Youth

Niall123

Hi, I was just wondering if some people would answer some questions regarding youth and Religion.

Q1) What are you're religious beiefs, if any?

Q2) Do you believe that religion is reaching out enough to young people nowadays?

Q3) Who do you see as the most powerful/effective religous figure today?

Q4) How do you picture Ireland (religous wise in) 30 years time?

Thanks in advance
Niall

Excelsior

Who is youth?

patzer117

1. I'm a Christian but not a very practising one. The church doesn't inspire me to go, and when i do i just get depressed.

2. Are you kidding? Definitely not. I'd say at best it's headed for collosol losses of faith, and at worst (in ireland), complete destruction. And the priests seem rather happy for that to happen.

3. There simply isn't one that i know of. Maybe Peter McVerry SJ or some do-gooders, but not senior figure inspires me. Or anyone I know.

4. I don't want to answer this question, i'm far too pessimistic.

CathyMoran

Q1) Am a practicing liberal/a la carte RC. Go to mass every week but not necessarily on a Sunday, still go to confession and would pray every day.

Q2) Am an old fogie of 31 but there are some groups that do great work (eg the Jesuits).

Q3) At the moment I think that God is the most powerful/effective religious figure today. The Jesuits do a great job but they would be the only group that I would see in day to day life.

Q4) I would hope that we would still be Christian but that the church would be far more liberal and embracing of different groups.

Excelsior

I'm 23 so I hope if Cathy is still youth, so am I.

Niall123 wrote:

Q1) What are you're religious beiefs, if any?

I am a Christian. I like the phrase "generous Orthodoxy" (but not neccessarily some of the uses it has been put to). I spent most of my life in an evangelical setting but have a great deal of sympathy and appreciation for other expressions of Christianity.

I would aspire to living my life with Jesus as the centre. I fail at that on a daily basis but it is my ambition to have God's will as my ambition. I am like St. Theresa of Avila who prayed "God I do not love you. I don't even want to love you. But God, I want to want to love you". In other words, God is of great importance to me but I never quite manage to reach the aspiration.

Q2) Do you believe that religion is reaching out enough to young people nowadays?

I have very little respect or use for the word religion. Jesus isn't a religion but a person. Is the Church, the collective followers of Jesus from all denominations and none reaching out to young people? Not really, no.

But each individual, young and old, should forget religion and start tracking down this Jesus guy to see what all the fuss is about. I'll stop my childish rant now.

Q3) Who do you see as the most powerful/effective religous figure today?

Within the spheres I am familiar with:
I think Rev. Dr. Trevor Morrow of Lucan Presbyterian Church has a huge influence north and south but particularly in Dublin on evangelical opinion at large and on leadership opinions in other expressions of Christianity. As evangelicalism is where the growth is, I think in years to come he and folk like him will be seen to have had a huge impact.

Sean Mullan from Dublin West in Blanchardstown and head of Evangelical Alliance Ireland is another person who over the coming years could be of great influence in Irish Christianity.

In terms of Catholicism, Peter McVerry is obviously popularly known as the most plugged-in character but Willie Walsh is another great guy. There are many. But very few who have space in the popular mind. Yet.

I think however that Bono is very obviously the most influential, effective and powerful Christian in Ireland.

Q4) How do you picture Ireland (religous wise in) 30 years time?

I think, unless there is a massive attitude shift, the RC Church is in a steep and very long decline. The evangelical churches, excluding the risk of a massive attitude shift are on a not-so-steep but longer again growth pattern. I see Christianity in Ireland therefore becoming a much broader affair.

With the next generation I doubt that church will be synonomous with "Roman Catholic" anymore. Those that leave Christianity behind will not embrace a replacement or even really consider what they are leaving, as has largely been the case. I'm afraid that folk like Yoga, Tallesin or Robin are going to remain as rare as ever because leaving Christianity has not in Ireland meant embracing informed and thoughtful alternatives, whether that is Buddhism, Paganism, Atheism or something else but just a mix-match of pluralism, superstition, folk Catholicism and relativism. This worldview will likely be dominant within 30 years.

Thanks in advance
Niall[/QUOTE]

robindch

Hmmm... you did ask

Q1: I'm agnostic, but you asked about religion, not belief in god. Personally, I find religious beliefs and activities fascinating to watch, and enjoy tracing the common factors that all religions have, yet almost all deny. I also believe that organized religion, togther with the group-psychology which props it up, is the most pernicious threat to humanity in the world today, as it has been to individual humans in the past.

Q2: In Ireland, "outreach" in the sense of propagandizing on the churches' behalves, is mostly ineffective, owing to the self-administered collapse of the authority of the principal church.

Q3: Worldwide, I would say that GW Bush is far and away the most successful religious figure, in the sense that he's the guy who's attracted the greatest number of followers to his nebulous-seeming banners, using religious means.

Q4: The catholic church will continue its decline, though necessarily at a slower rate, since it's currently disappearing so fast. By 2035, it'll probably will be about as important here, as the CoE is now in the UK, with around 5% or so attending services regularly. I don't believe that the other religions will grow substantially to fill the gap left behind.

