THE MEETING houses of the First Church in Cambridge, founded by Puritans, have been around for 400 years. George Washington worshipped in one; the Massachusetts Constitution was debated in another. Like other venerable churches in America its pews have thinned out as religiosity has declined.
On a cold New England morning last Sunday young congregants at First Church told your correspondent that few of their friends are religious. But recent data shows they are part of a pause in trend. The share of Americans who identify as religious has levelled off, and this faith resilience has a surprising source: Gen Z.
In 1972 some 90% of Americans said they were Christian, compared to a mere 5% saying they had no religious affiliation (researchers call them “the Nones”). By 2021 the Nones had swelled to 29%, a rise that was mostly consistent across lines of race, sex, income and education. On average, each successive birth cohort has been 10% less Christian than its predecessors.
But new data from the Pew Research Centre shows that Gen Z is about as religious as older peers. If Americans born between 2000 and 2006—a cohort at the heart of Gen Z—followed their predecessors, about 41% would identify as Christian. Instead Pew’s data shows that 46% do.
Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z reports feeling lonely. Having just emerged from a service at First Church in Cambridge, 20-year-old Julia LaGrand says that she takes comfort in the fact that while friends may come and go “people in church don’t get to reject you.” For some of this isolated generation, church offers solace. ■
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