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Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

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Four in ten millennials now say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, millennials (those between the ages of 23 and 38) are now almost as likely to say they have no religion as they are to identify as Christian.

...

Social science research has long suggested that Americans’ relationship with religion has a tidal quality — people who were raised religious find themselves drifting away as young adults, only to be drawn back in when they find spouses and begin to raise their own families. Some argued that young adults just hadn’t yet been pulled back into the fold of organized religion, especially since they were hitting major milestones like marriage and parenthood later on.

But now many millennials have spouses, children and mortgages — and there’s little evidence of a corresponding surge in religious interest. A new national survey from the American Enterprise Institute of more than 2,500 Americans found a few reasons why millennials may not return to the religious fold.

- ... many millennials never had strong ties to religion to begin with
- ... increasingly likely to have a spouse who is nonreligious
- ... changing views about the relationship between morality and religion also appear to have convinced many young parents that religious institutions are simply irrelevant or unnecessary for their children.
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That's because too many of the older generation has used religion as an excuse to promote any number of social ills from bigotry to child abuse to disenfranchising the poor.

Millennials see that (due to the fact they are not locked into just a few media sources) and don't want to be a part of that ugly behavior.
 
Religions across the board and in every country have been bleeding numbers for decades and the trend isn't slowing down. Education and the free information of the internet has instilled a healthy skepticism where people challenge claims instead of just blindly believing without asking questions. This is a very positive trend.
 
Not a new trend. It just takes a few generations for it to finish rolling out.

For good or evil (probably both) the things that drew people to the church don't appeal as broadly as they used to.

They are competing with a wider variety of options, and haven't really adapted to technology for the last several decades.
 
WillyPete said:
Not a new trend. It just takes a few generations for it to finish rolling out.

For good or evil (probably both) the things that drew people to the church don't appeal as broadly as they used to.

They are competing with a wider variety of options, and haven't really adapted to technology for the last several decades.
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Yes, the article says that this is a continuing trend indeed.

Millennials may be the symbols of a broader societal shift away from religion, but they didn’t start it on their own. Their parents are at least partly responsible for a widening generational gap in religious identity and beliefs; they were more likely than previous generations to raise their children without any connection to organized religion. According to the AEI survey, 17 percent of millennials said that they were not raised in any particular religion compared with only five percent of Baby Boomers. And fewer than one in three (32 percent) millennials say they attended weekly religious services with their family when they were young, compared with about half (49 percent) of Baby Boomers.
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WillyPete said:
Not a new trend. It just takes a few generations for it to finish rolling out.

For good or evil (probably both) the things that drew people to the church don't appeal as broadly as they used to.

They are competing with a wider variety of options, and haven't really adapted to technology for the last several decades.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you couched your statement in terms of both pro & con (though I wouldn't have used, "good or evil"! :2razz:).

The loss of religiosity is complicated and multifaceted, and has pros & cons.
 
The trend began when the scores of egregious cases of child sex-abusing pedophile priests started to come to the attention of the public. And, it's still happening today.

The fact that the Vatican shielded these priests for many decades and protected their crimes by hiding them away in safe, comfortable, out-of-the-way compounds, gave people a different perspective on the Church. People figured it out finally that any church that would protect men that sexually abuse children is not a religion that people want to have anything to do with.

If anyone out there has Netflix, I recommend watching the documentary called 'The Keepers'. It's a chilling true story about a sexually abusive priest who raped, abused and emotionally controlled girls in a Catholic girls-only high school in Baltimore, Maryland and the nun that tried to protect them only to be murdered.

It was a documentary that I had a hard time shaking off emotionally for days after watching it.

 
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HumblePi said:
The trend began when the scores of egregious cases of pedophile child sex-abusing pedophile priests started to come to the attention of the public. And, it's still happening today.

The fact that the Vatican shielded these priests for many decades and protected their crimes by hiding them away in safe, comfortable, out-of-the-way compounds, gave people a different perspective on the Church. People figured it out finally that any church that would protect men that sexually abuse children is not a religion that people want to have anything to do with.
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Yes, this is definitely part of it. But I think it started with the likes of Jim and Tammy Bakker.
 
HumblePi said:
The trend began when the scores of egregious cases of child sex-abusing pedophile priests started to come to the attention of the public. And, it's still happening today. ]
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I think the trend started happening as people evolved more and more, and will continue to do so.
Religions that depend on forced ignorance, and brainwashing, like Islam, will continue to grow, but most Christians, for example are born into it,
and at some point in their lives open their eyes.
 
Information and technology combine for the win.

The internet and the extreme ease with which information and facts can now be accessed is the key here.


100 years ago when you were told about the Noah & the Ark nonsense you had much less ability to dig into the facts that totally debunk that whole story.
Now, in a few short minutes a quick google search can reveal all kinds of information.

You don't need to personally ask skeptical questions to those who would rather you just be a sheep.
Now if you're skeptical the internet can be your savior. (pun intended)
 
If older people would have simply gone to church to help their fellow man, and left the politics out, young people would LOVE it.

They ruined it for everybody.
 
tacomancer said:
That's because too many of the older generation has used religion as an excuse to promote any number of social ills from bigotry to child abuse to disenfranchising the poor.

