As we learned from Will Hermberg, the 1950s and 1960s were a time when religious affiliation and participation in the United States was at an all-time high (63% in 1958). As we discussed the reasons for these rising numbers, I found myself wondering what the numbers would be today. I personally barely know anyone my age who considers themselves to be an active member of the church, and those that I do know kind of stick out. Due to this, I was not surprised to find many articles about dwindling numbers of millennials and GenZs who identify themselves with a religion.
In her Religious News Service column article, “5 tips for churches on how to hold onto millennials and GenZ”, Jana Riess states some numbers found by the Barna Group, saying that “in 2011, 59% of young Americans who grew up Christian had stopped attending their churches, but less than a decade later that has inched upward to 64%.” This shows that not only are these numbers much higher than they were during Hermberg’s time, but they are also growing. In addition, the numbers of those who claim to not believe in any sort of Christian higher power are also increasing, from 11% to 22% in the same time frame, according to that same study.
One possible reason for this decline is the increase in scientific knowledge we have today that discredits a pretty central Christian belief: creationism. Tom Krattenmaker, of USA Today, discusses the religious community’s reactions to the clashing ideas of evolution and creationism in his opinion piece, “Creationism support is at a new low. The reason should give us hope.” He proposes that people in the Church who continue to push creationism belief and teachings “is hurting religion’s credibility in an age when science and technology are perceived as reliable sources of truth”. He also claims that there is evidence that this is partly responsible for lower numbers of religious identifiers, “especially among younger adults, nearly 40% of who have left organized religion behind”. I personally can agree with this theory, as I have a harder time believing parts of the Bible when so much of it has been proved false by science.
Another cause may be political involvement of the Church. The number of people in younger generations who care and are passionate about issues like LGBTQ+ and women’s rights is higher than those of older generations. Those people could have a problem with churches who actively do not support those rights. However, as discussed by Riess in “Why millennials are really leaving religion (it’s not just politics, folks)”, this cannot be the total cause because in that case, “millennials would be leaving conservative religions in favor of ones that are liberal…but they are not growing”, and the numbers of people of younger generations involved in the Church are also decreasing in liberal churches that support more progressive social policy and acceptance.
Riess claims that delayed marriage and the fact that people are getting married later is an influence, along with a growing number of couples not having children, and the decrease in social pressure to practice religion. Delayed marriage is an element because “there’s a strong correlation between being married and being involved in religion”, which goes along with her claim that single couples are not as religious. These factors, along with doubt of a higher power and frustration with political involvement outline a few very likely causes of the drop in numbers in church involvement for the younger generation, and it will be up to leaders in the Church to see if they can change things to get more participation.
References:
Krattenmaker, Tom. “Creationism Support Is at a New Low. The Reason Should Give Us Hope.” Religion News Service, 13 July 2017, https://religionnews.com/2017/07/13/creationism-support-is-at-a-new-low-the-reason-should-give-us-hope/.
Riess, Jana. “Why Millennials Are Really Leaving Religion (It’s Not Just Politics, Folks).” Religion News Service, 26 June 2018, https://religionnews.com/2018/06/26/why-millennials-are-really-leaving-religion-its-not-just-politics-folks/.
Riess, Jana. “5 Tips for Churches on How to Hold onto Millennials and GenZ.” Religion News Service, 13 Sept. 2019, https://religionnews.com/2019/09/13/5-tips-for-holding-on-to-millennial-and-genz-christians/.
contemporaryamericanreligion 
I find this phenomenon so interesting and have been thinking about it a lot lately. When I meet people around our age I always assume that they are not religious or do not attend church, and I’m almost always surprised if I find out that they do. It seems very uncommon.
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I wonder why there is a correlation between being married and being involved in religion. Is that purely a coincidence? How strong is the association? Obviously correlation doesn’t equal causation in this case, but I am curious why these two circumstances have this connection.
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I really enjoyed reading and how you tied it back to class discussions! You made multiple valid points that can explain the decline in religious participation by younger people. It is very possible that with new scientific research done, many younger people are hesitant to believe in the “supernatural” when there is scientific evidence to support many different things. You also mentioned that political involvement can contribute to the decline in religious participation, which is true because religion has many outdated traditions that may have been beneficial in the 1900s that aren’t as beneficial today. Young people today are also typically very busy people, and attending religious ceremonies may conflict with their daily schedules.
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It should be noted that many times trends do not continue as expected. Herberg himself indicates that in that excerpt from Catholic-Protestant-Jew that prior to the post-war era, Church attendance was far lower. The trend changed with a massive up-tick in the 1950’s. An obvious, non-American, example would be certain countries in the Middle-East that were, for a time, more socially liberal before taking a sharp conservative turn. Iran is prime example. The 1979 Revolution changed a lot in a short amount of time.
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