What do we mean when we talk about spirituality? Young People Now have asked 4 people "Do young people today care about faith and spirituality?" this is in the light of the news that The Multi-Faith Centre (Univ. of Derby) have just been granted funding by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to undertake a 6 month research project to examine how much faith and spirituality matters to urban young people.
The four people they ask are... The faith advisor for Girlguiding UK, Exec Director of the Humanist Assoc, The Vice-president of the Secular Soc and a member of the UK Youth Parliament. I suppose most if their comments are predictable ...
The faith advisor for Girlguiding UK;
[Yes] We aim to help girls develop their spiritual side. This can encompass anything that touvches them and makes them think beyond themselves. It's a good way to view the World and their place in it. I don't believe you can seperate faith and spirituality
Exec Director of the Humanist Assoc;
[No] Some young people care deeply about theire faith, but most do not believe in God or have any religous belief. Spirituality is notoriously difficult to define. If it means a sense of wonder about the world, morality, or a belief in humanity's potential, then most young people probably care about it.
The Vice-president of the Secular Soc;
[Yes] Young People care about spirituality. but not necessarily in the way churches would like. Young people do search for some kind of spiritual meaning in their lives... It's good for young people to exlore and look at options, but if they are drawn into a particular religion the exploration ends... it is sad.
Member of the UK Youth Parliament;
[Yes] Although i was christened I am not a practising Christian - I just live life. A lot of my friends are into Tarot Cards and Horoscopes. I got into reading my horoscope because my friends were into it and sometimes they consult the Magic 8-ball fro decisions.
The results of the research will no doubt be interesting - the interviews leave me with one abiding thought - we all bring personal interpretation and a whole heap of baggage to the term Spirituality and as Bob and Sylvie Mayo said at the conference last week we need to be EXTREMELY careful how we understand what people are saying to us about spirituality i.e. not to hear our understanding and even hopes in their words. What does seem clear though is that Spirituality is a subject high on the agenda of both politics and sociology - and we (the church) have to do a huge amount of listening to do - perhaps that means we need to be quiet for a while and just listen?
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