On practically every Saturday morning growing up, I would tuck in my shirt and walk to the synagogue for Sabbath services. While there were certainly times that I wanted to sleep in or just do something different altogether, this was a tradition, and attendance was expected. Over the years, not only did I learn about the Bible, Jewish history, and engage with moral and philosophical questions that shaped my views today, I became part of a diverse and supportive community. In this congregation we celebrated and mourned together, face-to-face. I still feel the impact of these connections, for they have helped anchor me in this tenuous moment of intense anti-Semitism that Jews have had to confront globally over the past six months. Because I was part of a religious group and attended services as a child, I feel deeply connected to so many others in the Jewish world today and I have never felt alone.
I share this story for, as the nation deals with a loneliness epidemic and many concerns surrounding social media and its impact on mental health, the severe decline of religion over the past few decades has come into focus. The absence of religious institutions may be a significant factor behind many of these larger social problems. A recent Atlantic article notes that the nation has seen a rapid, large decline in church attendance for most faiths, with membership in houses of worship falling below a majority for the first time on record in 2021. Moreover, a record 28 percent of adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular.”
There is a strong correlation between religious service attendance and face-to-face socialization, with The Atlantic noting that, “Young people, who are fleeing religion faster than older Americans, have also seen the largest decline in socializing.” There is also voluminous research showing that the religiously unaffiliated have lower rates of volunteerism, are less likely to feel satisfied with their community and social life, and are more likely to say they feel lonely. Crucially, the article asks, “Did the decline of religion cut some people off from a crucial gateway to civic engagement, or is religion just one part of a broader retreat from associations and memberships in America?”
While the answer is not entirely clear, the strong connection between religion and social connectedness is certainly not new—Durkheim and many others have been writing about this relationship for over a century.
Younger generations, however, are not exclusively responsible for the decline in faith; we have to look at their parents. We should not hold these younger Americans fully accountable for rejecting or being disinterested in religion and traditional expressions of faith.
Parents shape their children; through their direct interaction with their children, their norms, and communities, parents are responsible for socializing their children and helping shape their norms and choosing communities for them. For me, going to religious services was not a choice; it was expected that I go and I developed a love of faith and many relationships accordingly. Therefore, if parents are no longer attending services with their children and neglecting religious communities, it would be reasonable that Gen Z no longer associates with religion and feels little connection to faith.
Data from the Survey Center on American Life shows just how powerful the decline in faith is between the generations. Roughly 71 percent of Baby Boomers reported regularly attending religious services in their teens. Each subsequent generation reported attending religious services less often in their teens. About 64 percent of Gen X, 58 percent of Millennials, and 53 percent of Gen Z reported attending religious services during at least some of their teen years, or more often. Faith has been in decline for generations of Americans. Just eight percent of those in the Silent Generation self-identified as “nothing in particular.” Almost 20 percent of Gen Z could say the same.
Among those who regularly attended religious services in their teen years, 16 percent now identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular. Across each generation, the share of those no longer tied to a faith community has increased. About 12 percent of Baby Boomers, 13 percent of Gen X, 21 percent of Millennials, and 18 percent of Gen Z report being atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular. Americans in faith communities are diminishing and showing little sign of recuperation.
In addition to taking steps to revitalize religious practice, we need to be asking why so many older generations decided to abandon the faith and the communities that they had when they were raising their children. They had real communities but did not pass these institutional gifts along to future generations. There are clear benefits to civil society and the social sphere, and those benefits are desperately needed today.
