How Many Teenagers Believe in God ?
Just how many young people today still believe in God ?
The results of an extensive survey undertaken here in the United Kingdom have just been published.
Reading the fallout I thought those commenting on the results had it wrong.
Various religious people with their cassocks in a twist seemed to miss the point I thought
66% of teenagers do not believe in God !
I don’t know why this upset them so much - after all, it means that a third do believe and 34 is a good percentage - in a modern educated world I should have thought that was a high figure - certainly more than I would have expected.
The youth of today are more cynical, have more access to information and are less ready to blindly accept what people tell them - all of which is a good thing in my opinion.
Given that, you’d have to ask yourself:
Why do so many still believe in God ?
Here are some of the other results:
59 per cent of children believed religion has had a negative influence on the world.
That’s because historically it invariably has !
60 per cent only go to church for a wedding or christening
Again, if you are an atheist why would you go to anything other than a social occasion ?
Only 30 per cent of teenagers think there is in an afterlife…
Well, 70% have their heads screwed on at least !
47 per cent said organised religion had no place in the world
Great in principal, it would solve most of the world’s problems - all but impossible in practise
60 per cent don’t believe Religious Studies should be compulsory in schools
Absolutely. I can see a case for some basic education just to tell kids who does what and why in various religions
But no indoctrination - that’s a parental task !
However, 91 per cent agreed they should treat others the way they wished to be treated themselves
Excellent, be a decent human being, you don’t need to be a slave to false idols or any institution to conduct yourself in a right and proper manner.
This has restored some of my faith in the youth of today. In the past I have been ready to criticize:
the parents, say how soft kids are today, we’ve even had a guest article on how to raise children and claim the country is doomed and only I can save it 
so in balance credit where credit is due.
To me this seems like a very healthy response from British teenagers. I know those with vested interests may not see it as such but surely it’s better to have a mind of your own, be master of your own thoughts, be able to assess given information and come to a conclusion rather than blindly believe in something because somebody says it’s true ?
May Mithras and Sol Invictus bless you all 
Worshipfully Yours
Rod
Annie Flinn said,
June 23, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
I don’t have a problem with God; I do have a problem with the men (and, face it, it is the men of the church who have caused all the problems) of any religion who, so dogmatically, pronounce what is good and what is evil.
Rod said,
June 23, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
Annie,
I myself have never been religious but I’ve always found it staggering the things that have been done . . .
In the Name of God !
If there is some kind of God (other than Lemmy of course) then I can’t imagine he thinks much of many of the things supposedly done in his name !
Cheers
Rod
Annie Flinn said,
June 24, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
Rod,
I agree. I am constantly amazed that people tend to buy into the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament, without observing the kinder, gentler teachings in the New Testament of the Bible. What is even more confounding is that church elders of old selected which books to include in each testament, and which ones to bury. Talk about selective belief!!! I was very fortunate to have had ministers who were more of the kinder, gentler attitude, and they passed that on to me. Both were very accepting of my life situation.
Annie
Rod said,
June 24, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
Annie,
gentler teachings in the New Testament of the Bible
That’ll be down to the rewriting and changing of so many things by the Emperor Constantine presumably.
Cheers
Rod
juli said,
June 27, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
All this says to me is that today’s teenagers are not so blindly trusting of what adults tell them is the truth. Good for them!
I’m not convinced the results are any worse than they would have been over the past twenty years or so - it’s nearly 10 years since I left school (I presume the teenagers they questioned were of school age) and I doubt that my peers were any less sceptical of religion than today’s. Possibly if you go back 30 or 40 years the results may be different, but all that tells me is the teenagrs of 30 or 40 years ago were too blindly trusting for their own good!
As for the majority believing religious studies should be optional, I can explain why that is - at my school an RE (as it was called then) GCSE was compulsory for those of us who were sitting more than 5 GCSEs, and it would have won the prize for the most boring subject, with the least interactive, least discussion-starting, lessons, by miles!
Rod said,
June 27, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
Juli,
we’re singing from the same hymn sheet, if you’ll pardon the pun.
I’ve always been sceptical and I think it’s healthy - it also keeps those that would seek control us in some way on their toes - blind faith in anything or anyone who benefits from such faith is crazy.
Prove it and I’ll believe it !
