Religious data rarely makes headlines, but a new wave of findings is creating a stir.

For three decades, the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has steadily declined, a trend confirmed by countless studies. For many believers, it has felt like an inevitable slide into cultural irrelevance. In a season of overwhelmed news cycles, these religious shifts haven’t received the coverage they should, but they are significant, and they keep coming. 

The dominant religious storyline in recent decades has been the rise of the "nones" − those who mark "none" for religious affiliation. Secularism pulls down religious commitment like gravity pulling down a satellite. Over time, the orbit decays until there is a crash.

Christianity in the United States has followed a similar trajectory, declining about 1% per year. It looked almost inevitable that a crash was looming. But now, something is shifting. And we can see it in the data among Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Gen Z men are now more likely to attend church than Gen Z women. The New York Times reported that among young Christians, men are staying in church (at the same time, many women are leaving).

Overall, younger generations are more spiritually........

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