London, England - Nearly half of young teenagers who live in urban areas believe in God but a quarter have considered suicide and nearly a fifth think there are too many black people in Britain, new research has found.
The study of 13- to 15-year-olds in England and Wales, which was carried out for a Church commission, found that prayer gave young people a greater "sense of purpose".
The report claimed that three-quarters of young people who pray daily were found to have a sense of purpose, compared with 48 per cent of those who never prayed.
The Rev Lady Richardson of Calow, who chairs the Commission on Urban Life and Faith, said: "We can learn a valuable lesson from this report, one which could protect our children and help them to flourish."
The report calls on the Government to "explore a spiritual dimension" in its agenda for children, to promote anti-racist programmes in schools and youth clubs and to carry out a survey of young teenagers' views every 10 years.