GenMe FIG Blog

With this week's blog entry, the assignment has been to answer questions dealing with GenMe and the topic of religion. When looking to the original question of how the book is affected by religion's lack of appearance in the writing and why she omitted discussion about it, it has to be mentioned that the author does in fact point out religion, and her explanation of the topic is sufficient to explain her view. On page 34, she states: "...attendance across all faiths has declined 30% since the 1950's, and about half of that decline occurred since the 1980's" (Twenge 34). Though not lengthy, the author does set down the roots of her overall thesis with this statement. Oftentimes she alludes to the differences between GenMe and the Baby Boomers, and with religion we find her making the same divisions. During the Baby Boomer era, it was common practice for individuals to join organized groups in the communities they were a part of. As time moved forward, our culture has become more individualized. So, by looking at her numbers, we find that she is addressing religion by acknowledging that like most organized groups, GenMe has decreased its attendance. In this manner, she isn't ignoring the topic completely, but there are a few points that it would have behooved her to mention.

To explain these points, the other two questions must be addressed. The prompt asks me to answer how I would have explained the topic of religion in regards to GenMe and what I would have discussed. The response is simple: I would have addressed the topic in a less condescending light and would have discussed not only the fact that attendance in religious services is dropping, but also why. The why in this situation is the key. A drop in attendance does not mean that GenMe is less religious as the author seems to imply, but it might instead mean that people in this generation are taking up religion on their own. It would seem an obvious connection noting that Twenge's original thesis of GenMe's individuality, but instead she moves through the topic of religion quickly, without ever noting that religious practice may not be on the downturn, only organized services are. Perhaps my viewpoint on the topic is decidedly swayed being that I hail from a strong hold in Bible Belt country, but it seems to me that religion is alive and well today, regardless of dropping numbers in attendance. Once more, it seems that the author has missed the point on an extremely important topic in modern culture.