I’m taking a hiatus from religion/government analysis because I wanted to write this article a few weeks ago. Still, I wasn't able to finish it in time for the newsletter before my vacation. However, this week, Dr. Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI, published a piece in The Hill that prompted me to revisit my thoughts. My shelved piece was a response to a recent episode of Vox’s "Explain It to Me" podcast, which explored a surprising trend: young people, particularly young men, are rediscovering Christianity after nearly 20 years of declining rates, particularly among the young.

This “trend” is Gen Z's increasing attraction to organized religion, especially traditional and stricter forms of Christianity, which contrasts sharply with previous generational declines in religious affiliation. Many young people seem to be searching for, and I paraphrase: authenticity, structure, and meaning in a rapidly changing and often perceived "broken" modern world. Notably, the “increase” in religiosity mostly affects young men.

The podcast episode relies heavily on vibes and a limited slice of data from the recent Pew Landscape Survey. It shares anecdotes about young men joining very conservative Christian churches, with a particular emphasis on ultra-conservative Catholics. Dr. Deckman's piece in The Hill acknowledges that a trend may be emerging among young people, but it is mostly that the decline in religious affiliation has plateaued. However, she underscores an important point that I believe is crucial: “Our data, however, show no evidence that Gen Z men are becoming more religious. Nor do we find that Gen Z men who attend church frequently hold more moderate political or social views.”

There’s really no solid evidence to suggest that young men are becoming more religious these days. In my March 28th post titled "Staying Secular," I dove into some secular population trends that came up in the latest Landscape Survey. For the first time, we’re seeing a larger share of the newer secular crowd being made up of people who aren’t abandoning religion, but rather those who were raised by secular parents. This is key to understanding what’s going on with young people today. It’s not that they’re flocking back to religion; instead, we’re hitting a plateau where fewer young folks are leaving religious identities behind. We’re seeing an uptick in second- and third-generation secular individuals.

What's interesting is that the religious people who remain in the country as it becomes more secular are often more conservative than those who left earlier. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, you had a lot of people who were loosely religious but decided to raise their kids without religion. Fast forward to 2023 and 2024, and those who identify as non-religious are mainly the children of non-religious parents. Meanwhile, those from religious backgrounds tend to stick around, likely because they’re growing up in households where religiosity is more strict.