The complicated truth behind Gen Z’s 'religious resurgence'

Headlines abound suggesting that Gen Z, mostly led by Gen Z men, are bucking the conventional wisdom that young people are destined to leave organized religion and instead are leading what some call a “religious resurgence.” 

In some ways, faith communities may be ripe for growth among a chronically online generation that itself is recognizing the hollow limits of living more of their lives on-screen than off. 

Less than half of young Americans, a recent Harvard Youth Poll found, feel a sense of belonging to a community, with young men being significantly more likely than young women to indicate “no strong sense of belonging anywhere.” 

Being an active part of a faith tradition is one way many Americans have historically developed that sense of belonging. Our work at the Public Religion Research Institute finds that 80 percent of Americans who attend church today regularly say one important reason they do so is to “experience religion as a community.”

Others argue that a religious revival will also serve as a moderating influence on young men, some of whom may be particularly vulnerable to the conspiracy theories and misogynistic content pervasive in the manosphere. Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, echoes this concern from a more mainstream vantage point.

On his show in May, Scarborough argued that increased church involvement for young men — even in the most conservative-leaning churches — may serve as a reality check for younger men prone to believing the right-wing conspiracies that often populate their red-pill, algorithmic-driven feeds.

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. 

Our latest Census of American Religion, released in May, shows that young people’s rates of religious affiliation have continued to drop overall in the last decade. 

In 2013, we found that 32 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 identified as religiously unaffiliated, which rose to 38 percent last year — an increase driven mainly by young women’s departure from religion. Just 29 percent of young women were religious “nones” in 2013, yet by 2024, it was 40 percent. 

In contrast, young men’s lack of affiliation with religion showed little change over the past decade, moving from 35 percent in 2013 to 36 percent last year. 

To be fair, the plateau in Gen Z men’s religious disaffiliation is a notable story, especially given that for much of the past two decades, trend data have shown Americans increasingly shedding religious labels. Yet so far, we find no evidence that Gen Z men are actually becoming more religious.

The more significant religion story is that young women and young men are moving apart religiously — a divide that mirrors the broader gender gaps emerging among Gen Z across a wide range of political and cultural issues.

Gen Z women have become far more politically liberal than their male peers and display a stronger feminist consciousness than older generations of American women.

Many faith traditions, meanwhile, continue to uphold, or even double down on, complementarian theology, which preaches male headship in both church and home and frames a woman’s highest calling as being a wife and prolific mother. 

It’s not hard to see why many young women are walking away from organized religion. The strong promotion of traditional gender norms in some denominations may actually help explain why certain young men remain religiously affiliated. But this dynamic also undercuts the idea that greater church involvement will necessarily moderate Gen Z men’s attitudes or behavior. 

For instance, last year, we found that 48 percent of American men who attend church regularly (weekly or monthly) agreed that society is better off when men and women stick to the jobs “they are naturally suited for.”

Among Gen Z men church attenders, that number was slightly higher (52 percent), a stark contrast to the 22 percent of Gen Z women who agree with such traditionalist sentiments.

Gen Z male churchgoers are far from moderate on a range of political issues — including belief in the so-called “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Among male churchgoers last year, we found that 47 percent, including 45 percent of Gen Z male churchgoers, agreed that immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background." By contrast, only 19 percent of Gen Z men who do not attend church agreed with the statement.

We also find that Gen Z men who attend church (46 percent) are just as likely as older male churchgoers (48 percent) to be classified as Christian nationalists — those who believe that American government and identity should be closely aligned with a conservative form of Christianity.  

In contrast, only 18 percent of Gen Z men who don’t attend church share these views about the relationship between church and state.

Our findings echo recent research by political scientists Paul Djupe and Brooklyn Walker, who show that young Christian men are trending more reactionary and theologically conservative than both older Christian men and Christian women. 

Of note, they find that younger Christian men who embrace a sense of victimhood — such as believing that the system works against people like them — are significantly more likely to identify as evangelicals than older Christian men or women.

Rather than serving as a moderating influence, the patriarchal Christianity practiced in many conservative churches may appeal to young men whose sense of masculinity feels threatened — a message that closely mirrors the rhetoric of prominent Republican leaders and right-wing social media influencers.

Of course, the jury is still out on whether most Gen Z men will buck the broader secularizing trend in the U.S. and return to church at higher rates than recent trends would predict. 

But if they are increasingly drawn to traditionalist churches, it could create yet another space where young women and men no longer spend time together, further widening what appears to be a growing gender divide across multiple fronts in society and politics.

Melissa Deckman, Ph.D. is CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture and public policy.