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Book Greater Community Spirituality

Download or read book Greater Community Spirituality written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by New Knowledge Library. This book was released on 2013-09-28 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Greater Community of Worlds the idea of God is presented differently than it is in this world. In the Greater Community, the idea of God must be translatable from one society to another where the customs and the rituals, the ideas and the areas of specific application will be unique to each world’s spiritual awareness and devotional practices. All that can be translated is the pure experience of Knowledge—the experience of Universal Mind, profound awareness and total relationship. This is the experience which will be presented in this book—an experience of translatable spirituality that is shared between intelligent life everywhere. Its application is universal. Its experience is universal. Its communication is universal. The direction that it establishes for sentient beings everywhere is universal. Greater Community Spirituality encompasses a larger panorama of life and includes all that has been created here and beyond, in all dimensions, in all frameworks. So complete is it that you cannot fathom its Mystery, exhaust its Wisdom or penetrate its Knowledge. But you can be the recipient of these things, and you can translate them into your own experience and apply them here at great benefit to yourself and to others. The world is now emerging into a Greater Community of Worlds. Therefore, it is necessary for Greater Community Spirituality to be presented here to enable humanity to prepare mentally, emotionally and spiritually for the great change that is coming and the great opportunities that this change represents. To learn about the Greater Community, you must learn of its reality. This, then, is a blessing: that you may receive a Greater reality, a Greater religion and a Greater God.

Book The Greater Community

Download or read book The Greater Community written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by Society for the New Message. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Life in the Universe

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marshall Vian Summers
  • Publisher : New Knowledge Library
  • Release : 2013-09-25
  • ISBN : 1884238408
  • Pages : 220 pages

Download or read book Life in the Universe written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by New Knowledge Library. This book was released on 2013-09-25 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reality and Spirituality of Life in the Universe Life in the Universe is part of a vast education and preparation for humanity called the "New Message." Over 9000 pages in length, the New Message is a Divine answer to the panoply of global problems facing humanity: destruction of our natural environment, depletion of Earth's energy and life-sustaining resources, escalating religious and political conflict and intervention by certain races in our region of space. This book, Life in the Universe, details the interactions of civilizations in our region of space, the challenge of facing a non-human universe and the spiritual dimensions of all intelligent life that has evolved since the beginning of time.

Book Preparing for the Greater Community

Download or read book Preparing for the Greater Community written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by Society for the New Message. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contact has begun, yet it is not Contact of a beneficial form for humanity. We are facing an alien Intervention into human affairs and this represents a threat to our freedom and survival as a race. And yet it also represents a great opportunity. Our isolation in the universe is now over, and humanity's emergence into the Greater Community has begun. This is perhaps the greatest event in human history and it is happening right now, in our time. Yet we are unaware and unprepared. In addition, Contact is occurring at a time when we are racing towards a dangerous and uncertain future in our world. Humanity is outstripping the Earth of its life-giving resources at an alarming rate, changing the climate of the world and destroying the natural environment as never before. At the same time, political, social and religious conflict and division are escalating, fracturing the human family when instead we must be working to find a real and functioning unity to ensure our collective survival. We are divided, and this makes us vulnerable to outside influence and intervention from the universe around us.

Book Steps To Knowledge  The Book of Inner Knowing

Download or read book Steps To Knowledge The Book of Inner Knowing written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by New Knowledge Library. This book was released on 2013-09-28 with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing Steps to Knowledge is the Book of Inner Knowing. Its one-year study plan, which is divided into 365 “steps,” or lessons, is designed to enable students to learn to experience and to apply their Self-Knowledge, or Spiritual Power, in the world. Steps to Knowledge sets out to accomplish this task in a step-by-step manner as students are introduced to the essential ideas and practices which make such an undertaking possible. Practicing every day provides a solid foundation of experience and develops the thinking, perception and self-motivation necessary for both worldly success and spiritual advancement. Steps to Knowledge describes Knowledge in the following way: “Knowledge represents your True Self, your True Mind and your True Relationships in the universe. It also possesses your greater calling in the world and a perfect utilization of your nature, all of your inherent abilities and skills, even your limitations, all to be given for good in the world.” (Step 2) Knowledge is the deeper spiritual mind that the Creator has given to each person. It is the source of all meaningful action, contribution and relationships. It is our natural Inner Guidance system. Its reality is mysterious, but its Presence can be directly experienced. Knowledge is remarkably wise and effective in guiding each person in finding his or her right relationships, work and contribution. It is equally effective in preparing one to recognize the many pitfalls and deceptions that exist along the way. It is the basis for seeing, knowing, and acting with certainty and strength. It is the foundation of life. Steps to Knowledge has been provided as a Way for individuals who feel that a spiritual calling and purpose are emerging in their lives, but who need a new approach to fully comprehend what this means. Often these individuals have felt this pull for a long time. Steps provides a foundation upon which they can begin to respond to this calling. The only entrance requirement is the determination to know one’s purpose, meaning and direction.

