The New York Times has a fascinating article up today about young Iraqis’ attitudes toward religion. Immediately after the war in Iraq started, the country saw a surge in religiosity—Shiites, who had been regarded as political insurgents under Saddam Hussein’s regime, were able to practice freely, and some soon translated their religious hierarchies into political power. But as the church moved more firmly into the public sphere, mosques and religious leaders became more known for their corruption and violent extremism than sagacity and piety.

Young Iraqis’ opinions on religion represent a profound but sad shift in beliefs:

“I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.”

Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.”

Such disgust is, in one sense, a welcome change—young people in Iraq are starting to recognize the damage done by the inextricable tangle of religious extremism and terrorism, and their role as pawns in that system. But disillusionment with the whole of Islam and complete loss of faith in religious leaders is incredibly sad in a country that needs all kinds of healing right now.