Religion plays a considerable role in American society, whether it is mentioned during presidential debates or in everyday conversation. However, the number of Americans who are unaffiliated with a religion is rapidly increasing while religious affiliation, particularly to Christianity, is decreasing. This shift is occurring among all demographics, but is most defined in young adults. Fewer than six in ten American Millennials identify with Christianity today. Thirty-six percent of young Millennials, those between the ages of 18 and 24, are religiously unaffiliated. This trend is also occurring among older Millennials, with 34 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 33 choosing to be unaffiliated with a particular religion, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center study.
Despite religious “nones” being on the rise, Americans tend to view Christians and Jews positively, and atheists and Muslims more negatively. However, researchers for the Pew Research Center found that affiliation with non-Christian faiths, such as Islam, are the only religions to see an increase in members.
There are many reasons for the change in how people are viewing religion. A few of the reasons are distaste for the LGBT community among certain religious groups, support of war, and the desire to have religion present in science classrooms. The Pew Research Center found that Millennials tend to not trust others more so than all other generations. This changing nature of Millennials may be contributing to the decline of religious affiliation.
These changes have impacted the major religions in various ways. Ball Bearings met with four religious leaders in the Muncie community to discuss stereotypes about their faiths, why they think Millennials are leaving religion, and what they think could happen if Millennials continue to leave religion at the rate they currently are. Seth Carrier-Ladd is a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie, Josh Cooper is a lead teacher of The Bridge Community Church of Muncie, Steve Martin is a senior pastor of Sheridan Six Points Wesleyan Church, and Bibi Bahrami is the community coordinator of The Islamic Center of Muncie.
Ball Bearings: In your opinion, how do outside faiths perceive your religion?
Carrier-Ladd: Many folks perceive us as very liberal and perhaps not even a religion. We came out of Christianity, so it depends on how much people know about us. One of the two big things is that you have freedom of belief. So we have atheists, theists, people who believe we go into the ground. To some folks, that makes us not a religion.
Cooper: I think because we live in this kind of perceived Christian nation, people [are] pretty neutral. There are a lot of people who would call themselves Christian who don’t go to church. But they think they’re Christian because their parents went to church or they’re in America. If they’re not affiliated with religion or they’re atheists, you know, they would have more negative things to say that they see in the church.
Martin: I would say that Wesleyan is pretty well received because of its namesake, because of its university. On any given Sunday we are 500,000 strong but some people perceive us more on the conservative side.
Bahrami: Lately, unfortunately, Islam [is portrayed] in all those things the media [says]. [It] is not helping that it is negative. But we are constantly working on it, especially in the United States, to bring a positive image about who we actually are, not what the media is portraying.
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