Uncertain Youth

Most young people in the U.S. have a passive feeling about religion, and are confused about its place in their own lives. This is the conclusion drawn from a survey sponsored by the Young Men's Christian Association and reported this week by Social Scientist Murray G. Ross in Religious Beliefs of Youth (Association Press; $3).

After analyzing eight-page questionnaires answered anonymously by nearly 2,000 Protestants, Catholics, Jews and others aged 18 to 29, Ross found that even of those who believe in God, 75% are full of religious doubts and uncertainties. Religion for most youth, Ross suggested, is not a "directing, compelling force in life." More than 80% of those questioned, Ross said, could properly be called "believers in God." But the truth was that their "belief" was merely "a passive acceptance of a fact presumably established in our culture."

Some other conclusions drawn by Ross:

P: Only 47.8% of those who answered the questionnaire went to church once a week; more than a quarter (27.4%) went infrequently, if at all.

182; Less than half of the young people questioned (42.5%) prayed daily, while almost a third (30.8%) prayed infrequently or not at all.

P: More than three-quarters (79.6%) said that they believed the Bible was "the revealed word of God"; 77.1% of the same people had not read the Bible at all, or read it only "once or twice."

P: Protestants read the Bible more often than Roman Catholics; 31.2% of the Protestants said they had not read the Bible at all during a six-month period, as compared with 56.1% of the Jews, and 61.9% of the Catholics.

"It seems fairly clear," Ross concluded, "that among the matters youth are most interested in, and concerned about, religion per se is seldom included. The kind of thing young people think about most is success in terms of job, family living and economic security . . . Religion has almost ceased to provide a significant or lofty idea which gives life purpose and direction."

A great danger, Ross found, was that almost three-quarters of the people questioned "do not feel that their individual lives are very important in the larger scheme of things . . . Few share deeply in the life of a group dedicated, and actively devoted, to the highest goals of mankind." Few possess a group purpose "such as the disciples had, or the members of a Communist cell possess . . ."

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