October 28, 2002
Many teens dabbling in psychics
and the occult, youth study finds
___By John Hall
___Texas Baptist Communications
___ARLINGTON--Two-thirds of teenagers are experimenting with psychics and the occult. They are trying to find a supernatural or spiritual world that three out of four teens believe exists, according to a recent Barna Research Group poll.
___"They're not connected to the God of history," Mark Matlock of WisdomWorks Ministries told an audience at the Youth Ministry Conclave, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. "They've forgotten the things God has done and are turning and experimenting with other things."
___Teenage belief in a supernatural realm is widespread. Forty-one percent of adolescents are "very confident" it exists, while 32 percent are "less confident" it exists. Twenty-one percent of teens expressed some confidence that there is no supernatural world. Four percent were unsure, and the remaining 2 percent were lumped into an "other" category.
___This belief in the supernatural does not translate into interest in traditional faith options, however, according to the research. With the exception of evangelical Christians, more than half of all teens have engaged in at least one psychic or occult activity. Eighty-seven percent of atheists and agnostics said they had experimented with such activities, the highest rate of any demographic group.
___Culture may have a larger impact on teens than the poll indicates, Matlock suggested. Eighty-eight percent of teens saw a television show or movie with supernatural themes within three weeks of the survey, taken in March.
___Few adolescents take time to ponder spiritual matters, the study reported. One in six teens (18 percent) spends "a considerable amount of time" thinking about spiritual and supernatural issues. Forty-seven percent of youth think "very little or not at all" about spiritual issues.
___"The culture is heating up, and students are absorbing information," said Matlock, who commissioned the research.
___Teens also appear more likely to embrace positive spiritual aspects rather than the negative, according to the study. They are more likely to believe in heaven, God and angels than they are to confirm hell, Satan and demons.
___Teens who fall in these groups do not have a consistent Christian worldview, he said. They do not have a deep faith that helps them work through spiritual decisions, or they may have no knowledge of the faith.
___Evangelical Christians stand out in the research, however, Matlock said. This demographic group, representing 9 percent of teens, overwhelmingly affirms a spiritual dimension (100 percent) and a difference between good and evil (96 percent).
___More than half of evangelical teens spend "a lot of time" thinking about the spiritual dimension (57 percent) and have experienced something "that could only be explained by spiritual reasons" (58 percent).
___Only 22 percent of evangelical teens have experimented with psychic or occult activities, the survey found. In contrast, 94 percent of evangelical teens expressed an interest in attending a youth group.
___Youth ministers should nurture this group, said Matlock, an ordained minister. They have the proper worldview and depth of faith that allows them to answer spiritual questions and evangelize.
___"The evangelical group emerges as a remnant group," Matlock said. "They are very different from other groups. The evangelical group is who we need to identify, gather around and support."
___The study polled 612 teens from across the nation by phone and has a 4 percent margin of error, Matlock said.
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