US Youth May Yet Return to Religion, Despite the Right

The religious right has driven young people away, but a change in tone could lure them back: Putnam
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2009 1:45 PM CDT
US Youth May Yet Return to Religion, Despite the Right
This 2008 file photo shows Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, as he speaks during a panel discussion on rural development at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York.   (AP Photo)

Young Americans would likely become more religious if faith were disentangled from the polarizing practices of evangelical conservatives, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post. That’s a good thing, because research for an upcoming book found that religious Americans give more time and money—to secular and religious causes alike. The content of faith matters little: The benefits of religion come from joining a loving community.

But young Americans are largely unable to enjoy the benefits of religion because of culture-war polarizations. The politicization of Christianity by evangelicals—their movement itself a reaction to 1960s hippy secularism—resulted in a religious atmosphere that young people regard as judgmental and uncaring. But youth are not by definition secular: “They are not in church,” writes Robert Putnam, co-author of American Grace, “but they might be if a church weren’t like the religious right.” (More religion stories.)

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