Millennials: Beliefs about God, Religion, Spirituality, etc.

[NoCapo]

Originally Posted by mordant

Any one person usually holds their own pet religious ideas as sacred and special, and elevated in some way (and maybe in every way) over the run of the mill conventional thinking of others.

Precisely! And it is everyone else's ideas that are "religion"... Mine are "reality" or "Truth"!

-NoCapo

[redguard57]

I'm a millennial, an older one though, born 1982. For my parents, and especially for my grandparents, going to church was social activity and the reasons you did were social. They were mainline protestants - Presbyterians specifically. To me the whole exercise seemed shallow and superficial in terms of belief.

As I got older I found that the economy that we were handed does not really facilitate church-going. I typically had to work on Sundays.

On the other hand - there are some very churchy millennials that take it very seriously, but they are probably the minority. I never bought into the whole "relationship" with God that the more evangelical groups seem to have.

So it seemed to me either-or, so I choose neither. Either I go to a mainline church - which happens to have very few of my age peers - most of those that I've been to seem about 5-10 years away from having the whole congregation die. So it bores me to tears and there's not even a social benefit. Or I go to a holy-roller church where the "relationship" with God becomes something I have to constantly talk about - which felt like I was lying. On top of that the more evangelical churches seem to make any slightly liberal impulse into a major sin and I got tired of that. I wanted to go to church to transcend from politics and if I voted for Obama I don't need people at church shaming me for it or have to defend the humanity of homosexuals.

I will still read the Bible occasionally. It's not God per se that turns me off - it's the church options. Furthermore - what bothered me also was that if you are not married with kids or working toward it with a purpose - you are a social outcast. The mainlines were nice about it and the evangelicals were judgmental - but either way a single guy who has no particular desire to be married was frowned upon.

[~HecateWhisperCat~]

At some point someone is going to point old that old chestnut about all the young people going to "Megachurches" which means automatically means that millennials are believers just like their parents .

[TRANSPONDER]

Let 'em believe that nothing is changing... while they still can.

Originally Posted by redguard57

I'm a millennial, an older one though, born 1982. ..

I will still read the Bible occasionally. It's not God per se that turns me off - it's the church options. ...

Pardon the cut in your informative post, but I wanted to remark on just that bit.

As a militant atheist and lifetimer, I am quite sympathetic towards the idea of a cosmic creator, especially something of the god of Einstein or Spinoza. The more anthropomorphic this postulated Cosmic mind become the more dubious I become about it and, when it comes down to particular religions and their personal gods, I say: '"Do not exist". Just as I would say of Unicorns and Santa and indeed the Flying Spaghetti Monster which, under the 'If you can imagine it, it must exist' ontological argument, is as likely as any of the others.

So, while you come across as an irreligious theist, you and I are certainly on the same page as regards the god - claim, and I would consider you 'brethren'.

[Shirina]

Originally Posted by ~HecateWhisperCat~

At some point someone is going to point old that old chestnut about all the young people going to "Megachurches" which means automatically means that millennials are believers just like their parents .

Heh yep.

Too bad this isn't the Christmas season since there's nothing like roasting chestnuts over an open fire.

If you get what I mean.