Most teens believe in God, poll finds

The majority of American teens believe in God and worship in conventional congregations, but their religious knowledge is remarkably shallow and they have a tough time expressing the difference that faith makes in their lives, a new survey says.

Still, the notably comprehensive National Study of Youth and Religion concluded that "religion really does matter" to teens.

The research found that devout teens hold more traditional sexual and other values than their nonreligious counterparts and are better off in emotional health, academic success, community involvement, concern for others, trust of adults and avoidance of risky behavior.

The study found that teenaged members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were the most engaged in practicing their faith.

The four-year effort was conducted by 133 researchers and consultants led by sociologist Christian Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith reports the full results in the new book "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" (Oxford University Press), written with doctoral student Melinda Lundquist Denton. The book will be published next week.

Smith says the material "is not just about teenagers. It speaks more broadly about the direction of American religion."

The project involved a telephone survey of 3,370 randomly selected English- and Spanish-speaking Americans, ages 13-17, followed by face-to-face interviews with 267 of the respondents in 45 states. With ongoing funding from the Lilly Endowment, researchers will continue to track the same teens through 2007.

While America is becoming a more diverse nation, at least 80 percent of teens still identify as Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, LDS or Jewish, with most teens adhering to their parents' faith tradition, the report said.

Substantial majorities said they were affiliated with a local congregation (82 percent); had few or no doubts about their beliefs in the past year (80 percent); felt "extremely," "very" or "somewhat" close to God (71 percent); prayed alone a few times a week or more often (65 percent); and "definitely" believed in divine miracles from God (61 percent). Fifty-two percent said they attended worship two to three times a month or more often.

On most of the measured criteria, LDS youths — whose church runs daily high school religion classes — were the most engaged in practicing their faith, followed in order by evangelical Protestants, black Protestants, mainline Protestants, Catholics and Jews.