Standing for something: LDS teens buck trends, say faith is vital to them

While the majority of Americans teens view religion as a benign, positive force in the world, relatively few see it as a personal asset or have thought deeply enough about it to respond articulately about their beliefs.

Yet young active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do see their faith in more concrete terms and report a high incidence of closeness to parents, less drug and alcohol abuse, more opposition to premarital sex and higher rates of civic engagement than their peers nationally.

While parents nationally may view their children's laissez faire approach as typically teen, in reality the attitude most often mirrors what teenagers have learned from adults and the larger society around them, according to a duo of youth researchers.

Christian Smith, director of the National Study of Youth and Religion, told an audience at Brigham Young University on Thursday that most teens he surveyed have an "instrumental view of religion — that it's a tool you use to do something, and you are the authority." The attitude was much more pervasive than thinking "I am an instrument in God's hands to accomplish something he wants."

The "real religion of American teens is not Christianity or Catholicism or Judaism," he said. "At a deep level, the de facto religion in America is a 'moralistic, therapeutic deism.' "

Smith, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was joined by John Bartkowski from Mississippi State University to discuss the results of their national, in-depth survey of 3,370 pairs of parents and teens, which recently made headlines by highlighting the positive effect of faith on young people.

Of particular note was the fact that LDS youths are truly a "peculiar people" when it comes to their depth of religious devotion, ritual observance and their ability to articulate their beliefs. The fact that it is a "rigorous religion" with many proscriptions for daily living and a theology formulated around family life rather than mere ritual bolsters a sense of distinction from the secular world, Bartkowski said.

For teens in general, religion is not an "outside, compelling authority that makes compelling demands on their lives."

"The largest sense is one of 'I'm OK, you're OK, everything is OK, and let's be happy,' " Smith said.

While most are "extremely inarticulate" about the role of faith in their lives, they are very able to discuss subjects like sexually transmitted diseases and substance abuse, because "people learn what they are taught."

"And if that's true, many religious organizations are not doing a very good job at transmitting their faith from generation to generation," Smith said.