A growing number of young people — largely millennials, though the trend extends to younger Gen Xers, now cresting 40, and down to Gen Z, the oldest of whom are freshly minted college grads — have turned away from traditional organized religion and are embracing more spiritual beliefs and practices like tarot, astrology, meditation, energy healing and crystals.
Today, young people still seek the things that traditional organized religion may have provided for their parents or grandparents: religious beliefs, yes, but also a sense of community, guidance, purpose and meaning. But it can be hard for young people to find those things in their parents’ religions. So they’re looking elsewhere.
On top of that, a lot of younger people feel alienated by mainstream religion — by attitudes toward LGBTQ people and women, by years of headlines about scandals and coverups, or by the idea that anyone who isn’t part of that religion is inherently bad or wrong.
One of the big draws for younger people about spiritual practices is the ability to “pick and choose,” said Jim Burklo, a progressive Christian reverend who works with college students as the senior associate dean of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at USC. Spiritual practices appeal to the commitment-wary: You can get a little into crystals or astrology or tarot, or a lot into it. You can buy a few rose quartzes or light a few candles and if it’s meaningful for you, keep it; if not, it’s not like you went through a full religious conversion.
Astrologer Chani Nicholas said social media has helped guide the way for a lot of young people. Nicholas is based in L.A. and has just shy of a quarter million followers on Instagram. The majority of her social media following is people ages 25-34, solidly in millennialia.
Before the internet, people who held beliefs outside the mainstream — religious, political or otherwise — lacked a public way to connect with one another. With social media, she said, divinatory practices like astrology, crystals and tarot have been able to take up space in a public conversation. It helps that they all look great on Instagram.
Leah Garza, who makes crystal jewelry, said that growing up she was never particularly religious; her parents were Christian but not devout when she was growing up. As she’s advanced her spiritual practice, she said she feels even more disconnected from traditional organized religion.
“Unlike in certain dogmatic religions where there’s a right and wrong way to be a practitioner, there isn’t that in these nondenominational spiritualities, which I think is so beautiful,” Garza said. “There isn’t one way to be a human being.”
Full story at The LA Times.
Garza said, “There isn’t one way to be a human being.”
According to Natural Law, there is only one way to be a true human being. This is to operate and function as the human being is designed to function. This suggests that a religion that contradicts the Natural Law is a false religion.
And supposedly this is the generation that accepts science more than previous generations and is smarter. But there’s no scientific support for any of those irrational practices. So when millennials say they support homosexuality and gay marriage because of science, you know they are clueless. America under millennial rule is going to be a dystopia. Glad I’ll de dead before that happens. Good luck to those who will still be alive.
Who established or enacted Natural Law.
mike m,
I think it was Aristotle who first derived the Natural Law from metaphysics. The Scholastics of the Middle Ages also debated and undoubtedly built on Aristotle’s foundation.
mike m.– Natural Law is seen in Nature, created by God — and is found in the Bible. Nature, created by God — is based on certain fixed, Divine Laws. God created everything according to a fixed, perfect design.
Anon,
I don’t think you meant to imply it, But the philosophy of Natural Law is not based in the Bible but in metaphysics (causation).
Steve Seitz– Natural Law, a philosophy that asserts by use of human reason, that certain rights are inherent by virtue of Nature, endowed by God (or a Higher Power)– was referred to by great men like Aristotle and Cicero. It also was expounded upon by Christian philosophers, like St. Thomas Aquinas, with Biblical references. Natural Law can be used to deduce binding rules for moral behavior.
Of course many are turning away from the “NewChurch.” People are uneducated to the point of being religious, which is to learn how to live in anticipation of death and judgment. You will all die, the unchurched need to be told. The Catholic Church used to say — as Jesus said — that it represents a way to prepare for our deaths, our judgments before God. Jesus did not come here for entertainment, but for the ultimate relevancy, to save Mankind from damnation. Of course, the NewChurch no longer says this.
Here we go again, “SC” attacking the Catholic Church, calling it “NewChurch” just as “progressive Democrats” such as the four Democrat representatives are wont to criticize America. There is no “Old Church”, no “NewChurch”; the Church is ONE. Remember that peoples, otherwise you fall into heresy. For the record peoples, the Church STILL proclaims that all the means of salvation subsists in the Church, therefore it is the pre-eminent way to salvation. Read this quote from Pope Francis: “The Church’s closeness to Jesus is part of a common journey; communion and mission are profoundly interconnected. In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to…
“In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded.” (Pope Francis).
Long before evangelization– the Catholic Church has a sadly long-neglected duty to fulfill– the proper religious and moral training of her own people, with good Catechism classes.
YOu can’t deny that Blasé Cupich and James martin are part of newchurch.
St. Christopher might be referring to those who go to the newer Masses who practice new age, and some priests do not denounce it as much as the more traditional priests. There have been Catholic men and women, including some religious, with astrology websites claiming to be psychics when it is most often nothing more than stage tricks. Years ago I wrote down the list one Catholic “psychic” astrologer predicted for the next year. Not one of them came true.
Some of the deep stuff can lead to demonic possession, though, so people should avoid all this like the plague.
