Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Reflections on GenX Religion

Jean Heriot, Ph.D., Worship Associate
March 18, 2001
Palo Alto, CA

For several years now I have been doing a ministry of teaching at Santa Clara University. I teach in the Religious Studies Department, and I teach young people, primarily from 18 to 22 years of age. They represent part of a cohort born between 1961 and 1981 now definitely labeled Generation X, or GenX for short.

I myself am a quintessential "Baby Boomer" -one of those seekers who left their own religious upbringing, Methodism, to find a home in the Unitarian Universalist church here.

Finding commonality across generations is paradoxically both easy and hard. It is easy, we find, because of shared human experiences. My students are not strangers to hopes and fears or to joys and tragedies. In this quarter alone, one student is pregnant with her first child and a young man's finance decided to leave him just before they were due to graduate. We all find know something of elation and sorrow-legacy of our common humanity.

It is harder to find that common ground across the generations, though, especially in the area of religion and popular culture. Our youth have been influenced more by the media than any other generation. We could argue whether this is good or bad "until the cows come home," as my father, a farmer, would have said. But the good/bad evaluation is not a fruitful perspective to take when dealing with GenX experiences. They have a worldview saturated with images, symbols, music, and a community of peers with whom they share this culture.

And we can learn much by listening to the commentary they are providing on their lives and our SHARED culture. For we are all INFLUENCED in subtle and not so subtle ways by Popular Culture represented each and every day in television, print, music, and on the Internet.

What is GenX saying? They tell us that the popular can be sacred or profane-it is how we shape the experience that counts. Raised in large part by popular culture, GenX strives to make sense of all those images and symbols thrown at us. What is the cross, the mandala, the lotus? What happens if we wear these? Use them in art and song? Will we find a meaning there? Who is God? Is god listening?

Tom Beaudoin says of GenX that many of its members are on a deep spiritual quest. But often that quest seems incomprehensible to outsiders -it doesn't look like religion as we know it, therefore it is not Religion. Beadoin, however, believes that folks who know little about-or who profess to know little about the religious "may indeed form, inform, or transform religious meaning for people of faith" (Virtual Faith 1998:34). Let me say this again-folks who know little about-or who profess to know little about the religious "may indeed form, inform, or transform religious meaning for people of faith" (Virtual Faith 1998:34). For example, GenXers often critique the forms and structures of tradition religion because they are searching for an authentic experience of religion.

That search can be disquieting. Darcey and I talked extensively as we planned the course "Finding Faith in and through the Media" which we led here this fall. I kept saying that religious symbols should represent a deep meaning, that is, our understanding of them should come from their use in many different contexts, from a long history and tradition lived in community. If you use the cross without knowing its contextual meaning, it is irresponsible!! She replied, "But what if I have little experience with this symbol? What if I am trying to make sense of it for myself, without a history in a religious institution?"

I have thought long and hard about that exchange. It seems to me that in a era saturated by images, to genuinely seek the meaning behind a symbol is a deep spiritual quest. And when does play and irreverence, challenge and rebellion yield to deep spiritual quest? What does it mean to wear a cross? [I take out a gold cross and put it on.] For that matter what does it mean to wear a UU chalice [pointing out the one I'm wearing]?

None of us can really say what a symbol means, or how deep a spiritual quest may be-but I definitely know my life is richer for the dialogue across the generations.

. . . .

Jean Heriot is a worship associate at UUCPA, and leads several other groups within out church. She also teaches full-time on the faculty of Santa Clara University in the Religious Studies Department and is in dialogue with UUCPA about the possibility of ordination as a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister (for her teaching)

Copyright © 2001 Jean Heriot