OMG! How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era. - Circle

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Generation Y: The Most Diverse Generation in History Generation Y –loosely defi ned as people born between 1980 and 2000- is the most diverse and largest cohort in the nation. Between 1972 and 2000, the percentage of young Americans identifying themselves as white steadily decreased from 88 percent to 65 percent. 6 Currently, 15 percent call themselves African American, 18 percent Hispanic, and 4 percent Asian. 7 This growing diversity is largely driven by immigration from Central and South American and Asian nations, and these are the fastest growing ethnic groups in the country. By 2050, demographers project that Hispanics will constitute 24 percent and Asians will constitute 8 percent of the country. These newest Americans come primarily from Mexico and China, but signifi cant numbers also came from Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. Generation By Race (Percent) White Black Asian Hispanic Gen Y 61 15 4 17 Gen X 63 13 5 17 Baby Boomers 73 12 3 10 Silent Generation 80 9 3 7 GI Generation 86 7 2 4 U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 This increased immigration contributes to our nation’s greater religious diversity, though there are other important factors driving changes to the American religious landscape as well. Generation Y –at the vanguard of change– is more religiously diverse than its progenitors; youth are less likely to identify with traditional Christian denominations and are signifi cantly more likely to see themselves as secular and nondenominational than older Americans. 8 • Nationally, a plurality of Americans identify themselves as Protestant (41 percent) while a quarter call themselves Catholic. The remaining 36 percent are either non-denominational Christians, non- Judeo Christians faiths or simply nothing. 9 Many fewer young people call themselves Protestant (27 percent), with many saying they are just “Christian” (13 percent). While this decrease in the number of Protestants refl ects the decline of these denominations generally 10 , it is also likely that part of this divergence is a function of youth not knowing broadly what religious tradition they belong to. In other words, one may know that he or she belongs to the Methodist church, but does not know that he or she is Protestant. • Nationally, 23 percent of Americans call themselves evangelical. 11 We clearly underestimate the number of evangelical youth in this study at 16 percent, given that 60 percent of youth call How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith In The iPod Era 8
themselves “born again.” Again, the reality is that young people simply do not know they are evangelical because they do know they are Protestant and therefore do not qualify as evangelical under our definition. 12 • There is no diminishing of Catholic identification, which is not surprising given the dominance of the Catholic Church among immigrants from Central and South America. • Despite increased immigration from countries with non-Judeo Christian traditions, the national percentage from traditions such as Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist remains rather small; nationally, 2.6 percent of the country falls into this category (which has grown from 0.8 in 1980 to 2.6 percent in 2000). 13 In this survey, approximately 10 percent identify as something other than a variant of Judeo-Christian tradition. • But Generation Y is significantly more likely to say that they have no religious denominational preference or call themselves secular than their elders. The General Social Survey (GSS) reported that the number of Americans who claim no religious preference doubled from 7 percent in 1991 to 14 percent in 2000, and the National Election Study showed an increase from 8 percent to 13 percent from 1992 to 2000. 14 In a CUNY study, 14 percent of 18-34 year olds say they are “secular” compared to 9 percent of 35-49 year olds, 9 percent of 50-64 year olds and 7 percent of people over 65 years of age. 15 In this study, fully 23 percent of 18-25 year olds do not identify with a denomination at all and 18 percent describe themselves as neither spiritual nor religious. 16 Religious Preference by Generation (Percent Responding) Total Gen Y Gen X Boom Silent GI Protestant 41 26 32 41 56 64 Roman Catholic Jewish 23 1 20 2 20 1 23 1 21 3 21 4 Muslim/Islam 1 2 2 0 0 - Mormon 1 2 - 1 1 2 Orthodox Church 1 0 1 1 0 - Other Christian 10 14 10 12 4 4 Other not Christian 7 7 8 7 4 - No pref/Atheist/Agnostic 14 23 23 11 7 5 DK/Ref 2 1 3 2 4 - America’s Evangelicals, 2004 and OMG! 2004 Adapting Religious Practice: Faith Expressed in Highly Personal, Informal Ways Young people are clearly more religiously pluralistic and more disconnected from traditional denominations than their older counterparts. Young people are also less religious, at least when it comes to traditional measures of religious practice (e.g., attending worship services). This age disparity may rest, in part, on their place in the lifecycle; no longer living at home and for the most part not raising young 9 How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith In The iPod Era
Page 2 and 3: A word about the title of this surv
Page 4 and 5: Table Of Contents 1. Introduction 2
Page 6 and 7: express a hunger for spiritual mean
Page 8 and 9: • The Godly (27%) for whom religi
Page 12 and 13: children, younger Americans are at
Page 14 and 15: Young people, moreover, are embedde
Page 16 and 17: can talk to their parents about any
Page 18 and 19: Identity Groups (Percent Responding
Page 20 and 21: Demarcating the Religious Landscape
Page 22 and 23: Core Beliefs By Religiosity (Percen
Page 24 and 25: OMG! 2004 Given what we know about
Page 26 and 27: They are religious “moderates”
Page 28 and 29: Volunteer Activities (Percent Respo
Page 30 and 31: Progressive World View on Differenc
Page 32 and 33: often (4 percent) or somewhat often
Page 34 and 35: 4. Respect intelligence: Don’t ex
Page 36 and 37: Table 1: Population of 18-24 year o
Page 38 and 39: Table 3: Continental U.S. Hispanic
Page 40 and 41: Table 4: Continental U.S. Asian Tra
Page 42 and 43: Appendix B: Religiosity Scale Compo
Page 44 and 45: collected March 16-April 4, 2004. T
Page 46 and 47: 29. See appendix for the scale comp
Page 48 and 49: Acknowledements About the Author An
Page 50: We are also indebted to the followi

OMG! How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era. - Circle

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