Affiliated Christians Drop 8% – Can Climate Change Get Them Back?
The number of Americans identifying as Christian has dropped 8% since 2007, according to Pew Research. The largest proportion of these ‘nones' are found in the droves of Millennials leaving the church, forcing many faith leaders to reevaluate their approach.
In this sink-or-swim moment, MTV news suggested that the steady incline in unaffiliated Americans is a direct result of church failures to address critical social justice issues such as climate change. As I penned earlier this month, Millennials seek religious practices that address issues of substance over those employing gimmicky tactics. While this approach may have filled pews in the past, it simply is not keeping people in them.
To address this issue, ecoAmerica has developed easy to use guides for faith leaders to adopt climate talks in their churches. Checkout our 13-step guide to communicating on climate change and begin your path-to-positive change.
Here’s How Millennials Are Changing Religion In America, According To This Survey
By Loren Diblasi for MTV News
The number of American adults who identify as Christian is dropping, and according to a new survey released Tuesday (May 12), these plummeting percentages have a lot to do with millennials.
In a survey of 35,000 American adults conducted by Pew Research Center, the Christian population currently stands at 70.6%, which is a significant drop from 2007, when it was 78.4%. The survey also found that nearly every branch of Christianity in the United States is losing members steadily.
While young people aren’t entirely to blame for the drop, it’s clear that their participation — or lack thereof — makes a huge difference when it comes to organized faith. According to Pew, over one-third of millennials now say they are unaffiliated with any religion.
Obviously, religion is not being passed down from generation to generation — at least, not in the same way it has been. While 85% of people born from 1928-1945 identify as Christians, only 56% of people born from 1990-1996 do the same. That means our grandparents, while religious themselves, are less successful at passing down their beliefs as their parents were, and their parents before them. Despite this, Pew found that eight in ten millennials were raised in religious homes.
So what’s the story here? Are millennials truly abandoning religion? Or could it be the religious values of our parents and grandparents simply aren’t aligning with the values of our generation?