Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
College-Age Millennials Are Losing Their Religion
College-Age Millennials Are Losing Their Religion
Jul 5, 2025 7:06 AM

Younger Millennials (ages 18-24) report significant levels of movement from the religious affiliation of their childhood, mostly toward identifying as religiously unaffiliated, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and Georgetown’s Berkley Center. The survey also finds that they support government intervention to address the gap between the rich and poor.

Some of the highlights from the survey include:

• While only 11% of Millennials were religiously unaffiliated in childhood, one-quarter (25%) currently identify as unaffiliated, a 14-point increase.

• Catholics and white mainline Protestants saw the largest net losses (-7.9% and -5%) while black Protestants and white evangelicals saw the least decline (-1.1 and -0.8).

• College-age Millennials are more likely than the general population to be religiously unaffiliated. They are less likely than the general population to identify as white evangelical Protestants or white mainline Protestant.

• Only one-in-four (25%) say they attend religious services at least once a week, while 3-in-10 (30%) say they attend occasionally (once or twice a month or a few times a year). More than 4-in-10 say they seldom (16%) or never attend (27%).

• One-third (33%) report that they pray at least daily and about 1-in-4 (27%) say they pray occasionally. Nearly 4-in-10 (37%) say they seldom or never pray.

• A majority (54%) believe that God is a person with who one can have a relationship. About 1-in-5 (22%) say that God is an impersonal force, and 14% say they do not believe in God.

• Fewer than 1-in-10 say that religion is very important or the most important thing in their life. Nearly 8-in-10 white evangelicals (78%) and black Protestants (77%) say that religion is either very important or the most important thing in their life.

• Nearly three-quarters (73%) agree that the economic system in the U.S. unfairly favors the wealthy, while 24% disagree. Majorities of all political parties agree: 85% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans.

• Nearly 7-in-10 (69%) believe that the government should do more to reduce the gap between the rich and poor, while 28% disagree.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Audio: Dr. Sam Gregg on Relativism & Ordered Liberty
Dr. Samuel Gregg, Acton’s Director of Research, has e something of a regular guest on Kresta in the Afternoon of late; below you’ll find audio of his two most recent appearances. Leading off, Sam appeared with host Al Kresta on February 15th to discuss Pope Benedict’s concept of the dictatorship of relativism in the context of the HHS mandate debate, and the potential consequences of the death of absolute truth. Listen via the audio player below: [audio: Then, on the...
Audio: Rev. Robert A. Sirico in Phoenix, Arizona
On February 16th, Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico spoke to an audience in Phoenix, Arizona, delivering an address entitled “The Moral Adventure of the Free Society.” We’re pleased to bring you the audio of that address via the audio player below: [audio: ...
The Economics of Contraception
One of the justifications for the HHS mandates (amended now to require panies to provide contraceptives free of charge) has been purely economic. The idea is that the use of contraceptives saves panies (and by extension the rest of us) money, as it is less expensive to pay for condoms or birth control pills than to pay for a pregnancy and birth. Of course the calculus e up with such a conclusion is flawed in myriad ways. But even if...
What Care Bears can teach us about virtue ethics
Unless you’re a nostalgic Gen-Xer or a parent of a small child, you probably haven’t given much thought to the Care Bears. But since their debut in 1981, they’ve popped up everywhere. Although they were originally characters created for a line of greeting cards, the Care Bears have since appeared in a TV series, two TV specials, five feature films, several music albums, a video game, and ic book series. Books in which they’ve appeared have sold over 45 million...
The Persistent Advantages of Private Virtue
In a discussion on Charles Murray’s new book Coming Apart, Ross Douthat includes a brilliant observation about what he dubs the “persistent advantage of private virtue“: Finally, Murray makes a very convincing case . . . for the power of so-called “traditional values” to foster human flourishing even in economic landscapes that aren’t as favorable to less-educated workers as was, say, the aftermath of the Treaty of Detroit. Even acknowledging all the challenges (globalization, the decline of manufacturing, mass low-skilled...
On Call While the Sun Shines
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. —Matthew 5:45b (NIV) This morning, did you greet the sun with thankfulness to God that he sent the warmth and light at the end of a long night? Did you consider that the sun rose for everyone whether they were God’s people or not? God cares for his creation on a daily basis. mon grace. Through the idea mon...
Holding Out for a Hero
Amy Wright, a 20-year-old MBA student at the University of Mobile, on the Millennial generation’s need for a hero—and for personal responsibility: We, the Millennials — a generation that is roughly defined as those born between the late 1980s and early 2000s — have been raised through a time of political turmoil. Consequently, my generation understands that it takes personal responsibility to preserve a free society in a tumultuous world. As we step into adulthood, we realize that preserving freedom...
Can’t be said too often …
While working on an article today, I read Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s 2005 homily right before the was elected Pope. I wanted to recall a section about truth that cannot be repeated enough. It is especially pertinent in light of the Obama Administration’s promise on the HHS mandate. promise changes nothing. It is political sophistry. It still forces people to act against their conscience and support moral evil. The truth about good and evil cannot be swept away by an accounting...
Religious Liberty, Rhetoric, and Partisan Squawking
A look at religious liberty, the HHS Mandate, and political discourse. Read More… Concerning the HHS mandate, somehow getting lost in the shuffle is the primacy of religious liberty. Mollie Hemingway offers a good post at Ricochet on the media blackout. Certainly, political partisanship and lust for power is clouding the centrality of the First Amendment. I recently heard two women chatting in a public place about this issue. They had convinced themselves that Rick Santorum wanted to snatch their...
Where Corporatism and Crony Contraceptives Collide
In an Acton Commentary last month, Jordan Ballor presented a helpful explanation of the differences between “capitalism” and “corporatism”, a capitalist system that has been corrupted: The main dynamic of the market system is the relationship between the producer and the consumer. Corporatism, by contrast, brings to the fore the role of the “managerial state,” in which the government takes on an increasingly larger task in telling producers what they should produce and consumers what they should consume. This can...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved