Why is Gen Z getting more religious? We asked them.
A parishioner prays during a visit to the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on May 8, 2025, after learning that Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago, had been named as first American leader of the Catholic Church.A couple weeks ago, I did something I try to do at least once a month: I went to the church I'm a member of in person instead of online.
Growing up, church was a regular part of my life, and not just on Sundays. My father is a pastor, so it was common to spend a weekday evening doing my homework in my dad's office, music from choir rehearsal pouring in as I finished whatever worksheet was due the next day. It's an institution that shaped me: It's where I made a lot of friends, it gave me my first taste of public speaking, and since pastors in my denomination are moved from church to church, it also determined what city I lived in and where I went to school.
When I was a kid, attendance was obviously less in my control. If I didn't go to church on Sunday, that meant no hanging with friends the following week. 'If you can't make time for the Lord, how can you make time for something else?' was my mother's refrain.
The choice is mine now. I enjoy hearing the songs that were the soundtrack for so much of my childhood. I like saying hello to the people I see week after week. I like the Black liberation theology interpretation of the Bible that I hear every Sunday.
And my experience, it turns out, is not unique. As we discussed in the most recent episode of Explain It to Me, Vox's call-in podcast, Gen Z has been finding religion these last few years. It's a phenomenon that reverses some recent trends — and one for which experts are trying to find an explanation.
The changing face of religion in America
It's a development that Ryan Burge has been keeping his eye on. He was a Baptist pastor for 20 years, and now he's an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University.
Burge stepped away from ministry because the attendance in his church was declining: Members were aging, and there weren't a lot of young people to keep it alive.
'It's almost like every year, you expect [the share of Christians in the country] to be one point lower than the prior year, or two points lower than the prior year,' Burge told me. 'Every generation is less Christian than the prior generation, going all the way back to the early 1900s. And what's fascinating is that the drop is very consistent.'
According to Burge, Catholicism is seeing a huge rise in young men.
Now, though, Burge says that not only is that decline tapering off, but 'on some metrics, this data says that young people are actually more likely to be weekly religious attenders than millennials are. This is huge — we've never seen that before. We always assumed religion's going to continue to decline, and it doesn't look like that decline is continuing.'
When we asked Explain It to Me listeners about their own experiences with spirituality, we got a wide array of responses.
'I did not grow up going to church. My family never went to church when I was younger, but I always had questions and felt like something bigger was out there,' one listener told us. 'So as soon as I could drive myself, I went to church and started looking for those answers.'
Another — a self-described 'cradle Catholic' who has made her way back to religion — called in to say that, 'I understand why a lot of young people are actually going back to religion. It's because there's no other place to turn to in order to see what's wrong with life.'
Why is religion making a comeback?
So what's behind this uptick? The hypotheses are legion.
'To be a young person is to rebel against your parents,' Burge says. 'In my generation it was like, 'Oh, I grew up very hardcore Catholic or evangelical and so I became an atheist.' That was the most rebellious thing you can do. But imagine if you are a second-generation atheist or third-generation atheist. You know what the most rebellious thing you can do? It's to be Orthodox Christian or be Catholic.'
Gender could also be at play. Through the years, more women have been regular church attendees than men, but we're not seeing that with Gen Z. According to Burge, Catholicism is seeing a huge rise in young men. 'I wonder if politics might be driving this religious divide among young people. Women had Time's Up and Me Too. … I think a lot of men feel like they're being overlooked. And if you go to a Catholic church, it's one of the few places in society where men have a privileged position in that hierarchy.'
That's a sentiment that was echoed recently during a young adult group at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in San Francisco. In the group, men outnumber women. Father Patrick Verney, who runs the group, acknowledges the shift.
'This is very different from how it's always been in the past. In the past it's always been more women than men,' he said. 'This particular trend that you're talking about is unique in the history of humanity in a certain respect, certainly in the history of Christianity.'
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San Francisco Chronicle
38 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
California's newest invaders are beautiful swans. Should hunters kill them?
On an early August morning, it didn't take long to spot the first pair of huge white swans with orange and black bills and graceful, curving necks as they swam in the marsh along the side of a Solano County levee road. They dabbled in the vegetation as a pickup drove through the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area. A short drive later, past a herd of a dozen tule elk, two more swans appeared in the marsh alongside the dirt road. Then four more. A few hundred yards down the road, out in the distance past a thicket of swaying reeds, dozens of swans swam in the water. For casual bird watchers, the sight of all these majestic animals might be a pleasure and bring to mind swan-themed works of literature, such as 'Leda and the Swan' and 'The Ugly Duckling.' 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New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Are Black Mothers Ruining Their Boys?
