Trust in institutions has seen better days.
Gallup regularly documents the historically low faith in institutions in the US.
Just 34% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the medical system, though that’s not as low as public schools (26%), the criminal justice system (17%), or Congress (8%).
Only 32% say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in organized religion. While that’s quadruple the rate of Congress, saying “at least we’re not Congress” is unlikely to inspire confidence.
I think people should go to church, but I'm a Catholic priest, so of course I would say that. When rates of trust in religious institutions are so low — especially for Gen Z — many would dismiss my recommendation.
I was thus interested in two recent essays by Gen Z writers whose perspectives are hard to dismiss. They have questioned religious institutions but ultimately argue for their value.
In “Our New Religion Isn't Enough,” Freya India writes that it is worth asking “why we mocked religion only to mimic it.”
India continues:
“My guess is that what we need most in this chaotic world is moral direction. What we need most in a rapidly changing world is rootedness. Could just be me but when I listen to the misery and confusion of my generation beneath it I hear a heartbreaking need—a need to be bound to others, to a community, to a moral code, to something more. This is not enough.”
America recently published an essay by Emma Camp entitled “The case for showing up to church—even if you don’t believe in God.”
Camp jokes that she only believes in God “about 30 percent of the time on a good day.” Still, she describes how she joined a church in part because “I want to feel accountable to something other than my own conscience, and the hour and a half of weekly contemplation provided in church is difficult to replicate anywhere else.”
An unfettered life doesn't feel like freedom. An imperfect community beats the rudderlessness of going off on your own.