One does not need to be a scholar to know that the religious landscape of the United States has drastically changed over the last several decades. Houses of worship that once welcomed hundreds, if not thousands, of people a week now sit sparsely filled for the most part. One might reach a conclusion that religion and its institutions are becoming irrelevant, and one could certainly find evidence for that. An article by ABC News reports that the number of nuns in the United States has fallen by 76% and will dip below 1,000 in less than twenty years. Since 2004, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has closed more than seventy parishes, according to the Washington Post. All this points to a continuous decline of religious institutions and their participation. Despite all this, it is just as fair to say that religion will, and even is, experiencing a renewal and resurrection. Our religious landscape will still exist—just differently than it did decades ago.
It was not long ago that traditional houses of worship were typically full of people of all ages for their main weekly services. According to the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape study, even in the year 2007, around 40% of Americans attended a religious service at least once a week. During the course of a whole year, 72% of the population attended a religious service, and 83% of people identified themselves as part of a religious tradition and/or institution. Religion played an important part in the daily lives for the majority of Americans—it determined social circles, political opinions, and it was a core part of American society.
Fast forward to today, and things do not look the same. According to the same Pew Research Center Study, weekly religious participation has fallen to about 25%, and annual participation sits at around half of the population. Even religious identity has declined with only around 69% of Americans declaring a religious affiliation. This decline is even more pronounced amongst youth. In 2007, amongst those aged 18-24, 74% declared a religious affiliation. This is compared to just about 54% today. This steepening decline of religious affiliation and participation would suggest an eventual “death” of religion, or, at least, a point where those who profess spiritual beliefs became a small minority. Articles have circulated citing the death of the Episcopal Church is near, even from religious media such as the outlet Religion In Public. At the same time hundreds of Roman Catholic parishes have closed or merged, and the number of nuns in the United States has fallen by nearly 80%. All this would seem to conclude that we are headed to a future without a belief in God. However, one statistic sheds a “divine light” that this is not the case.
According to the same study by the Pew Research Center, 83% of people believe in God or a Universal Spirit. Even amongst those aged 18-24, 76% believe in God or a Universal Spirit. This provides a breeding ground for a spiritual revival. However, due to a disillusionment in traditional religious institutions, namely the sex abuse scandals and corruption, the revival of spirituality will likely not look like the religious landscape of the 1950s.
Historically, churches have not just been houses of worship, but centers of community. They have served as a means of connecting people to their neighbors, friends, and family. As shown clearly by the percent of people who believe in a God, this spiritual hunger or desire has not disappeared for any generation. But the means in which people satisfy it and seek human connection via their faith has.
Over the past two decades, the number of people identifying as Pagan or part of a “New Age” religion has exploded. According to National Geographic, around 1.5 million Americans identify as Pagan or Wiccan, up from 134,000 in 2001. Gen Z is also a religiously diverse generation, with around 10% of those aged 18-29 identifying as a religion other than Christianity, compared to just 5% of those over the age of 65. Organized groups for “alternative” faiths have sprung up across the United States, existing right alongside traditional faith groups. At Emerson College, ‘Mystic’, a club for Paganism and Divination, exists as another faith expression alongside the Emerson Christian Fellowship.
The diversity of this revival could be attributed to Gen Z’s lack of a religious upbringing. Gen Z and Millennials are the generations that had the lowest percent of members attend a religious service on a weekly basis while growing up. But while this has led to the decline of religious affiliation, it is exactly what can reverse that trend: it creates a pool of people that are exploring unconventional ways of connection. Because these people were not exposed to religion and spirituality as children, it allows space for people to explore every religious/spiritual tradition, not just what their parents and grandparents guided them towards. This breaks away from the mono-religious culture of the 1950s and beyond that was dominated by Christianity.
This is not to say that churches and other traditional religious institutions will not see any sort of renewal in interest—quite the opposite. In the UK, a “Quiet Revival” has been reported, with church attendance amongst Gen Z doubling since 2019. Even the title for the Pew Research Center’s analysis of the 2023 Religious Landscape Study was “The Decline of Christianity in the U.S has slowed, may have halted,” citing that, in many states, the decline of Christianity has stabilized or shown signs of renewed interest amongst younger generations. So while these institutions may no longer be as influential or their members may make up a smaller portion of the population, they will not become obsolete. Churches will continue to play a role in the lives of many Americans and serve as a spiritual and community center for many people, though they will not be the only religious tradition that people identify with.
Additionally, members of religious traditions have used Gen Z’s heightened use of social media as means to evangelize or spread their beliefs. The hashtag “Witchtok” on TikTok has been tagged in nearly ten million videos as people explore more “alternative” expressions of faith and religion. Amongst Christian denominations, Father David Michael Moses, a 31-year old Roman Catholic Priest, has amassed a following of over 1.2 million on Instagram, and Sister Monica Clare, a Nun in The Episcopal Church, has grown a following of over 200,000 on TikTok. These religious groups are meeting Gen Z where they are and exposing them to faiths that they may have not known otherwise. The loneliness epidemic, largely sparked by Covid, coupled with Gen Z’s use of social media and lack of a religious upbringing has essentially provided a breeding ground for many religious traditions to spread their message/beliefs and thus grow their movements.
Empirically, the data shows that there is no substitute for religion and no abandonment of a God. The disillusionment from corruption within traditional churches, coupled with Gen Z’s embrace of multi-culturalism and alternative expressions of faith, will ultimately lead to resurrection or renewal of religion. People will still seek out religious expressions and communities, but it will not be exclusively towards traditional religious institutions. People will always seek spiritual connections, but we are seeing a shift in how and where it is expressed. These shifting demographics may have a growing influence on both social divides and connections across the cultural landscape of the United States.
