Comparative examination of religious authority and religious autonomy (Study of Two Generations After the Revolution – Age Groups 15 to 30 and 50 to 65 Years)

The subject of this study is to examine the changes in religious values, attitudes and methods by measuring the degree of Autonomy and Authority in the religious affairs of the current generation and the early generations of   the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran. Research hypotheses that have been tested on the theoretical views related to autonomy and authority extracted using data collected in a survey method. The sample size using the Cochran formula was 392 people with accuracy of %/05 and confidence level of %95, from two age groups of 50 to 65 years old and 15-30 years  old citizens of Qom and Tehran cities in 2017 using cluster sampling method And randomly selected. Required information was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed statistically. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a significant difference between the spectrum autonomy and religious authority in the two groups of studies that are somehow considered as the first and third generation of the Islamic Revolution. These analyses indicate that there is a significant difference in autonomy indexes in religious rituals, autonomy of religious commands, autonomy in religious flexibility, autonomy in ethics, autonomy in accepting religions, in the authority of tradition or rationality, and in obtaining information between the two groups of studies. This means that the early generation after the revolution has more religious authority in the religious affairs of religion, and the current generation is of lower authority and less autonomy in religious affairs.