The latest survey of the American Worldview Inventory from Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center found 43 percent of millennials born between 1984 and 2002 said they “don’t know, care, or believe that God exists.” Only 57 percent said they were Christian.
Researchers found that belief declined between generations. Eighty-three percent of those in the Silent Generation (born 1927-1945), 79 percent of baby boomers (born 1946-1964), and 70 percent of Generation Xers (born 1965-1983) identified as Christian. Thirty-one percent, 28 percent, and 27 percent respectively said they “don’t know, care, or believe that God exists.”
Those who believed “you treat others as you want them to treat you” also rose with age, with 90 percent of those in the Silent Generation in agreement, 81 percent among baby boomers, 53 percent of Gen Xers, and 48 percent of millennials.
Those who said “you try to get even with people who have wronged you,” on the other hand, declined among older generations, with 38 percent of millennials, 33 percent of Gen Xers, 12 percent of baby boomers, and 10 percent of the Silent Generation in alignment.
The 2021 survey was conducted by interviewing 2,000 adults with a +/- 2 percent margin of error.
The report, released earlier this month, underscores the declining importance of religious faith in American life, as highlighted in pandemic reopenings when politicians prioritized restaurants and tattoo parlors over houses of worship. One church in Nevada, which opted to worship in an open casino while their own building was shut down, was even fined for holding services. Drive-in churchgoers to an Easter service in Louisville were threatened with criminal penalties last year.
