Teen zealots

[Griffey]

This is just an observation by me, if your experiences disagree with the following please tell me, but here is something I've noticed:

Why is it that teenage theists (especially Christians)seem to be much more vocal, enthusiastic, and prostelyzising (sp??) than adult theists? I can see why they'd be more vocal than little kids, who are less likely to actually "believe" as opposed to doing what their parents tell them. But why as teenagers?

It seems like if a teenager is theistic, they will talk about it a lot, become very involved in church and other activities, etc. I want to say "obsessed" because some behavior I've seen in my theist friends seems to border on compulsive. This is in contrast to adult theists I know, who are much more passive and less talkative about their beliefs.

My theories: Perhaps many teenagers convert or suddenly start "believing" as opposed to playing along as a younger child might do. Or maybe there is something about the teenage psyche that makes them more interested in spirituality and religion (or lack thereof?)

I realize that my theories might also apply to atheists, but teen atheists seem to be much more reserved than their theist peers (in general). But why this difference between adolescents and adults?

[Supremor]

Well, this is my view, not sure if it's correct.

Ninian Smart(VERY famous philosopher and scientist), said that we all have a primary religous impulse, that is, a need for a belief in something. We also have a secondary religous impulse, which only some people take notice of. This is when they turn to religion. In teenagers, here's alot of hormones mucking around with the body. We all know that teenagers have more moodswings, and this is because they're just very mixed up. Their mind is still getting used to their new adult bodies.

So the primary and secondary religious impulses become confused and distorted, and teenagers often turn a secondary impulse into a primary one. This, and just the sheer emotional rollercoaster ride they're going through, would account for it, I guess.

[Maverick]

Well, Griffey, I used to be one of those "obsessed" Christians. Before I became an atheist, I was very involved in the Catholic Church. I served as an altar boy as a young child and then became very involved with the youth ministry in my teenage years. Elderly parishioners would even walk up to me and tell me that I should consider the priesthood later in life.

From my experience, the teenagers that talk about it a lot do so because their lives revolve around their church in some way. For the most part, the bulk of the teen's social life is built around youth activities sponsored by their church. Religion suddenly becomes a vehicle through which a teenager can meet other teens and socialize.

[AuntieSocial]

This is merely conjecture on my part, but it is often in the teen years that a young person finds their voice, so to speak. Up until that point, they are heavily influenced by their parents, schools, society. If a child has been raised in a particularly religious environment, their life (as Maverick mentioned) revolves around the church community. When they start becoming active, they will often find a place in the areas they are comfortable, where they have friends, etc.

For me, I was active in religion, but not very vocal. I participated in youth groups, taught Sunday School and participated in missionary work on a local level (meals on wheels, singing at the Home for the Aged, etc), but I didn't become a fundamentalist or activist because deep down I was always a skeptic. Instead, I found other outlets for my energy and 'voice'. I became active in secular humanitarian efforts because of my background with mission work and focused a lot of energy on sports, drama and other 'philosophical' arenas. I was fortunate that I had these other areas of interest.

[dragonfly]

I find that you always notice the more active than the non active people in any case!

Teenages minds are being entirely transformed.The myelin is being stripped off,the neurons are bundled up in clusters....you can actually see this in scans and it looks wonderful....if teenagers seem to feel things more stongly and passionately its because they are...REALLY!. The protective sheathing that was there before puberty needs yet to be laid back (picture the plastic cabeling over electrical wires to imagine the effect)....after an astonishing growth spurt the mind,the brain gathers (I'm using simple non-medical terms to enable everyone to understand)all the strands up in bundles before separating them(a process that takes years)....when a neuron fires instead of traveling the distance it does in the adult brain it sends a jolt with a considerable ripple effect through the entire cluster WITHOUT the protective sheathing that will be rebuilt by the time of adult- hood.....emotions are rawer and interconnect on levels in a way that will NEVER happen again.(SO ENJOY IT.....Love/ hate/ lust is amphlified to a degree that will become part of a nostalgic memory even only 10 years later!)....this goes for religious feelings too.

I hope that made sense! I had trouble making it simple.

[Griffey]

Everything y'all said has made sense to me, made me think more and take things into consideration that I hadn't thought of before.

One thing bugs me, tho. Supposedly (according to the child psych books I've read, and teenagers I've talked to) teens in general have a desire to be "not their parents." Why, then, would they be so enthusiastic about something that is almost certainly a parental teaching? That's my main hang-up here. I can understand that not everything a parent teaches is bound to be rejected (if anything, some teenagers still continue to accept parental influences) and not every teenager is going to give up something so deeply personal as religious belief. I guess there are a few other reasons, obviously, but it seems kind of odd. Am I just playing off of a stereotype?

