Young British religious ‘nones’: findings from the Youth On Religion study

Abstract

This article contributes to an understanding of diversity in beliefs and practices among young religious 'nones' who report the absence of a specific religious faith. It focuses on those describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or otherwise of 'no religion' within (a) a large-scale survey of over ten thousand 13-17-year-olds, and (b) interviews, discussion groups and eJournal entries involving one hundred and fifty-seven 17-18-year-olds, in three British multi-faith locations. Compared to the study population as a whole, the young religious 'nones' were particularly likely to be white and born in Britain. There was, nonetheless, considerable diversity among this group in beliefs and practices: almost half the survey members mentioned some level of belief in God and most of the interview participants pointed to some presence of religion in their lives. Being a religious 'none' is, furthermore, not necessarily a stable identity and some young people had already shown considerable fluidity over their life cycles. Around half the survey members said they had maintained similar religious views to their mothers, but participants in both quantitative and qualitative studies pointed to the impact of their experiences and interactions, as well as the role of science, as factors affecting their beliefs and practices.ARTICLE HISTORY

Young People, Non-religion and Citizenship

“…This article aims to help address the above gap by drawing on data from the British Youth On Religion (YOR) study to explore experiences and attitudes of those identifying as 'religious nones'. In contrast to our previous work on this topic, which reported on individual characteristics and identities (Madge and Hemming, 2016), this article focuses on young people as citizens, through their relationship to their wider communities and society. This includes a consideration of their perceptions about the broader meaning of non-religious identity, their views on morality and values, and also their approach to, and relations with, religious others.…”

“…In our own research, participants identifying as 'no religion' showed enormous diversity in their beliefs and religious activities: almost half the survey members mentioned some level of belief in God and most of the interview participants pointed to some presence of religion in their lives (Madge and Hemming, 2016). Given we refer to the same sample of young people in this present article, the term 'non-religious' is used to denote religious 'nones' in this wider sense.…”

“…Participant quotes are labelled with pseudonyms, gender and stated (non-)religious affiliation, and also the extent to which they reported that religion was important in their life. Those in our 'no religion' sample were strikingly more likely than those with religious identities to be white and born in the UK (see Madge and Hemming, 2016).…”

Youth participation in ‘post‐secular’ times: young Muslim and Buddhist practitioners as religious citizens

“…Additionally, this bracketing off of religiosity and its treatment as an ‘entry point’ to participation does not take into account long‐standing critiques concerning the Western and modernist separation of the ‘religious’ and the ‘secular’ (Asad ; Casanova ; Turner ). In particular, scholars have pointed out that the categories of the ‘religious’ and the ‘secular’ have no fixed essence (Asad : 15–16); that these categories in fact co‐constitute one another (Hurd ); that the boundaries between religious nones and religious affiliates is often unclear (Lim, MacGregor and Putnam : 598–9; Madge and Hemming ); and that the separation of these spheres bears little resemblance to the ‘lived’ or ‘everyday’ experiences of religious practitioners, for whom religion is experienced across both sacred and profane contexts (McGuire 2007; Ammerman ). Some have attempted to locate the epistemological underpinnings of this separation with reference to Durkheimian and Weberian conceptions of individual, private and apolitical ‘salvation’ religions versus actively engaged community cults/religious communities (Casanova ; Turner ).…”

The Ethics and the Meaning of Life among College Students

“…[16] showed that young adults Christians and Muslims believers, reveal more negative attitudes toward homosexuality than non-Muslims. Another survey, by [17], has shown that college students in Saudi Arabia, despite living in a strict Islamic society, they feel an integral part of the connected generation worldwide and using essentially the networks as social communication process.…”