Expert on Youth and Religion to Share Findings of National Survey of Emerging Adults

WORCESTER, Mass. – Christian Smith, director of the National Study of Youth and Religion, will talk about the religious and spiritual lives of 18-23 year olds in a lecture Wednesday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture, one of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity and presented by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

Smith is author, with Patricia Snell, of Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press, 2009), which reports on the third wave of a nearly 10-year study of the religious views of youth. The purpose of the study is to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American youth; to identify effective practices in their religious, moral, and social formation; to assess the effectiveness of current religious programs and opportunities for youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in the lives of youth and emerging adults. The book will be for sale at the event.

“No one has done better survey and interview work on youth and religion in this country than Christian Smith,” said Thomas M. Landy, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. “Religious leaders, youth workers, educators, parents, and teenagers themselves should be keenly interested in the results of this study.”

Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books including Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Do Not Give Away More Money (Oxford University Press, 2008); Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press, 2005), and Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture (Oxford University Press, 2003).

To learn more about this program and other events in the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, visit www.holycross.edu/crec.

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.