Hi there, my Y-Religion podcast listeners, Professor Anthony Sweat here. Welcome to another great episode of Y-Religion.

I want to kick off this episode by asking you a question. Have you ever been at a gathering or in a group and not felt like you really belonged?

Like you've been surrounded by a bunch of people and yet you still felt entirely alone.

Although others may look at us and perceive us as belonging to the groups we're in,

it becomes easy for many of us to think,

I'm not really like any of these people.

None of them relate to me.

I don't really belong here.

It's an interesting feeling and it may be more common than you think.

A 2018 study of 20,000 Americans by the healthcare insurer Cigna reported that, quote,

46% of Americans report feeling lonely sometimes or always,

and 47% of Americans report feeling left out sometimes or always.

27% of Americans rarely or never feel like there are people around who understand them."

It's even worse with the younger generation, Generation Z-years and millennials, who report

higher feelings of loneliness and isolation on the loneliness scale than older generations.

This phenomenon happens in the church also, surrounded by a congregation of fellow believers.

We can yet feel isolated because we don't think we fit some sort of caricature of a normal Mormon.

As a religious educator, I've noticed this phenomenon seemingly increasing as people

seek for identity and self-affirmation in their very life experiences and perspectives.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently touched on this theme

in general conference, discussing the broader church this way.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apost apostles have counseled together in the spirit of prayer

...