Millennials: Spirituality and Religion

What makes the millennial generation so interesting? News stories, comedy shows, and researchers are all discussing millennials. McDonalds has introduced ordering by touch-screens to appeal to the millennial generation, the largest generational group in the United States Other businesses and organizations (including churches) look to increase their appeal to millennials with the use of technology. What makes millennials a focus of our attention? How do they, as a group, understanding religion and spirituality?

Millennials are the generation of individuals who came of age in the year 2000 — the change of the millennium. Born between 1980 and approximately 2000, the millennial generation is now in early adulthood and between the ages of 35 and 15 . (The generation born over the last ten years or so has not yet been named because characteristic patterns of that group haven’t been understood by sociologists and social psychologists.) They are also the largest generational group in the work force. As a group, they are conspicuously absent from both religious and spiritual gatherings.

Those of us of older generations (I’m a baby boomer, born in the generation after World War II), often miss the obvious contexts that are critical for understanding millennials. In 1980, the Commodore computer was marketed and Microsoft introduced MS DOS. In 1981, the first mobile phone was introduced to consumers. The technologies that my generation continues to think of as “new” have always been part of the lives of members of the millennial generation since their birth. But the contextual differences between millennials and other generations are much broader than just the use of portable technologies.

• Millennials grew up in families which experienced a greater rate of parental divorce than any other since statistics have been kept.

• The millennial generation attended schools governed by a variety of “zero tolerance” policies. Metal detectors were installed in their schools. Possession of a cough drop could result in suspension. Schools became larger and were more regulated than for previous generations.

• School curricula also changed based on finances. Programs for music, the arts, many after school social programs, and even recess began to be cut while millennials were students. Essentially, many aspects of the educational system that taught creativity and social skills were removed from schools leading to the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Law” which reoriented schools to teach students to succeed at standardized tests.

• The parents of millennials, members of Generation X, were the first generation whose parents often had the view that children should make decisions about religion and belief when they were old enough. Generally raised without a religious context, Generation X’ers often had little to share with their millennial children about religion and spirituality.

• Throughout the lives of millennials, there have been repeated scandals involving religion include Roman Catholic pedophile priests, Evangelical televangelists fleecing their flocks for personal gain, and spiritual teachers of various sorts involved in self-promotion.

• Politically, millennials have witnessed consistent patterns of scandals and corruption in government, have learned that institutions are suspect because of corruption, and have come to believe that they need to be on guard of others outside of their generation whose experience is so very different. Millennials also came into adulthood to experience the 2008 economic crisis brought about by greed, have faced challenging job prospects, and are carrying significant student loan debt.

Older generations often don’t understand millennials. But this lack of understanding is much greater than the usual differences between generations. Instead, I believe that millennials grew up in a world that was very different from older generations. In that process, they have learned to be self-reliant and self-sufficient in ways not understood by older generations.

While there is a great deal of individuality among members of any generational group, and while descriptions of generational groupings are based on norms and common attitudes in that group, as a whole, millennials tend to be distrusting of societal institutions because they have witnessed a variety of forms of corruption, greed, and blatant wrong-doing. Whether the institution is the government, schools, corporations, families or religious institutions, the common experience is that institutions are broken. What have millennials found that does work in their lives? Their own social networks.

While technologies are woven throughout every dimension of their lives (because portable technology has been part of their lives since they were born), millennials have strong values for authentic experience. Twenty-something’s prefer craft beers, farm-to-table foods, gatherings with friends, and other popular trends because there is something authentic about these items. They recognize marketing in an instant because they, as a generation, have been the object of heavy marketing since childhood. Within that context, there are strong values for the individual exploration of authentic experience (of beer or fresh food or other aspects of life) for its own sake.

Millennials don’t want to be told what to do, how to believe, or how to do spirituality or anything else. So much of what millennials have been told is true about life hasn’t worked out for them: their parent’s marriages didn’t last; the priest or minister was a sex offender or crook; the politicians were bought off by special interests; and corporations were greedy. (Yes, these are pejorative statements, but they represent a general impression of social phenomenon.) Because of this, millennials want to discover life on their own. Yet, they are open to learn from the authentic experience of others.

How, then, can spiritual groups or churches connect with millennials? While many members of older generations attempt to make a connection with technologies, having someone my age fumble with technology is a turn-off for members of the millennial generation. Older generations simply aren’t as adept in the use of technology or its incorporation in day to day transactions. But we do have a way to connect. That has to do with sharing our stories authentically.

In my own experience with members of the millennial generation, I have become aware that if I respond to someone in his or her 20’s as I would to someone who is 55, the young person will likely turn me off. For example, if someone 55 asks me how to meditate, I’ll explain steps to meditation and may offer to do it with the person as a coach. But if someone 25 asked me, that response won’t seem authentic and will seem like I’m trying to be an authority. If I respond by saying, “There are lots of ways to meditate, but let me tell you what I do and what it’s like for me,” I’ll have a much better connection. In other words, the common ground is the actual experience.

I think the millennial generation poses a fundamental problem for spiritual and religious teachers of older generations. Millennials want to know that we are people on a journey just like they are. We have an opportunity to make a connection with them when we share authentically from our own experience. Millennials don’t want to know how to pray, practice, or believe. They are interested in how prayer, spiritual practice, and belief are part of an individual’s life. As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to understand that if religious and spiritual leaders had done this all along, the world would likely be a very different place.