Religious Loyalty, Defection, and Experimentation among College Youth

Abstract

Recent data from polls suggest a trend away from conventional religion among college youth and impressionistic evidence indicates some stirrings of new forms of religion. A survey of Berkeley students provides an opportunity to examine the nature and sources of religious loyalty, defection and experimentation. The analysis shows that religious experimentation is not an isolated phenomenon but is rooted in broader cultural disaffection and is closely associated with other kinds of countercultural behavior. Among the sources of religious defection examined, cognitive sophistication and several types of psychological stress seem to be the most significant factors. Considerable interest has been generated of late by the so-called counterculture among youth. Growing up amidst unprecedented abundance, young people have had the opportunity to experiment with new life styles as never before. At the present time it is possible to find significant numbers of young people committed to radical political life styles, introspective life styles informed by Eastern religions, communal life styles experimenting with alternative social arrangements, as well as a wide range of other nonconventional behavior. But, even though the current youth culture has generated a flurry of investigation, surprisingly little attention has been directed toward its religious dimension. This omission is particularly unfortunate since many youth seem to be raising questions about universal life problems in ways which challenge the authority of conventional religious commitments. The extent of this challenge can be seen both in