \u201cnone of the above\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cNone of the above\u201d doesn\u2019t mean atheism<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2021\/09\/flowers-09.10.21-01-1024x561.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNot this or<\/em> that \u2013 this and<\/em> that<\/h2>\n
The impact of social media<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2021\/09\/Fall-Equinox-2021-42-1024x561.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFrom binding together to gathering around?<\/h2>\n
Looking for a conversation<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2021\/09\/boardwalk-09.04.21-01-1024x561.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n