The Journey of Youth Religiosity: From Socialisation in Uncertainty to the New Forms of Fulfilment
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
This paper provides an excellent review of the literature on 'reformist' secularisation theory. This refers to theorists such as Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor and José Casanova, who demonstrate that secularisation does not lead to the death of God, but rather to the reconfiguration or redeployment of the religious. However, this paper only briefly mentions the issue of youth. While youth is cited in the title and with one related study, this is not enough to justify including such a paper in a special issue on the topic of youth and religion. Interestingly, the paper adresses the topic from an hispanic view, which is not usual.
Specific comments:
L12: here quote Habermas, please
Most of the references are from philosophers, with fewer coming from sociologists. Why not quote them?
Becci, Irene, Marian Burchardt, et José Casanova. Topographies of Faith: Religion in Urban Spaces. International Studies in Religion and Society. Leiden : Brill, 2013.
Bramadat, Paul, Mar Griera, Martin Burchardt, et Julia Martínez-Ariño, dir. Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces, Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Space and Place. London : Bloomsbury, 2021.
Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika, et Marian Burchardt. « Multiple Secularities: Toward a Cultural Sociology of Secular Modernities. ». Comparative Sociology 11 (2012) : 875-909.
L32-36:
What about including a reference to the quantitative study by Monnot and Wernli? This study clearly shows how young people in Switzerland are moving away from religion. https://www.mdpi.com/2231496
L88-89: Add this Swiss study (see L32-36) to the Spanish one. This will strengthen your argument.
Section "The rebellion of time and the digital society: missing data or empirical studies. Too theoretical with dated references (1993!!, 2012; etc.)
Section 4: fully missing the point of the religious changes in young people around nationalism and traditional/historical religion (often vs Islam), claim of masculinity and national pride with a religious "identity".
Conclusion: quid of the youth part??? I did not read much about youth, and suddenly the conclusion is tackling this central issues.
Please address youth or withdraw it from you title. This should lead to a major revision of your paper, with literature devoted to young people and data that also addresses this point. The subject is too general and suddenly brings in the topic of youth without the reader understanding how.
Please also see: https://www.templeton.org/grant/explaining-religious-change-across-generations-an-international-study-of-religious-transmission-in-families
And literature on the topic of youth see: Kati Tervo-Niemelä (University of Helsinki)
Author Response
Thank you for your comments.
Comments 1: L12: here quote Habermas, please
Response 1: Done
Comments 2: Most of the references are from philosophers, with fewer coming from sociologists. Why not quote them?
Becci, Irene, Marian Burchardt, et José Casanova. Topographies of Faith: Religion in Urban Spaces. International Studies in Religion and Society. Leiden : Brill, 2013.
Bramadat, Paul, Mar Griera, Martin Burchardt, et Julia Martínez-Ariño, dir. Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces, Bloomsbury Studies in Religion, Space and Place. London : Bloomsbury, 2021.
Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika, et Marian Burchardt. « Multiple Secularities: Toward a Cultural Sociology of Secular Modernities. ». Comparative Sociology 11 (2012) : 875-909.
Response 2: Quoted in lines 25-26 and 226-229
Comments 3:
L32-36: What about including a reference to the quantitative study by Monnot and Wernli? This study clearly shows how young people in Switzerland are moving away from religion. https://www.mdpi.com/2231496
Response 3: Reference included in L31-33.
Comments 4: L88-89: Add this Swiss study (see L32-36) to the Spanish one. This will strengthen your argument.
Response 4: Added in L96-97 (previously 88-89)
Comments 5: Section "The rebellion of time and the digital society: missing data or empirical studies. Too theoretical with dated references (1993!!, 2012; etc.)
Response 5: Empirical and more recent references (2013, 2016 and 2025) are added in L274-277 and L374-377.
Comments 6: Section 4: fully missing the point of the religious changes in young people around nationalism and traditional/historical religion (often vs Islam), claim of masculinity and national pride with a religious "identity".
Response 6: It is dealt with briefly in lines 418-426, but not in greater depth as it is considered to be beyond the scope of the text, linking to broad fields of work and analysis such as the culture wars.
Comments 7: Conclusion: quid of the youth part??? I did not read much about youth, and suddenly the conclusion is tackling this central issues.
Please address youth or withdraw it from you title. This should lead to a major revision of your paper, with literature devoted to young people and data that also addresses this point. The subject is too general and suddenly brings in the topic of youth without the reader understanding how.
Response 7: It is introduced more gradually and further elaborated throughout the text, including direct allusions and empirical data in L37-42, L96-97, L105-112 and L374-377.
Comments 8: Please also see: https://www.templeton.org/grant/explaining-religious-change-across-generations-an-international-study-of-religious-transmission-in-families
And literature on the topic of youth see: Kati Tervo-Niemelä (University of Helsinki)
Response 8: Added in L37-42, along with other references on youth and religiosity throughout the text.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The text is a valuable contribution to the role that religion is playing in the world of digital natives. This carefully crafted piece, with its internal structure and coherent argument, contributes to the debate on the symbolic beliefs of our time, highlighting the changes brought about by digital resources in the routines of young people. The text is easy to read because the author aims to show the presence of religion in the everyday world of contemporary society, making it just one of many elements that enable individuals to organise their biographical narrative. In this article, religion is no longer the adversary of reason, as claimed by the theory of secularisation. Rather, it is a form of symbolism that offers social actors the possibility of experiencing episodes of ultimacy in a context of acceleration and immediacy. Religion is not a problem; it is a vital option available to the actors.
Furthermore, the bibliographical references are very well chosen. For the most part, they are the most appropriate sources for a work of this kind.
If anything, the author could be questioned for not paying more attention to specific examples of the everyday use by young people of certain expressions of ultimacy channelled through digital media.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments.
Comments 1: If anything, the author could be questioned for not paying more attention to specific examples of the everyday use by young people of certain expressions of ultimacy channelled through digital media.
Response 2: This is a great suggestion, and indeed we had considered addressing this issue, but chose not to do so as we felt that a proper treatment of the issue would go beyond the length and depth that we can devote to it in this particular approach, and was therefore beyond the scope of this text.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The article presents a theoretically rich and well-founded analysis of youth religiosity in the context of digitalization and post-secularism. The author's analysis draws upon a comprehensive array of classical and contemporary scholars, providing a multidisciplinary foundation for the discussion. He examines contemporary shifts in the religious identity of young people, particularly within the contexts of digitalization, individualism, and pluralism. The text of this study is thorough and comprehensive, with a depth that, at times, might require thoughtful engagement. This approach aligns with the scientific rigor and objective of the study. The article constitutes a significant addition to the existing scholarship on contemporary religiosity.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Thank you for this new version.
References
(Becci et al., 2013) & (Bramadat et 227 al., 2021)
are missing in the bibliography section.
Author Response
The references have been added in the list.