Book Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume II

Download or read book Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume II written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by New Knowledge Library. This book was released on 2013-09-28 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this second volume of Wisdom from the Greater Community, you will take another great step towards learning what Knowledge and Wisdom mean in the larger arena of life that is called the Greater Community. This will bring you to a new beginning and a new threshold, a beginning and a threshold that were never available before to humanity. Humanity is now at the threshold of the Greater Community, of which it has always been a part. Now humanity has an opportunity to learn its true heritage, the nature of its evolution and its greater challenge and promise of life within a larger arena that contains intelligent life in uncountable forms and expressions. You are here at this new beginning. This is no accident. You were sent here for this purpose. This is the meaning of your being here. The world’s emergence into the Greater Community is the context within which you can fully experience and learn to express the nature of your greater purpose and your greater identity. Humanity is emerging into the Greater Community. Greater Community forces are in the world today. This is the reality in which you now live, and for this you will need a greater Knowledge and a greater Wisdom. You already possess this Knowledge within you, for the Creator has endowed you with the Knowing Mind, which you will need to experience and to call upon increasingly as the revelation of your real purpose and the meaning of your existence here unfold step by step. In this second volume of Wisdom from the Greater Community, we introduce to you new thresholds of learning, new arenas of application and a greater opportunity to experience the reality of Knowledge and the importance of its expression and contribution in the world. Here you will have the opportunity to begin to learn about the Greater Community, about the mental environment, about the meaning of discernment and discretion, and the great application of The Greater Community Way of Knowledge as it pertains to every aspect of your life as you know it today and as you will need to know it in the future. We bring this great Teaching to you from the Creator, for this Teaching represents a new testament of the Creator’s presence and will within the world and a new expression of your Divinity and your intrinsic association and relationship with life around you. We bring with us a promise, a confirmation and a great challenge. The promise is that your purpose and your calling in the world may become fully realized within the context of the world’s emergence into the Greater Community. Here you will finally come to understand why you have a unique nature and a unique design. This will enable you to discover who your Designer is. The confirmation is that you will come to realize what you know and what you have always known, and this will restore to you your self-respect, your ability to love and the greater strength that has been given to you. And, yet, we bring you a challenge as well, a challenge to learn what Knowledge and Wisdom mean within the Greater Community and why they are necessary both to heal the great problems that humanity faces within the world and to face the greater challenge of encountering intelligent life from the Greater Community. Come with us, then. Come to receive and come to give. Come to learn and come with the willingness to experience and to explore with an open mind. The Greater Community Way of Knowledge is not here to fulfill the past or even to explain the past. It is here to bring you into the present and to prepare you for the future. This is why you have come into the world, and this will give meaning and direction to all that you have done thus far. The Greater Community Way of Knowledge will give you a new foundation to fully realize why you are here and who sent you.

Book Standing Together in the Community of God

Download or read book Standing Together in the Community of God written by Paul Janowiak and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are here on earth not to guard a museum but to cultivate a garden flourishing with life and promised to a glorious future, John XXIII exhorted the Church at the dawn of the Second Vatican Council. In an age when some skeptics suggest that the reformed liturgy has lost the wonder and spiritual depth of previous ages, Standing Together in the Community of God affirms that we need not look back; the Sacred Mysteries are already in our midst. Their wellspring and summit is the heart of God, shared in the Trinity's own communion, announced now as pure Gift. Praising God for God's saving acts in Jesus, as Vatican II reminded us, we encounter Christ's sacramental presence in four modes: in the person of the priest who gathers the community into communion, in the elements and actions of the sacraments, in the word proclaimed and preached, and in the assembly praying and singing (SC #7). In rhythm and harmony, these modes invite us to encounter the multivalent depth of the Mysteries that announce Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Together they proclaim the Risen One among us, the totus Christus, hope for a hungry world. Allowing each mode its respect as a bearer of the sacred, these focal words and actions in the liturgy echo a communion song that announces Christ's real presence to us and for us and with us. Beginning deep within, this is a spirituality and piety for the twenty-first century, ever ancient and ever new.

