{"id":824,"date":"2008-12-22T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=824"},"modified":"2008-12-22T01:00:49","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T09:00:49","slug":"what-me-worry-whatever-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"What, me worry? Whatever II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics.<\/p>\n

When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \u201cI believe in God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask young Americans about faith and the response is something like, \u201cI believe in God and stuff.\u201d Finding the doctrinal meaning of \u201cand stuff\u201d is tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod made us and if you ask him for something I believe he gives it to you. Yeah, he hasn\u2019t let me down yet,\u201d said a 14-year-old Catholic from Pennsylvania, when researchers Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton asked him why religion matters. \u201cGod is a spirit that grants you anything you want, but not anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key is that this God \u2014 part Divine Butler, part Cosmic Therapist \u2014 watches from a safe distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s all around you, all the time,\u201d said conservative Protestant girl, 17, from Florida. \u201cHe believes in forgiving people and what-not, and he\u2019s there to guide us, for somebody to talk to and help us through our problems. Of course, he doesn\u2019t talk back.\u201d<\/p>\n

If grown-ups roll their eyes at litanies such as these, most teens offer a chilly response that sums up their creeds \u2014 \u201cwhatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus it was significant, in the Josephson Institute\u2019s latest Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, that 48 percent of the students surveyed in 100 random public and private high schools said they had \u201cnever\u201d violated their own \u201creligious beliefs\u201d during 2007. Other parts of this survey made headlines, especially its reports that a third of the students said they stole something from a store during the previous year, while 38 percent committed plagiarism, 64 percent cheated on a test and 83 percent lied to a parent about something important.<\/p>\n

Few of these young people are \u201cunbelievers\u201d or, heaven forbid, \u201csecularists,\u201d noted Smith, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. The overwhelming majority of them \u2014 like their parents \u2014 would insist that they are practicing Christians, Jews, Muslims or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlenty of religious kids do steal and cheat and whatever,\u201d he said, responding to the Josephson survey. \u201cThey have in their heads some image of what \u2018religious\u2019 really looks like. For many \u2014 not all \u2014 young people, the meaning of that word is so vague it can mean almost anything or nothing whatsoever. The bar is set low and their take on religion certainly doesn\u2019t include concepts such as self sacrifice, repentance or self mortification.\u201d<\/p>\n

These young people are religious, he stressed. They are simply practicing a new religion, one that Smith and Denton called \u201cMoralistic Therapeutic Deism.\u201d When crunched to its basics, this faith teaches that:<\/p>\n

* A God exists who \u201ccreated and orders the world\u201d and watches over our lives.<\/p>\n

* This God wants people to be good, nice and fair to one another, as taught by most major religions.<\/p>\n

* The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good.<\/p>\n

* God is rarely involved in daily life, except when needed to solve a problem.<\/p>\n

* Good people go to heaven.<\/p>\n

This is not a faith that can stand on its own, noted Smith, in a lecture<\/a> at the Princeton Theological Seminary Institute for Youth Ministry. Instead, it is a \u201cparasitic religion\u201d that creates weakened, less rigid versions of other faiths \u2014 such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. There may even, he noted, be \u201cNonreligious Moralistic Therapeutic Deists\u201d in modern America.<\/p>\n

When describing their beliefs, most young people say it\u2019s important to be kind to one another and to try to live a good life. There are few limitations on behavior, other than loose rules that say it is wrong to hurt other people, especially one\u2019s friends. \u201cDon\u2019t be a jerk\u201d is a common refrain.<\/p>\n

Words such as \u201csanctification,\u201d \u201cTrinity,\u201d \u201csin,\u201d \u201choliness\u201d and \u201cEucharist\u201d have little or no meaning. Most references to \u201cgrace\u201d refer to the television show \u201cWill and Grace.\u201d If teens mention being \u201cjustified,\u201d this almost always means that they think they have a good reason to do something that others consider questionable.<\/p>\n

This faith, Smith explained, blends well with popular culture and media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a religion that works at the level of email and texting and long hours talking on your cellphones,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about relationships. Your religion has to work with your friends and it has to bring you happiness. That\u2019s what really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \u201cI believe in God.\u201d Ask young Americans about faith and the response is something like, \u201cI believe in God and stuff.\u201d Finding the doctrinal meaning of \u201cand stuff\u201d is tricky. \u201cGod made us and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,10,14,15,16,25,28,30],"tags":[168,1533,1534,1537,1538,523,664,893,1551],"class_list":["post-824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-catholics","category-evangelicals","category-islam","category-judaism","category-mainline-churches","category-social-issues","category-world-religions","category-young-people","tag-catholicism","tag-doctrine","tag-evangelicals","tag-islam","tag-judaism","tag-mainline","tag-polls","tag-universalism","tag-young-people"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat, me worry? Whatever II<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, "I believe in God."\" \/>\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.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What, me worry? Whatever II\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, "I believe in God."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/\",\"name\":\"What, me worry? Whatever II\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \\\"I believe in God.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What, me worry? Whatever II\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What, me worry? Whatever II","description":"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \"I believe in God.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What, me worry? Whatever II","og_description":"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \"I believe in God.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/","og_site_name":"Terry Mattingly","article_published_time":"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/","name":"What, me worry? Whatever II","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00","dateModified":"2008-12-22T09:00:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"EDITOR'S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, \"I believe in God.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2008\/12\/what-me-worry-whatever-ii\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What, me worry? Whatever II"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/","name":"Terry Mattingly","description":"On Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}