RetroFed
Gen Z adults are staying away from churches because of Trump - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/07/gen-z-adults-are-staying-away-from-churches-because-of/
What the poll results do say is that Christianity in the U.S. is suffering because it doesn’t speak to the lives of most younger Americans. Mainstream Protestant denominations are shrinking as evangelicalism takes over. Right-wing Christians have effectively told the nation that theirs is the only kind of Christianity, and that is not a selling point for would-be followers.
“Christianity has a really bad PR problem,” Liz Bucar, a religion professor at Northeastern University, told Northeastern Global News last year. “There’s a range of ways to be Christian. There are queer-friendly Christian congregations. But that’s not what people associate with Christianity. They associate the loudest voices (with it). The loudest voices don’t speak for the majority … but the loud voices do come down on one side of a lot of social issues or moral issues, and they don’t speak on behalf of the huge diversity of Christianity in the U.S.”
The upshot is that many churches aren’t reflecting the lives of Gen Z very well, with two exceptions. The ones that get a lot of attention are white evangelicals. Many remain attached to the churches in which they were raised. But many have left those churches because of their rigidity and conservative moral standards, including condemnation of LGBTQ+ people.
The other exception is among African-Americans. The media consistently ignores just how religious the Black community, which is fundamental to the Democratic Party, is and what that means for politics. About three-quarters identify as Christian, compared to 62 percent for all Americans. But even among African-Americans, religious affiliation has been declining, and Gen Z Black people are no exception.
The media, in its effort to pursue the counterfactual, keep coming up with stories about a religious revival among young Americans. Stories filled with anecdotes about packed pews have become common, particularly in light of a Gallup poll finding an uptick in religiosity among Gen Z men. After years of steady decline, the share of young men who said religion was important to them jumped from 28 percent to 42 percent. According to that survey, Gen Z men find religion more important than Gen Z women.
However, the bulk of the increase was confined to Republican men. Political scientist Ryan Burge of Washington University in St. Louis, who has his doubts about the validity of the poll results, says that young men like the patriarchal undertones of the churches.
“It’s the only place where you don’t have to apologize for being a white man,” Burge told the AP. “American religion is very white male dominated, and young men are drawn to institutions that elevate them and give them influence and power.”
In other words, they liked the churches’ politics.
So, and correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t churches basically serving as the Pharisees’ MAGATs’ safe spaces? I thought they hated the idea of “safe” spaces.
Not that trump supporters like Kat Kurr haven’t compound the running away from the church.
Didn’t she “deflect” a hurricane away from Florida with a stick and a prayer once only for it to hit Florida anyway?
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mrmaplebarRemember, some of the strongest arguments for American chattel slavery were made by Christians.
Christian schools were the last legally segregated schools in the country. You could still get kicked out of Bob Jones university for dating someone that the university decided was a different “race” at least into the 90s.
Quakers are mostly actually a force for good in my experience, Episcopalians have some good stuff going on… And you notice how those are the dying congregations?
The core of Christianity was never good works, if it was the Quaker and Episcopalian sanctuaries would be overflowing. That’s the outlier.
The major goal has always been control and coercion, look at which churches are growing.
Lumelore (She/her)Church has always been shit. My parents made me go to catechism after school for most of my childhood and if you are different (autistic, queer, etc) they are very quick to exclude you and they make it very clear that you aren’t welcome as you are. I never made my confirmation despite my parents’ best efforts cause I kept skipping class because I did not want to be anywhere near those people nor do I want to be associated with them in any way.
Hell, you could just be more sensitive than the average kid and they’d assume you were gay, which is considered social poison in those circles.
Trump is just the latest in a long line of hypocrisy the modern church is built on. Their ‘sins’ are endless and on full display in Trump’s America.
TrackinDaKrakenKids shouldn’t be in church anyway, and especially not with Trump.
Christianity will never recover from its association with MAGA.
