Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.
Well, Gen Z is the least religious cohort in American history. 43% of this generation that was born roughly between 1996 and 2012 identify as religious nuns. While there have been many reports since Charlie Kirk's assassination that indicate increased interest in religion and increased church attendance, According to statistician Ryan Burge, there's not yet statistical evidence of religious revival. among young people. There is, however, ample evidence that Zoomers are looking for meaning and willing to reconsider religion.
Specifically, though these trends may not be yet large enough to be captured in statistics, there seems to be a growing interest in more rigorous forms of faith. In a recent article in Tablet magazine, Ani Wilchinski, a Zoomer herself, explained the phenomenon. While acknowledging that Gen Z is less religious than previous generations, Wolchinsky researched those that were bucking the trend, including converts to Islam, Jews becoming more observant, Latin Mass Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and others who had been joining stricter, more traditional religious groups. According to Wilchinsky, Gen Z has been raised with, and I quote, the illusion of infinite horizons. They grew up, quoting again, without sturdy institutions or fulfilling rites of passage.
As a result, for this generation, everything career, identity, relationships unfolds as a series of self-directed experiments, something that has been labeled liquid modernity.
Sociologist Sigmund Baumann coined that phrase to describe the experience of life as unstable and nonpermanent, without fixed distinctions, and with no foundations for cultivating identity. The experience of liquid modernity is why, Wilchinski thinks, the ideological capture of Gen Z has been so comprehensive. For example, nearly one quarter of that generation identifies as LGBTQ. That's up nearly twenty points from previous ones. Ideology gives the illusion of a solid cause.
It offers a replacement purpose for life, where otherwise there is none.
Now, of course, that's the role that religion traditionally played in Western culture. As Wolchinski noted in her article, the draw of religion is that it provides a firm source of virtue and belonging, focus, and a sense of permanence. That's what the Zoomers, who are exploring more demanding forms of faith of all kinds, are most likely seeking. As Wilchinsky put it, and I quote, these faiths don't adapt to the age. They expect the age to conform to them.
Their rituals inconvenience. Their authorities override preference. Their truths don't negotiate. In a society allergic to absolutes, that refusal to dilute themselves holds a powerful magnetism. End quote.
As an example, Wilchinsky quotes the explanation a 23-year-old woman gave to Plow magazine. About her decision to join a Carmelite monastery. I figured if I was going to do something crazy for our Lord, she said, I might as well go all in. Like Welchinsky, the Plow article also noted how young women especially who join strict religious orders are simply looking to commit themselves to something stable and permanent. In other words, according to Wilchinsky, when the Gen Z who are turning to religion offer their reasons why, They, and I quote, sound more like escapes from modern chaos than declarations of faith.
The newfound religiosity is less about belief than it is about orienting life around something ultimate, something greater than the self. But that, of course, also leaves them quite vulnerable to falsehoods. Remember, Welchinsky not only researched conversions to Christianity, but also to conservative forms of Judaism, even Islam. The desire to escape liquid modernity will say nothing about the genuineness of the faith that will follow. The same motivation can also explain the growing number of young men embracing political extremism from Antifa to white nationalism.
It's long been the case that laxer forms of religion have declined while more demanding forms have grown or at least declined more slowly. And that divide within this segment of Gen Z is more pronounced than ever. This group will not be interested in churches that accommodate themselves to American culture. The seeker-sensitive model will not work. And by the way, it probably never has.
The church has to be countercultural. It has to be unapologetic about even the weird things that we believe. We have to be unafraid to ask for serious commitment from people looking to follow Christ. It needs to explore the depths of the gospel. how the gospel explains all of life and its meaning, and the hard truths that it proclaims about the human condition.
rather than only offer shallow therapeutic or pragmatic applications of it. A church that offers that kind of depth will not only be able to counter the destructive ideologies that are vying for all generations today, They'll also be able to offer the meaning and stability to a generation that is looking for both. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine, and a special thank you to Joanne of Minneapolis for being a Cornerstone Monthly partner of the Colson Center.
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