Benign Whateverism
Oct. 24th, 2006 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsThe National Survey of Youth and Religion has been completed and the first studies based upon the survey are starting to hit the shelves. The first such book has some interesting things to say about what teenagers believe.
The survey reveals that, in terms of creed, most teenagers are not "Christians" or "Jews" or "atheists." They have a creed which, for all purposes, is hedonistic:
Christian Smith, Associate Chair of the Department of Sociology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and one of the authors of the study, states that this collection of creeds represents the "pop religion" of the United States and has dubbed it, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism," although at least one wag has dubbed it "Benign Whateverism."
They get it from their parents. That's the only conclusion that most of the handwringing pundits deep within the evangelical youth churches can really say: kids are getting this religion from their folks. After all, these are people who are getting their earthly reward by feeding the institution, and the institution wants something back. It never ceases to amaze me how few people appreciate just how Darwinian the relationship between institutions and their human symbiots really is, and how much natural selection really goes on between institutions looking for their niches among we the living.
This is not, apparently, because teenagers are vague in general. The survey found that most teens could speak clearly and concisely about a whole range of issues. It was simply that, in the matter of religion, most of them identified with the church of their parents and very few of them could accurately identify the creed of their church. Very few had been taught what it means to be "a Christian," "a Jew," the beliefs into which they had been born.
I find this a bit worrisome. It's too early in our history to start creating post-moral systems, yet MTD is almost exactly that despite the M in its title. Most teens will state unequivocally that something is wrong, but they can't tell you why. They have no foundation, no worldview, that informs their reasoning. "It just is." This is a kind of hedonism, but the destructive kind: the kind that cannot see past the next pleasure, that cannot reason why sometimes gratification must be delayed for the greatest payoff. These kids might avoid drugs "because they're bad," but they can't tell you why they're bad, and there are always new vices for which there are no codices, no rules: without a foundation, such rules are simply waiting for the right temptation to blow them away.
All I can do is hope to give my kids a foundation. Not necessary a religious one, but they need some examplary foundation on which to base all their future judgements. Without that... they're just ciphers, ready for the next demagogue with a good line that feels good at the time.
The survey reveals that, in terms of creed, most teenagers are not "Christians" or "Jews" or "atheists." They have a creed which, for all purposes, is hedonistic:
- God exists and has created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good and nice to each other and to be moral.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in life except when needed for a problem.
- Good people will go to heaven when they die.
Christian Smith, Associate Chair of the Department of Sociology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and one of the authors of the study, states that this collection of creeds represents the "pop religion" of the United States and has dubbed it, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism," although at least one wag has dubbed it "Benign Whateverism."
They get it from their parents. That's the only conclusion that most of the handwringing pundits deep within the evangelical youth churches can really say: kids are getting this religion from their folks. After all, these are people who are getting their earthly reward by feeding the institution, and the institution wants something back. It never ceases to amaze me how few people appreciate just how Darwinian the relationship between institutions and their human symbiots really is, and how much natural selection really goes on between institutions looking for their niches among we the living.
This is not, apparently, because teenagers are vague in general. The survey found that most teens could speak clearly and concisely about a whole range of issues. It was simply that, in the matter of religion, most of them identified with the church of their parents and very few of them could accurately identify the creed of their church. Very few had been taught what it means to be "a Christian," "a Jew," the beliefs into which they had been born.
I find this a bit worrisome. It's too early in our history to start creating post-moral systems, yet MTD is almost exactly that despite the M in its title. Most teens will state unequivocally that something is wrong, but they can't tell you why. They have no foundation, no worldview, that informs their reasoning. "It just is." This is a kind of hedonism, but the destructive kind: the kind that cannot see past the next pleasure, that cannot reason why sometimes gratification must be delayed for the greatest payoff. These kids might avoid drugs "because they're bad," but they can't tell you why they're bad, and there are always new vices for which there are no codices, no rules: without a foundation, such rules are simply waiting for the right temptation to blow them away.
All I can do is hope to give my kids a foundation. Not necessary a religious one, but they need some examplary foundation on which to base all their future judgements. Without that... they're just ciphers, ready for the next demagogue with a good line that feels good at the time.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-24 07:02 pm (UTC)GAH. I wasn't getting too concerned until you said that.
I was molested by a teen who knew it was wrong, but didn't understand the consequences to ME of what he was doing. He was smart enough to know adults break the rules all the time, so he figured all he needed to know was which rules could be broken without real harm...and he thought sexual molestation was one of those.
Kids need to know why. Teens, especially, need to know why. They don't necessarily need to be able to articulate it to adults, but they need to know in their bones why certain behaviors (shooting their teacher, raping their neighbor, etc.) should not be engaged in.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 02:39 am (UTC)Ask any devout Christian why something is wrong. Say, murder, godlessness, or being gay.
They would almost invariably say that it's because God says it is (or that it says so in the bible). If they even have an answer at all.
There's a reason for all those "thou shalt nots". They're there so that the stupid people don't have to think about what makes something wrong or right. The 10 commandments don't simply state "be good to God and other people". That would require thought and interpretation, and god forbid that people interpret it wrong.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 07:00 am (UTC)I was just thinking about this earlier today actually; if the only reason not to do something is "God says", then God isn't actually good, or "good" has no meaning. The only way ethical rules can have any meaning is for them to be sensible and beneficial entirely separately from any god declaring them. At which point, you really don't need the god.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 12:33 am (UTC)When is it moral for a group to something that is immoral for an individual? (to quote uncle Bob). Death penalty, anyone? Taxes?
And then there's pure survival of self or family. Killing you may be against the golden rule, but if you shoot at me or mine, I will do my best to take you out without any moral hesitation.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 04:20 am (UTC)