Executive Summary

If the Baby Boom was characterized as a “generation of seekers," their offspring, Generation Y, is a “generation of individuals." Their parents sowed the seeds of the triumph of individuality and their children see themselves as having the freedom to figure out who they are, to explore their relationship with God and spirituality, and to determine their place in society. This generation is characterized by open mindedness and tolerance, believing that people should do their own thing, even if it seems strange to others. For many, pursuing the American Dream simply means, “doing whatever I want."

This generation could be - and has been - described as directionless, lacking in community ties and meaningful participation in communal life. This research builds a more nuanced understanding of this generation, revealing that Generation Y does seek community and meaningful involvements, though often in informal and non-traditional ways. Religious faith and commitment is one route by which young people find meaning, value and community, though their religious pluralism complicates what this looks like in practice. The diversity of Generation Y and the informality of much of their religious participation make it difficult to say that there is any one way that religion works in young people’s lives.

This study is informed by three goals:

1. To ascertain how young people are coming to understand their religious identity;
2. To describe what their religious practices look like in this era of customization and change; and
3. To explore the ways religious identity informs the civic participation of today’s youth.

Throughout, we were careful to note that religious life does not operate in a vacuum and we embed the role religion in the context of their other concerns, such as finding a job or getting good grades in school.

Methodology

This report is based on a groundbreaking study conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research of youth in Generation Y ages 18-25 years old. The nation-wide survey was conducted with 1385 total respondents between August 7 and November 18, 2004. Over-samples include 125 Muslim youth, 200 Jewish youth, 99 Asian youth, 136 African American youth, and 169 Hispanic youth.

Key Findings

• Young people express their faith in highly personal and  informal ways.
• Only 7% of youth reporting that all of their friends are the same religion as themselves.
• Religious youth are more connected to family and community, have higher self-esteem and a sense of self and hold more traditional views about family, sex, and marriage.
• Politics falls on the bottom of the list of issues that young people worry or think about, though certain groups such as Jewish youth and African Americans take politics more seriously.
• Generation Y is more liberal and progressive than older generations on social issues such as gay marriage and immigration.