Teens and the Supernatural

[Starlock]

In doing some random searches on another topic, per usual I got sidetracked by something else I saw and came upon the Barna Research group. In particular, they have done a study on Teens and the Supernatural. I'd heard some of the findings from this around on the grape vine but not with a verifiable source. While the article is not free, there is a summary of the findings available from The Christian Post. Some of what they state is a bit slanted, but their presentation of the raw data I presume to be genuine since I saw the same figures at other sites reporting the article. Here's what one section of this artile states:

New Barna Report Explores Teens and the Supernatural by Michelle Vu

The 47-page report revealed that most teens believe in the supernatural realm with seven million teens having encountered an angel, demon, or some other supernatural being. According to the Barna research, 30 percent of all teens claim they had supernatural encounters. More than 10 percent of teens say they have communicated with the dead and nearly 10 percent of youth claim they have psychic powers.

Studies by The Barna Group also showed that nearly three-quarters of America’s youth (73 percent) have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity beyond media exposure or horoscope usage. The most common named were using an Ouija board and reading a book about witchcraft or Wicca – each of these activities were done by more than one-third of teenagers.

I thought the figure would be high, but I didn't think it would be such a clear majority. After reading the whole article, here are some discussion questions for you all to ponder:

arrow What are some implications of the fact that nearly three-quarters of teens have engaged in occult activities?
--- How do you see this playing out from your personal experience?
--- How does it effect the New Age, Occult, and Neopagan communities?
--- How does it effect the Christian community?

There are many more questions that could be asked than that, but I'd rather leave this as an open discussion. Let it flow the direction it will!  

[Azana Brown]

The teenage years are a time of curiosity, experimentation, and searching. They're starting to get their freedoms and wanting to experience new things...it wouldn't surprise me if many of them at least tried an occult activity.

1.) I started studying into such things in my teenage years, and I felt a ring of truth to them, which is why I've stayed with it to this day.

2.) Well, the new age/occult world does get a little more exposure from all this, admittedly. The biggest problem is that some capitalize on their lack of knowledge and publish rather crappy books to guide them. The biggest lesson to learn in occult study is the ability to discern credible information from BS.

3.) Some of the more conservative Christians would probably be rather worried, but there are many psychic encounters in the Bible, as there are many Christian Psychics out in the world.  

[Jezehbelle]

Wow, that's a little mind blowing.
But then it makes a little too much sense.

We had this discussion in a class of mine a few years back, about how your parents and surroundings affect your life. You either become more like them from or you become the opposite of them.
I think a lot of America's youth is getting more and more fed up with the way things are going, and rebeling against it and maybe even attempting to fix things in their slice of life.
And it shows and, in the last couple of years, its been looking more like leaps and bounds.

I mean, WalMart's selling ORGANIC banana's now. eek

It's easier now, and more exceptable now, to wonder and wander into the occult and paranormal, than it was, even when I was a teenager. o -o;
The kids in my high school, once, threw rocks at me, when it was just a rumor.
At the same high school, my little brother's ex girlfriend, whose an out of the closet Wiccan, hasn't gotten anything negative like that. sweatdrop
A while back, Billy Graham (Evangelical preacher) and Lady Sintana (Witch Queen/Elder High Preistess of Ravenwood Seminary) tied for Favorite Spiritual Leaders in Atlanta. o _o;

From my experience with other people who've gotten into the occult, witchcraft and paganism, at least half of them turn away from it. And after that, half of them turn agnostic/atheist, and the other half go back to being Christian.
But still.

It'd be interesting to see a follow up on that survey, five years later. 3nodding  

[The Bookwyrm]

Actually, none of that is particulraly surprising; kids dabble (I know I did!), and I couldn't tell you the number of time that, while working at a new age store, I had teeny-boppers come in and in all their bashful, 11 year old glory ask me if we sold Ouija boards; the Occult is being glamorized in the media, and teens are flocking to it.

