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IN THEORY:Is the younger generation more pious than their parents?

USA Today recently reported that Gallup polls show a widening divide between parents and young adults on the importance of religious values. Gallup polls since the ‘50s reported young adults are less likely to attend religious services or consider religion important, but religious leaders see an emerging trend of young adults more pious than their parents. Has that been your experience and, if so, what do you think might have caused this trend?

By words, acts (mitzvahs), tunes, upbeat attitudes, personal prayer with the use of special outreach and effort, we Jews pause and refresh our spiritual outreach to God, especially among our youth. Our Jewish tradition at Temple Isaiah directs each of us to turn to God in gratitude for what we have, not for what we lack. We reach out to others, and our Jewish identity draws us in. In the commandments of b’nai mitzvah, we are taught to love God with all our heart, soul and might. In that fleeting instant, we are bound to redirect our lives to a partnership with man and the world at large, within and without the Jewish community.

Our temple establishes its youth with the desire for affiliation. Jewish values are taught in our temple, and religious study is encouraged. Support among the young for Israel and Jewish identity is accomplished through trips to Israel (Jewish birthright), other temples and socialization with other youth. Any person only has to look at the upcoming Maccabiah (Jewish Olympic) games here in Newport Beach this summer, where all Jewish youth from all over the world will assemble in friendship and competition together to prove that more and more of the younger generation are turning to Jewish participation in communitywide and organized Jewish institutional events.

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So all the statistics show there is an upward move in Orange County, and nationwide, to more and more Jews coming back to participate actively in many more areas of private and public Jewish life.

RABBI MARC RUBENSTEIN

I have members in my congregation who report a similar phenomenon with their children. However, they are fairly progressive parents with adult kids who’ve gone more conservative. In this situation, I would not categorize their kids as more religious or pious, simply as more fundamental — both are religious but on different sides of the spectrum. Perhaps in a world without absolutes, it is appealing to belong to an institution with clear-cut answers of right and wrong, and so fundamentalist churches continue to thrive.

And yet, many Gen Xers identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious,” so religion is often absent from young people’s lives. I find this to be pretty much the case in my church, and statistics show mainline churches everywhere are declining with almost an entire generation missing. But at the same time, enrollment in seminaries is higher than it’s been for decades for young students just out of college. Likewise, the new “emerging church” movement is drawing appeal from young adults. Unlike the mega church, the emerging church is mostly based on small communities built on relationships with inclusive theological beliefs. I think one thing we can learn is that each generation approaches religion differently, and it’s not that we need to change who we are, but we need to be meaningful and sometimes that means adapting and growing.

REV. SARAH HALVERSON

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