Abstract

The question as to what extent religious spiritual dimension inform, motivate and activate youths in community in the area of peacebuilding, environmental and humanitarian activities can be argued from many perspectives. However, this paper has built its reasoning from how the religious institutions have responded to the youth changing dynamics as the basis of previous engagement and possibly the future engagement with youths, for example dynamic Catholic states that 85 percent of Catholic young adults stop practicing their Faith in college (most of them within their first year of leaving home). Curtis Martin, the founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) thinks that 85 percent is conservative, and that the Catholic Church is losing more than 90 percent of Catholic young people by the end of their college years (Fritz, 2018). If the data presented above is anything to go by, then one can only argue that, either the Church is losing its relevance in influencing the youth’s behavior or the youths are finding some better coalitions to work with. This paper is going to discuss how religious institution have responded to the changing youth dynamic and how that influence the relationship and influence youths’ world views and perceptions. The paper uses secondary data on youth and religion and experience by the research on the interaction between the youths and religion in different areas especially in Kenya.

1.0 Introduction

The word religion is derived from Latin word „re-ligare‟, where „re‟ means back and „ligare‟ means „to the origin‟. Thus religion means – going back to our origins, this very meaning unfolds the essentiality of multiple religions. Since the origin and upbringing of different groups of people took place in different geographies, environment, social set up and other variables; world witnesses multiplicity of religions from major religions to folk religions and totems worship  (Dayal, 2018). Going back to the origin can also be seen to have transcendence dimension as the origin of everything is God or a supreme being. Some scholars also believe that the word Religion has evolved from the Latin word „Religo‟ which stands for right faith or ritual. Standing for the right faith also has a correlation with creation, as faith is usually directed to God or the supreme being who orders everything into being. Christianity is the main religion in Kenya. As of 2019, over 85 percent of the population identified as Christians, among which 33.4 percent were Protestants, 20.6 percent Catholics, 20.4 percent Evangelicals, and seven percent from African Instituted Churches. Furthermore, nearly 11 percent of Kenyans were Muslim (Faria, 2021). Religion has an overwhelming deepest impact on humanity. Religion ensures hope, fearlessness, tolerance, morality and spiritual development (Dayal, 2018). The focus for this paper is how the religious institutions especially in Kenya have responded to the changing youth dynamics and how that influence the youth world view.

There is no conclusive answer as to what extent religious institutions influence the youth’s world views especially with data from many researchers claiming youths exiting religious institutions to other institutions more reliable to them. While we cannot conclude that the youths have left the Church, the data of the youth out-flux cannot be underestimated. There are however other positive dimensions under which religious has been majorly significant in the lives of the youths for example in education, employments, sports, spiritual development among other. Whether religious institutions remain relevant in the lives of the youths and whether the youths use religious teaching to inform their world views can be seen clearly in the discussions on the previous responses of religious institutions to the youth ever changing dynamics and how that has changed over time forcing youths to look of other relevant coalitions to learn from and be motivated by.

How religious institutions understand youths

Past literatures have generally defined youths based on the age-brackets. Kenya’s constitution defines “youth” as people who “have attained the age of eighteen years; but have not attained the age of thirty-five years” Most Churches see the youth is the future of any church a description that denies them a fundamental role in the present. While such definitions have been beneficial for academic purposes, it has offered a very narrow perspective in looking at the youths in terms of their potentials and capabilities. Religious institution factor age and a reference to a future responsibility in the understanding of the youths. Other descriptions religious have used on the youths may include but not limited to; upright youths or not, some call the youths hasty in decision making while others think that youths are people who cannot be left alone, leave alone being trusted with serious tasks. Either way, the way one is perceived influence a lot on their relationship with the perceiver. One can strongly argue that the perception of the religious institutions of the youths had contributed to the youths breaking from the Church and therefore standing at a risk in missing out in the rich-religious values and teachings that would affect their world views.

