The Resurgence in Belief is For Real
It’s not just wishful thinking.
I’ve been thinking we might be experiencing a resurgence — or revival if you must, but this trad Anglican doesn’t do revivals — in belief in the Christian faith, particularly among young men. That is hardly a novel thought, I know.
I’ve seen happy anecdotal evidence for such a resurgence first hand. Two small trad Anglican parishes I attend have experienced a very noticeable increase in twentysomething men attending. That even though one of those parishes might have had zero young men as regulars two or three years ago if my memory is correct. Many readers surely notice other encouraging signs. Certainly Harrison Butker’s jersey selling out as feminists shriek is one of them.
Still one wonders if extrapolating this to something significant on a large scale is wishful thinking. Most of us in small churches that need more people have been fooled by such errant earnestness more than once. Well, thanks to the work of
and others, we can now know it is not just wishful thinking.
First, the “nones”, those who no religious affiliation, have stopped growing in numbers. The percentages have remained about the same for three years now.
Yes, staying in place might not be that exciting. But breaking that out among generations is.
Although as a whole more religious than younger generations, Boomer “none” numbers are still increasing — I don’t know why. But the percentage of nones among Millennials and especially among Gen Z is declining. Granted 42% among both is still high but it is headed in the right direction for a change.
Please go see Burge’s excellent work for more detail. Now, yes, there are still dark clouds. Being not a “none” does not make one a Christian. As noted, any resurgence in faith is uneven across demographics. Young men are likely the bulk of the resurgence; young women likely are not if these numbers from a year ago are an indication.
But even then, the experience of Peachy Keenan is that dating and marrying a trad man can remarkably change the mind of a young woman. And married women are notably less Communist than single women. Of course, that begs the question of whether the trend of prolonged/permanent singleness among women will continue.
But for now, let us be encouraged and seize this crucial moment. More are seeing that life and society sterilized of religion is sterile indeed and even toxic. More are seeing that “none” leads nowhere good. More young, especially men, are open to The Faith. So let us offer to them just that without timid apology or dilution and with practical love.