While much of the evidence considered thus far in the book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers presents a very positive image of the attitudes of teenagers towards religion, this isn’t universal.

Almost all teens have a negative perception of people who are too religious. In attempting to avoid this stereotype many teens therefore push religion to the background of their lives and downgrade its importance.

Somehow there is a balance to be found. My personal opinion is that this balance will be easier to achieve when we in more conservative parts of Christianity become willing to actually engage and confront the challenging aspects of our faith rather than submerge them beneath fundamentalist rhetoric. A more open-minded faith makes it easier to acknowledge the importance of faith in our lives while avoiding the perception that we are drinking the cool-aide.