Gen Z: More Women Than Men Are Religiously Unaffiliated

[Michie]

According to a recent survey, an increased percentage of young women have left their churches and identify as religiously unaffiliated.

The survey, released by the The Survey Center on American Life last week, featured a national representative sample of 5,459 American adults in 2023 and examined their views on religion. When compared to older generations, a majority of Gen Z women (57 percent) were found to have disaffiliated from an organized religion.

Meanwhile, men who have left organized religion were seen among baby boomers (57 percent), Generation X (55 percent) and millennials (53 percent), The Christian Postreported.

According to the research, young women’s skepticism about religion primarily deals with the belief that a majority of churches do not “treat men and women equally.” For instance, 65 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 19 believe that churches treat men and women unequally, a belief also held by women between the ages of 30 and 49 (64 percent), women between the ages of 50 and 64 (57 percent), and women aged 65 and older (53 percent).

When men were asked whether churches treated men and women unequally, 55 percent of men between the ages of 30 and 49 answered in the affirmative, as well as 55 percent of men between the ages of 18 and 29, 49 percent of men between the ages of 50 to 64, and 51 percent of men aged 65 and older.

Although Gen Z is the first generation in which a higher percentage of women have left organized religion than men, it is also the first generation in which a larger percentage of women (39 percent) identify as religiously unaffiliated than their male counterparts (34 percent).

Continued below.

Gen Z: More Women Than Men Are Religiously Unaffiliated

According to a recent survey, an increased percentage of young women have left their churches and identify as religiously unaffiliated.

www.crosswalk.com

 

[FireDragon76]

I suspect alot of these young women haven't encountered Mainline Protestant churches, and are just going off media portrayals of churches, which often focus on Catholic or Baptist churches that don't ordain women.

Also, some influencers might have made religion seem more appealing to young men looking for guidance or direction in life. Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Paul Vanderklay come to mind. Something similar hasn't really happened for women.

 

[JustaPewFiller]

I suspect alot of these young women haven't encountered Mainline Protestant churches, and are just going off media portrayals of churches, which often focus on Catholic or Baptist churches that don't ordain women.

Also, some influencers might have made religion seem more appealing to young men looking for guidance or direction in life. Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Paul Vanderklay come to mind. Something similar hasn't really happened for women.

Even if the they have, it still can vary from church to church.

For example, the recent controversy around women pastors in the SBC churches and the expelling of some churches with women in a pastoral role. Even within the same denomination, what women are allowed to do in a church can range from being limited to cooking, cleaning, nursery / children, decorating, book keeping, women's Sunday school all the way to much more visible and broader ministry roles depending on which church they attend.

I will admit, I'm most familiar with Baptist churches where "complementarian" often translates to women being limited to cooking, cleaning, book keeping, decorating, nursery, etc. I've also heard women express how they sometimes feel stifled and made to feel inferior by this. I've also witnessed some men exhibit a clear "air of superiority" in their words and actions towards the women in these churches. But, as I said, it can vary from church to church.

The condensed version of my above rambling would be - depending on the church the young ladies visited they may very well have a valid point.

 

[Grafted In]

Yet right alongside all of this abides the Church. Hiding in plain sight.

 

[FireDragon76]

Even if the they have, it still can vary from church to church.

For example, the recent controversy around women pastors in the SBC churches and the expelling of some churches with women in a pastoral role. Even within the same denomination, what women are allowed to do in a church can range from being limited to cooking, cleaning, nursery / children, decorating, book keeping, women's Sunday school all the way to much more visible and broader ministry roles depending on which church they attend.

I will admit, I'm most familiar with Baptist churches where "complementarian" often translates to women being limited to cooking, cleaning, book keeping, decorating, nursery, etc. I've also heard women express how they sometimes feel stifled and made to feel inferior by this. I've also witnessed some men exhibit a clear "air of superiority" in their words and actions towards the women in these churches. But, as I said, it can vary from church to church.

The condensed version of my above rambling would be - depending on the church the young ladies visited they may very well have a valid point.

Southern Baptists are just one denomination, albeit a large one. There are alot of churches out there where women participate fully in both church governance and the pastoral ministry, like the Methodists or Presbyterians.