YOUNG people are bigger believers in God and spirituality than their elders, one of the biggest surveys into religion in the past 10 years has found.
The study of 10,000 people found Gen Z is increasingly turning to the divine to help them cope with an ever-complex world.
GettyThe younger generation is also more likely to believe in the afterlife and God compared to the average adult[/caption]
Just 13 per cent of those born after 1996 identify as an atheist, but this figure increases to 22 per cent of Boomers.
Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, are the most likely to be atheists, with 25 per cent not believing in something higher than themselves.
And while 82 per cent of Gen Z describe themselves as spiritual and believe in things beyond the physical world, this falls to 65 per cent of Gen X and 63 per cent of Boomers.
It emerged Gen Z are more likely than other generations to believe in God due to a need to connect with something bigger than themselves (29 per cent).
They are also far more likely to believe God is the best explanation to how the world began (25 per cent to 18 per cent of all Brits).
And the younger generation is also more likely to believe in the afterlife compared to the average adult (24 per cent to 21 per cent).
The survey was commissioned by Christopher Gasson, a journalist and Sunday school teacher at Oxford’s University Church, to mark the release of his book ‘The Devils’ Gospels: Finding God in Four Great Atheist Books’.
It is one of the largest polls into religion and spirituality in Britain to be undertaken in the past decade.
A ‘Belief in Britain’ report, which is available on the Devil’s Gospel website, has been created to help visualise and show trends in the belief in God.
Gasson said he wrote The Devils’ Gospels when he realised the teenagers in his Sunday school weren’t interested in Bible stories. They wanted better answers than atheist attacks on Christianity, so they studied books like ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins instead.
He added: “It was a revelation. When you dig into it, you see that most atheism is not so much an attack on God, but an elegant criticism of the Church’s mistakes.
“We can learn from that, and in doing so get closer to God.”
Speaking about the “gobsmacking” data, Gasson added: “God is supposed to be on the way out of Britain, but the survey says He – or She – is making a comeback.
“I imagine many church leaders will be rubbing their hands thinking this is the answer to their prayers but unfortunately for them, it isn’t.
“It is more of an order from on high to go back to the vestry for a rethink.
“Whatever the survey might say about young people being more spiritual and religious than old people, it is equally clear that they are put off by established religion.”
The research also found that despite a booming sense that there might be more to this life than material things, 61 per cent of all adults polled believed Christianity will lose followers in the next 10 years.
Just 22 per cent felt religion was viewed in a positive light.
To boost religions’ appeal to younger audiences, 32 per cent of those polled, via OnePoll, believe religious figures must do more in the local community, while 31 per cent said they should tackle alleged abuse claims head-on.
Others think they should directly engage with people in the community who might be sceptical about religion (23 per cent), use social media platforms to reach a wider audience (22 per cent) and engage with debates about science (17 per cent).
Christopher Gasson added: “Because of the financial crisis or Covid, the people who have grown up since then are more spiritual and more religious than previous generations.
“The Church hasn’t yet found a way of tapping into this opportunity, however.
“My view is that it made the mistake of thinking that secularisation was the enemy, when in fact it should have looked in the mirror.
“Meanwhile it was neglecting what people really want which is comfort in difficult times, and human connection.”
GettyGen X are more likely than other generations to believe in God due to a need to connect with something bigger than themselves[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
