Amazing Questions from Teenagers

I wanted to blog about some of the questions that students ask.

RealityBites is a ministry that creates space for people to ask questions about life, the universe and, of course, Hertfordshire. We try to arouse curiosity in people about God, idolatry and the kingdom of Jesus. We do this by telling provocative, shocking stories about rat worshippers, plastic surgery obsessives and human traffickers etc.

At a recent school conference in Leeds, I was amazed by the quality of the questions that the students asked after my presentation. Here are some of their questions (which were written down in the main):

1. Why is it wrong to follow your heart?
2. What is the difference between ideology and religion?
3. Is there really such a thing as ‘ethical consumerism’?
4. Do you believe that consumerism is caused by simply our faith in marketisation or the vanity of human beings and the pressure to be part of consumerism?
5. Do celebrities create the consumerist culture or are they its victims?
6. Why is ‘consumerist nature’ in a capitalist society such a bad thing?
7. Why are human beings the only species who value things like money and time?
8. Wasn’t George Cadbury just as selfish and profit-driven as all other consumerists?
9. Why do we as humans feel the need to conform to this consumerist society?
10. Can you be a responsible consumer without believing in God?

This list of questions is very revealing because it shows very clearly that when young people are engaged in thought-provoking and imaginative ways, their curiosity is sparked and they want to talk about consumerism, materialism, relationships, the meaning of life and… God.

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Mark Roques

Mark taught Philosophy and Religious Education at Prior Park College, Bath, for many years. As Director of RealityBites he has developed a rich range of resources for youth workers and teachers. He has spoken at conferences in the UK, Holland, South Korea, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

Mark is a lively storyteller and the author of four books, including The Spy, the Rat and the Bed of Nails: Creative Ways of Talking about Christian Faith. His work is focused on storytelling and how this can help us to communicate the Christian faith. He has written many articles for the Baptist Times, RE Today, Youthscape, Direction magazine and the Christian Teachers Journal.

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