[dragonfly]

I understand your point Griffey and it is true that alot of teenagers aspire to be other or atleast different to their parents BUT religion is deeply ingrained in our psyche...human history is a tangled web of religions and belief systems.Perhaps as a species and an animal we need/desire this type of structure (certainly an enormous number of entire past civilisations flourished and thrived....and yes fell too under its influence )and our brains are vulnerable to its input, parental or otherwise.

Human beings collectively and individually find death disturbing,painful and confronting ....religion rightly or wrongly provides a support system.Teenagers often seem to embrace faith with a unique fervour at this time because they are doing alot of introspection and coming to terms with their place in the world,the meaning of life etc....these inward thoughts often lead to a need for meaning and purpose.Religion can provide that,certainly it can have an anchor like effect in the stormy sea of emotions often present.

These thoughts are present at all stages of human development but perhaps due to the acute sense of being "alive" for the reasons I mentioned before leads teenagers to question life and also death and what that entails just as acutely.These feelings quite often progress to religious thought.(anyway ...just a few of my ideas!)

[zoul]

Someone once said that teanagers should be in charge of the world coz theirs nothing they don't know. ;D
As most parents of teanagers could tell you.
Its a tricky time for them, trying to fit in peir pressure and conformity. power and influance, maturing.
most teanagers will try to fit in with groups maybe becouse they havent fully developed the personality even conforming in a none conformist way. Lets hope they grow out of it

[pieisgood]

Well I myself am going to be a teenager in a year, I have some thoughts, especially on your comment Griffey.

I consider myself an un-religious zealot. I often find myself doing google searches for atheism stuff, doing lots of stuff like that.

I think the impulse is that the 2 triggers are 1) the need to be independent from your parents, and 2) the need to be better in some way then everybody else.

the independence doesn't matter so much, because if your parents are "better" than everybody else you will be the same as them. This is where the genius of religion comes in. Religion wants recruits. They want to convert everybody.

Using that logic...

a) people want to believe that they are superior to others,

b) religion wants recruits because recruits=power, then

c) it stands to reason that religion will both 1) claim to be superior to the other religions, making it beneficial to become a follower, and 2) offer a reward (like, say.... heaven in Christianity? State of enlightenment in Bhuddism (sp)?) and religion stand to reason.

Wrap it all up with a small argument that God does exist, and you're home free.

This is also one of the things that made me an atheist. If we don't know what exactly made the universe, God is EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY what humans would come up with. He fits every little detail of it.

-pie

[Griffey]

Hmm...interesting theory, pieisgood. Out of curiosity why do you say God fits "every little detail" of being designed by humans? I can think of a few (ie, being male, but that might just by my cynicism...) but I'm curious to hear what you think of it.

[pieisgood]

I will point to the big bang thread.

For one thing, humans have a need to know the unknown. If they don't, they fill something in. For example, Lasker (I think that was his name...) had a spontaneous generation theory in which living things spontatneously popped out of non-living things. It was very widely believed, because there was no theory that opposed it. People just weren't okay with an "I don't know" answer.

File that away, that "I don't know" doesn't work

Now. God was invented/discovered an extremely, extremely long time ago. Back then, would you think they knew enough to have enough information to make a thouroughly educated decision about God? Of course not. But they did anyways, because, frankly, what else could be making those rainbow colored things up in the sky? What could have made rain? Trees? Us?

Since the concept of I don't know doesn't work for them, they made up a special being. An omnipotent being that could do something pretty incredible, create mankind.

So it stands to reason that they would create a being like that. Why God as he is?

a) what you said was partially true, men were unfairly dominanant back then. God is a man

b) God only wants good things to happen. This makes them feel more secure, since they honestly believe that they are good at heart.

c) God is all-powerful. This makes them feel more secure.

d) Whoever believes in God will be saved. More secure again.

e) God loves everybody. THere are times in life when, to be blunt, some pretty crappy things happen. Woudln't it be great to have some omnipotent, good being on your side?


AND, going off the other thread...

God's limits keep getting pushed back. At first, God did everything that happens. Then, we learned how rainbows are made. Okay, okay, rainbows occur naturally, but everything else was made by God. Then we discover something else, and God loses control over that, but still has power over everything else

As we learn stuff, the need for God to have created it diminishes. More proof that God is only a filler for what we don't know.

There's my thoughts,

-pie