Emerging Adults

Every single emerging adult thinks about religion. Whether one is a devout Christian or an atheist, his or her religious beliefs and opinions are contemplated as an emerging adult. The emerging adult period of life is used as an experimental time for people to develop their core beliefs. It is at this time that people form their sexual identity, political views, and of course religion (amongst many other things). In Christian Smith’s work Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, Smith describes emerging adults as “indifferent” about religion and he goes on to discuss why this is so. Christian Smith misjudged emerging adults in their religious views. What Smith confuses as religious indifference is actually …show more content…
“Emerging adults experience a freedom that is historically unparalleled… this enables [them] for many years to explore, experiment, discover, succeed or fail, move on, and try again” (Smith). In today’s age, emerging adults have an immense opportunity for growth as an individual. The process of encountering and considering many different religious views allows current emerging adults to explore until they find the religion that fits them best. Rather than contemplating their current religion for the rest of their lives, emerging adults take the time to choose a religion which he or she truly believes in. The current generation of emerging adults is too smart to blindly follow any religion. They have a thirst for knowledge, which is a result of growing up during a time where information is easily attainable due to the internet. These well educated emerging adults choose to learn as much as they can about different religions in order to know the facts before making a choice about his or her personal religious views. Through being more informed on a diverse group of religions, emerging adults can discover the religion which he or she is most passionate