The Whatever Happened to Religion Episode

Women are often the ones who introduce kids to religion and either keep them in the loop or, exhausted give up the fight. Times are changing...again. Here's where we are and may be going.

Boomers were often brought up in a religion, and many still belong today to that religion or another. But starting with Gen X and accelerating with Millennials, things changed…dramatically. I’ve been there: My own two Millennial sons dug in their heels after I dragged them through their First Communion kicking and screaming, and neither looked back for three decades. Then something changed for one, who is now evangelical, and it’s hard to not see that his congregation has made a huge difference in his life. The other is unabashedly agnostic flirting with atheist. While only an N of 2, they represent much of the nation right now, and many Millennials in particular.

Generations theory says when the country is where we are right now in history—the utter chaos of a Fourth Turning¹ —the need for community reemerges. In fact, it’s likely much of our current polarization is due to two very different communities seeking and reinforcing each other. We’ll be publishing more soon on what that may look like for women in particular, but one sign of that search for community may be showing up in religions. After a long period of decline, and particularly after the isolation and resulting loneliness of the pandemic, there are new hints the US decline in Christianity may finally be levelling off.