Bloomsbury Academic Freedoms, Faiths and Futures: Teenage Australians on Religion, Sexuality and Diversity

How do contemporary teenagers experience and understand religious, spiritual, gender and sexual diversity? How are their experiences mediated by where they go to school, their faith and their geographic location? Are their outlooks materialist, religious, spiritual, or do they have hybrid identities? Gods, Ghosts and Gays: Teenage Australians on Religion, Sexuality and Diversity is a powerful insight into how teenagers make sense of the world around them. Drawing on rich data from a major national study, this book creates new ways of understanding the complexity of young peoples lives and the ways they are apprehending and dealing with diversity, and how school education covering diversity best addresses their world. This book argues that school education focused on worldviews is founded on ways of thinking about young people that do not reflect the complexities of Generation Zs everyday experiences of diversity and their interactions with each other. It argues that certain kinds of education in schools can play a significant role in developing religious literacy, tolerance and positive attitudes to diversity. Review Freedoms, Faiths and Futures uses data gathered from Australian teens to chart a new course in the study of religion/worldviews. Using categories beyond traditional religious identities, it provides insights into what Australian teens are thinking and offers a new typology for understanding systems of meaning.Pamela Dickey Young, Professor of Religion, Queen's University, CanadaThis book offers a thorough investigation of the perspectives of young Australians and is a must-read for scholars exploring youth and religion.Sarah-Jane Page, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University, UK About the Author Andrew Singleton is Professor of Sociology and Social Research at Deakin University, Australia. Anna Halafoff is Associate Professor of Sociology at Deakin University, Australia. Mary Lou Rasmussen is Professor of Sociology at Australian National University, Australia. Gary Bouma is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Monash University, Australia.