Bishop of Leeds, Rt Revd Nick Baines says society needs to help offer "our disillusioned young people an alternative world view and lifestyle that captures the imagination, fires up vision and inspires self-sacrifice."
He has been speaking out following growing tension over how to stop the threat of young people being attracted by the prospect of leaving the country to join organisations like Islamic State (IS).
The discussions followed a 17-year-old from Dewsbury who travelled to Syria became the country's youngest ever suicide bomber.
More than 200 people from Yorkshire and the North East have been referred to a Government scheme aimed at protecting the vulnerable from being drawn into terrorist activity over the last financial year, according to The Yorkshire Post.
Writing ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 7/7 attacks on London in 2005, Bishop Nick said many of those who left the UK to join are "extremely well-educated and fully cognisant of what they are heading off to."
He said: "Education is not the issue. Information is not lacking.
"What perhaps is lacking is inspiration to see life and death here as in any way valuable or attractive."
"I don't say this lightly, and I certainly don't say it in defence of Islamic maniacs who are prepared to do unspeakable things to innocent men, women and children.
He stressed that this was not a new idea: "Young people are always - and always have been - susceptible to alternative inspirations.
"But, our question in 2015 has to do with how we inspire young people to see value beyond celebrity and consumerism in a world short on vision and long on entertainment."
Talha Asmal, 17, from Dewsbury, is thought to have flown to Syria in March, he became Britain's youngest ever suicide bomber after apparently blowing himself up in Iraq