I am of the argument that the youths have to be involved in whatever label that is put on them. The youths must not be viewed narrowly in terms of the age bracket or in reference to a future role, but also in relation their values, in relation to their social, political, environmental, cultural and religious philosophies. This is to say that the environment, the culture, the society, the Church, the politics, has a role in shaping the individual youth’s philosophy of life. For instance, Wakiaga (2019), observes that East Asia has always been used as an outstanding example of rapid economic progress into industrialization in what is commonly referred to as The East Asian Miracle. It is worth noting that, of the various factors credited for this, the rapid snowballing of human capital, comprised mainly of the youth, was cited as one of the key engines for the Miracle. This translated into an increased life expectancy for 8 countries in East Asia, significant improvement in human welfare and a drastic reduction of poverty (Wakiaga, 2019). If youth economic and other dimension were fully exploited one who be surprised at the values that each individual youth has and that we can change the course of economic history of a country.

Religious institutions and the Changing Landscape of Youth Culture

Religion plays a very important role in shaping the society. All religions have one basic ideology in that they strive to make the society a better place to live in. Religion teaches that there is always ultimate reward for the good people in the society and also punishment for the bad people and quite a large number of people in the society believe in the religion and they practice good ethics (Ivypanda, 2020). However, there is beginning to be a disconnect in this alliance as many youths seem to be exiting the religious teaching, what could be the reason? The youths have been described as very practical people and sometime are quick to see that most Church leaders actually preach wine and take water. Apart from lack of practice by what the church preaches other factors that have largely influenced youth lives include; globalization, technology, arts, football, wealth, fame, fashion among many others. The youths see this as more fun than what the religious institutions are offering. The religious institutions Should be keen on these changing trends in order to find a better framework/strategy in ministering to the youths.

According to the British Social Attitudes survey, more than half of the population say they ‘have no religion’. The figures for those who identified as having no religious affiliation have so far peaked at 53% – up from 31% when it was first recorded in 1983 – which leads me to wonder, what role does religion play in young people’s lives today (Guardian, 2017). According to Fritz (2018), The landscape of youth culture is changing, but the Church has not adapted to these changes. In fact, in some cases, parishes are implementing approaches to youth formation that haven’t been updated in more than four hundred years (Fritz, 2018). The mass exit of the youths can be explained by the way the intuitions respond to the changing landscape of youth culture, there seems to be a clear gap in the approach of religious institutions in the ever-changing youth world. The mass exit of youths has not been much experienced in African Countries but one can find out that most youths are found in Churches located in the slum and that bring another dimension in the understanding of what actually inspires religiosity among the youth population, this can prompt one to hesitantly refer to the most quoted Karl Marx statements that, “Religion is the opium for the poor”. I want to argue with the statement quoted in Mark 2:7, “on hearing this Jesus said to them, ‘it’s the sick not the health who need a doctor”. Either way there is need to be an informed strategy to deal with youth exist from religion based on the ever changing youths culture.

Religious institutions response to youth Challenges

Most youths view themselves according to the issues affecting them and sometimes the relevance of any institution can be measure on how they deal with issues affecting the youths. Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population. The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive and stable societies by the target date, and to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration (United Nations, 2019). This is a number that one cannot underestimated, the reality is that the youths in their numbers have not actually been put to task both by the government intuition and the Church institutions. Religious institutions have a role in positively responding to the youth’s challenges as a way to build a positive relationship and to transform society for the better.

Issues that affect the youths and that needs a resolute response from religious institution are many including; joblessness, risks of being recruited to terrorism( Darden, 2019). Crime  (Muhammad, 2008). One may say that crime in most cases in a response that the youths render to the dysfunctional societies. According to the UN (report), the alternative to a youth dividend is a youth bulge, which is characterized by high youth unemployment and widespread protests—a recipe for political instability. Pressure of 24 hr networking: ( (Griffiths, 2017). Negative Stereotyping, Lack Education: (United Nation, 2018) for instance Most families in Africa are suffer the pandemic of poverty so much so that they fail to even educate their kids leave alone supporting their families with basic needs. Pressure of Materialism: Materialist world means to study the economic and social life of man and the influence of materialistic things on person’s thinking and feelings (Marx’s, 1961). Two factors that enhance materialism were when people got any signal from friends, peers, parents and family members and the second factor comes when people feel insecure because of economic fears (Kasser, 2014). Parents and peers are the primary socializing agents which influence this lust among adolescents because they are the emotional and social support for a child and develop their self-esteem (Elsevier, 2010).