A book I recommend is “Catholics and the New Age” by Fr. Mitch Pacwa. He writes from experience.
Astrology is not a science, and I do not engage in it, but I do believe the pull of the moon affects plants. I had a neighbor with a beautiful garden that he planted by Farmer’s Almanac.
As the pagan Julius Caesar said to Brutus, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars. It is in ourselves.” At the end of his life, Caesar seemed to have a sense of original sin.
In the Bible, we find things similar to the silly “New Age”—- prophecies, visions, healings, mystical occurrences, Angels, a virgin birth, Wise Men following the Star of Bethlehem, miracles, sacred objects, special herbs, etc. The big difference is that all of this Biblical supernatural stuff came from God! The “New Age” stuff is just silly!
Another good read is “Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life”. One can read it on a Vatican website for free. I think it was put out when St. John Paul II was pope, or Benedict XVI.
There most certainly is an “Old Church” and a “New Church!” Everyone and his dog knows it! The “Old Church” is the pre-Vatican II Church– with the old Latin Mass and Sacraments, strong Catechism education, and strong Church moral and theological discipline required and enforced. The “New Church” is the post-Conciliar “mess” that we have today.
Folks, if you espouse what “Anon” is saying here, then you have fallen into heresy. HERESY! The contention that the post-Conciliar Church is a “mess”: why, pick which century! There has always been messiness in the Church. Read your history. The fact is that there is no “two Churches.” The Creed still says that the Church is ONE. To say otherwise, just because you don’t like the fact that the Extraordinary Form is not as popular as you would have hoped, is heretical.
Jon,
I think you’ve fallen into the “either” “or” trap. Rather than “either” “or,” we should take the best from the past and incorporate it into the best of the new.
Messiness hampers the evangelical mission of the Church and should be avoided — not tolerated.
Me? Fallen to the “either or trap”? Steve Seitz it is the folks who deride the Ordinary Form, Vatican II, and the Holy Father–branding them as “NewChurch”– who are guilty of what you are erroneously ascribing to me. For your information I attend both the OF and the TLM.
jon– You can call the post-Vatican II Church “new” if you like– and the pre-Vatican II one, “old.” It doesn’t matter. Same Church, but each era is very different!
Occult practices promise special knowledge and power from their gods, nature, and the rituals. Jesus promises knowledge and power through the Holy Spirit in the gifts and fruits. If our church does not teach and preach this knowledge and power, human nature will look for it outside the church. If we hear immigration, socialism, rights, justice, fairness, equality, income distribution, etc from our leaders instead of our Catholic brand of salvation from sin for eternal life in Jesus Christ, people will look to satisfy spiritual hunger in other places. Jesus, the only name by which man can be saved. Jesus in Whom we live, move, and have our being. Jesus, the only mediator between God and man.
All of this nonsense and conflict about the old church and the new church is one of the reasons people are fleeing the Catholic Church and exploring all of these “new agey” religions and practices. There is ONE holy Catholic Church with Christ as its head and the Pope as its leader.
Uh, William this is not nonsense… the reasons people have fled the Church is because we have close to 3 generations bad formed, priests, liturgy, and complete lack of will to preach the hard truths of the faith….
bohemond is wrong, as usual. Why? Gee, forget about the sexual revolution, the rise in acceptance of science as the new religion that can explain everything, the media, acceptance of abortion in many quarters of society as the greater (yes, folks greater) factors in people “fleeing” the Church. These folks who do nothing but attack the Church are akin to the Democrat progressive “Squad”. If you don’t like the Church, “get out/go back” (thank you Donald Trump).
This is true– many people have given up on the Faith due to poor catechesis, poor liturgies with Mass rubrics tossed out, bad priests who disobey Christ and preach immoral and heretical dogmas– such as Fr. James Martin, S.J. Many priests fail to preach hard and unpopular truths– such as pro-Life, no birth control, no gay “marriage.” The clerical sex abuse crisis has upset many.
William Robert I have written before that when Gregorian Chant went out the front door of the Church, Hindu and Buddhist chant came in the back door. I am not saying that every Mass has to be in Latin, but many Catholics have no idea that part of their culture has been lost. What they are searching for has been there hidden all along, waiting to be discovered once again.
If I had a sick and dying loved one, and was desperate for a miracle– I would rather turn to a gifted , saintly prophet (or psychic) and healer of our Church– like St Padre Pio, or Pope St John Paul II! No one needs the silly, secular, phony, dime-store psychics and healers, who advertise miracle cures, for big fees– they are not of God! I have a treasured book, “Miracles of John Paul II” by Pawel Zuchniewicz, that is excellent!
One Friday at dusk, I had a nagging urge to go to a Catholic Shrine, even though I did not want to go anywhere that night. Finally, I put on my street clothes. On my raincoat was an angel pin sent to me by ALL that had been blessed by Pope John Paul II. While in the gift shop of the shrine, a lady in a wheelchair asked for help, and I found myself wheeling her around til her son came to get her. I always felt a connection between the pin and the urge to go there. Now a beautiful statue of John Paul II is at that shrine.