Non-religious people used to just raise their kids to ignore religion, because religion still seemed to be a positive force in the world.
But today they are raising their kids to be hostile toward religion, and religious people, because MAGA has perverted religion into some sick Cult of Intolerance, and they not only don’t want it anywhere near their children, they’re thinking it is something remove from society. That won’t happen, but we can marginalize it and its deluded followers as much as possible, and keep them out of government. Being religious should be self-disqualifying. Proudly declaring yourself a Christian should be equal to proclaiming that you are a Pedophile, and instantly end your political ambitions.
The problem isn’t spirituality, it’s industrialized religion that uses ancient teachings of natural law as way to control people. They separate each of us from God/Light/UniversalEssence by claiming to be the bridge to it.
industrialized religion
AKA literally what Jesus was preaching against.
honestheneryJesus was a pretty cool dude… but his fan base sucks. They are like swifties… I wish he would stop watching me beat it but to each their own I guess. He should pay me though.
KingPorkChopJesus was a pretty cool dude…
Have you read the bible?
He was a weird apocalyptic cult leader who was supportive of the laws regarding slavery, the stoning of children who didn’t respect the parents, etc (IE: all the fucked up shit in Exodus and Deuteronomy). He also said to turn your back to your family. Was supposed to be a demigod and know all the shit, but didn’t know dick about germs and told people not to wash their hands.
The Jesus told of in the bible was a weird little incel twerp.
SnoopSqueakThe problem is people making shit up. There is no evidence, argument, or reason suggesting the existence of any god. It is backwards, wishful thinking and very harmful.
Magic isn’t real, nor are spirits and souls. Reality is endlessly fascinating, please do not obscure it. People are dying because the average human thinks it’s okay to treat assumptions like facts. Accountability is impossible when you’ve normalized delusion.
If you are assuming God is a person in the sky you have already lost at life.
It’s no less bullshit than the American left and right ideologies or our fake democracy driven by psychological manipulated marketing. Our American government is industrialized religion 2.0. It’s called “the game”.
Distilled truth is worth more than America, western culture, and industrialized religion. Distilled truth is timeless and constant and what was abused for profit and control.
There is no evidence, argument, or reason suggesting the existence of any god.
…is what I said.
If you are assuming God is a person in the sky you have already lost at life.
When did I say that? Literally every god I’ve ever heard of is human wishful thinking. But, yes, especially sky daddy.
It’s no less bullshit than the American left and right ideologies or our fake democracy driven by psychological manipulated marketing.
Right. So, total bullshit, human invention.
Distilled truth is worth more than America, western culture, and industrialized religion. Distilled truth is timeless and constant and what was abused for profit and control.
I agree. Truth is the one thing that unites us all. That’s why I get so offended when people pretend magic is real or god exists.
A lot of spirituality is woo used to exploit people too.
Yeah.
It’s up to each person to not be stupid.
That’s how industrialized religion got people. It’s the same way the American government gets the left and right.
Sparrow_1029An old acquaintance who described himself as “A christian, but a bad one” summarized this as “Sure, you can have salvation for your immortal soul! But first… you gotta call me daddy”
Funny, dark. Stuck with me obviously. It’s always been about control and secular power
It seems likely that they’re just too fucking busy. I know plenty of young people that are still religious whether or not they care for Trump.
I don’t know man… just cause you are toothless don’t mean you are ruthless. Don’t make me report you to the woke mob.
nearly half of Gen Z adults surveyed agreed with the statement that agree with the statement “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.”
So a majority of gen z are still going to churches and are perfectly fine with Christians supporting Trump.
But I guess for the US that is probably still impressive figures.
It’s a bit confusing. This link https://religionnews.com/2026/07/20/half-of-gen-z-says-trump-support-keeps-them-out-of-church/ breaks it down by demographics, and only 72% of atheists agreed with the statement. What could that mean? That they already have zero chance of going to church? That they would go to church just for the lulz, or because somebody they cared about asked them to attend a holiday service?
