Reading An Aspiring Professional Everything

Below is an article I wrote in November of 2008, though my thoughts here are certainly -- I believe -- still relevant and accurate to my religious faith. 

Generation Y – today’s 20-30 year old crowd – represents the new face of America. We were among the first “techno kids,” born with the internet, cell phones, social networks, and all the trappings of technology. We are referred to as the “look at me” generation, clamoring for attention and instant gratification. With all of this attention seeking and the rapid availability of information, how has our religious identity been affected?

According to a 2006 PEW study, 20% of 18-25 year-olds and 11% of those over 25 claimed to have no religious affiliation, to be atheist, or to be agnostic. This is up from a similar survey in the1980s in which 11% of 18-25 year-olds and 8% of those over 25 said the same. On attending church, only 32% of 18-25 year-olds said they attend once a week or more. Certainly it could be said that this generation in general is less focused on religion than those generations before it.

My own training as a scientist has colored my perspective on faith and not generally in favor of it. There also exists the effect of cultural influence, or peer pressure. But though I don’t consider myself swayed easily in most things, I am not representative of my entire generation.

What about technology? It has become almost a cliché, but the omniscient seeming entity that is “Google” has forever changed the way humans assimilate knowledge. This is at once a good thing and a bad one. We can hop onto our always-connected computers and have an answer to any question in milliseconds, even including, “What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?” (42).

We can explore any topic and find more theories, supports, and rebuttals than we can ever draw meaning from; this information overload has drastically undermined the ability of many people to think clearly about contested ideas. How can we consider something to be miraculous when thousands of other apparently legitimate explanations are only keystrokes away?

I cannot speak for all of my generation. What I can speak to is my own take on it all, and mine involves a deep sense of faith despite my scientific nature. I seek out provable results based on a hypothesis and ordered experimentation, but what happens when the science runs out and there is no explanation? That is when my faith takes over.

I don’t know that Christ healed the infirm at a touch or even a thought; I cannot prove it. I don’t know that he was in fact the one true Son of God. I can't prove whether Mary’s pregnancy was truly immaculate. I certainly can't prove that because I have accepted Christ, my sins are forgiven and that Heaven is waiting for me.

This is the dilemma that my generation and I face, perhaps more so than any before us. If we cannot prove something, how can it be?

For me, the answer is simple: I believe.

Permalink

Posted in: Reflections