Soul Searching Statistics
Source: National Study of Youth and Religion, 2005, UNC - Chapel Hill
(U.S. Adolescents, Ages 13-17)
Latter-Day Saint
Conservative Protestant
Black Protestant
Mainline Protestant
Roman Catholic
Jewish
No Religion
Teen's Religious Affiliation:
Adherence to Parent's Religion
86% LDS
86% Evangelical
81%
68%
83%
75%
-
Teen affiliates with no religion
13%
10%
17%
17%
12%
18%
63%
Religious Service Attendance:
Teen attends Religious Services once a week or more
71% LDS
55%
41%
44%
40%
8%
-
Teen would attend if it were up to the teen
71% LDS
63%
48%
47%
40%
11%
12%
Teen attends with both parents
66% LDS
58%
36%
53%
53%
44%
-
Importance of religious faith in shaping daily life
- Extremely important
52% LDS
28%
31%
19%
11%
7%
7%
- Doubts about religious beliefs
8% LDS
18%
21%
16%
21%
22%
-
Views of God
..
84%
94%
97% Black Protestants
86%
85%
72%
49%
- Believes in a personal God, involved in everyday lives
76%
77% Evangelical
74%
69%
64%
44%
30%
- Believes God created the world, but not presently involved
7%
10%
13%
13%
17%
12%
15%
- Believes God is not personal, something like a cosmic life force
9%
8%
7%
13%
14%
33%
31%
- Believes God is not like any of three preceeding
8%
4%
5%
3%
4%
5%
7%
- Believes in a judgment day when God will reward some and punish others
85%
88%
91% Black Protestant
63%
67%
25%
33%
- Does not believe in God
0% LDS
1%
0% Black Protestant
2%
1%
5%
17%
Teens' religious beliefs:
- Believes in existence of angels
80% LDS
79%
76%
59%
58%
30%
33%
- Believes in Divine Miracles from God
73%
77% Evangelical
76%
59%
55%
21%
26%
- Believes in life after death
76% LDS
62%
50%
51%
45%
23%
24%
- Believes in demons or evil spirits
69% LDS
58%
48%
37%
28%
17%
22%
- Believes in psychics or fortune-tellers
0% LDS
5%
5%
4%
6%
3%
10%
Personal Religious Practices:
Made personal commitment to live life for God
69%
79% Evangelical
74%
60%
41%
21%
13%
Have had a spiritual experience that was very moving and powerful
76% LDS
70%
59%
64%
37%
45%
11%
Has received a definite answer to prayer
67% LDS
65%
61%
53%
42%
34%
18%
Taught religious education class
42% LDS
28%
22%
26%
15%
16%
-
Fasted or denied self something as spiritual discipline
68% LDS
22%
20%
25%
29%
49%
4%
Been part of a scripture study or prayer group
50% LDS
42%
35%
31%
17%
26%
-
Participated in a religious music group
49%
37%
52% Black Protestant
35%
18%
14%
-
Read a religious book (other than scriptures)
68% LDS
45%
29%
28%
22%
28%
-
Spoke about own faith in a religious service or meeting
65% LDS
42%
34%
33%
20%
21%
-
Practiced a weekly day of rest or Sabbath
67% LDS
40%
35%
27%
30%
25%
5%
Shared own religious faith with someone not of faith
72% LDS
56%
41%
51%
37%
58%
-
Prays once a day or more
57% LDS
51%
55%
32%
33%
9%
11%
Been confirmed or baptized
79% LDS
54%
53%
59%
41%
73%
-
Group Activities:
- attends Sunday School (or similar) once a week or more
62% LDS
36%
27%
25%
19%
22%
2%
- attended religious youth retreats, conferences (two or more annually)
64% LDS
42%
31%
46%
23%
30%
8%
- attended religious summer camp
82% LDS
54%
33%
53%
24%
50%
13%
- gone on a religious missions team or service project
70% LDS
35%
30%
45%
23%
26%
8%
Family Religious Climate:
- Family talks about God, the scripture, prayer daily
50% LDS
19%
27%
8%
6%
0%
4%
- Family gives thanks prior to meals
84% LDS
67%
79%
54%
45%
13%
18%
- Teen prays with one or both parents, other than at mealtimes or religious services
79% LDS
53%
56%
35%
36%
22%
11%
School Religious Climate:
- Openly express faith at school
