While nearly all teens who belong to a Christian tradition said they believe in God, 71 percent of evangelicals said they are “absolutely certain” in their belief, compared to just under of half of mainline (49%) and Catholic teens (45%). Evangelicals were also the only group among teens to agree that there is only one true religion.
But not all families fall on the same spiritual page once kids hit the teen years. Twelve percent of teens with evangelical parents don’t affiliate with a religion. Overall, about half of today’s youth say at least some of their beliefs differ from their parents, even if they still identify with the same tradition. The most common way teens see their convictions contrasting with Mom and Dad’s has to do with level of certainty: 14 percent say that they have more questions or are more unsure.
Just further confirmation of the Evangelical tendency to conflate faith with certainty or conflating questions with unbelief. Not helpful for teens.
According to Pew, two-thirds of teens who don’t have “all the same” beliefs as their parents say their family knows about the differences, while a third say they don’t. Teens forming their own religious views and approaches as they grow up can be confusing for others under the same roof. Pew found that parents who misjudged their kids’ convictions were more likely to overestimate how important their faith was to them.
So one-third of teens with differing views haven’t even told their parents. I wonder whether that number changes at all after they leave the house.
Perhaps it could be that those parents had an additional 20-30 years to wrestle with those same questions they might have had when they were younger, ask questions, study, and find answers?
I’m more solidified and confident in my beliefs than I was some 30 years ago, I imagine many other people are as well?
I grew up Evangelical. I have become less certain the older I get. I don’t equate that with less confidence in my beliefs or less “faith” though, because beliefs are not necessarily certain. I think it is more representative of a cultural trend than a universal coming of age pattern.