I am my mother's oldest son. I love who I am today, and despite many issues, she shaped me. My father was gone for goodcby the time I was 10. Even when he was around, he only taught me what I didn't want to be. I love Black mothers, and what I'm bringing up here is a discussion, not a critique. Over years of observations and recent conversations, I've noticed a pattern. Some people may be familiar with the cliche: Black mothers raise their daughters and love their sons. I hadn't heard it before, but I immediately understood it when I did. Several women in my life believe their mothers favor their brothers. The girls were expected to achieve more academically, have more chores, and be more independent. The boys are coddled in a way the girls are not afforded. This isn't just some bias specific to these women. I've seen it with my own eyes. One woman, although the youngest child, was expected to cook, clean, and iron her mother's clothes while her brothers played video games. I remember her telling me that for Christmas, she received a pack of Oreo cookies while her brothers received something more substantial. Even as an adult, she is expected to solve every family problem. I've also seen this in the classroom when teaching siblings. Although this isn't always the case, I'm much more likely to see a mother struggle to believe her son is doing something 'bad'. 'Not my baby!' is a phrase I've heard from many mothers almost exclusively when I'm calling about their sons. I recently received a video in which a man argued that Black mothers were ruining their sons because they loved on them too much for too long. He argued they are raising boys, not men, and went on to say the mothers wouldn't even date the type of man they are raising. Love is a good thing. It is a crucial thing, but everything in moderation. Love your son, but don't hide him from the real world. Make him work. Allow him to fail. Have the same expectations for success you would have for your daughter. Research shows it is possible to love your children too much. A bit of frustration and struggle in childhood creates adults who are better able to navigate the real world. When kids are overly protected, they struggle on deciding career paths and relationships. Depression, anxiety, and emptiness are all common symptoms. The brother of the woman mentioned earlier is going through this right now. He is 40 years old, living at home, depressed, angry, and with no hope for the future. His sister is independent, career-driven, and financially successful. Is the cliche true? I acknowledge my bubble, and even within that, there are exceptions to the rule. If reading this, I would love to know your experiences, but I did decide to do a bit of research before throwing out my observation. A 2010 study broached this topic. They took 1500 kids with Black mothers, and the results show there are some significant differences between sons and daughters, especially if we ignore boys who are born first. Boys who are born first and girls end up with similar results, but boys who are born later stand out. 'The results showed that later-born boys had fewer chores, argued more with their mothers, lived in less cognitively stimulating homes, and were not allowed to make the same decisions as were the girls or firstborn boys at the same age. The later-born boys were also lowest in achievement and highest in externalizing behaviors.' -source Although again we are working with a smaller sample size, it does suggest there is some truth to the idea that 'boys are being loved too much.' But why do mothers favor their sons? There isn't an easy answer to any of this, but I've found a common thread in my personal bubble and online. There seems to be an attempt to shield these boys from a harsh, racist world. Some people argue Black men have it harder, especially when we look at the prison system. Police brutality is a rampant problem for everyone, but Black people, and especially Black men, are disproportionately the victims. The justice system was built to criminalize and punish Black men to the extreme. From this angle, it isn't hard to see why a mother would want to shield her son from that world. The way a mother perceives the world likely impacts how she treats her son, but the way she perceives Black men will likely have just as much impact. Centuries of propaganda and perhaps personal experiences may teach Black women to believe Black men can't succeed. They are going to end up in a gang, or jail, etc. Why push him to succeed if he can't succeed? One study shows Black mothers have lower expectations for their sons and believe them to be less academically competent. This study consisted of 334 African American mothers from diverse backgrounds. Some were married, some were from urban areas, etc. This supports what I generally see in the classroom. On average, Black mothers are more likely to push their sons when they are athletes. In relation to this mindset, mothers push their daughters so hard because of the same belief, men will fail you. Black women have to be successful, independent, and educated to conquer the world. Men raised by those same parents enter the world with only the goal of surviving and staying out of trouble. Sadly, in many situations, this mindset hurts everyone. Once they grow up, many of these successful daughters are expected to raise these sons, who were never raised by their mothers. Despite my claims here, every situation is different. This isn't an indictment on how anyone is raising their children. I also need to point out while doing research, I saw some pretty negative comments, especially toward Black women. I'm relatively certain those people just look for any reason to attack Black women because the comments didn't relate to the actual topic. To be clear, this is about Black people, and people in general, as a whole. I encourage people to join the conversation, but please keep your unrelated hatred to yourself. Motherhood is hard. They are expected to be perfect and receive most of the blame whenever something goes wrong. In comparison, fathers are rewarded for doing the bare minimum. (Have you ever seen a father go to the grocery store with the kids?) Mothers usually do the best they can with the tools they receive. I doubt any mother is consciously favoring their sons, especially if they understand how it may impact them in adulthood. Hopefully, this works as another tool, something to consider while navigating the most difficult job in the world. This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium. 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