16AR21-33

( - previous issue - / - next issue - )

AR 21:33 - Social media and spiritual ambiguity

In this issue:

SOCIAL MEDIA - how the Internet fosters spiritual ambiguity among youth

Apologia Report 21:33 (1,306)

September 21, 2016

SOCIAL MEDIA

"Social media affects religious commitments of young people, according to Baylor study" by Phillip Ericksen -- reports that "Young social media users are less likely to commit to one religious tradition than those who do not use social media, according to new research by Baylor University.

"Young social media users are more likely to pick and choose religious beliefs and practices, even if those beliefs are contradictory, sociology graduate student Paul McClure said in a statement about his study. ...

"Social media users are between 50 and 80 percent more likely to be flexible about various religious beliefs and practices, according to his findings. ...

"The study, 'Faith and Facebook in a Pluralistic Age: The Effects of Social Networking Sites on the Religious Beliefs of Emerging Adults,' <www.goo.gl/rpgvRX> was published in the journal Sociological Perspectives." Waco Tribune, May 19 '16 <www.goo.gl/NZFJsL>

The study's abstract reads: "The rapid adoption of social networking sites (SNS) has prompted educators, parents, and researchers to consider the role SNS play in social life. Few scholars, however, have examined the effects of SNS on the religious beliefs of emerging adults. Drawing from Peter Berger's concept of 'plausibility structures' and his theory of pluralism, I explore whether young adults who use SNS are more likely to condone religious pluralism and syncretism. Using panel data from the National Study of Youth and Religion <www.youthandreligion.nd.edu> [NSYR], I find that emerging adults who use SNS are more likely to think it is acceptable to pick and choose their religious beliefs, and practice multiple religions independent of what their religious tradition teaches, but they are not more likely to believe all religions are true. These findings suggest that exposure to broader networks through social media leads to increased acceptance of syncretistic beliefs and practices."

Baylor's May 16 press release notes additional findings - for example, that "Women are more inclined to believe that all religions are true, as opposed to that only one is true or that there is very little truth to religion," and "Married people are less likely to accept the notion of many religions being true when compared with only one." <www.goo.gl/7Q4Voy>

In "Why do we pick-and-choose our religious beliefs? Blame social media," Tobin Grant of Religion News (May 16 '16) summarizes the study's findings: "McClure found that social media users were more likely to believe that they can pick-and-choose their beliefs. The NSYR asked if people agreed with this statement: 'Some people think that it is okay to pick and choose religious beliefs without having to accept the teachings of their religious faith as a whole.' ...

"McClure also found one belief that was not affected: social media didn't change the belief that all religions are true.

"In other words, it's not that that social media leads people to believe that all religions are equally true. Instead, people see themselves as being able to pick-and-choose the truth from their own faith and from others." <www.goo.gl/7av5oc>

Writing for the Deseret News (Jun 4 '16) Kelsey Dallas reports in "The promise of social media for religious communities" that the study finds "Young adults who use social media sites are between 35 and 49 percent more likely than non-users to believe it's acceptable to pick and choose religious beliefs...."

Dallas also notes that "young adults who use social media are more open than their peers to 'cafeteria-style' religious practice, in which spiritual seekers cobble together their own faith from their favorite pieces of global religions.

"'They're also between 53 and 80 percent more likely (than young adults who don't use social media) to think it's acceptable for members of their own religion to practice other religions,'" McClure said. ...

"Social media sites could weaken young people's ties to their family's faith, as McClure's research illustrated. But they also enable religious communities to reach out to teenagers and young adults in meaningful new ways, [Virginia Tech public-relations professor Douglas] Cannon said." <www.goo.gl/79aRFQ>

Don't confuse McClure's "study" and the NSYR itself. The NSYR web site <www.youthandreligion.nd.edu> states that "The National Study of Youth and Religion is a research project directed by Christian Smith, Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and Lisa Pearce, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This project, generously supported by Lilly Endowment Inc., began in August 2001 and is currently funded through December 2015. Wave 3 (January 2007 - December 2010) is also supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The project is designed to enhance our understanding of the religious lives of American youth from adolescence into young adulthood, using telephone survey and in-depth interview methods. ...

"The purpose of the NSYR is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American youth; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent and perceived effectiveness of the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives, in order to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion."

One of the "additional purposes" of the project is "To provide a first ever, detailed, baseline, nationally-representative, descriptive mapping of the religious and spiritual practices, beliefs, experiences, histories, concerns, and involvements of American youth...."

The project's findings are presented in eight reports. "Each report presents summary analyses and interpretations of survey data in language accessible to non-specialized readers and explains the influence of religion on a specific aspect of youths' lives."

Three of these reports stood out to us:

"Religion and Spirituality on the Path Through Adolescence ... In this report, we examined religious and spiritual changes in the lives of adolescents in the United States across a three-year span. The comparison of NSYR survey responses from the same adolescents in 2002 and 2005 reveals relatively small but consistent decreases in conventional religious beliefs and practices. ...

"Portraits of Protestant Teens ... Are American Youth Alienated From Organized Religion? ... Simple frequency distributions (reported as "overall" at the top of Tables 1-4) show that the proportion of U.S. 12th graders who express alienation from or hostility to religion is small. ...

"Family Religious Involvement and the Quality of Family Relationships for Early Adolescents ... Religiously involved families of early adolescents, those ages 12 to 14, living in the United States appear more likely to have significantly stronger family relationships than do families that are not religiously active."

------

( - previous issue - / - next issue - )