A new report published last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life® shows that young adults today are less religious than former generations were when they were in their 20s. Of the so-called Millennials — those born after 1980 — only 74 percent have a religious affiliation. The research also revealed that the rate of religious affiliation increases with age:
Eighty percent of Generation X (born 1965-1980)
Eighty-seven percent of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)
Ninety-two percent of the Silent Generation (born 1928-1945)
Ninety-five percent of the Greatest Generation (born before 1928)
While "religious affiliation" seems high, only 18 percent of Millennials say they attend worship services every week, and only 21 percent of Gen Xers. Just 26 percent of Boomers said they attended worship services weekly when they were in their 20s.
Other characteristics of Millennials are: confident, liberal, upbeat, open to change. They embrace multiple modes of self-expression: three-quarters have created a profile on a social networking site; one-in-five have posted a video of themselves online; four-in-ten have a tattoo (for most who do, one is not enough — half of those with tattoos have two to five and 18% have six or more). They treat their hand-held gadgets almost like a body part with eight-in-ten sleeping with a cell phone glowing by their bed.
