Ehh could be they are a zoomer from a west coast cohort given how so many peeps I know via my younger cousins are into esoteric non conformist stuff due to how fucked evangelism and other fire brand religions have been. There's also just general "I'm spiritualist" meaning they hope there's a greater meaning to life but aren't sold on all the religions that tell them people in their friend group should go to Hell cuss of X (insert transphobia, homophobia, ethnic persecution, dogmatism).
tldr: lots of zoomers are tired of existing structures of society and so pick the "other" box when people ask "are you religious".
I don't know that I know anybody I'd actually call a practicing Buddhist, but I do know several who have dabbled or maybe read a couple writings. I think a lot of people treat it as more philosophy than religion proper and so might incorporate a couple elements into their worldview without wholesale adoption. A lot of mindfulness practice, for example, seems to be informed or at least inspired by Buddhism. This might just be northeastern LAC culture though, not sure I can really generalize to Gen Z as a whole
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Ehh could be they are a zoomer from a west coast cohort given how so many peeps I know via my younger cousins are into esoteric non conformist stuff due to how fucked evangelism and other fire brand religions have been. There's also just general "I'm spiritualist" meaning they hope there's a greater meaning to life but aren't sold on all the religions that tell them people in their friend group should go to Hell cuss of X (insert transphobia, homophobia, ethnic persecution, dogmatism).
tldr: lots of zoomers are tired of existing structures of society and so pick the "other" box when people ask "are you religious".
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I mean it's the same for me (I also know a couple of weird evangelicals) but that's because my country is like, 80% Catholic. Just a regional thing.
I don't know that I know anybody I'd actually call a practicing Buddhist, but I do know several who have dabbled or maybe read a couple writings. I think a lot of people treat it as more philosophy than religion proper and so might incorporate a couple elements into their worldview without wholesale adoption. A lot of mindfulness practice, for example, seems to be informed or at least inspired by Buddhism. This might just be northeastern LAC culture though, not sure I can really generalize to Gen Z as a whole