According to a recent book by sociologists Christian Smith & Melinda Lundquist Denton entitled "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" (Oxford University Press, 2005), the vast majority of U.S. teenagers were found to be incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their religious beliefs and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives.

According to the researchers: “We do not believe that teenage inarticulacy about religious matters reflects any general teen incapacity to think and speak well. Many of the youth we interviewed were quite conversant when it came to their views on salient issues in their lives about which they had been educated and had practice discussing, such as the dangers of drug abuse and STD’s.”

“We suggest that the de facto dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers is what we might call ‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism’” (page 162):

A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.

God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

Good people go to heaven when they die.

Smith’s Conclusion (excerpt from Youth Specialties interview with Smith):
"But it hit us like a ton of bricks that most religious teenagers aren't being well educated in the faith or given much practice in articulating their beliefs and why and how they matter. For more than a few teenagers, in fact, it seems like ours was the first time any adult ever asked them what they believed. Some of them said exactly that…Many parents come from a generation that has bent over backwards not to 'shove anything down anyone's throat.' Consequently, their kids aren't getting much direct theological substance to embrace, revise, or reject. If so, that's a real disservice to kids."

THE RESULT
A significant amount of students end up walking away from the Christian faith due to their lack of knowledge which results in intellectual doubt and skepticism. Don’t fall into this trap! Instead, learn to love God with your mind.