Dear Concerned Citizen,

tothesource: Given the strong spiritual interest among teens indicated by your study, what would you urge parents and church leaders to do differently to improve teens' understanding of the substance of their faith and their ability to articulate it to others?

Christian Smith: As an opening caveat, I must say that I am an academic sociologist, not a ministry or parenting consultant. I have a lot more analyses of social processes and perhaps problems than I do answers. Different people in different communities need to take the findings of our project and book and figure out for themselves what the implications are in their own situations.

Having said that, I think some of the implications are clear for parents and church leaders. And it's not rocket science. If parents and church leaders want teens to better understand the substance of their religious traditions---and that "if" should not be presumed, but considered---then here are some ideas.

(1) Be more intentional about shaping the lives of youth, don't just assume it will happen by osmosis. We found very many adults and religious congregations to take a pretty passive approach to working with teens.

(2) Don't be afraid to teach youth, even teenagers. What we learned is that teens still do want adults who know and care about them to talk to them, even instruct them. Teens listen to adults a lot more than most adults realize. They are generally quite teachable, even if they don't ask for teaching or let on that they're paying attention.

(3) Spend time building close relationships with teenagers. Significant relationships are the center of gravity in teens' lives. They normally will really listen to adults who they know care about them. There is no substitute for spending time with and getting to know youth.

(4) Adults should talk to youth directly about what one's religious tradition teaches, what they believe themselves, and ask youth what they believe. We discovered that teens get very little opportunity to talk about what they do and don't believe, very little practice at articulating their faith. That limits their ability to think and speak coherently, which itself influences how they live, ultimately. So adults interested in teen faith need to create safe opportunities and spaces for youth to practice articulating their faith, asking questions, voicing doubts, etc.

(5) Religious youth group programs matter. Religious congregations and members interested in strengthening their youth's faith need to prioritize investments into youth ministers, activities, etc.

(6) Parents should work hard on improving the quality of their relationships with their teen children. When teens and parents have bad relationships, the religious faith of the parents is much less likely to "stick" with the teen than when teens and parents have warm, close relationships in which parents still set clear expectations and boundaries.

tts: You use "moral therapeutic deism" to characterize the spiritual lives of today's teens. What do you mean by that?

CS: By "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD), I mean what I see as the de facto, functional, practiced dominant religion among contemporary teenagers in the U.S. I actually view MTD as an inter-religious belief system that the majority of U.S. teens practice. The "creed" of this religion, as codified from what emerged from our 267 interviews with U.S. teenagers in 45 states around the country, sounds something like this: 1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. 2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when he is needed to resolve a problem. 5. Good people go to heaven when they die. For those who are familiar with the orthodox teachings of most American religious traditions, it is clear that MTD is a significant departure from them. It is an alternative religious faith that seems to be highly functional in an American individualistic, pluralistic, consumer society.

How does this work? First, MTD is about inculcating a moralistic approach to life. It believes that central to living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person. That means being nice, kind, pleasant, respectful, responsible, at work on self-improvement, taking care of one's health, and doing one's best to be successful. Secondly, MTD is about providing therapeutic benefits to its adherents. This is not a religion of repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, of steadfastly saying one's prayers, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through suffering, of basking in God's love and grace, of spending oneself in gratitude and love for the cause of social justice, etcetera. Rather,it is centrally about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace, attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people. Finally, MTD is about belief in a particular kind of God, one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one's affairs--especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved. Most of the time, the God of this faith keeps a safe distance. The God of MTD is not demanding. He actually can't be, since his job is to solve our problems and make people feel good. In short, God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist--he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process.

Such a de facto, functional, tacit creed is particularly evident among mainline Protestant and Catholic youth, but is also more than a little visible among black and conservative Protestants, Jewish teens, other religious types of teenagers and even many "non-religious" teenagers in the U.S. Of course, no teenager actually uses the terminology "Moralistic Therapeutic Deist" to describe themselves. That is my summarizing term. And very few teenagers would lay out the five points of its creed as clearly and concisely as I have just done. But when one sifts through and digests hundreds of discussions with U.S. teenagers about religion, God, faith, prayer, and other spiritual practices, what seems to emerge as the dominant, de facto religious viewpoint turns out to be some version of this faith. It is of course somewhat more complicated than this quick summary, and the details can be found in my book, for those who are interested.

tts: Your research affirms both parents and churches as important influences on teens' spiritual beliefs. When these teens leave home for college, is moral therapeutic deism especially vulnerable to the anti-religious academic climate and the behavioral mores of their peers?

CS: First, I must say that my project has not yet collected and analyzed the data that would be needed to answer that question well. That would involve tracking the same teen subjects over time into young adulthood. In fact we are doing just this at the NSYR, but we need a bit more time to really see how our youth may change as they leave home for college or work.

Having said that, I believe we can venture some informed responses. It is very possible that the religious worlds of youth become less conventional, more open and exploring as they leave home, perhaps especially if they go to college. However, I do know of some research that suggests that young people change less after leaving home than is commonly thought. When I interviewed "my" teens a second time two years down the road, I found much more continuity than change in their lives.

Furthermore, different colleges and universities are different in their degrees of hostility to religious faith. I would not want to make a sweeping generalization. In any case, I think what is most challenged in college are the traditional religious faiths that many students more or less bring with them to college. I am not sure that the beliefs of MTD as a faith per se are all that challenged in college--if anything, its emphasis on personal autonomy, being nice, pragmatic problem solving, etc. is likely reinforced in college. What is more vulnerable to threat are particularistic traditional beliefs such as the resurrection of Jesus or the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

As to the behavioral mores of peers, I do think that college often raises the stakes in that regard. Many youth have more opportunities and freedom to "stray" from how they might have been raised. Then again, a lot of this actually starts in middle school and by the time high school is over, many teens have worked through what they're going to experiment with or not. And in college, the most religiously committed youth often have means available to sustain their faith, such as on-campus religious fellowships, Bible studies, religious friendship networks, reputations of anti-religious classes to avoid, and so on.

Again, none of this requires a Ph.D. to figure out how to respond. It is all very basic but also important: Be intentional, prioritize, invest, spend time, build relationships, talk with and teach. Beyond these ideas, my book as a "Concluding Unscientific Postscript" that suggests some other ideas as well. I hope they prove helpful to people working with youth.