58% LDS
56%
56%
43%
36%
36%
-
- Feel pressured or ridiculed for religious beliefs and practices
24% LDS
12%
6%
5%
5%
20% Jewish
-
Adults in Religious Congregations:
- Teens have adults (other than family members) with whom they enjoy talking or give encouragement
90%
84%
78%
84%
68%
92% Jewish
-
- Teens who have adults to turn to for support and/or advice
73% LDS
65%
68%
65%
53%
28%
-
- number of such adults
4.3 LDS
2.9
2.9
2.6
2.0
0.8
-
Teens Evaluation of Religious Congregation:
- Usually makes teen think about important concepts
81% LDS
70%
63%
58%
52%
59%
- Is usually boring to teen
14%
10%
14%
16%
20%
30%
- Is a warm and welcoming place for teen
85% LDS
80%
74%
82%
66%
85% Jewish
- Regular opportunities to become involved in services
96% LDS
84%
85%
82%
76%
83%
- Teens in congregation who are not hypocrites
79% LDS
67%
57%
60%
60%
64%
- Teen likes youth group
86%
93%
93%
85%
89%
100% Jewish
- Adults in congregation who are hypocrites
27%
21%
38%
30%
34%
10%
- Good experience talking with adult youth leader about a personal question or problem
48% LDS
30%
16%
32%
9%
6%
Evaluation of Religious Congregation (continued)
- Perceived priority of congregation's ministry to teens (parent report: "Very important priority")
96% LDS
75%
80%
56%
47%
32%
- Supportiveness and helpfulness of church for parent in trying to raise teen (parent report: "very supportive")
65% LDS
26%
26%
14%
13%
8%
- Is congregation a very good place for talking about serious issues, problems, and troubles?
65% LDS
52%
48%
38%
33%
40%
- Congregation does an excellent job in helping teens better understand own sexuality and sexual morality
84% LDS
35%
60%
53%
49%
37%
- Congregation has done an excellent job in teaching what teen wants to learn about his/her religion
47% LDS
31%
35%
24%
17%
26%
- Teen anticipate attending his/her present kind of congregation in 25 years
83% LDS
80%
74%
79%
73%
51%
Beliefs about Religion:
- Only one religion is true
67% LDS
46%
31%
26%
19%
9%
5%
- People should practice only one faith
59% LDS
59% Evangelical
57%
38%
40%
21%
25%
- It is O.K. for religious people to try to convert others
83% LDS
70%
54%
58%
43%
18%
32%
- Should accept teachings of faith as a whole, and not pick which tenets to believe
69% LDS
61%
64%
46%
45%
29%
35%
- For believers to be truly religious and spiritual, they must be in a religious congregation
60% LDS
35%
45%
27%
32%
20%
14%
- Teen includes practices from non-Christian (or for Jews, non-Jewish) religions to develop his/her spirituality
2% LDS
7%
7%
11%
11%
37%
11%
Source of Data: Soul Searching, The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers; Christian Smith; UNC Chapel Hill, March 2005, Oxford University Press
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
very interesting stats
I must say these are very interesting stats, by truth is not judged by pragmatism. Just because someone appears to be moral doesn't mean that they teach or believe the truth about God. The bible says: 'Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.' - II John 1:9
Truth is judge by the holy standard of the Bible. If the Bible is correct only if it is translated correctly this means that the accuracy of the Bible is based on subjective interpretation and not the objective truth about that the Bible says. That means that the Bible doesn't mean what it says and that man can interpret the Bible however they want. II Peter 1:20 says: 'Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.'
Amen to that admin!
