Editorial Reviews:
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Based on the book, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, which reports on research conducted over a seven year period by the National Study of Youth and Religion. Featuring interviews with the books authors, youth pastors, and teenagers from around the country, this compelling documentary illustrates some of the major themes and findings of the book, and goes behind the book in depicting the inner lives of a sample of American teenagers. Find out what these teenagers really think about God and religion, what their hopes and aspirations are, and what the research says about the effects of religion in their lives. In 2005, Oxford University Press released a very important book. Sociologists from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill had just released their findings of a comprehensive study of the religious views of American teenagers. And what they found was nothing less than shocking. According to Christian Smith, the primary author of the book Soul Searching, the actual professed religion of most young adults, whether they're being raised in Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, or Jewish homes, is what he called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. What this means is that although many teens believe in God and go to church regularly, they end up defining belief in very vague and subjective terms, such as, God exists, He's there when we need him, He wants us to be happy, The purpose of life is to feel good, Good people go to heaven, and so forth. Now, in 2007, a documentary film version of Soul Searching was just released by Revelation Studios. And on this edition of the White Horse Inn webcast, Michael Horton talks with Michael Eaton, the co-director of the film, as well as Christian Smith himself, the primary researcher behind the project, about their new documentary. Based on a seven year study of the religious views of American teens, this film presents some troubling findings about the content and quality of the faith being passed on to the next generation. Find out what these teenagers really think about God and religion, what their hopes and aspirations are, and what the research says about the effects of religion in their lives.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating!
Comment: This is an amazing study of the religion of American teens. A must for every pastor, youth and otherwise, and every parent.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Soul Searching
Comment: This was a great movie to watch with teens and to open up a discussion on what they believe and how their friends feel.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dated
Comment: On the positive side the presentation tries to let teens speak for themselves. Yet, the presentation is somewhat dated. Teens currently change rapidly and within a four or five year period you have a new breed. For someone totally unfamiliar with teen thinking it does provide a frame of reference. My experience with teens and their parents also suggests that even parents who give their teens a good model of faith and religious practice does not assure that such will rub off on their teens.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great teaching tool
Comment: This is a great tool to show parents what is going on in the lives of teenagers today. I am using it to teach a parent Bible study. Everyone should watch this video.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Informative But Not Representative
Comment: Finished watching the documentary with the lead researcher (Christian Smith) and two directors (Timothy and Michael Eaton) available for a quick Q&A following the screening. As the other reviews have raved, the movie is of the highest media and video quality, telling a compelling documentary of how youth today see issues of spirituality and religion. Though informative, my concern however in making this video a "must see" for all parents and pastors is in its lack of an accurate representation of youth in America. That is, who really are our youth and did the movie accurately portray this? For instance, not until the last 10 minutes of the movie was an Asian American edited into the final cut, with only a few seconds given. In comparison, the majority of the interviews were with White, middle to upper-class youth. Though there was one African American and a few Hispanic Americans throughout (in addition to the White Americans), the Hispanic Americans were from the inner cities, and appeared rougher, adding to the negative stereotyping of Hispanic Americans (e.g., there weren't any White Americans from lower socioeconomic status, nor any Hispanic Americans from middle-class suburbia). My concern in raising these issues is to bring up the point that although the book and study may have addressed the issues of representation well (I have yet to read the book), the movie either failed to edit in a more representative group of "youth" or a step previous, did not conduct enough interviews with a substantial sampling to warrant a must see movie on teens and religion/spirituality. If I were a youth pastor from a Korean American church, I'd have to think twice about whether or not to use this documentary.
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