According to Gregory (2014), Materialistic trends among youth are increasing day by day, and according to one research the Americans shop twice than that of 55 years ago, and they have more luxuries and more money, but still their lust or craving for products is increasing rapidly. Consumer culture has influenced our societies, and it constructs the modern capitalism not only in the west but also in collectivist societies like Pakistan people are addicted towards this consumer culture (Alvi, 2014). The crisis comes in when you cannot you lack the capacity to maintain the materialistic/consumer world and the worst part is nobody is capable because, in a matter dominated world, ‘the more you get, the more you seek’ so much so that there is no point at which you say, ‘enough is enough’. People have stopped focusing on values which is the only balance where matter is concerned. Other challenges include; Trauma and Stigma, technology abuse, technology related issues, difficult environment like informal settlements, health challenges and death, substance abuse, identity crisis and low self-esteem and family issues for instance according to American Journal of Sociology-Family structure, educational attainment, and socioeconomic success: rethinking the “pathology of matriarchy by Biblarz, T.J. and Raftery, A. E. (1999), children from broken families have lower attainments in their academics and future life than children from two-parent families because they have had sustained exposure to their parents’ discord.

As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend in deed. It is the responsibility of the Government and religious institutions to analyze the underlying issues that affect the youths and to support them in coming up with practical solutions to their problems. My understanding is that the preaching is good but it is not sufficient, there is need to develop a practical framework that will resolve the crisis the so many youths go through. Some of the religious institutions have responded to youth’s challenges in diverse ways but there is still more to be done for a significant change to be registered.

Religious institutions approach to youth formation and Development

Youth empowerment has become an important issue that cannot be overlooked by any nation that aspires for development. Much importance is attached to the participation of youths because they serve as a good force in transforming the national socio-economic order (Idakpo, 2019). Religious influence on the youths begins from the families as effective parenting determines the kind of society that will develop when the parented children become citizens. Parents lead their children to religion where they are taught good and evil, dos and don’ts, moral ethics religious beliefs and so on (Ivypanda, 2020). The formation plays a fundamental role in youth’s perception of family and religion.

Positive youth development can be characterized by the constructs of the “5 C’s”—competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring/compassion—leading youth to contribute positively to their communities (Lerner, 2005). A principal area that religious education can help empower youth is in the area of character promotion which has become a deepening concern in the society. Young people require personal and social skills to function confidently and competently with themselves, with people and the wider community (Idakpo, 2019). Has religion failed in effective formation young people? Fritz (2018), insists that lack of effort is not the problem based on so much effort that the Church has had for the youths but when further to ask that between the millions of dollars that the Church has invested in Catholic secondary education, and the time, talent, and treasure invested in youth ministry, young people get more attention from the Catholic Church than does any other ministry or demographic. Why is there so little return on that investment? More importantly, why is the Church failing to make young disciples?

The best summary of youth ministry in our Church today comes from Pope Francis in his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium asserts that youth ministry, as traditionally organized, has also suffered the impact of social changes. Young people often fail to find responses to their concerns, needs, problems, and hurts in the usual structures. As adults, we find it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns, demands, and to speak to them in a language they can understand. For the same reason, our efforts in the field of education do not produce the results expected.

One of the major challenges for the disconnect between the youths and the religious is what has been referred to as the rigidity of the Church that has made the Church minister to meet the basic needs, and that is making young people to be the disciples. It is the prerogative of religion to build youth morality Moral behavior like honesty, integrity, respect for truth, tolerance for other people feelings, sexual control and responsible citizenship are essential ingredients for character development. These special abilities for adoptive and positive behavior are products of the human heart. These qualities cannot be enforced by the force of arm. This is to say they cannot exist in an individual (youth) if they do not first and foremost exist in their mind and heart (Idakpo, 2019). The failure lies in the analysis of the youths and the approach used in ministering to young people. In either way, the approach that ministers should adopt, must put youths at the center of the affairs.