Asiaprod

Ah, another interesting pole-like question. :rolleyes:

Q1: I'm Buddhist, I was for some 30 years a non practicing RC. I became a Buddhist because I found the RC religious beliefs and activities to be shallow and unsupportive of my needs. I was particularly wary of confession, which did not to me seem to offer any form of restitution to the victims of crimes, but did let the perpetrators of with a few prayers and a promise of not to do it again--This was promptly forgotten once out of sight of the church. There were also way to many mysteries for which my only recourse was a blind act of faith. And finally, I found the rules and regulations, apart from the obvious like "Thou shall not commit murder," to be way out of touch with the reality of what was happening and needed out in public life. I must here state that my only experience was with the RC group of Christianity and it would not be fair to pin my grievances on other denominations that have their own beliefs.

Q2: In Ireland, that's tough. Since I now live in Japan, my exposure to the state of the faith in Ireland is very limited. However, from the little I have heard from home, I can see RC members who strongly believe in the basic concepts of Christianity joining other groups under the umbrella of Christianity, while those who are not really that deeply connected will probably adopt alternate systems like Paganism, Buddhism or other new age groups. I do not see the entire country turning atheist, nor even a major portion of it, as I believe that the current of faith runs very deep within Irish culture.

Q3: Worldwide, I would have to kind of agree, with slight word changes, with Robindch that currently GW Bush is far and away the most successful (public) religious figure, but this is only in the context that he has managed to completely turn the God fearing public inside out with his twisted born-again views. Bob Geldof could also be a contender for his good work with Africa.

Q4:There would appear to be quite a consensus that the catholic church will continue its decline, and if the current papacy is anything to go by, this decline could very well increase markedly in speed. For me, its just a question of how quickly this will happen. Other Christian based religions will capitalize on this decline, and may well grow to fill the gap left behind, but there will need to be a major **** in attitude to today`s issues. The only RC group that I could see not just surviving, but actually growing and even spinning off, would be the Jesuits. You gotta love a group that gets excommunicated three times only to grow stronger each time. One thing that does intrigue me is where Opus Dei will end up in all of this, and how much more powerful will it be able to become (think I will sppin this one off as a thread).

ApeXaviour

Q1) What are you're religious beiefs, if any?
I'm agnostic

Q2) Do you believe that religion is reaching out enough to young people nowadays?
More than enough, too much as IMHO it corrupts minds.

Q3) Who do you see as the most powerful/effective religous figure today?
Either Mohammed or Bush

Q4) How do you picture Ireland (religous wise in) 30 years time?
Hopefully it will be a secular humanist society, but still embracing the traditional rituals (eg getting married in a church) that makes our culture endearing.

hairyheretic

Niall123 wrote:

Hi, I was just wondering if some people would answer some questions regarding youth and Religion.

Don't think I really count as youth anymore, but I'll answer anyway.

Niall123 wrote:

Q1) What are you're religious beiefs, if any?

I would call myself a spiritual person, not a religious one. I would define the difference as spirituality being your personal connection with whatever you believe in, and religion being the man made stuff that has grown up around it (ie organised churches and what have you).

That being said, I'm asatruar. For those not familiar with it, norse pagan (though we prefer the term heathen).

Niall123 wrote:

Q2) Do you believe that religion is reaching out enough to young people nowadays?

Nope. When I was still RC and going to mass on a Sunday, I saw very few people my age there.

Niall123 wrote:

Q3) Who do you see as the most powerful/effective religous figure today?

Powerful would probably be a toss up between the pope and Bush. You know the old saying about power corrupting though .
Effective .. no idea.

Niall123 wrote:

Q4) How do you picture Ireland (religous wise in) 30 years time?

I recall seeing a TV show a few years back saying that church attendances were dropping at the rate of about 1% per year. To be honest, I believe that number is on the low side.

Whether those people choose other beliefs, or simply abandon christianity, I don't know. I suppose the census's taken over the last few years might give us a decent idea of whats increasing and what we might see decades from now.

I'll be curious to see the activities of the current pope, and how those will affect things. From what I can see, he seems to favour a hard line attitude, and that may well drive a lot of people away.

Aftershave

Q1 Hi Im 19 so young by most standards, Im a catholic and have alot of love for my faith. Its given me alot.

Q2 In alot of ways I see my peers are critical of faith for a 1000 different reasons, I think most religions dont do enough but when they do its not welcomed very often. Here at the coalface of youth there are some people I know that would be religious and in general it isnt seen in a bad light but most have no time for it and reject the beliefs of any religion.


Q3 for me I have great respect for the pope I think he will keep my churh pure, and pass on its beliefs this doesnt sit well with all people and I understand why but Im biased. for each person its different as too who influences them

Q4 I think the church will be smaller but stronger, the people that felt it wasnt for them have and will leave and feel no shame for doing so. While people that feel its their true faith will stay. In this way maybe it can be better if not bigger.