The use of these stats to "prove" mormonism is ridiculous. The only source of truth is indeed the Bible, and what mormon doctrine states, what mormons believe and what their false prophets teach stand opposed to the Bible and as such they are under condemnation.
You are mistaking the idea of knowing people by their fruits as being slavish obedience to outward piety. They may act the right way and answer questions in a survey the right way, but they are following a lie. We evangelize mormons because they believe a lie, no different than an atheist, a Buddhist or a Muslim.
admin:
The verse you quoted ("no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation") means that when God speaks it is not up to individuals to attempt to discern what it means. God has a specific meaning, intent, and interpretation, which is why He has always sent prophets. Your current understanding of the Bible is based almost entirely on what you were taught it meant, and how your pastor told you it should be interpreted. Pastors everywhere teach different things about the Bible and interpret its teachings differently. I believe this is what you mean by "subjective interpretation." President Bill Clinton did his darnedest to show that words can have all sorts of meaning, depending on who is doing the interpretation (ie, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."). The truth is, Mr. Bill's words really had only one meaning. And so it is with the Bible: the prophets have always been there, interpreting God's words for the rest of us, just read the New Testament accounts of Paul's Letters for several examples.
Your comment that "Truth is judge[d] by the holy standard of the Bible," is an interesting one. I wonder, then, how the members of Christ's original church were able to discern truth in their day, since the Bible was not assembled as such until several hundred years later, and most of its contents were not readily available to laypeople prior to that point. This was, and is, the main purpose of the Holy Ghost: to testify to us of that which is true.
Sure, the Jews had some of the Old Testament, but it was being misinterpreted to them then, in much the same way that the New Testament is commonly misinterpreted in Christian churches around the world today. But the Bible tells us how the Holy Ghost works:
"And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24: 32)
Yes, Jesus was teaching them what the scriptures really meant, but it was the burning in their bosoms that testified to them that He was the Savior! They didn't have to wait around for 400 years so they could read the Bible and find out the truth!
So, also, Simon Peter was able to know that Jesus was the Messiah - despite what he had been taught in his church - because of the Holy Ghost:
"for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 26:17)
No Bible involved. Just personal revelation, through the medium of the Holy Ghost.
______________________
arthur sido:
These stats are not being used to "prove" that Mormonism is true, but to show the positive effect that Mormon teachings and culture is having on the children of our country. Statistics are always comparisons and as such can never be used as proof of anything. We know that.
I would also like to mention that almost every person I have known who has been so vehemently against Mormonism has proven to know nothing about it. I challenge you to learn about Mormonism from some Mormons, instead of just believing the junk your ministry is shelling out to you.
I remember being in your shoes and having hostility towards Buddhism, too. Then, I realized that I didn't know anything about them except what I had heard "Christians" tell me: that they worship idols, yada yada yada. So I went to a local Buddhist congregation and found out from them what they believe. Now, I have an extreme respect for them, because I know that they do not worship idols, and that they do have deep love and respect for people, and for other religions, and they work diligently to serve compassionately in their communities. They don't go on message boards and trash talk people who believe differently than they do.
I realize this is an old thread, but, FWIW:
As to the value of these stats. No, they don't prove" anything. But while Admin, et al. are flaming people with proof-texting, they might want to look at these, including some words of no less an authority than Jesus Himself. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Matt. 7: 16;
Luke 6: 43-44;
John 15: 2, 4-5, 8, 16;
Philip. 1: 11;
Col. 1: 10;
James 3: 17-18
Sido: You sound like you're straining at a gnat to swallow a camel. If Jesus really didn't mean what He said, why did He give it as a key? Was He, too, deceived and "following a lie" in teaching the same things that the LDS Church teaches today, instead of the convoluted philosophies of men debated into the creeds of the Dark Ages?
Seeking Disciple: Sounds like you've stopped seeking, and have all the answers. The Apostle Paul taught the same pearl of doctrine (Rom. 8:16-17) that you drag through the mud. C.S. Lewis believed it; was he not a Christian?
Post a Comment