There are teens who are sincere about what they're doing when they approach the occult, whether they stay with it in later years or not, and we also have the wanna-be glamorious and spooky teens, and the spooky-glam ones tend to be in the heavy majority. It's infuriating, because there's no way to tell some of these kids anything, but what do you do? They're rebellious, and have found an outlet.

As for what I think about the impact on the New Age, Occult, and NeoPagan communities, I think it's two fold: On the one hand, we're certainly reaching people at a younger age, which means that material is readily accessable. That accessability means that it's all far more accepted than it was ten years ago. However, as Azana has already said, it also means that there's a whole lot of crap on the market that some of these younger readers aren't going to be able to distinguish from legitimate resources.

On the other hand, we are going to be damned by a number of these teens who run off screaming about how they're a witch, and they're goiong to curse everyone who was ever mean to them, or it comes out after a school shooting that they believed that they were a vampire, etc. There are so few qualified teachers out there, that we lose out credability because some of these teens are so horribly misinformed.

What it means for Christianity is something I've known for a long while: It's dieing. Wicca is currently reported to be the fastest growing religion in North America, the exact number of adherents being difficult to determine due tot he number of solitary practitioners. Should Wicca continue to grow as it is, in another 8 years it will be the largest religion in the world. A lot of this I'm sure is terrifying for many Christians, as they are so violently opposed to the Occult and NeoPagan; it's being interpreted as a sign of the end of the world as godlessness runs rampant. But others are pretty nonchallant about it. On the whole, however, I think this interest prevalent among today's youth indicates that Christianity is losing its strangle hold on North American society.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

I think the question is not how many kids picked up a book on Wicca/occultish/pagany stuff, or used a Ouija board once, but rather how many of them had a continued interest. Teens are not noted for their consistency, as so I take a statistic like that with a grain of salt.  

[Starlock]

Jezehbelle

I think a lot of America's youth is getting more and more fed up with the way things are going, and rebeling against it and maybe even attempting to fix things in their slice of life.

This might be the case, but I'd like to see long term trends. As Nihlistic mentions, what is the real meat of a study like this is to follow up on it. Here are some questions I'd like to know the answers to:

--- Of those participating in the survey, what percentage are still engaging in occult activities in a year? In five years?
--- For those still engaged, what are they engaged in, specifically?
--- For those not engaged, is there a measurable impact of occult influence on other aspects of their life?

Jezehbelle

I mean, WalMart's selling ORGANIC banana's now. eek

Really? That doesn't surprise me. Buisinesses provide what the consumers want. Consumers are finally starting to realize that organic is better, locally grown is better, and that going Green is GOOD.

Jezehbelle

It's easier now, and more exceptable now, to wonder and wander into the occult and paranormal, than it was, even when I was a teenager.

Hmm... I wonder if this is actually true or if it is really dependent on where in the country you live. There probably is more awareness of the public towards Neopaganism in general, but has that translated into tolerance? I personally haven't had any griefs, but I know people still do.

Some questions related to what Gypsy and others mentioned... how should the Neopagan and related communities go about countering some of the negative backlashes? Specifically... the pervasive amount of crapola out there and the frequently misguided teen?

Gypsy Blue

What it means for Christianity is something I've known for a long while: It's dieing. Wicca is currently reported to be the fastest growing religion in North America, the exact number of adherents being difficult to determine due tot he number of solitary practitioners. Should Wicca continue to grow as it is, in another 8 years it will be the largest religion in the world. A lot of this I'm sure is terrifying for many Christians, as they are so violently opposed to the Occult and NeoPagan; it's being interpreted as a sign of the end of the world as godlessness runs rampant. But others are pretty nonchallant about it. On the whole, however, I think this interest prevalent among today's youth indicates that Christianity is losing its strangle hold on North American society.

By loosing adherents, I'm not sure I'd say Christianity is dying. In decline in America, sure. Other parts of the world? I'd have to look it up. I doubt if Wicca will continue to keep growing at the rate it has; I'm skeptical of those growth numbers since doing an accurate survey in the first place is difficult. The number may well be inflated because of that. I don't doubt the movement is growing, I just question how quickly. For sure, the estimates that there are only 500,000 of us in North America is probably quite conservative.  

