Surprising Statistics About Gen Z’s Religious Views

Generation Z is the least religious generation in history… Right? Not exactly. Dr. Ryan Burge and ISPOS have put together statistics on different generations and their religious views and they’re a huge surprise. Boomers are more religious than Gen Z in America, but less religious in Europe. The future of religion worldwide seems to be no religion and Islam.

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[ohrobert]

If you're raised as a religious minority, your faith is less about personal belief and more about ethnic identity. This accounts for Catholic kids in protestant countries and vice versa and muslim kids in western countries. More people are identifying as religious while having no supernatural beliefs. 😮

[Orangelover-yogn]

I’m a member of gen Z who just turned 19. Maybe I can elucidate to some people why we feel such a push for agnosticism and atheism in our generation. One of the core reasons people around me relate poorly to religion is the religious fundamentalist adherence to restrictive political ideology. It’s no secret that progressivism is the political staple of gen z, so as people recognize the political beliefs associated with religion, such as anti lgbt efforts, beliefs that women are inferior or belong in the home to serve men, or even Christian nationalism that threatens the core beliefs of our nation- freedom of religion and tolerance. Gen Z pushing for more progressive political beliefs leads them to deconstruct religion in the process. Additionally, growing up in the modern world, we recognize that people can be moral and do good for society without religion, so it’s no longer seen as necessary. It also appears that society is most improved through technological innovation and equitable economic practices, not by adherence to any religion. Sorry for the long comment. Thanks for reading if you made it this far lol

[decoboco]

Speaking to the Japan thing, another thing to consider is how casual religion is in Japan. Japanese people basically “assume” a baseline version of Shinto and buddhism that takes them to shrines or temples a few times each year or maybe even once a month, but when asked, they’ll say they aren’t religious.
To a Japanese person, the question “Are you a practitioner of Buddhism?” would likely be interpreted as “Are you a monk/nun?”, hence the big generational gap.

[dustinarand]

The jump in Sweden is almost entirely from Muslim refugees.

[brianh]

I have some Muslim friends who I have had some frank conversations with (but only when they were by themselves). The biggest reason they have stated for not leaving Islam (even though they have no personal belief) is that doing so would result in being declared apostate. They would lose their community, family, and cultural connections. The cost is just too high. So you won't hear them, even on a survey, saying that they aren't Muslim. For that matter, it took years before these particular friends (3 of them) trusted me enough to reveal what they thought. They do NOT ever reveal themselves lightly. Some person doing a survey isn't going to hear the truth from them, even if the survey is supposedly anonymous. There is a genuine fear of being revealed or betrayed.

[uroborous]

In India, I believe it's a combination of two things. 1) Rise in hindu nationalism - this is more a political move. People feel the need to decenter themselves from the west and take more pride in indian history, tradition - which is also associated with reclaiming Hinduism in their lives.

2) Many are closer to being agnostic than atheistic, but just say hindu since that is the faith practiced at home, and there is room for agnostic beliefs in hindu faith.

[le]

I suspect the lack of data from countries in the Middle East and Africa as well as certain large majority-Muslim countries has to do with the fact that it’s probably difficult to ask such questions and it’s even more difficult to get honest answers from people, especially in countries where people don’t feel safe saying they’re non-religious. As for the young Muslims skewing data in some countries, I’d say wait until they’re in their 30s. It can also be related to the fact that many immigrants face discrimination and that makes them hold on tightly to their traditions and cultures.

[ptertrk]

hey — turkish person here — you’re totally right about the government being waaaayy more secular back then, , than nowadays .

