Abstract
Until relatively recently, the place of religion in young people’s lives was a significant gap in our knowledge, particularly in the context of an increasingly diverse population and the ever-wider influence of globalization. Existing work had taught us something about young people from particular religious backgrounds, religious profiles in different countries, and patterns of beliefs and practices shown by adults. However, at the time of the research on which this chapter draws, there were few studies with direct contemporary relevance to young people growing up in multi-faith communities in Britain.
The Youth On Religion (YOR) project (Madge et al. 2014) sought to help to fill this gap by exploring the meaning of religion in young people’s lives in three multi-faith localities in Britain, differing in terms of religious history and diversity, and social deprivation. Its purpose was to examine the concept and complexity of religious identity, the influences on this identity, and its impact on everyday life. Other key research questions addressed young people’s views on the positive and negative impact of religion more generally, and their perspectives on encouraging and promoting social cohesion among diverse religious groups. The project conducted a large-scale survey of young people from different faith backgrounds as well as carrying out qualitative discussion groups and interviews to elaborate in more detail on the patterns described by the young respondents.