Religion, Adolescents, and Morality

   Note: This is a reflection I had to write for a course in Adolescent Education I am currently taking. Please feel free to comment and share. Many Blessings!!

        The development of morality in adolescence includes various factors coming both from the nuclear family, and from external influences. To my opinion, family factors such as strong communication between adolescents and parents, parental acceptance and trust, and type of discipline, are the ones that shape most of the morality of teenagers. Religion, although is categorized as an extrafamilial influence, is also correlated to the quality of relationships parents have with their children, and with the amount of religious exposure adolescents get from their parents (Dolgin pg. 188). Therefore, the way parents teach their religion to their children, and the consistency they show in practicing what they teach, will have a tremendous impact on how receptive adolescents will be in their faith, and this in change will impact, for better or for worse, the moral development of the growing adolescent.

            Personally I would consider myself a religious person. I have to agree that, as I was growing up, my family showed great levels of devotion to Catholicism, and I was obsequiously following those footsteps, even to the point of practicing things not encouraged by the organization, such as the constant reading of the Bible, and active participation in church activities. There was a point however that I found inconsistencies in the moral decisions that I saw in people who were “deeply devoted”, including my family, and even myself. The point is that this lack of morality was somehow overlooked by the organization as something normal, although it violated what I was reading in the Bible, which was supposed to be their highest authority. This moral dilemmas ranged from accepting man-made traditions as if they were God’s, to condemning people who would openly expose the church’s contradictions. In the midst of this conflict I came to know that there were organized individuals, condemned by the traditional church, that were willing to follow the faith accordingly and to respect the moral laws instituted by the Divine Creator, with the understanding of a need of a savior from those infirmities. The protestant church gave me the answers I needed, and I was “born again”.

            As a result, my whole life, and my view of it, changed to include God’s moral law as the law by which I should abide and behave as my ultimate goal; not to achieve recognition or self gain, since that will go against the purpose of God’s law, but to live my life pleasing Him. I believe in universal truths and that men should do as much as he can to protect them, and to behave in a manner that would elevate the value of these truths in society. In this times, calling myself a religious person carries with it a very negative connotation since it is equated with a close-minded and archaic way of thinking; however, I believe faith in a divine law is the only way a society can have moral order. My decisions ranged from not lying, not cheating, and being honest, to disapproving abortion and supporting the view of a biblical family conformation. Therefore, most of my decisions and behaviors are based on my understanding on this divine law, and on the desire to look, not for my own gain, but to give a better understanding to the people around me on the role of a Creator (God) in a functioning moral society. 

Reference

 Dolgin, Kim Gale., and F. Philip. Rice. The Adolescent: Development, Relationships, and Culture. 13th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.