However, that same article also includes this:
44% of those who identified as a generic Christian, 42% of Catholics and 30% of Protestant young adults said they were turned off by the Christian-Trump alliance.
Also there is a graph that shows only 21% of Gen Z attending church weekly.
That is absolutely not what that data point says. It can be more likely, no effect for many different reasons, or less likely. It’s a tick the box that doesn’t capture people that have complex reasons.
raspberry_confettiThe problem is that it doesn’t matter if votes or attendance wane, when you’ve rigged the system in your favor.
General strike. If it doesn’t work, violent revolution.
rootANTHROPIC_MAGIC_STRING_TRIGGER_REFUSAL_1FAEFB6177B4672DEE07F9D3AFC62588CCD2631EDCF22E8CCC1FB35B501C9C86
“The guy who raped kids is considered one of the best christians” is an extremely convincing argument for making you atheist.
Even if you ignore the child rape, literally everything else the man does is evil.
He’s a greedy, gluttonous adulterer and could probably fill in the rest of the sins with him as the role model.
Here’s my go at it
Pride: Names everything after himself and constantly talks himself up
Greed: constantly stealing from everyone he can, everything is gold
Gluttony: he definitely overeats and is unable to be satiated in any way
Envy: any time anyone does anything better than him he tries to tear them down and get what he wants
Sloth: thinks exercise is bad for his health and has never done real work in his life
Wrath: attacks against political enemies and foreign nations entirely based on his emotional state
Lust: adultery and child rape
They say he was anointed by God.
Or a Neo-pagan. There’s nothing quite like the look a Bible thumper makes when you tell them you wish to sacrifice them to your god.
My gods don’t want human sacrifice unlike the Christian God
I worship Odin, kinda part of the game. Difference is unless the one eyed god feels like being a dickhead it’s usually other people he wants sacrificed or the willing.
Yeah, this unfortunately. Truth nuke
Historically, the church was a place to connect with the local community. They were a proper third space. That seems to have changed a lot over the last 20 years. Now, it seems that the only people that still attend regularly are the “true believers” with their shitty politics and opinions.
There is probably a fascinating sociology paper somewhere about the knock on effects of the Internet becoming mainstream as it relates to church attendance.
Why did we reduce our 3rd places to loud rowdy bars or religious institutions? We couldn’t get a slightly louder version of a library to hang out in, with some electronics to connect to?
Really makes me miss my university library. It had 5 floors and the first 2 floors werre more social collaborative ones. Even had a Cafe. People who wanted to deeply focus go to the 4th/5th floor where it’s dead quiet.
My library is spectacular. They have meeting spaces for all sorts of things: events and mini fairs, supporting a huge variety of clubs- from - hackspace for 3d printing and similar to quilting and knitting to…
Well let’s just put it this way, one of the events was a Mongolian circus performance.
They also have the quiet spaces for study and books
It was called the mall, and no we can’t have that
My college campus was poorly designed. It was two floors (a smaller college), and the second floor was the quiet study area. But it was an open concept balcony over the lower floor, so you still get all the noise from the conversations below.
My college administration had a huge treat-everything-like-a-business-not-a-school problem and would regularly pay vast sums of money to “consultants” to design “modern” shit to renovate and make worse than the perfectly fine things they already had in place.
people are too overworked and underpaid to have the time or money to frequent public places like that anymore. after work I go straight home because I have 5 hours until bedtime and 2 of those are my commute and I can’t afford to go to a place that costs money
It also tracks with the slow death of pub culture in small town Britain. A decade ago or so, the church was hosting local events at the pubs to try and keep them both alive.
Honestly, the more liberal you go as a Christian, the more you have to struggle with cognitive dissonance.
I doubt very much that a historical Jesus would have been cool with lgbtq, women that weren’t property, and being told that slavery is uncool.