Millennials see that (due to the fact they are not locked into just a few media sources) and don't want to be a part of that ugly behavior.
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Exactly. My kids watch what Evangelical Christians in the USA actually support. It's ugly to say the least.
 
JustHanging said:
Exactly. My kids watch what Evangelical Christians in the USA actually support. It's ugly to say the least.
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Don't you just know that at some point, may be around when the kids are between 17 and 22, they look at their friends and they have these long conversations about their parents and grandparents and what they say in church versus what they say at home.

It just doesn't add up.
 
Chomsky said:
I'm glad you couched your statement in terms of both pro & con (though I wouldn't have used, "good or evil"! :2razz:).

The loss of religiosity is complicated and multifaceted, and has pros & cons.
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I agree. I would usually think it has pros and cons, or maybe it’s meaningless now. Since the Trump Era, it seems most of their values are negatable and of little actual importance
 
It would not surprise me if that some of these milennials actually DO believe in God, or some religion, or are agnostic or spiritual. They may even be deists.

But they will NOT come back to organized religion.

Too much of who they are is being demonized in organized religion. Organized religion is heavily involved in politics. And religion, in the case of the Boomers, is weaponized to attack anything that is non-conservative.

And when you add the ability to fact check any nugget of thought that comes across the internet, and a generation that from an early age knows how to use those fact-finding systems, of course they are going to walk away. It's easy for them to see the bull$**** spewed at them by conservatives and Boomers about what God feels and it is easy for them to challenge preceps made by them on Bible verses. This is no longer the middle ages where illiteracy is encouraged so that priests and pastors can pull the wool over the flock because they are the only ones who can even read the Bible. Now, you have a generation for whom illiteracy means not being able to use technology in conjunction with being able to read and right. Why do you think the GOP want to get rid of the Department of Education and cut education funding...unless it tells their point of view only?

But in the end, they will have religion. It will be agnostic and spiritual in nature, with those who truly have faith being a deist. They will believe in either a higher power, or a higher order. It's just that they will reject the organized religions for the simple fact that conservatives in this nation have poisoned what it means to be a Christian while other nations do similar acts with their own brands of faith.

Why wouldn't they?
 
Religion is largely seen as being part of a faith community. That people do not see themselves as part of that does not mean they are rejecting anything.
 
Jason Warfield said:
It would not surprise me if that some of these milennials actually DO believe in God, or some religion, or are agnostic or spiritual. They may even be deists.

But they will NOT come back to organized religion.

Too much of who they are is being demonized in organized religion. Organized religion is heavily involved in politics. And religion, in the case of the Boomers, is weaponized to attack anything that is non-conservative.

And when you add the ability to fact check any nugget of thought that comes across the internet, and a generation that from an early age knows how to use those fact-finding systems, of course they are going to walk away. It's easy for them to see the bull$**** spewed at them by conservatives and Boomers about what God feels and it is easy for them to challenge preceps made by them on Bible verses. This is no longer the middle ages where illiteracy is encouraged so that priests and pastors can pull the wool over the flock because they are the only ones who can even read the Bible. Now, you have a generation for whom illiteracy means not being able to use technology in conjunction with being able to read and right. Why do you think the GOP want to get rid of the Department of Education and cut education funding...unless it tells their point of view only?

But in the end, they will have religion. It will be agnostic and spiritual in nature, with those who truly have faith being a deist. They will believe in either a higher power, or a higher order. It's just that they will reject the organized religions for the simple fact that conservatives in this nation have poisoned what it means to be a Christian while other nations do similar acts with their own brands of faith.

Why wouldn't they?
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That's a reasonable point, and one that often times gets missed.

I don't think most millennials are leaving religion. As in, they're not becoming atheists. (although I would not consider that a bad thing if it's happening)

More like they're leaving organized, corporate churches.
They still believe in something.
 
SheWolf said:
I have seen a few people grow up in the evangelical movement, and I think it can often be damaging.
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Indoctrinating very young children into a cult usually is.
 
JustHanging said:
Indoctrinating very young children into a cult usually is.
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all religions start out as cults.

It's when they gain money and power, they become religions.
 
RAMOSS said:
It is highly speculative to say 'they are not coming back'. Wait till they are in the 50's to 70's. Then, look at the trend.
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Do you have any stats showing that people that are not religious or leave religion tend to come back in their 50's or 70's?

The OP linked article has stats related to what they are talking about. Do you have any?
 
Jason Warfield said:
It would not surprise me if that some of these milennials actually DO believe in God, or some religion, or are agnostic or spiritual. They may even be deists.

But they will NOT come back to organized religion.
Click to expand...

Dragonfly said:
That's a reasonable point, and one that often times gets missed.

I don't think most millennials are leaving religion. As in, they're not becoming atheists. (although I would not consider that a bad thing if it's happening)

More like they're leaving organized, corporate churches.
They still believe in something.
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Here is some more info... Looks like 1/3 of "unaffiliated" also said "religion is important in their lives" (though this could also mean that they have to attend church or something because of their partner?) .

ss1.jpg

Questions asked:

What is your present religion, if any? Are you Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox such as Greek or Russian Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, something else, or nothing in particular?
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My guess is some agnostics and atheists got tired of listening to question and just said the last thing they heard "nothing in particular" because they did not care.

Whether religion is important was a separate question

How important is religion in your life – very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not at all important?
Click to expand...
 
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