Though some students wear crosses that match the ones hanging from their parents’ necks, the views of the past and present generations might be very different when it comes to the hot-button topic of religion.
According to a survey done by the Pew Research Center, such a generation gap might exist, with 79 percent of respondents stating that there is “a major difference in the point of view of younger people and older people today.”
Part of this gap might be a result of differing views on religion. A Pew Research Center report on the current college-age generation, dubbed the millennials, showed the millennials have a higher tendency to not associate themselves with a certain faith as opposed to the previous generation, coming in at 25 percent where at a comparable age Generation X was at 20 percent.
United Campus Ministries minister Evan Young said college-age individuals might have skepticism or a disassociation with organized religion, but their faith could take other forms.
“I think people in (the millennial) generation are very spiritual,” Young said. “They’re very concerned with the universal questions. (These questions) are at the heart of every religious tradition known to humanity … this generation is as least as concerned with those questions as any other generation, even more so, because frankly, you’re looking at a bigger mess.”
Some also view the millennials as being more accepting of other types of faith.
“Our generation as a whole is more open than our parents’,” said Phillip Morehead, an intern at Ohio University’s “Better Together” interfaith program in a previous Post article. “(Religion is) something all people, especially our age group, talk about.”
Loren Lybarger, an associate professor of world religion at OU, said it’s hard to make sweeping generalizations about religious attitudes, but there have been some trends that have emerged.
“Since the ’70s there’s been a growing acceptance of a multicultural society,” Lybarger said. “There’s been a growing acceptance of diverse lifestyles and orientations, like homosexuality, there’s been a growing acceptance of women in positions of power … that inevitably has an impact on religious communities.”
Rabbi Danielle Leshaw is the chair of OU’s Interfaith Association, where advisors to registered religious organizations convene to “meet the religious and spiritual needs of Ohio University students, faculty and staff,” according to the organization’s website. The group aims not only to provide religious services, but also to encourage acceptance amongst faiths.
“All of us are advocates for each others’ organizations and when we interact with students on a particular spiritual quest, we are able to encourage them based on their needs to find a particular organization,” said Leshaw, who is also the director of Hillel at OU.
eb104010@ohiou.edu