Book Urban Spirituality

Download or read book Urban Spirituality written by Karina Kreminski and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do we have a positive theology of the city so that an urban spirituality can emerge from this place? We have for too long focused on quick fixes, pop up churches, and strategic solutions which have left us malnourished and emaciated, yet bloated from our over-consumption of these unsatisfying approaches. Spiritual formation is something that we need to pay closer attention to today. How do we live this kind of holy life in the city?

Book Wisdom from the Greater Community  Book One

Download or read book Wisdom from the Greater Community Book One written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by The Society for the New Message. This book was released on 2024-01-07 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wisdom from the Greater Community teaches how to live with certainty, strength and wisdom in an emerging world. It provides a new foundation for discovering who you are, why you are here and who sent you. Wisdom from the Greater Community is not based upon any world religion or philosophy. It is a teaching for living in the larger arena of life called the Greater Community. Wisdom from the Greater Community embodies a new revelation and a new way for humanity. It is being presented to spiritually prepare humanity to meet the challenge of living in the world today and to prepare for our destiny in the Greater Community.

Book Contemporary Spirituality for an Evolving World

Download or read book Contemporary Spirituality for an Evolving World written by Nicolya Christi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical guide to conscious evolution for personal, spiritual, and global transformation • Provides spiritual practices to manifest a meaningful connection between Self and God/Source/Creator and psychological exercises to heal the shadow self • Offers an in-depth overview of religion and spirituality, both the old paradigm and the evolving new one • Includes the first fully written account of the First Nations Peoples’ oral wisdom teachings on the 7 Dark, 7 Light, and 7 Rainbow Arrows for evolving consciousness We are living in an unprecedented time of change, a new epoch with a new consciousness. We have reached Zero Point in our personal and collective consciousness and are now in a phase of accelerated conscious evolution and manifestation of personal and collective vision. As the current political, economic, and social systems begin to collapse, people are instinctively and intuitively reevaluating their lives and asking what has real meaning and value and what brings them true peace and happiness. Humanity is now poised to establish a unified, co-creative new world that reflects the evolved consciousness of awakened hearts and minds, of collaboration, and of peace. Presenting a guide for these auspicious times, Nicolya Christi offers psychological and spiritual tools to accelerate conscious and global evolution and initiate a New Consciousness for the post–December 21st, 2012, epoch. She gives an in-depth overview of religion and spirituality, both the old paradigm and the evolving new one, and explains how all trauma results from “empathic disconnection,” which hinders our spiritual growth. She provides spiritual practices to manifest a meaningful connection between Self and God/Source/Creator as well as psychological exercises to heal and integrate the shadow self and dissolve psychological wounds. She offers the first fully written account of the First Nations Peoples’ oral wisdom teachings on the 7 Dark, 7 Light, and 7 Rainbow Arrows for evolving consciousness. She also writes in depth about the evolution of relationship and aspiring to a higher love and sexuality. Detailing several maps and models for conscious and global evolution, this handbook inspires each of us toward a consciously evolving spirituality and a true and authentic relationship with God/Source/Creator.

Book The Great Spiritual Migration

Download or read book The Great Spiritual Migration written by Brian D. Mclaren and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christian story, from Genesis until now, is fundamentally about people on the move—outgrowing old, broken religious systems and embracing new, more redemptive ways of life. It’s time to move again. Brian McLaren, a leading voice in contemporary religion, argues that— notwithstanding the dire headlines about the demise of faith and drop in church attendance—Christian faith is not dying. Rather, it is embarking on a once-in-an-era spiritual shift. For millions, the journey has already begun. Drawing from his work as global activist, pastor, and public theologian, McLaren challenges readers to stop worrying, waiting, and indulging in nostalgia, and instead, to embrace the powerful new understandings that are reshaping the church. In The Great Spiritual Migration, he explores three profound shifts that define the change: ∙ Spiritually, growing numbers of Christians are moving away from defining themselves by lists of beliefs and toward a way of life defined by love ∙ Theologically, believers are increasingly rejecting the image of God as a violent Supreme Being and embracing the image of God as the renewing Spirit at work in our world for the common good ∙ Missionally, the faithful are identifying less with organized religion and more with organizing religion—spiritual activists dedicated to healing the planet, building peace, overcoming poverty and injustice, and collaborating with other faiths to ensure a better future for all of us With his trademark brilliance and compassion, McLaren invites readers to seize the moment and set out on the most significant spiritual pilgrimage of our time: to help Christianity become more Christian.