[jeremygregorio]

There's a large streak of Hindu nationalism going on in India right now. It's probably not religious it's probably political

[neonglobe]

I am also Gen Z and one trend I’ve noticed, at least in the West, is that how a lot of my generation views religion as a political identity and uses the people who practice it as a tool to further their own agendas. The discourse about religion amongst Gen Z in the West is often less about the belief in God and more about the social and political implications of religious values as well as geographical and historical developments a religion has been involved in. Take Islam for example. There are some Gen Z who convert to Islam because of the beliefs they have about women, family, lgbtq, and gender roles. Meanwhile there are a lot of Gen Z who support Islam (even though they themselves are usually agnostic or Christian) because they view Islamic people as oppressed by the West and needing help. On the other hand there are people who hate Islam because of the negative relations the West has had with majority Muslim countries. I think this trend is not just a Gen Z trend, but most of us started to become aware of politics during the Trump era and beyond where religion became more about politics and social issues than a belief in God or gods. So in turn, most of us probably take a different approach to religion than the generations before us when they were our age. I understand that religion in politics are intrinsically linked but I feel like nowadays religious conflict in the west is not necessarily about who God is or what he does or how we should worship him, but more about the cultural values and histories of the people that believe in said God. And I think this is just a product of increased globalization and individualism.

[fepeerreview]

9:10 Sweden has had possibly the largest (by percentage) influx of muslim immigration, and largely of a younger age group. So this is bound to push the Gen Z muslim numbers up.

[HaleyMary]

That is really disturbing that Gen Z lose respect for those who don't have a religious faith. As a millennial, I may not understand why my dad, my aunt and my friends choose atheism over identifying with a religious faith, but I wouldn't lose respect for them. I care more about how people treat others more so than what religion/faith/lack of faith they hold.

[blackmage]

I went from Christian, to deist in high school, then came to fully identify as atheist in college. Education is usually a gateway for critical thinking, skepticism, and secularism. The majority of Zoomers are not college graduates. I predict the statistics will shift further towards secularism over time for Zoomers. At the very least, there may be a a shift towards more spiritualism and less establishment religion.

[haudace]

This is not surprising. I always thought it was a problem that western skepticism or secularism movements focused too strongly on Christianity. We are all still susceptible to other types of superstition.

Is it immigration alone? I am not so sure this is the only driving factor.

[inappropriatejohnson]

Boomer been to a church service since 1963. Ahead of the curve I am.

[xiaomin]

As a muslim convert from Hungary I have noticed something interesting. So I'm a university student and obviously my uni is very diverse so I meet lots of people from lots of different countries.

The muslims from muslim majority countries like Morocco. Algeria, Egypt etc. they tend to be way less religious than converts or people whom were born into muslim families in non-muslim majority countries. And they have also way less knowledge about Islam than converts even tho they get Islamic education in school. Also these people who come from muslim majority countries tend to abandon their faith very quickly once they come to the west, they start drinking, doing drugs, going to parties etc. These are the people whom were "muslims" out of family tradition. And the most interesting country is Iran. I have NEVER in my life seen a muslim person from Iran, they are all atheist even tho their government makes it look like the country majority is muslim.

And this is exactly the reason why I hate when someone identifies as a muslim while they are going totally against their faith. It is very dangerous to do so, as people tend to judge billions of people because of one individual.

[fendicat]

Im an athiest from Iran living in the west, and I find it so insanely fascinating that other GenZers with a Muslim background who are born or have grown up in the west are "reclaiming" Islam. A lot of times their families are not too strict on religion, only vaguely raising them with Muslim values. I genuinely think its because 1) the reactionary ideals pushed online about Islam being "a religion of peace" and "the first feminist literature" and 2) because they don't face the genuine pressures and hardships of growing up in a Muslim country, only cherry-picking parts of the quran and the faith that is promoted to them and appeals to their ideals

[xnoname]

As a Gen Z Asian non-muslim. I would do anything to escape from religious and cultural oppression, especially as a woman. It’s a very scary and lonely journey.

[internettevarolanadam]

In Turkey secular and less religious people radicalized for different reasons in the past 50 years. Living a "sinful" life then becoming religious is a common story from what I heard. For the past 20 years it became more and more dangerous and socially costly to speak against religion. This radicalized religious people raised their kids with unchallenged beliefs causing offshoot cults to go rampant and feed the cycle. Nowadays non-religous people are either move abroad or stay quite to not get in trouble. Religous or otherwise gen z's future is not looking so good imo.

[lolno-zivc]

I also have a feeling that the increase in Islam, at least in my country of the UK, might be because you're not allowed to criticize aspects of the religion without someone either calling you an islamophobe or a racist who is insensitive to other cultures. Plus it's easy to be a more extremist religious person when you feel like the rest of society is against you.