How the Religious institutions support youth income generation?

In education according to United Nation (2019) report, 142 million youth of upper secondary age are out of school. In employment, 71 million young people are unemployed; and millions more are in precarious or informal work. Disparities within and between countries in education and employment among youth are stark, with gender, poverty, rurality, disability, and migrant/refugee status all being major elements of disadvantage. For instance, about 156 million youth in low- and middle-income countries are working poor (ILO), while almost 30 per cent of the poorest 12- to 14-year old have never attended school. Education, work and work must bring money to the youths. The gap lies in the education systems, and work environments the does not make an economic difference in the lives of the youths. What has been the performance of the religion in helping the youth to earn and how has that affected religious engagement with the young people.

Joblessness is real but it is not the crisis, crisis is the conflict between need and lack. Many youths have needs that borders on clothing, travel, fashion, food, social networking among others, everything that require money but without a job where one can get the money. As if to add salt to an injury many youths especially in Africa are made to believe that jobs follow education but in the long run, that is not as easy as the youths were made to believe. It takes money, time and energy to hustle for job and still not get it. the frustration that come with it is more than the frustration that result from being stuck because the only thing you believed in to change your future (only education and only employment) is a failed undertaking. Religion are poor employers of youths and that places them as part of the problem. Religion must try to make count the efforts of young people and help them to translate the efforts into income that can help them to improve their living starndards.

Alexander Chikwanda, Zambia’s former finance minister, put it succinctly an interview: “Youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb,” that now appears to be perilously close to exploding. The analogy draws attention to the consequences of high youth unemployment in a continent where about 10-12 million young people join the labor market each year (Ighobor, 2017). Vogel, 2015 nevertheless suggests that youth unemployment does not have to end in a catastrophe. But if we want to avoid a Generation Jobless we need to act quickly and implement both short-term solutions for today’s youth and long-term solutions to avoid repeating today’s crisis (Vogel, 2015). The gap of religion in some case is being utopic, believing that preaching is sufficient to change the lives of the youths. If religious practices and teaching cannot translate into the practical solution to the endless pain of the youth’s income gap, of what use is it?

According to the United Nations (2018) report, the situation is no any better, the report observes that youth employment has worsened in recent years. There are presently 71 million young people unemployed, and many millions more are in precarious or informal work. ILO estimates that 156 million youth in low- and middle-income countries are living in poverty even though they are employed (United Nation, 2018) and now with Covid-19, the situation could be worse than it was in the past two years. Even though Ighobor in 2017 had indicated that young women feel the sting of unemployment even more sharply than young men. The AfDB found that in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and all of those in North Africa, it is easier for men to get jobs than it is for women, even if they have equivalent skills and experience (Ighobor, 2017), the situation could be worse today for both gender. Even as it looks for practical solution to the youths in general, a special focus must be put on practical solution in the post covid-19 world and with special attention given to the most vulnerable gender.

Ighobor (2017) further observes that unemployment maybe is not the only issues here as even most of the employed suffer from underemployment making situations of the poor even worse. International Labor Organization (ILO), which reported in 2016 that up to 70% of African workers were “working poor,” the highest rate globally. The organization added that “the number of poor working youth has increased by as much as 80% for the past 25 years.” This situation could be worse now as many employment institutions were forced to reduce the number of staffs as a result of the impacts of Covid-19. While the impacts of unemployment is grave, it is always good to remain positive and there is nothing in this world that has no solution for instance Vogel (2015) asserted that even though there is no there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for youth unemployment, we need to build a plethora of customized solutions that each addresses one or more of the underlying issues (Vogel, 2015). Africa’s unemployment statistics exclude those in vulnerable employment and those who are under-employed in informal sectors. “Young people [in Africa] find work, but not in places that pay good wages, develop skills or provide a measure of job security,” reports the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank (Ighobor, 2017).The government and the religious institution have a role in managing the menace.