Book The Allies of Humanity Book Three

Download or read book The Allies of Humanity Book Three written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by New Knowledge Library. This book was released on 2013-09-28 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Allies of Humanity Book Three presents the third set of Briefings from an off-planet source whose stated purpose is to prepare the human family for the realities of life in our local universe and to alert us to an alien Intervention now taking place on Earth. The Allies of Humanity claim to represent a group of “free worlds” in our local region of space who do not pursue intervention or domination of other worlds, but instead seek to support freedom and sovereignty in emerging worlds such as our own. Here the Allies distinguish themselves from the Intervention into our world by exploitative commercial forces they call “the Collectives” whose activities represent a dark agenda kept secret for over half a century. The Allies of Humanity Briefings reveal the four major activities of this alien agenda and give us a clear picture of who is visiting our world, why they are here and what they ultimately want. The Briefings also give us a window into the reality of life beyond our world, a view that we would never have otherwise, revealing the nature of trade, travel and interaction between worlds and the challenges humanity will face in our local environment of space. With this the Allies make clear that we are in the unfortunate position of being a native world discovered by powerful forces from beyond. History has taught us the danger and the tragedy that native peoples faced when they encountered outside forces for the first time. Now we are all the natives of a new world facing the threat of Intervention. The Allies Briefings give us the key information we need to understand the Intervention, to protect ourselves from its activities and ultimately safeguard our world from its agenda. With this, we are also given a new vision of humanity’s future in space and a pathway to cultivating a greater unity and freedom in our world as we emerge into a larger universe of intelligent life.

Book The Journey to a New Life

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marshall Vian Summers
  • Publisher : Society for the New Message
  • Release : 2019-03-31
  • ISBN : 1942293437
  • Pages : 221 pages

Download or read book The Journey to a New Life written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by Society for the New Message. This book was released on 2019-03-31 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Journey to a New Life opens before you the journey to discovering your higher purpose and greater relationships in life. With this, The Journey to a New Life reveals the true cause of the inner confusion, isolation and suffering felt by people around the world and the pathway of resolution that the Creator of all life is now providing. Here God is calling you to awaken from the dream and nightmare of Separation and to begin a new journey in life where you discover and build your connection to Knowledge, the deeper spiritual mind that God has placed within you to guide and protect you. This journey of awakening and return will bring you back to your original purpose for entering the world, the memory of those who sent you and the greater contribution you are meant to provide. Here a sacred process begins that has the power to free you from the past and prepare you for a new and greater life in the future. Each chapter of The Journey to a New Life is a revelation given from the Source, compiled into this text by the Messenger Marshall Vian Summers The Journey to a New Life is the sixth book in Volume 1 of The New Message from God. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 16.0px Times; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 14.0px Times; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Times; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Book The Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions

Download or read book The Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions written by Laszlo Zsolnai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly, it is being recognized that spirituality, defined here as "a multiform search for a transcendent meaning of life that connects them to all living beings and brings them in touch with God or ‘Ultimate Reality,’" is an aspect of almost every sphere and aspect of social life. It appears in humanity’s dealings with nature, home and community, healing, economics and business, knowledge, and education. The Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions is a stimulating collection that summarizes the most important issues, frameworks, discussions, and problems relating to spiritually inspired activities in different fields of social life. The contributors explore how spirituality is a part of existence and present approaches and models for professionals working in diverse areas. Presented in seven parts, the book provides a full overview of current research and practice. Part II, "Facets of spirituality," explores topics including philosophy, psychology, theology, and culture. Part III, "Nature," looks at ecology, agriculture, cities, and tourism. Part IV, "Home and community," presents chapters on various life stages, disability, gender, and culture. Part V, "Healing," examines medicine, mental and physical health, and ill-health. In Part VI, "Economy, politics, and law," contributors discuss business, leadership and the workplace, peace, and policing. Part VII, "Knowledge and education," includes chapters on science, design, fashion, literature, and the arts. In the final part, "Way forward," the editors look to the future with a chapter on inter-spirituality and the renewal of social practices. Driven by contemporary research and new developments, this Handbook is an innovative and interdisciplinary collection that provides an essential overview of contemporary spirituality and society from an international selection of contributors. The Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions offers accessible, diverse, and engaging international research, and its scope will appeal to academics and students of a wide range of subjects, including aging and addiction, psychology, theology, religious studies, sociology, business studies, and philosophy. It will also be an important work for professionals in medical and social services, the clergy, education, business, the arts, religious communities, and politics, and members of organizations looking at the links between spirituality, religion, and society.

