Discovering your faith: Religion and Teens

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Bridget is a 15 year old from Austin, Tx. She has a passion for writing and aspires to be a journalist when she’s older, when she’s not writing you can find her listening to her ipod or at a concert!

The most unspoken subject from teens is religion. Yes, it’s the infamous question do you believe in God, or do you simply just don’t care? Nowadays most parents do not take the initiative to sit down and seriously talk to their kids about where they stand with religion. Most teens seem to be too busy with other things to really answer this question. Others have a strong sense of religion but feel embarrassed with their religious standings and do not want to feel like an outsider for their beliefs.  The solution to this is to just believe what you want to believe and do not just follow what other teens are doing.

Here are 5 simple steps to discover your religion:

1.       Just Believe

Although this seems like the most obvious answer, it is actually the most difficult to follow through on. Most teens feel they have better things to do than go to church on Sundays, or to go to church school. If you believe, then your faith will grow and just by going to church once every month is a huge step on your journey. If you begin to think others will judge you because you are a religious teen, don’t! If you are extremely religious you should embrace this fact and not hide it from others, it may actually help others turn to religion also.

2.       Talk to your parents

If your parents are not that religious, chances are neither are you. If you feel like you want your family to start participating more with your local church, then sit down with your parents and express your thoughts with them. Do not feel like they will judge you by this decision, they will actually see that you are maturing and beginning to think for yourself. Communication is key with religion, especially with teens since most do not have strong relationships with their parents. With communication you and your family can find your faith together, and help each other on the way.

3.       Ask your Friends

Most teens believe that their friends and people around them are not religious, but most of the time they are wrong. If you are really hoping to become more religious, start asking around and start off with your closest friends. Ask them whether or not they go to church and if so do they like it. If you feel like this is a church you would want to go to, then ask your parents to take you and this could be the beginning to finding your faith.

4.       Research

This is one of the hardest steps in finding the religion that matches what you are looking to be involved with. The first step is to research different religions and most importantly different places where you can practice this religion. Do not be afraid to use your sources, such as the internet, library, and books. You just might find a religion that you never thought you would join.

5.       Do Not Give Up

Being a teen is hard enough as it is these days, with school, friends, and family on your back. Do not let your demanding schedule stop you from growing your faith. If you want to become more religious do it, do not let the bumps in the road stop you.

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  • yücel kök

    When I was a student at the University ,I met two Dannish boys in Izmir(Tukey).When I saw them without their girl friends I found them unusual since everbody around like them was with a girl friend.As I talked to them I realized that they were honest,upright and also devout.They had information all the prohets mentioned in the Quran,which is the last and unspoiled holly book. Another memory of mine is about two Dutch boys visiting the Seven sleepers in Ephesus I spent six hours with them and I saw that they were devout ,too.Cosequently; I was really very happy to see that there was somebodyall over the world who was intentially interested in learning and practising the religion.
    We usually complain about the people behaving us, embezzling ,stealing,killing,swearing,rebelling…but we do nothing for our teens to teach them our religion.
    I have some concerns about our future with this youth.If we really like our kids,we have to do something for them immediately, or tomorrow will be late…

  • http://www.horrorfan666.com Jeff

    I write this more to say you may not find your true religious beliefs until you are older. I an not a teen in fact I am in my mid 40′s and thought all the mainstream religions were BS. I was brought up Jewish and never paid any attention in fact I would go into Hebrew school and as soon as mom left I’d walk right back out. I considered myself Athiest/Agnostic for a long time. I tried Catholic, Christian, and Islam. I had one big problem with all of them and that is that there was only a MALE God so I could never accept the fact that a male alone gave birth to humanity. I started researching and recently discovered Paganism which fit my beliefs in that there is a God and Goddess plus earthly things and not just one Omniscient and Omnipotent supernatural being.