Religious institutions response peacebuilding

The so-called “peace sector” in Kenya is booming with many players and approaches, and the challenge for building lasting peace has complex links to Kenya’s dynamic religious communities. A wide range of faith actors and institutions in Kenya have long worked to foster peace and curtail or prevent different threats and forms of violence (World Faith Development Dialogue, 2015). Aquiline (2012), observes that the effort of peacebuilding requires partnership of institutions that bring together all dimensions of human experience. Integral approaches regard religion as one of the contributing institutions to social integration and harmony. To confirm the argument, a number of believers claim that political organizations cannot ignore the role of religion. Religion plays a central role in attitude and character formation. Working with the youths in the areas of peacebuilding is a way to pacify the youths and also empower them.

Religious institutions are of great importance to Kenyans’ lives based on the wide social influence and respect commanded by religious leaders. Unfortunately, Kenya has seen conflict masked with religion or religion used as a proxy for social and political battles. Religious difference sometimes has been blamed on the conflicts. In value-based conflicts, which tend to be framed as mutually exclusive and polarized, opposing parties believe there is no common ground on which to resolve conflict. Religious actors and faith communities, however, have intervened though in small measure by reversing value-based conflicts – and building on peace components found within religious traditions.

According to Aquiline (2012), Many people, especially the youth, have grown skeptical about the role and scope of religious communities in peacebuilding. Young people are aware that most of the destructive conflicts have been fueled by people who profess one faith or the other. In most cases, the religious institutions have simply failed to uphold their prophetic role. We have to acknowledge that the same religion that should peace ambassadors, have been at the hem of affairs in fueling violence through their exclusionist attitude that lead to lack of respect for other faiths and traditions, stifling imagination and limiting people’s cultural capacity to respectfully encounter and transcend identity and faith-based prejudice and conflict.

Kenya’s religious actors have responded to peacebuilding by building preventative measures, exercising their capacities for peace, and using early warning systems to extinguish fires before they start. Some religious institutions have also used their healing and reconciliation strategies and became wounded healers for the affected using religious teachings.

Kenya religious leaders have made efforts to deepen and broaden the understanding and appreciation of diverse faiths.” Religious communities by using existing structures and safe spaces have hosted dialogues on diversity, engaging men, women, girls, and boys to appreciate differences and accept the other. the challenge has been on the frequency and the inclusivity especially where youths are involved. Promoting dialogues that focuses on identities is important to help Kenyans discard prejudices and histories that are negative and undermine the human dignity of the other. it is important to promote positive religious identity elements in the face of division along identity lines and inclusivity especially with key conflict actors like the youths.

Apart from being intentionally inclusive with key actors in peacebuilding, faith actors can also facilitate dialogue with central and county governments, to acknowledge historical injustices. Justice must be sought transparently. “We need to facilitate common platforms, like Ufungamano House, that create unity and cohesion for a common purpose. Sustainable multi-faith platforms that use faith and a religious lens allow us to see each other with respect, trust, and keep moral questions in the open.”

Religious institutions response in promoting environmental consciousness

Spiritual leaders at all levels are critical to the success of the global solidarity for an ethical, moral and spiritual commitment to protect the environment and God’s creation. These leaders can become observers, make public commitments, share the story of their commitments and the challenges and joys of keeping them, and invite others to join them. In addition, they can display their sustainable behaviors, serving as role models for their followers and the public (UNEP, 2020)

The protection of the environment in embedded into the teaching of almost all the religious institutions. Example of Muslims reflection on the environment is “Devote thyself single-mindedly to the Faith, and thus follow the nature designed by Allah, the nature according to which He has fashioned mankind. There is no altering the creation of Allah.” (Qur’an 30:30). Example of Christianity reflection to the environment is “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.” (Pope Francis, 2015). It is imperative for the Religious institution to promote behavior change that will ensure a collective responsibility in promoting environmental consciousness and a culture of environmental protection. Religious institutions have done a lot of preaching on how to remain conscious to the environment around you, however this has not yielded much as the practical action of leading by example has been a mismatch.