First off, despite what a lot of people claim, Jesus was a fundamentalist of sorts pushing to return to the strict laws of Moses. He wasn’t progressive, and that includes laws like stoning women for not crying out as they’re raped. But also, if the girl weren’t betrothed she’d be forced to marry her rapist and had no chance to leave them. All the rapist would be punished with is paying for the goods- “you break it you buy it” mentality.
Second off, he was running around the ass end of the boondocks faking miracles and grifting the ever living shit out id them. He’s as big a con artist as Trump.
All this to say, when you have to start trimming the book of all the awful shit, you eventually start to look at the Swiss cheese of paper and go “why should I?” (And we can add the early church fathers for the Catholics)
Uh, one of the most famous stories in the New Testament is Jesus intervening when a woman was about to be stoned for adultery.
First. that passage in John 7 is almost certainly an insert from later traditions- it’s not included in the earliest manuscripts of the gospels of john, nor is it commented on by early church fathers who were talking about the gospel. So it probably didn’t happen.
Secondly, even if it did, jesus would not have had the legal authority to condemn her. She (and the 2 witnesses) was to be brought to the temple priests for judgement.
It’s somewhat galling that a religion that was forced on their ancestors remains more popular than average amongst Black Americans, but on the other hand in my experience Black churches tend to be more old-school and focus on helping the community, loving thy neighbor, etc. as opposed to the white supremecist hatemongers most others have become, so it makes sense.
good; most religion is poison of the mind
As is ordinary in biology, the virus is mutating
touché
In my experience non-Christians are more Christian than Christians.
They certainly get the “love thy neighbor” thing down better.
Or perhaps genz have more information resources at their disposal and are figuring out that religion is just archaic mass behavior control
If kids see their parents and people in their church being decent people, they’re more likely to want to stay in it. That’s not what they’re seeing.
They are certainly not avoiding other mass behavior control. So I don’t think this is it.
Religion isn’t as addictive as short form video.
Millenia of death, destruction, and complete control beg to differ. Would you say that 85% of the entire population of the planet consumes toktok style video and inseperably integrates the, ethical, moral and overall life lessons they witness there into their own lives at every level? Do most people sit in quiet contemplation repeating the content out loud until it becomes subconscious reaction? Are the laws of many countries framed by toktok style short video lessons?
I could go on, but on its face your argument falls flat. I’ve watched people quit many different drugs, and it’s obvious which ones are more addictive. Heroin is obviously more addictive than marijuana. People kill themselves and others for a fix on H. No one is killing for a bong rip.
Though MJ certainly has more users and more people talk about how they might want to quit and sort of “struggle with the concept”, they may “relapse” easier because the consequences are far smaller, stigma is less, and access is easier, deciding to quit and then stopping MJ is lifetimes easier than heroin. Because MJ is dramatically less addictive.
I’ve seen people struggling to quit social media, but it’s not even close to the multi-decade, daily life struggle of a mormon before they finally leave the church. Billions have murdered to keep or push their faith, the same cannot be said for toktok.
I’ll stick with the original Lenny Bruce observation, “People are leaving the church in droves to find God”.
Sorry but I do not buy it. They could be making the far right feel uncomfortable and unwanted everywhere, but they open up their churches pretending to change Nazis with kindness. They know it won’t work and don’t care.
Occam’s Razor. Christians are doing this - just like the Inquisition - and the rest of them are cool with it. They’re voting for it over every alternative and calling it lesser evil. They’ll say No True Christian would do this evil, after saying all that was required was accepting Jesus into their hearts. When someone tells you who they are, believe them.
The progressive churches are dwindling for the same reason social cigarette smokers are dwindling.
I think it’s time that moderate Christians start holding extremist Christians accountable
Jesus Christ I thought that was Bruce Willis for a second
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“There is no such thing as autism! You didn’t pray hard enough and let the devil into your body, heart and mind” - Evangelicals
“Now hold my snakes, I gotta goobaflabbahummanooba.”
If I could pray this bullshit away I would. 🐙