Author(s)

Lucio Meglio

Department of Social Science, University of Cassino, Cassino, Italy.

The purpose of this article will be to highlight, through a case study of the Lazio region of Italy to the south of Rome, of the changing role of religion in Western Europe according to recent analyses that have been carried out on the relationship between religion and identity among young people, and the relationship between family structure and composition and religious practices. These issues have also been the topic of discussion among Catholic and Protestant groups in the different member countries and have been a controversial topic in the approval of the European Constitutional Treaty. These issues will be assessed in light of the different meanings of religion in non-European countries, especially in the context of underdevelopment in Africa, where there is not a sharp distinction between religious loyalty and civil society. Belonging to one religion or another tends to affect different types of political and economic loyalties, whereas these are maintained as separate spheres of life in Europe due to its heritage of prolonged civil and religious wars. The article will conclude by pointing out the strong potential for renovation that is implicit in religion—a renovation of values and styles of everyday life that seems to be urgent and necessary to face many dilemmas and problems of contemporary Western life. In this respect, a case will be made that religion can help better than politics and political movements to overcome difficulties and resistances in the necessary adaptation to changing environmental and economic conditions.

Italian Youth; Religious Practice; Values; Generation

Meglio, L. (2012). Religious Practice among Italian Youth: A Case Study in Lazio. Advances in Applied Sociology, 2, 89-94. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2012.22012.