Ways in which religious world views form youth understanding of their own place in the world and inform their interactions with it.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that religion acts as a source of resiliency, a buffer against negative environmental influences (such as poverty and racial discrimination) leading to negative consequences (such as depression and delinquency). Religion acts as a source of resiliency by adding legitimacy to regulations against maladaptive behaviors and providing an adaptive alternative. Major religious belief systems contain prohibitions against substance use, promiscuity, violence, and stealing (Donahue & Benson, 1995).  Youth who internalize these values are less likely to engage in risk behaviors even when circumstances motivate them to do so.

Religion has a particularly strong effect on individual-level behavior in communities with a high proportion of residents attending religious services regularly, presumably because religion adds legitimacy to communitylevel as well as individual-level prohibitions against risk behavior. Young people adopt religious belief systems because of the personal benefits that religion and spirituality offer to them. In religious involvement, youth seek a sense of belonging and positive relationships with peers and adults in a religious community, and also a connection with God and higher powers which provides a sense of meaning and purpose. Considering religion and youth development from a lifespan perspective points to religious socialization, that is, how parents and others transmit religion and how youth construct and internalize it. In order for religion to impact youth development, religious socialization needs to take place (Sullivan & Aramini, 2019)

Young people’s individual religious choices are a product of their upbringing and of the available religious options. The most important factor, however, is youths own spiritual preferences and agency. Youths’ style of attachment to parents determines how likely they are to follow in their parents’ religious footsteps. Securely attached youth are likely to adopt the faith (or lack of faith) of their parents. Insecurely attached youth are likely to distance themselves from their parents either by ceasing religious attendance or by joining a different religious organization and seeking attachment and family there (Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990). Youth also change their pattern of religious involvement because of peer invitation or to avoid cliques, but peers do not have a strong influence on youths’ deeply held spiritual beliefs. When motivated to change religious affiliation, youth generally switch to as similar of organizations as they can find that have the desired characteristics that were missing in the ones they left.

The potential exists for youth spiritual and religious development to take a non-traditional trajectory toward a new religious movement. The potential for youth to become involved in cults is a legitimate cause for concern. However, the word “cult” as it is used conventionally encompasses both dangerous cults, which use deceptive recruiting practices and mind control and threaten proselytes with harm should they leave, and new religious movements (NRM’s), which have beliefs that are at variance with mainstream religions but are otherwise benign

Religion acts as a key social bond inhibiting criminal behaviors. Several studies dealing with samples of emerging adults support this idea and suggest religion as a social bond relevant for emerging adults. Theories, such as social control theory and the age-graded theory of social control, may want to add additional focus on religion as a social bond that offers a strong attachment to conventional society and may be useful in preventing offending during emerging adulthood and influencing desistance for those offending during this stage of the life course (Salvatore & Robin, 2018)

The ultimate responsibility of peacebuilding requires a holistic framework of reflection considering the current trends of violence in Africa. Such a situation links the process of peacebuilding to critical issues such as human rights, social justice, shared security, gender equality, economic empowerment and local capacities of self-organization. The claim that religion cherishes public values more strongly than any other institution, makes it a credible partner in the process of social reconciliation and peacebuilding (Aquiline, 2012)

In addition to respecting and encouraging a young person’s own spiritual agency, concerned adults must also guard youths’ religious and spiritual boundaries outside of the family. Christian “parents’ rights” activists pressure schools to withhold important sexuality and reproductive health information from youth, and schools are fully justified in upholding youths’ own right to accurate information. Parents’ rights groups also lobby against schools’ efforts to specifically address problems of victimization and harassment based on perceived sexual orientation. Schools are justified in resisting these efforts as well, upholding their responsibility to keep all youth safe and healthy.

Too often, religion in the lives of youth is ignored as of marginal importance, or becomes a means by which adults carry out their agendas for youth. Rather than specifying a role for youth in adult politics and institutions that is not necessarily in the youths’ best interests, a youth development perspective on religious and spiritual development calls for concerned adults to respect young people’s own agenda. Ultimately, the religious institutions that grow will be those that relevant to, attentive to the needs of, and a worthy investment for youth.

