Organizations and leaders of various world religions and denominations
should make spirituality and religion more attractive to youth, who appears
to find it boring, acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed stressed today.
Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement
issued at Nevada (USA), argued that in this age of complexities and
distractions, spirituality does not seem to be on the priority list of youth
who appears to feel alienated and religious organizations and leaders are to
be blamed for that.
Culture of youth is different today and we should plan, tailor and
prioritize our initiatives, programs and projects accordingly. Parents
should also take spirituality and religion seriously and help the religious
organizations in better engaging the youth in spirituality. Conventional
style of dealing with spirituality and religion does not appear to be
effectively working with today's youth. Make it more exciting and
challenging, Rajan Zed suggested.
Zed was of the view that comparative religion should be part of high school
curriculums worldwide, which in addition to making the youth superb
spirituality and religion consumers, will also make them better world
citizens and pluralistic in this increasingly diverse society.
If religious leaders and organizations do not attend to this challenge more
effectively in this consumerist society, we can lose our youth to the other
marketplace players, which are more powerful, attractive and vocal than
religion and spirituality, Zed said.
Youth is not hostile to religion. Religious leaders and organizations need
rethinking and reflection and come up with creative and new practices,
norms, and ideas to make their product more competitive. Show sincerity and
honesty in your discussions with youth and enhance your understanding of
their subculture, Zed argued in the statement.
A spiritual world will be a better place to live than a non-spiritual world,
Zed added.
