Phase 1: Faith & Religion
PHASE 1 · 2023–2025 · ✓ Completed
Young people, faith, and the search for meaning
Countries:
Argentina · Brazil · Italy · Kenya · Mexico · Philippines · Spain · United Kingdom
What we asked
What we asked
The first phase explored how young people experience and articulate their religious and spiritual lives. Key areas of inquiry included: belief in God and religious self-identification; frequency and type of religious practice; attitudes toward the Church as an institution; the relationship between personal conscience and religious teaching; and young people's views on moral and social questions as shaped by their beliefs.
What we did
-Online survey of 4,889 young people (18–29) across 8 countries, conducted in late 2023.
-Series of focus groups in each partner country, held throughout 2024.
-Expert workshop and academic dissemination, 2024–2025.
-Special issue published in Church, Communication and Culture (Taylor & Francis), 2025.
The increasing process of secularisation, well documented in previous studies, runs parallel to a minor but significant opposite trend: an increase in faith lived out of conviction, replacing a kind of 'socio-cultural' religion lived out of mere tradition.