Why More Americans Are Seeking Religion

May 12, 2026

42 min episode · 2 min read

Lauren Jackson

Episode

42 min

Read time

2 min

AI-Generated Summary

Published May 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

✓Secularization pause: For the first time in Pew Research history, Americans have stopped leaving churches at the rates seen since the early 1990s, when 90% identified as Christian. That figure dropped to roughly two-thirds over three decades — a loss of approximately 40 million churchgoers — but the non-religious share of the population declined again in 2025, returning to 2014 levels.
✓Gen Z religiosity reversal: Pew data shows 18-to-23-year-olds are now slightly more likely to attend religious services at least once monthly than the cohort just older than them — reversing the long-assumed pattern that each successive generation would be less religious than the last. This is a modest but statistically notable directional shift worth tracking across future surveys.
✓Young men and religion: A Gallup survey recorded a sharp rise in men under 30 who call religion "very important" — jumping from 28% in 2023 to 42% in 2025. This reverses the historical pattern where young women consistently reported higher religiosity than young men, suggesting a demographic realignment that researchers and faith communities should monitor closely.
✓Pandemic as spiritual catalyst: The precise moment secularization leveled off in Pew data aligns with the start of COVID-19. People confronting mortality, losing community structures, and questioning whether work provided sufficient meaning began reassessing religion's "full package" — built-in community, ritual, and existential frameworks — even when returning meant engaging with institutionally flawed organizations.
✓Political disillusionment driving faith: Across the political spectrum, not just the right, people are turning to religion as a counter to ideological toxicity. One subject, a former left-wing atheist public defender, concluded that without a universalistic, transcendent framework grounding shared humanity, political discourse collapses into tribalism — leading him to quietly return to Catholicism after years of open hostility toward the church.

What It Covers

NYT producer Asthaa Chaturvedi and reporter Lauren Jackson examine a measurable shift in American religiosity: after decades of mass church departures, secularization has paused since 2020, with new Pew and Gallup data showing younger generations and men under 30 reconsidering faith, driven by pandemic disruption, isolation, and political disillusionment.

Key Questions Answered

•Secularization pause: For the first time in Pew Research history, Americans have stopped leaving churches at the rates seen since the early 1990s, when 90% identified as Christian. That figure dropped to roughly two-thirds over three decades — a loss of approximately 40 million churchgoers — but the non-religious share of the population declined again in 2025, returning to 2014 levels.
•Gen Z religiosity reversal: Pew data shows 18-to-23-year-olds are now slightly more likely to attend religious services at least once monthly than the cohort just older than them — reversing the long-assumed pattern that each successive generation would be less religious than the last. This is a modest but statistically notable directional shift worth tracking across future surveys.
•Young men and religion: A Gallup survey recorded a sharp rise in men under 30 who call religion "very important" — jumping from 28% in 2023 to 42% in 2025. This reverses the historical pattern where young women consistently reported higher religiosity than young men, suggesting a demographic realignment that researchers and faith communities should monitor closely.
•Pandemic as spiritual catalyst: The precise moment secularization leveled off in Pew data aligns with the start of COVID-19. People confronting mortality, losing community structures, and questioning whether work provided sufficient meaning began reassessing religion's "full package" — built-in community, ritual, and existential frameworks — even when returning meant engaging with institutionally flawed organizations.
•Political disillusionment driving faith: Across the political spectrum, not just the right, people are turning to religion as a counter to ideological toxicity. One subject, a former left-wing atheist public defender, concluded that without a universalistic, transcendent framework grounding shared humanity, political discourse collapses into tribalism — leading him to quietly return to Catholicism after years of open hostility toward the church.

Notable Moment

A lifelong atheist and progressive public defender spent weeks secretly watching Catholic YouTube videos late at night, too embarrassed to tell his wife, before finally emailing his diocese requesting confession — describing his covert religious exploration as a "dirty secret" incompatible with his political identity.

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