Two Thirds of British Teenagers Don't Believe in God
According to a study by Penguin books:
Teenagers even say family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion.
It also emerged six out of ten 10 children (59 per cent) believe that religion "has a negative influence on the world".
The survey also shows that half of teenagers have never prayed and 16 per cent have never been to church.
The study of 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 18 was carried out by Penguin to mark this week's publication of controversial novel 'Killing God' by Kevin Brooks.
The book is about a 15-year-old girl who questions the existence of God.
Kevin Brooks, the author, said: "I can't say I am surprised by the teenagers' responses.
"Part of the reason that I wrote Killing God was that I wanted to explore the personal attitudes of young people today, especially those with troubled lives, towards organised religion and the traditional concept of God.
"How can the moralities of an ancient religion relate to the tragedies and disorders of today's broken world? And why do some people turn to God for help while others take comfort in drugs and alcohol?
"These are just some of the questions I wanted to consider... And I wasn't looking for answers."
The research also found 55 per cent of young people are not bothered about religion and 60 per cent only go to church for a wedding or christening.
Only three out of 10 teenagers believe in an afterlife and 41 per cent believe that nothing happens to your body when you die, but one in 10 reckon they come back as an animal or another human being.
A Church of England spokesman said: "Many teenagers aren't sure what they believe at that stage of their lives, as is clear from the number who said they don't know whether they believe in God.
"On the other hand many of these results point to the great spirituality of young people today that the Church is seeking to respond to through new forms of worship alongside tradition ones."
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of The British Humanist Association, said: "It confirms that young people - like adults - do not need a religion to have positive values.
"The 'golden rule', which is often claimed by religions as a religious value, is in reality a shared human value - shared by all the major religions and the non-religious and almost every culture - that predates all the major world religions."
[Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009]
Teenagers even say family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion.
It also emerged six out of ten 10 children (59 per cent) believe that religion "has a negative influence on the world".
The survey also shows that half of teenagers have never prayed and 16 per cent have never been to church.
The study of 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 18 was carried out by Penguin to mark this week's publication of controversial novel 'Killing God' by Kevin Brooks.
The book is about a 15-year-old girl who questions the existence of God.
Kevin Brooks, the author, said: "I can't say I am surprised by the teenagers' responses.
"Part of the reason that I wrote Killing God was that I wanted to explore the personal attitudes of young people today, especially those with troubled lives, towards organised religion and the traditional concept of God.
"How can the moralities of an ancient religion relate to the tragedies and disorders of today's broken world? And why do some people turn to God for help while others take comfort in drugs and alcohol?
"These are just some of the questions I wanted to consider... And I wasn't looking for answers."
The research also found 55 per cent of young people are not bothered about religion and 60 per cent only go to church for a wedding or christening.
Only three out of 10 teenagers believe in an afterlife and 41 per cent believe that nothing happens to your body when you die, but one in 10 reckon they come back as an animal or another human being.
A Church of England spokesman said: "Many teenagers aren't sure what they believe at that stage of their lives, as is clear from the number who said they don't know whether they believe in God.
"On the other hand many of these results point to the great spirituality of young people today that the Church is seeking to respond to through new forms of worship alongside tradition ones."
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of The British Humanist Association, said: "It confirms that young people - like adults - do not need a religion to have positive values.
"The 'golden rule', which is often claimed by religions as a religious value, is in reality a shared human value - shared by all the major religions and the non-religious and almost every culture - that predates all the major world religions."
[Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009]
8 comments:
I find your blog post very interesting, but would like to read the articles and sources you mention. Would you mind citing references or links to additional information?
The article is found here.
Religious education is compulsory in British schools, which probably explains the lack of belief of many teenagers.
I'm a British teenager (And an atheist)!
It's good to know that research is being done on the issue of beliefs in the next generation.
i was once a british teenager, and am now a teacher. i would posit that, on the whole, britain is becoming more of a secular country, and has a very different culture to america, and nothing that even remotely relates to the bible belt. churches are generally closing, and the youth of today have their lives filled up with a lot of nonsense. i would actually say that there is also a danger of the society potentially dumbing down too, though that is unsubstantiated opinion! there has always been a fantastic separation of church and state, and long may this continue. moreover, there is very little religous tv programming, and this is very beneficial in terms of less indoctrination. i think.
British Teenagers are "worst behaved" in Europe. (source)
British teenagers have lower IQs than their counterparts did 30 years ago. (source)
British Teenagers Watch 87 Hours of Porn Per Year (source)
British Teens Use Condoms 'Inconsistently, Incorrectly'; Behavior Increases Risk of STDs, Study Says (source)
British teenagers are the binge-drinking champions of Europe (source)
Some might suggest that this is just Biblical prophecies being fulfilled?
2 Thess. 2:3
Peace out, feeno
alan,
you must be mindful of throwing in those statistics, without really looking at causal relationships. i can tell you from being a teacher, that behaviour without consequences is effectively condoned.
you have to look at many things like work life balance, both parents having to work etc etc. i used to work for an american company in britain, and we had to sign our contracts to opt out of european working laws, so the bastards made us work 80 hour weeks with no lunch breaks etc. i knew people that worked for them with children, who never saw their children. if these kids went off the rails, it would have little to do with their parents being christian or not, but to do with a whole host of other factors.
life is complicated, and i think the only way forward is to be amish...
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