'Religion Helps Me Feel Happy'??

'Religion Helps Me Feel Happy'? What is it that young people, who have been raised in church and self-identify as Christians, actually believe? This are some questions that are being asked in the article God, Religion ... Whatever -- Are Our Churchgoing Youth Falling Away from the Faith? .

To the first question, Christian Smith & Melinda Lundquist Denton give this (sociologists at the University of North Carolina) portrait of dominant religion in America:

• it is therapeutic. That is, faith is meant to make a person happy, and help him get through life -- much as a therapist does.
• This means that concepts like repentance from sin, praying for God's mercy and grace, or faithfully "living as a servant of a sovereign divine" are absent from the religious lives of many teens, and even many so-called Christian teens.
• "Rather, what appears to be the actual dominant religion among U.S. teenagers is centrally about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace. It is about attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people."

Isn't this a worrying sign? I think this is also what is happening in Singapore too!