Many studies have examined America’s declining religious adherence. Generation Z, usually defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, has become the least religious group in the country. Some research puts the “nones,” those without religious affiliation, as high as nearly 50% among Gen Z.
A new study complicates this picture and points to broader possibilities and problems. A survey from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty shows in Gen Z an openness to religious faith coupled with distrust and even animosity toward religious institutions. This cohort is supportive of individual religious expression and action while showing greater opposition to legal protections for religious employers or other entities to hire and otherwise act in conformity with their faith. Gen Z even seems more open to faith for themselves, as the “nones” do not tend to be atheists or even agnostics — just persons who do not affiliate with a particular religious tradition.
This personal belief, mixed with institutional aversion, extends beyond religion to most of our society. In politics, we see a passion to pursue political principles among young people. Some evidence even points to a greater willingness among them to engage in the public sphere professionally compared to their millennial and even older counterparts. At the same time, we see widespread distrust and anger toward political parties, Congress, governmental agencies, and the courts.
On the religious and political fronts, the maligned institutions have, to some degree, earned distrust and even disdain. Abuse scandals, policy failures, and organizational haplessness all have contributed to the perception that these institutions offer little benefit — instead acting to inhibit, if not outright oppose, the goods we all should seek.
However, the critique of how our institutions tend to operate now should not translate into a rejection of institutions as a whole. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his insightful work Democracy in America, noted that the concept of equality (and popular government derived from equality) faced the temptation of undermining human community. Persons might feel community questioned their equality, as it might involve structures of decision-making that limited individual autonomy. Tocqueville noted that America had admirably mitigated against this tendency not by denying human equality but by creating associations and institutions that kept persons working together toward the good while respecting the dignity of all involved.
Associations of all kinds, including religious and political ones, were pervasive in the 1830s America that Tocqueville observed. They helped members exercise power and influence well beyond what any one person could in a large country based on popular rule. They provided the formal instruction and informal mentorship necessary to educate believers and citizens in the doctrines and principles that defined religion and nationhood. They created the communities wherein people could fulfill a basic need for friendship and belonging. Moreover, America’s institutions set up a structure of protection and support for those struggling spiritually, financially, and physically, whether through churches caring for the needy or a social safety net established by law.
A significant portion of our political frustration and ineptitude comes from trying to work apart from (or even against) institutions. Rather, we should be about reforming them to again act as proper means for conducting our communal lives toward common goods. People feel more futile and isolated, shorn of the structures that facilitate the religious and civic friendships and the support systems they provide.
There is hope. Gen Z shows an openness to religious faith and to civic participation that, in many ways, improves upon past generations. They are searching and sense that they need God and should pursue public goods. What they need, what we all need, is to find again the proper means to these worthy, necessary pursuits.
We must re-found healthy institutions in the religious and political spheres. Corruption must be cut out, at least as much as humanly possible. Clear missions and wise procedures to protect persons and help them flourish must be implemented, too. Such work, if successful, would go a good way toward healing our societal loneliness and our collective (but separated) frustration.
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Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.