The Youth and Religion Project

The Youth and Religion Project housed at UIC sociology department  studies the role of religion in the lives of American young people (ages 8-25) and the efforts of religious institutions to  ddress their needs and their processes of faith formation.   Funded by the Lilly Endowment, Y&RP conducted research on religion in metropolitan Chicagofor six years.  Research began with focus groups of undergraduates from all religious backgrounds at UIC and at our downstate partner institution, Southern Illinois University, whose students are largely drawn from the Chicago area.   Based on themes sounded in the focus groups, Y&RP then conducted depth interviews with individual students on both campuses, asking about their religious identities and experiences.  During the summer of 2000 and the following academic year, a team of twenty-two Y&RP researchers conducted site visits to over 70 religious institutions (churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras, and synagogues), in the Chicago area, including student-run religious organizations at UIC.  Eventually, six religious institutions from the Chicago Christian, Muslim, and Hindu communities were selected for close study.  In the final stage of the research,  completed in June 2003, Y&RP researchers conducted a lengthy series of in-home visits with twelve families from these institutions, studying up close how their dependent children arenurtured in their respective faith traditions.  The twelve families, eight Christian, two Hindu, and two Muslim, spanned a rainbow of racial, social class, and national origin backgrounds, representing the increased diversity of Chicago's population in the new century.  Director of Y&RP is R. Stephen Warner, Professor of Sociology at UIC.  Co-director is Rhys H. Williams,Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of  Cincinnati.

 

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