[Feryal Riska]

--- What are some implications of the fact that nearly three-quarters of teens have engaged in occult activities?

It means we experiment, pretty much. In my experience, Christian raised kids with oppressive kids want to find a way to bust out of the bindings, and sometimes experiementing in paganism and these sorts of things is the surfire way to do so.

--- How do you see this playing out from your personal experience?

In my personal experience... Well, my parents discovered Asatru before I was born. Not long before I was born, but I do know my dad had an interest in the Norse culture long before I was born. So, I was raised Asatru. I'm now exploring my own ways, because I don't feel a calling to the Norse pantheon anymore. But like I said before, kids experimenting to break free from bonds, pretty much.

--- How does it effect the New Age, Occult, and Neopagan communities?

Well... it seems to kind of fill the community up with a bunch of kids who don't know what they're talking about. There is a lot of good information out there, but it's not as easily accessible as the crap is. So, kids end up learning from people who don't know jack. My dad had me read scott cunningham when I was looking through Wicca. As for Asatru, I read the Poetic Edda and.. all the other Eddas we owned, as well as a lot of mythology books. Folklore, that sort of thing. The kind of knowledge on the stuff we're talking about just isn't as reliable anymore.

--- How does it effect the Christian community?

I'm so out of touch with the U.S. right now, I couldn't say. I know all the Christians here are pretty tolerant of my religion, but then again I don't go around shoving it in anyone's face. I did get the question, "So do pagans worship Satan or something?" but it was an honest question, not a scornful one. And he seemed to accept my answer of "Helllll no." So. I guess the bad books and information out there would probably set them on the wrong idea, you know? Like, in a Ravenwolf book I read, there was a lot of Christian bashing. And all that stupid "Burning Times" bull.

I'm not sure how much sense my answers are making, but, I tried to answer cohesively. xD  

[Azana Brown]

Feryal Riska

--- What are some implications of the fact that nearly three-quarters of teens have engaged in occult activities?

It means we experiment, pretty much. In my experience, Christian raised kids with oppressive kids want to find a way to bust out of the bindings, and sometimes experiementing in paganism and these sorts of things is the surfire way to do so.

--- How do you see this playing out from your personal experience?

In my personal experience... Well, my parents discovered Asatru before I was born. Not long before I was born, but I do know my dad had an interest in the Norse culture long before I was born. So, I was raised Asatru. I'm now exploring my own ways, because I don't feel a calling to the Norse pantheon anymore. But like I said before, kids experimenting to break free from bonds, pretty much.

--- How does it effect the New Age, Occult, and Neopagan communities?

Well... it seems to kind of fill the community up with a bunch of kids who don't know what they're talking about. There is a lot of good information out there, but it's not as easily accessible as the crap is. So, kids end up learning from people who don't know jack. My dad had me read scott cunningham when I was looking through Wicca. As for Asatru, I read the Poetic Edda and.. all the other Eddas we owned, as well as a lot of mythology books. Folklore, that sort of thing. The kind of knowledge on the stuff we're talking about just isn't as reliable anymore.

--- How does it effect the Christian community?

I'm so out of touch with the U.S. right now, I couldn't say. I know all the Christians here are pretty tolerant of my religion, but then again I don't go around shoving it in anyone's face. I did get the question, "So do pagans worship Satan or something?" but it was an honest question, not a scornful one. And he seemed to accept my answer of "Helllll no." So. I guess the bad books and information out there would probably set them on the wrong idea, you know? Like, in a Ravenwolf book I read, there was a lot of Christian bashing. And all that stupid "Burning Times" bull.

I'm not sure how much sense my answers are making, but, I tried to answer cohesively. xD

20,000 th post right there!! Congrats!

For my views, check the second post of this thread. Thank you. ^_^