LOSING THEIR RELIGION
NEWS COPY
Nearly two thirds of teenagers don’t believe in God, new research revealed yesterday (Mon).
A massive 66 per cent of teens reckon God doesn’t exist, 50 per cent have never prayed and 16 per cent have never been to church.
Teenagers even say family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion.
It also emerged six out of ten 10 kids (59 per cent) believe religion ‘has a negative influence on the world’.
The study of 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 18 was carried out by Penguin books 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 and rages the existence of God.
Yesterday (Mon) popular teen author Kevin Brooks 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.
It also emerged nearly half (47 per cent) believe organised religion has no place in today’s world.
And six in 10 don’t think Religious Studies should be compulsory in schools even though only 39 per cent rated their knowledge about religion to be above average.
The south east was unveiled as the region with the least faith, with only 28 per cent believing there is such a thing as a god.
Only a third of London teens believed in a god.
Over 30 per cent said they prayed when they were worried something bad was going to happen and a heart-warming 91 per cent agree they should treat others the way they wish to be treated themselves.
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: ”I am not at all surprised by the results.
”Some of the results are very interesting, for example that only four per cent believe god is the biggest influence in their lives.
”That is consistent with Government research which shows that while religion is very important to a small proportion of adults, most people rank religion with very low in importance in their lives.
”Also significant, and reassuring for those who are worried about children’s values, is that 91 per cent think they should treat others as they wish to be treated.
”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.”
ENDS
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com