Category: Listening to The Echo Archive

Echo #14 – Feb 28, 2012

A Lonely Echo
male, born in 1982

I was born and raised a Baptist and went to a private Christian school, but my experience of hypocrisy led me to reject the church and its teachings. My knowledge of other faiths as legitimate vessels for the experience of the divine outweighed the teaching I’d had since I was small that other religions are traps set by Satan.

Ridiculous!

Download the full document:
Echo-14-a-lonely-Echo.doc

Echoes #1 to 13 are posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/listening-to-the-echo/

You might also be interested in the new “Learning from Listening” series posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/learning-from-listening/

If you would like to receive new Echoes via email, you can address me at

tomsherwood@campuschaplaincy.ca

Echo #13 – Feb 25, 2012

female, born approx 1988, limited United Church background
a seeker
“My religious identity is curious, confused, and undecided.”

I was baptised at birth and raised with Christian ethics. My family went to a United Church, but only for Easter and Christmas. My brother and I were given the freedom to discover our own religious identity. My mother is bitter towards the Catholic Church, and has instilled in me a spiritual independence. I was raised by her to be a free thinker, and to be wary of the Church.

Download the full document:
Echo-13.doc

Echoes #1 to 12 are posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/listening-to-the-echo/

You might also be interested in the new “Learning from Listening” series posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/learning-from-listening/

If you would like to receive new Echoes via email, you can address me at

tomsherwood@campuschaplaincy.ca

Echo #12 – Feb 18, 2012

male, born approx 1988
secular, SBNR (“Spiritual But Not Religious”)
raised in a family with a nominal United Church affiliation

Despite being raised to identify as United Church, I would be very hesitant to say I was raised with any religion at all. I was not baptized since my mother disagreed with that tradition. I was not taken to church; however my grandmother used to read from a children’s bible to put me to sleep at night. I always enjoyed the stories but can remember being as young as eight years old when I first became skeptical of religion and “God”. I now identify as secular. For me, the term “religion” conjures up images of the Judeo-Christian Church and its roots in tradition. It has been historically linked to many types of oppression related to gender, sexuality and race. The many negative connotations that I personally associate with such an institution makes it impossible for me to support organized religion and I feel that it is really unfortunate that both society and individuals take something and use it to create, or at least support, systems such as heterosexism, white supremacy, and misogyny to a point that these issues have become imbedded in our society.

Download the full document:
Echo-12.doc

Echoes #1 to 11 are posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/listening-to-the-echo/

You might also be interested in the new “Learning from Listening” series posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/learning-from-listening/

If you would like to receive new Echoes via email, you can address me at

tomsherwood@campuschaplaincy.ca

Echo #11 – Feb 12, 2012: from an active, church-attending family

female, born in the early 1980s
strong United Church background
religious grandparents, agnostic parent
a seeker

“I truly respect both my mother’s freedom to be skeptical and my grandparents’ faith.”

Download the full document:
Echo-11.doc

Echoes #1 to 10 are posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/listening-to-the-echo/

You might also be interested in the new “Learning from Listening” series posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/learning-from-listening/

If you would like to receive new Echoes via email, you can address me at

tomsherwood@campuschaplaincy.ca

Echo #10 – June 2, 2011

A countdown of Echo numbers.
collated from a variety of sources.
This is all American material,
so the Echo Generation is identified as “Millennials” –

55% of Americans ages 25-29 who had never been married in 2011, compared to 15% in 1960 (U.S. Census Bureau)
50 median number of text messages teenagers send every day (Pew Research 2010)
50% of Millennials say they travel for leisure with friends – nearly 20% higher than older generations (PGAV Destinations Study 2011)
48% of Millennials who say word-of-mouth influences their product purchases more than TV ads. Only 17% said a TV ad prompted them to buy (Intrepid Study 2010)
46% of Millennials say they’ve had vigorous exercise in the past 24 hours
44% of Millennials say that marriage is becoming obsolete, compared to 35% of Boomers who feel the same way (Pew Study 2010)
43% of 18-24 year-olds say that texting is just as meaningful as an actual conversation with someone over the phone (eMarketer 2010)
42% of teens say the primary reason they have a cell phone is for texting. Safety was second at 35% (Nielsen Study 2010)
41% of Millennials have made a purchase using their smartphone
40% of Millennials think that blogging about workplace issues is acceptable. Compared to 28% of Boomers (Iconoculture 2011)
39% of Millennials have a tattoo (Pew Study 2010)
35% of employed Millennials have started their own business on the side to supplement their income (Iconoculture 2011)
34% of women now have bachelor’s degrees, compared to 27% of men (U.S. Census Bureau 2011)
32% of Millennials say they don’t like advertising in general, compared to 37% of the general population (Experian Simmons Study)
30% of those 18-29 say having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in life, and 52% say being a good parent is one of the most important things in life (Pew Study 2010)
29.5 years old: the average age of a fast food worker in 2011. In 2000, the average age was 20 (U.S. Census Bureau)
29% of Millennial workers think work meetings to decide on a course of action are very efficient. Compared to 45% of Boomers (Iconoculture 2011)
27% report a decline in email usage among those aged 12-34 over the past year (ComScore Study 2010)
26% of Millennials say they are not affiliated with any religion (Pew Study 2010)
24% of Millennials say that ‘Technology use’ is what most makes their generation unique, the #1 answer (Pew Research 2010)
21% of Millennials say helping people in need is one of the most important things in life (Pew Study 2010)
11% of Millennials have boomeranged back to their parents house after graduating from college (Pew Study 2010)
7 the average number of jobs a person will have by age 26 (Intrepid Study 2010)
6 the number of text message sent by those ages 13-18 every waking hour (Nielsen Study 2010)
4 the average number of times that Millennials eat out per week, more than any other generation
3% of Millennials say they get their news from Facebook and Twitter (Brookings Institution Study, March 2011)

Echoes #1 to 9 are posted at

http://campuschaplaincy.ca/category/listening-to-the-echo/

If you would like to receive new Echoes via email, you can address me at

tomsherwood@campuschaplaincy.ca

I’ll be sending out more Echoes in the next few weeks.