 

 

Conclusion

The discussions above have established that in as much as religion stand at a better position of influence in the lives of young people, that special position for religion has not been sufficiently exploited as many religious institutions still have a gap in their perception of young people, in their response to their problem in their flexibility to the youth changing cultural dynamics, in their youth empowerment approach and in their approach to peacebuilding and environmental management. Such gaps in the previous engagements have soared the youths bond with religion and risk creating youths whose world views take no notice of rich-religious values, teachings and practices. The religious institution must there undergo a revolution on its approaches to the youths in order that they may be able to inspire and rebuild new trust with the youths.

Bibliography

Darden, J. T. (2019). Tackling Terrorists’ exploitation of youths. Washington: America Enterprise Institute.

Aquiline, T. (2012). The role of religion in peacebuilding. Nairobi: Hekima University.

Dayal, I. (2018). Comparative Religion. International Journal on Future Revolution in Computer Science & Communication Engineering , 114-117.

Donahue, M. J., & Benson, P. L. (1995). Religion and hte well-being of the adolescents. New York.

Faria, J. (2021, Jan 29). Distribution of the population in Kenya as of 2019, by religion. Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1199572/share-of-religious-groups-in-kenya/

Fritz, E. (2018, March 6th). Our Youths are Leaving the Church. Retrieved from Catholic Exchange: https://catholicexchange.com/youth-leaving-church#:~:text=%20Our%20Youth%20Are%20Leaving%20the%20Church%20,a%20process.%20We%20don%E2%80%99t%20receive%20all…%20More%20

Griffiths, M. D. (2017). Adolescent social media addiction. Education and Health 35 (3), 47-52.

Guardian. (2017). More than half the population in England has no religion. The Guardian.

Idakpo, S. (2019). ENHANCING YOUTH EMPOWERMENT THROUGH RELIGIOUS . Department of Christian and Religious Studies, 1.

Ighobor, K. (2017). Africa’s jobless youth cast a shadow over economic growth. Retrieved December 09, 2019, from Africa Renewal: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/special-edition-youth-2017/africas-jobless-youth-cast-shadow-over-economic-growth

Ivypanda. (2020, July 8). Different Ways in Which Religion Influences the Society Report. Retrieved July 23, 2021, from Ivypanda: https://ivypanda.com/essays/religion-influence/

Lerner, R. M. (2005). Promoting Positive Youth Development: Theoretical and Empirical Bases. Workshop on the Science of Adolescent Health and Development. National Research Council/Institute of Medicine, 92.

Muhammad, A. (2008). Youth Crime: Causes and Remedies. Munich: MPRA.

Salvatore, C., & Robin, G. (2018). The Influence of Religion on the Criminal Behavior of Emerging Adults. Religious and Crime: Theory, Research and Practice, 1-18.

Sullivan, S. C., & Aramini, V. (2019). Religion and Positive Youth Development: Challenges for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Ecological perspective on religion and positive youth development, 1-21.

UNEP. (2020, July Wednesday). Religious and Environmental Protection. Retrieved from United Nation Environment Program: https://www.unep.org/about-un-environment/faith-earth-initiative/religions-and-environmental-protection

United Nation. (2018, December 21). Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved 10 16, 2019, from World Youth Report: https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/12/WorldYouthReport-2030Agenda.pdf

United Nations. (2019, Feb 20). World Youth Report. Retrieved Sept 30, 2019, from Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/02/world-youth-repor

Vogel, P. (2015). Generation Jobless: Turning Youth unemployment Crisis into Opportunity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wakiaga, P. (2019). The Youth are the Main Drivers of Economic Growth. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from Kenya Association of Manufacturers: http://kam.co.ke/the-youth-are-the-main-drivers-of-economic-growth/

World Faith Development Dialogue. (2015). Peace and Stability in Kenya: The role of religious actors. Nairobi: Event Summary.