Book The One God

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marshall Vian Summers
  • Publisher : Society for the New Message
  • Release : 2016-08-15
  • ISBN : 1942293119
  • Pages : 178 pages

Download or read book The One God written by Marshall Vian Summers and published by Society for the New Message. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The miracle of God’s love and communication for humanity is unfolding now in our time, and you are amongst the first to find it. The Word and the Sound are in the world again. We are living at a time of Revelation. The One God is a book of the New Message from God, a new revelation given by the Creator of all life to the human family through the Messenger Marshall Vian Summers. The New Message is an original communication from the Creator to the heart of every man, woman and child on Earth. This communication is here to ignite the spiritual power of humanity, to sound God’s calling for unity amongst the world’s nations and religions and to prepare humanity for a radically changing world and for its destiny in a larger universe of intelligent lie. In The One God, we are given a new vantage point from which to understand and to experience the Divine Presence in our lives and in the world. From this new vantage point, we can glimpse back to the origins of the universe and come to understand the great Separation from God that gave rise to the evolution of all life and that ultimately explains our presence in the world at this time. The One God is a calling and a communication from the Heart of God to you. In the pages of this book, God’s Presence calls to you and to all people, calling for you to awaken from the dream and the nightmare of living in Separation apart from your Source, calling down through the Ancient Corridors of your mind to the spiritual presence and power that live within you, waiting to be discovered.

Book Spirituality  A Very Short Introduction

Download or read book Spirituality A Very Short Introduction written by Philip Sheldrake and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been suggested that 'spirituality' has become a word that 'can define an era'. Why? Because paradoxically, alongside a decline in traditional religious affiliations, the growing interest in spirituality and the use of the word in a variety of contexts is a striking aspect of contemporary western cultures. Indeed, spirituality is sometimes contrasted attractively with religion, although this is problematic and implies that religion is essentially dogma, moralism, institutions, buildings, and hierarchies. The notion of spirituality expresses the fact that many people are driven by goals that concern more than material satisfaction. Broadly, it refers to the deepest values and sense of meaning by which people seek to live. Sometimes these values are conventionally religious. Sometimes they are associated with what is understood as 'the sacred' in a broader sense - that is, of ultimate rather than merely instrumental importance. This Very Short Introduction, written by one of the most eminent scholars and writers on spirituality, explores the historical foundations of the thought and considers how it came to have the significance it is developing today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Book Soul Searching   The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers

Download or read book Soul Searching The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers written by Christian Smith Dr William R Kenan Jr Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In innumerable discussions and activities dedicated to better understanding and helping teenagers, one aspect of teenage life is curiously overlooked. Very few such efforts pay serious attention to the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents. But many teenagers are very involved in religion. Surveys reveal that 35% attend religious services weekly and another 15% attend at least monthly. 60% say that religious faith is important in their lives. 40% report that they pray daily. 25% say that they have been "born again." Teenagers feel good about the congregations they belong to. Some say that faith provides them with guidance and resources for knowing how to live well. What is going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? What do they actually believe? What religious practices do they engage in? Do they expect to remain loyal to the faith of their parents? Or are they abandoning traditional religious institutions in search of a new, more authentic "spirituality"? This book attempts to answer these and related questions as definitively as possible. It reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are "spiritual but not religious." And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. This eagerly-awaited volume not only provides an unprecedented understanding of adolescent religion and spirituality but, because teenagers serve as bellwethers for possible future trends, it affords an important and distinctive window through which to observe and assess the current state and future direction of American religion as a whole.