Young men are leading a religious resurgence
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Christianity is starting to make a comeback in the U.S. and other western countries, led by young people.
Why it matters: A decades-long decline has stalled, shaping the future of Gen Z, the drivers of the religion revival.
- “We’ve seen the plateau of non-religion in America,” says Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University. “Gen Z is not that much less religious than their parents, and that’s a big deal.”
By the numbers: Data from Pew shows that, for decades, each age group has been less Christian than the one before it.
- Americans born in the 1970s are 63% Christian. 1980s babies are 53% Christian, and 1990s babies are 46% Christian.
- But there was no decline from the 1990s to the 2000s. Americans born in the 2000s are also 46% Christian.
Stunning stat: Gen Z-ers — especially Gen Z men — are actually more likely to attend weekly religious services than millennials and even some younger Gen X-ers, Burge’s analysis shows.
Between the lines: Young men are leading American’s religion resurgence.
- Within older generations, there’s a consistent gender gap among Christians, with women more likely to be religious than men.
- Within Gen Z, the gap has closed, as young men join the church and young women leave it. If the current trajectory sticks, the gender gap will flip.
Zoom in: Many young people have turned to religion to find community and connection after the isolating years of the pandemic, which hit Gen Z harder than most.
- In some ways, this trend mirrors men's shift to the political right. "Religion is coded right, and coded more traditionalist" for young people, Derek Rishmawy, who leads a ministry at UC Irvine, told The New York Times.
- Plus, for some young men, Christianity is seen as "one institution that isn't initially and formally skeptical of them as a class," Rishmawy told the Times.
Zoom out: The resurgence is global.
- “In France, the Catholic Church has baptized more than 17,000 people, the highest yearly number of entrants in over 20 years,” New York Times columnist David Brooks writes.
- The share of British people between 18 to 24 who attend church at least monthly jumped from 4% in 2018 to 16% today, including 21% gain among young men, according to research from the Bible Society.
What to watch: The deepening gender divide within America's religion revival could have broader consequences for young people, Burge says.
- "People like to marry people like them, and women are increasingly liberal and increasingly non-religious, while men are the opposite of them," says Burge. "Partnering is going to be a problem."
