By J. DeVoy
CNN has a story about the hollowness of youth spirituality that is not terribly surprising, but affirming in some aspects.
The Pros: CNN notes that most young Christians are callow and spineless, claiming to believe in their religion while doing all the drugs, partaking in the materialism, and having all the premarital sex and children that their professed faith forbids. [Ed.’s note — we’re very much in favor of all of these things at the Legal Satyricon, but we’re also not running a cult bent on limiting its followers’ personal freedom.] By latching onto the “we’re all sinners” meme, young Christians use God and fellow fallible believers as a rationalization tool for their choices; additionally, the strength in numbers of many Christians using God as an excuse for their behavior has an “esteemsters” effect, allowing individuals to justify the cognitive dissonance between their beliefs and their actions because everybody else is doing it, boosting individual and group self esteem.
The Cons: The article’s subject believes that the way to overcome this is by inspiring deeper, more passionate faith in young people. If only they took their faith more seriously, they wouldn’t sin as they do.
Well, .500 is pretty good in baseball.
To wit: The last name of the girl pictured in the CNN piece is “Havard.” Prestigious?