Cheers
Rod
Tom C. said,
July 5, 2009 @ 12:10 am
Ah, Something maybe missing from this series of comments. A genuine teenage perspective; Is in order I believe. Personally, I’m Agnostic, lacking the synicism to truely believe theirs nothing and having a decent amount of skepticism to disbelieve organised religion. Funny Rod, you use the term indoctrination to describe G.C.S.E. R.S., may I tell you it is quite the opposite. My friend - a firm believer - was bullied over her belief by a science teacher, a ridiculous series of events. Please let her believe! I felt, as I found myself explaining her points as she sat almost in tears. R.S. is where I personally learnt my Skepticism, as it allows ourselves to develope good understanding of religion (its flaws included) and counter-arguements. As for religion’s impact on society… The nation has been flooded with atheism, and the weak have not found a replacement for belief in god as the purpose of their lives. Ultimately this has led to the (mistaken) belief life is not valuable, and punctured our society. P.S. most teenagers in this country can’t even speak our language properly, so I wouldn’t value their input so eagerly.
Thanks for reading.
Rod said,
July 5, 2009 @ 8:59 am
Tom,
pleased you managed to find something of interest on the site - wading through the mire of ‘other stuff’ can be quite a task
A genuine teenage perspective
Now this is of real use Tom and thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
I have to admit I have a penchant for using loaded terms on this site and little snippets here and there (lower case c for Christmas and g for God are two religious examples)
In this case though my experience is viewed, albeit time affected, as indoctrination.
I remember having the lord’s Prayer drummed into me for example and I never recall hearing about anything other than christianity.
The anecdote about the science teacher is quite disgraceful and a prime example of why I think religious studies should be kept out of schools.
I’m in favour of teaching people about different faiths, that’s important but as for the rest that is for home or outside life
As for religion’s impact on society… The nation has been flooded with atheism, and the weak have not found a replacement for belief in god as the purpose of their lives
That’s a hell of a sentence Tom - wish I’d written it !
Thanks again for adding to the debate and taking the time to comment - hope you’ll return - in fact with comments like this you’d better
All the best
Rod
Steve Portaro said,
July 10, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
Deleted at request of Steve Portaro
Rod said,
July 10, 2009 @ 5:26 pm
Hi Steve,
thanks for the comments and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
It’s popular to say that religion gives a lot of people a lot of comfort but I can’t help but think it’s caused a great deal more misery.
The number of people killed and maimed in the name of god over the centuries must be incalculable
Cheers
Rod
christine said,
July 15, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
I notice that rather a lot of genocidal acts have been committed in the name of atheistic regimes too - Pol Pot, Mau, Stalin and Hitler being just some of the recent examples. And atheism is a position of faith as much as faith is - seeing as it is also impossible to prove conclusively that God does not exist. When conflicts appear to have a “religious” face, as in Northern Ireland, for instance, it often masks the real reason of political control/nationalism.
Religious people are not the only people open to the possibility of bioged views - there are several on this site. For a start, I find it interesting that the line is trotted out all the time that people of faith are stupid. Professors of Theology at the UK’s top universities are not exactly unthinking people. And there are many people of faith prominent in the field of scientific learning who do not find faith and science at odds with each other….though too often only polarised positions seem to get represented in the media. It is not very common knowledge, for example, that Darwin supported a Christian missionary society financially until his death.
Atheists often want to vent their anger ar religion using glib statements that are as groundless as the beliefs they claim to be against. What starts wars and bigotry is not necessarily religion, but the lack of ability to accept that other people have different opinions, and respect concerning the right of all people to live by their conscience, to practise freedom of religion or none, and freedom of speech within the rule of law.
All the people of faith I know are very open to debate, respectful friendship, the chance to share their story of why they have come to the conclusion of belief, unfortunately, however, in the media and in blogs/forums etc argument and debate is also often so unintelligent about faith - just the same old stereotypes.
I know some people have had bad experiences of “religion”… but religion (rules and regulations, power & control) is not necessarily the same as faith bourne out from the heart, with life experience and thoughtful questioning behind it. Jesus was pretty scathing with religious leaders too whose real motivation was self-interest.
Good wishes to all!
Rod said,
July 15, 2009 @ 7:26 pm
Hi Christine,
thanks for the fabulous comment and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
And atheism is a position of faith as much as faith is - seeing as it is also impossible to prove conclusively that God does not exist.
That’s a very interesting point, as al those you make are, but my only problem is that you are suggesting that somebody should prove a negatiove which of course cannot be done. In order to convince somebody that something is true then the balance of proof falls on demonstarting the positive.
I could claim to have seen a minature pink and green elephant the size of a mouse and of course nobody in the world could prove I hadn’t - the onus is on me to prove I did - you cannot prove a negative.
I personally remain open to anything myself although I find it difficult to accept something and embrace it totally without some evidence of truth.
I certainly believe that Jesus, a Mortal Prophet, existed but a greater divine spirit such as a god . . .
Thanks again for adding so well to the debate Christine
All the best
Rod