Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

Religion is a phenomenon that continues its existence in life by being reinterpreted with paradigms about existence and life, although it has unchangeable principles in terms of its principles. The role of religion in human life changes in the historical process. Religion, which was active in all areas of life from economy to politics, from education to art in the Middle Ages, has largely lost its influence in the public sphere in modern societies. In the postmodern period, institutional religion has lost even more power with the developing individualism. In this period, religion has turned into a phenomenon shaped according to personal thoughts and desires. Today, especially in Western societies, it is seen that religious identity definitions are decreasing day by day. The number of people who define themselves with non-religious identities such as "no religion, atheist, agnostic, secular, humanist" is increasing daily among the young generation worldwide, especially in Europe and America. In the globalizing world, it is difficult to say that the youth of our country has never accepted identities that are alternative to or opposed to religion. Some studies claim that religiosity has decreased in our country in recent years, and atheist and deist understandings have increased compared to the past years. In this context, it is essential to investigate the tendencies of high school students in adolescence towards non-religious orientations, which is a critical developmental period in terms of identity development. In this way, it will be possible to obtain information about the meaning of religion, which is an essential component of identity, for young people, what are the factors that are effective in developing religious identity, and the effectiveness of religious education in this regard. With the information to be obtained, it will be possible to plan a more effective religious education to transfer religious culture to the new generation. Our study, which aims to reveal the non-religious orientation tendencies of high school youth and the roles of religious education and environmental factors, is quantitative research conducted in Konya province center in 2020-2021. "Non-religious Orientation Scale" and "Ok-Religious Attitude Scale" were used in the study. The data we collected from a sample of 473 people determined by quota sampling method were analysed with SPSS 15 software. According to the findings obtained, 6% of young people show a high level of non-religious orientation tendency, and 12% show a moderate level of non-religious orientation tendency. 3% of the young people adopt atheist, 3% agnostic, and 2% deist understanding of God. While 70.2% of the participants believe in the existence of God without any doubt, 21.4% believe that God exists, although they have some doubts. There is a high positive correlation (r=0,722, p=0,000) between believing in the existence of God and having a positive religious attitude. There is a high negative correlation (r=-0,833, p=0,000) between believing in the existence of God and non-religious orientation. The family is the most influential institution on the religious attitudes and non-religious orientations of young people. In this respect, strengthening the family institution, which comes first in transferring spiritual values to young generations, and raising awareness of parents is very important. In addition, various variables related to school and environment also affect young people's religious attitudes and non-religious orientations. Having a family where religion is given importance and tolerance is dominant, being satisfied with the religious education given at school, receiving religious education outside the school, and having positive role models about religious life support young people to develop positive attitudes towards religion and reduce their tendency towards non-religious orientations. Therefore, increasing the quality of religious education services provided in schools, teachers being positive role models, and updating the curriculum and textbooks to meet the needs of the age will prevent movements such as atheism, deism, and agnosticism from sowing seeds of doubt in the belief world of young people. Positive representation of religion outside the family and school leads young people to develop positive attitudes toward religion. It reduces the need to seek answers to their existential questions outside religion.