Faith, Ideology and the Information Age: Universal Spirituality of Generation Y

Abstract

Observing the period of recent history, it is clear that no previous generation has ever lived with such information accessibility and in such a connected word as the millennials, an age cohort of those who were, roughly determined, born between early '80s and late '90s. This is a generation that is, according to the data of Pew Research Center, characterized by a high degree of individual spirituality without a formal religious affiliation, best described by the motto spiritual but not religious (SBNR) that is often associated with them. Ideological attitudes of millennials reflect their distance to church membership since they are, at the surprise of conservative and economically rightwing baby boomers and Gen X members, predominantly leaning towards left-liberal progressivism, which was evident during 2016 US election. Exploring millennial religious beliefs opens up a series of interesting questions. First, is this exclusively an Anglo-American phenomenon and how deep are generational divisions today? How is the spirituality of a leftist generation defined by consumer logic? Do millennials really suffer more from depression and anxiety and how can that be attributed to overchoice, an almost 50-year old concept of American futurologist Alvin Toffler? Finally, is the spiritual world less important to those of age between 18 and 35 then it was to their predecessors, or do they have more in common then they think?