The U.S. general public has become less religious in recent years, but the Millennials are even less religious than the general public. These Pew surveys found that millennials (people born from 1981 to 1996) are much less likely to consider religion a big part of their lives.
In the 80s, only about 13 percent of U.S. adults claimed to have doubts about God and religion. A survey in 2014 found 30 percent of adults had doubts about religion. Many Millennials still believe in the afterlife and some kind of “higher power.” We younger folks just take more of a “do-it-yourself” approach to religion. Many of us are not religious at all.
When the Bible-thumping doesn’t work to engage voters, what will the Republicans do?
Gasp! They might actually have to use real issues to get millennial voters. Many of us grew up watching the Republicans yell about executing gay people and hearing hate speech towards non-white, non-cis people. All of this rhetoric in the name of “Christianity” is a major turn-off for us. It makes many people not want to join organized religion.
Anyone who has seen Republicans speak can see that the GOP wants to turn us into a Christian theocracy. Traditional religions are all about conformity with the absence of critical thought, and those of us born in the 80s and 90s are not having that.
Our generation has had a lot more access to information with the rise of the Internet. One study by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor from San Diego State University found that religion and science are not compatible; which is making it harder for indoctrination to stick.
Republicans are going to need to ACTUALLY practice the separation of church and state. Twenge states:
“These trends are part of a larger cultural context, a context that is often missing in polls about religion. One context is rising individualism in U.S. culture.
“Individualism puts the self first, which doesn’t always fit well with the commitment to the institution and other people that religion often requires. As Americans become more individualistic, it makes sense that fewer would commit to religion.”
Featured image by Victoria Hahn via flickr.com, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.
