LA PREGHIERA POST-SECOLARIZZATA DEI MILLENNIALS

Abstract

The article discusses the theme of prayer understood as a process of individual research of a secular spirituality rather than as a ritual practice among members of the same faith. Trough the answers given by a sample of 1026 students of Palermo University, the prayer appears as the result of a individualization’s process and assumes post-secularized connotations. The answers given during the focus groups conducted, identify in the choice of Millennials to ‘pray’ an activity of reflection that goes beyond the autopoietic and self-referential dimension.Millennials’ pray is a self-reflexive prayer that often questions the great themes of this time – euthanasia, abortion, procreative choices, medical choices – and the role and behavior that the person can and should play in the context of reference. Prayer practiced outside the community rituals and in a intrapersonal dimension describes « a faith without a church » and «a freedom to approach the religious question » that seems to be confirmed by the results of the questionnaire administered and by the focus groups conducted.