On Emerging Adults and Faith

This is another adapted excerpt from my book set to be published March 6, 2018, Mere Science and Christian Faith. (By the way, if you pre-order, I recommend using the discount code: PRE3814.)

In talking about the culture and attitudes of emerging adults (i.e., 18-30 year olds), we arrive a critical question: Is this new reality good or bad? Notre Dame Sociologist Christian Smith, along with Patricia Snell, who tends toward the negative in his assessment, still summarizes well both the positive and negative sides of the emerging adult experience in Souls in Transition:

The features marking this stage are intense identity exploration, instability, a focus on self, feeling in limbo or in transition or in between, and a sense of possibilities, opportunities, and unparalleled hope. These, of course, are also often accompanied . . . by large doses of transience, confusion, anxiety, self-obsession, melodrama, conflict, disappointment, and sometimes emotional devastation. Smith and Snell

It’s worth noting that Smith’s follow-up to his first study highlights the shadow side of emerging adulthood, as the subtitle makes clear: Lost in Transition: The Dark Side ofEmerging Adulthood.Not all is right in Denmark—or at least with emerging adulthood.

It is, of course, entirely possible and utterly faithful for emerging adults to transform their experience of being “in between,” with its consequent worry, into a radical openness to what God can do. I’ve seen plenty of eighteen- to thirty-year-olds do just that. In that light, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Philippians 4:6-7 is brilliant:

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (The Message)

Notice the displacement of worry with Christ. That’s a powerful image. I’m hoping this generation will take the raw material of emerging adulthood, center it on Christ, and let God do "a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19) in all kinds of areas, including science and faith.

Sensing Conflict, Seeking Collaboration: Emerging Adults' Attitudes on Science and Religion

As I've mentioned several times on this blog, I’ve been directing a grant project that investigates emerging adults’ attitudes on science and religion (SEYA, Science for Students and Emerging Adults). As a part of that work, I’ve studied national surveys and conducted two dozen qualitative interviews. Many of the latter are with Chico State students, often from my Science and Religion class. Sometimes the findings of researchers appear to head in opposite directions.

            

Consider two national surveys. In one, conducted by Kyle Longest and Christian Smith (link behind paywall), with almost 2,400 18-23 year olds, 70% stated that they “agree” or “strongly agree” that religion and science conflict. Similarly one my students, Ericka, commented, 

“I think that science and religion will always be in conflict because science and religion will never be able to agree, and there are such contradicting views.”

There is, however, competing data. Another survey from Christopher Scheitle (link also behind paywall--sorry!) of over 11,000 undergraduates came to an opposite conclusion:

“despite the seeming predominance of a conflict-oriented narrative, the majority of undergraduates do not view the relationship between these two institutions [religion and science] as one of conflict.” 

That majority was 69% of those surveyed and reminded me of Daniel, who had this advice for people discussing science and religion, 

“Be more friendly and open. Less conflict and more dialogue.”

How do we make sense of these competing claims? 

It’s a function of the question. The first survey asked about the culture at large: “The teachings of science and religion often ultimately conflict with each other. (Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree)?” The second about views personally held: “For me, the relationship of science and religion is one of…”

            

Simply put, the majority of emerging adults (in this case, 18-23 years old) sense that there is conflict out there, but they personally seek another way. They sense conflict, but seek collaboration or independence.

            

And that’s just one reason it's energizing to find out what emerging adults think and, in the process, begin to discern the the contours of future discussions of science and religion. 

I'd also be interested to hear what you think.

Problems for Young Adults' Integrating Religion and Science

I’m not one of those people who believes that you can transform every problem into a “challenge” or an “opportunity.” With that in mind, as I think back about my interviews with emerging adults (18-30 years old) for my current research project on science and religion, Science for Students and Emerging Young Adults (or SEYA), I see several problems we have to face. I'll be posting those on this blog in a sort of raw form. So don't be surprised if they feel unfinished, and the incomplete nature of these posts implies that I'd be really interested in your comments.

First, emerging adults sense that religion is against—is at war with—science (and vice versa, to some degree). They may not actually feel it themselves, but they hear it on the news. 

This is one of the biggest problems to face when discussing religion and science with emerging adults. There are certain statements from prestigious organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, which states, “Attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist.” According the noted researchers Christian Smith and Kyle Longest (behind paywall), 70% of 18-23 year olds “agree” or “strongly agree” that the statement that the teachings of religion and science conflict.  The discussion on the Internet is similarly largely critical and hostile toward religious faith. As one post stated: “The Internet will kill religion.” And another opined: “Jesus will soon go the way of Zeus and Osiris.” And there’s the series of memes like “Let me introduce you to my bronze age sky god.” Another key problem here is that emerging adults don’t seem to be aware of the key voices, such as Francis Collins, which are presenting an integration of these discipline.

Therefore many don’t think the integration of religion and science is possible. 

This point is really a subset of the previous one—many emerging adults don’t see a possibility for bringing the two together. This is fairly close to tautological: if 18-30 year olds don’t see a possibility, one had to overcome inertia for there to be a dialogue.