Lost and found

Why America's 80 million-strong Generation X may be losing its religion but finding its soul.

By Holly J. Lebowitz

Oct. 9, 1999 | BOSTON -- If you believe everything you read, the current generation of 20- to 35-year-olds is rudderless, morally confused, angst-ridden. But when it comes to religion and spirituality, Generation X is already quietly demonstrating a level of maturity that has long eluded its baby boomer parents.

That, at least, is the initial conclusion of Wade Clark Roof, professor of religion and society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of more than a dozen books on generational trends in religion, including "A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation" and "Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion." Roof is currently working on a book that will compare the religious attitudes and beliefs of Generation X with its predecessors.

Roof shared some of his early anecdotal findings with Salon News in a recent interview:

Is there a cleavage today between religion and spirituality that Generation X is navigating?

In the minds of many Generation Xers, religion is associated with institutions, organizations, traditional conceptions of religion. But spirituality is associated with a personal search and finding purpose and meaning in one's existence.

But for many that's not true, there's a divorce between traditional language and spiritual yearnings, and I think that's a 20th century problem. There are some Generation Xers in organized religion, but the vast majority don’t find the traditional language meaningful. They feel there is a discrepancy or cultural lag between institutions and their personal concerns.

So they react by abandoning the institutional side of religion?

They're developing a mind-set that there's not much good there. It's a superficial response … but as human beings, we do respond to our personal experiences with institutions.

We live in this culture of choice where people can carve out a life pretty much how they want it with respect to relationships -- and particularly with religion, which is such a highly individualized thing, you can arrive at your own belief system and develop your own rituals.

This generation is often described as apathetic. If that's true, why would they care about religion?

In many respects they don't care so much about what they see much of organized religion doing. They've seen some bizarre things that organized religion has been involved in. We've seen many tragic events in the last 10 or 15 years, such as Waco, Texas, the televangelists and some of their scandals; we've seen a lot of publicity about priests and misconduct. There are so many things that would help shape negative impressions of organized religion.

But Generation X seems to be picking and choosing, taking religion and spirituality wherever it can find it.

How does the spiritual path of Generation X differ from boomers?

The patterns are similar, but Xers are more into the visual dimension than boomers were -- visual meaning you've got to see it to believe it, not just hear about it. There's a greater sense of spirituality as a process. It's not something that's stable; it's something that's always evolving. Life is a process, everything's in flux and the visuals and fleeting imagery reinforce that notion.

The menu of options continues to grow, but the old ones are still there. There's a lot of emphasis on one's own experience. Xers are also looking to explore the Internet and visual sources wherever they are. There are a lot of 800 lines out there offering spiritual advice and CD-ROMs to buy. There's been an explosion of resources. But with a greater range of options comes an additional burden because choices can be difficult.

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