"Generation X and Religious Belief"

      Generation X, a term used to designate young men and women in their late teens and twenties, comes from a rock group bearing the same appellation, a group that found moderate success in the 1980s and was headed by the idiosyncratic Billy Idol. What characterizes the X Generation is our lack of commitment to religious and non-religious belief systems. We have yet to make an impact on the world, but our inability to do this stems from the simple fact that we hold few convictions -- be they religious or philosophical: we have not decided what we believe in.

      This might sound strange to those Americans who were raised both before and during the tumultuous decade of the 1960s. The generation of Americans born before World War II came of age in a society that was relatively homogenous and structured. Institutions such as church, state, and business were primarily white and Protestant. Americans, for the most part, trusted these institutions. They believed in the American way of life. However, the generation that followed saw this trust dissolve with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the expansion of the Viet Nam War, and Watergate. Many of the premises on which the ideology of the American way of life were based were shown to be unjust and immoral. How could Americans claim to be one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all when African Americans were denied the most basic of liberties, such as the right to vote? The generation of young Americans who grew up in the 1960s was forced to deal with and work through these issues; they were forced to confront the unjust structures of American life. The point to keep in mind is that both generations of Americans clung to particular systems of belief, even if those systems were ideologically incompatible.

      American society changed tremendously during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. By the 1990s, gone were the salient issues which united young Americans during the Viet Nam era. Gone were the oppressive rules and regulations that fettered and bound the freedom of individuals. Gone were the structures which regulated and controlled the lives of Americans.

      Generation X grew up in an era when everything was considered permissible; we grew up in an era when any limitation on one's freedom was considered an egregious violation of one's rights. We were raised and educated in an atmosphere devoid of standards. We were not forced to read, to write, or to develop a religious and philosophical belief system that would allow us to engage the world in a constructive manner. We were taught that to hold a belief system and to make moral judgments was tantamount to intolerance. Thus, we make poor atheists because we were not challenged to think through our unbelief and we make poor believers because our belief lacks the authenticity born of existential doubt and intellectual struggle. We lack both the sophistication to develop a coherent system of beliefs and the courage to live out our principles. Watch the extremely popular show "Friends" to gain insight into the faithlessness and banality of Generation X.

      What disturbs me most about my generation -- the X Generation -- is that our lack of commitment to deeply held principles affirming life prevents us from acting effectively in the world. Social injustices such as racism and poverty are as great as ever. Our failure to take a stand exposes our destructive apathy and will serve as our indictment when the history of our generation is written.