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Generation X keeping the faith, studies find
Web posted January 25, 1997
By David Briggs
Following the ``lost generation'' of baby boomers who abandoned organized religion in large numbers, baby busters - stereotyped as angry, alienated individualists - were expected to be even more likely to stay outside the fold of church, synagogue or mosque.
However, more than a decade of national poll results show that in general they are no less religious than baby boomers, and in some respects faith is more important in their lives.
Since people generally tend to become more religious as they age, and more people from Generation X can be expected to return to church as they start families, the findings indicate that many young people are not abandoning their faith.
``Overall, we must conclude that, popular rhetoric notwithstanding, the prognosis for organized religion generally is quite good,'' said David W. Machacek, who presented results of his study at a recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Mr. Machacek, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, reviewed the data on religion, moral and social attitudes gathered from 1983 to 1994 in national polls. The poll data is part of the General Social Surveys collected by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
What he found was not a ``post-Christian generation,'' or a generation trying to make sense of ``life after God,'' as some popular essayists have described the first generation raised in a nation without school prayer or other civic accommodations to religion.
Instead, Mr. Machacek said, the baby busters are a lot like the baby boomers when it comes to religion.
For example, 40 percent of people born from 1963 to 1976 who expressed a religious preference said they attend worship services twice a month or more, well below the 55 percent of people born before 1946 who attend church regularly but only slightly less than the 43 percent of those born from 1946 to 1962.
There is less denominational loyalty among young adults. Only 31 percent of baby busters report being strongly committed to their denomination, compared to 38 percent of baby boomers and 49 percent of older respondents.
And the percentage of respondents who claimed no religious preference climbed from 11 percent among baby boomers to 13 percent among baby busters. Most churches had similar percentages of baby busters and baby boomers, but conservative Protestants gained slightly among young adults while liberal Protestants declined significantly.
However, there were also survey results that showed members of Generation X attaching more importance to religion than the baby boom generation.
While it is doubtful young adults will return to levels of religious devotion found among the World War II generation, the prognosis for religion among baby busters is good, according to Mr. Machacek.
``Considering that the busters are currently at a stage of the life cycle when interest in religion is typically low, it is possible that we will find signs of recovery .°.°. as they begin to settle down into careers, families and communities,'' he said. ``Overall, the story of religion in Generation X is one of relative stability.''
Benton Johnson, a sociologist of religion at the University of Portland in Oregon, said the study findings sound reasonable.
While membership in mainline churches continues to decline among the young, the surveys indicate that conservative megachurches and other ``new-style'' churches are finding ways to reach Generation X, Dr. Johnson said.
Mr. Machacek said the study shows that churches have to reach out to young adults to make worship meaningful to them.
``Churches that aren't selling themselves .°.°. are going to end up losing out,'' he said.
However, a generation that grew up in a period of intense social change appears to be receptive to religion.
``A religious tradition that says `we can provide meaning' is attractive,'' he said.
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