GRANTHAM, Pa. (Feb. 13, 2006) – Findings from the nation’s most comprehensive study of teenagers and religion will be the subject of a lecture, “American Adolescent Religion: National Patterns of Practice and Belief,” by sociologist Christian Smith on March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Messiah College’s Hostetter Chapel on the Grantham campus.  The event is co-sponsored by the Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science; it is free and open to the public.

About the National Study of Youth and Religion

In August 2001, the National Study of Youth and Religion, with funding from Lilly Endowment, Inc., began research to better understand the religious lives of American adolescents. The basis for the project was to study the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent and perceived effectiveness of the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth’s lives. Researchers conducted a national telephone survey of youth and their parents as well as in-depth interviews. Data and case studies gleaned from the survey will be the theme for Smith’s Messiah College lecture and are presented in his book co-authored with Melinda Lundquist Denton – “Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.”  More information about the study is available at www.youthandreligion.org.

About Sociologist Christian Smith

Christian Smith, Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor and associate chair of the department of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the lead researcher for the National Study of Youth and Religion.  Smith did his undergraduate work at Gordon College in Mass., and then completed master’s and doctoral programs at Harvard University.  He has authored several books, including “Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture;” “Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want;” and “Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement.” In addition, he co-authored “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America” with Michael Emerson; the book was recognized as the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’s Outstanding Book in 2001.