Soul Searching by Christian Smith
The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
Drawing on a large national mixed-methods study of American adolescents, this book examines how teenagers actually experience and practice religion, arguing that many hold a diluted, feel-good faith often called “moralistic therapeutic deism” — a belief in a distant, benevolent God who wants people to be nice and happy and intervenes only rarely. It shows how family, peers, schools, and religious institutions shape teens’ beliefs and behaviors, traces patterns of religious involvement and change across adolescence, and explores tensions between institutional teachings and youths’ everyday spiritual lives. The work emphasizes empirical evidence over assumptions, revealing both the continuities and contradictions in young people’s moral reasoning, religious commitments, and the role of religion in their identities.
- Published
- 2005
- Nationality
- American
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- English
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