New Delhi: For years, women have been viewed as religion’s most steadfast followers. That is now beginning to change. New surveys suggest Gen Z has nearly erased the longstanding gender gap in religiosity and that young men are now more religious than young women on some parameters. A closer look at the data indicates that the story is less about a religious revival among men than it is about a growing disengagement from organised religion among women.
A survey, released by American pollster Gallup in April, found a sharp uptick in religious commitment among young American men. In 2024-25, 42 per cent of men in the 18 to 29 age group said religion was “very important” in their lives, up from 28 per cent just two years earlier — marking a 14 per cent jump. By comparison, only 29 per cent of young women in the same age group said the same, down from 51 per cent in 2012-13.
The Gallup survey also recorded a 7-point rise in monthly religious service attendance among young men, putting them statistically on par with young women. Frank Newport, a senior scientist at Gallup, told TIME magazine that the gender gap among 18–29‑year‑olds “has basically disappeared across several measures of religiosity,” with men and women either tied on a measure, or men ahead.
Why young women are moving away from religion
But Gallup’s findings have sparked a debate because other surveys tell a different story. The Public Religion Research Institute’s (PRRI) 2025 Census of American Religion found that 20 per cent of young men attended church weekly in 2025, unchanged from the previous year. The Pew Research Center, meanwhile, found “no indication that young men are converting to Christianity in large numbers.” Researchers pointed out that the discrepancy lies in what is being measured. Gallup asked respondents how important religion was in their lives, while PRRI and Pew focused on religious practices, including church attendance and active participation in congregations.
The more consistent trend is that young women are moving away from religion. PRRI data show the share of young women identifying as religiously unaffiliated rose from 29 per cent in 2013 to 43 per cent in 2025. Gallup’s figures show the share of young women who say religion is “very important” falling from 51 per cent in 2012-13 to 29 per cent in 2024-25. Pew, too, attributes the narrowing gender gap primarily to declining religiosity among women rather than rising religiosity among men.
Experts point to a mix of structural, cultural and political reasons behind the shift. Gina Zurlo of Harvard Divinity School argues women have long been the “backbone” of churches, teaching children, organising congregations, praying and carrying out much of the unpaid work, while remaining underrepresented in leadership positions.
Others point to dissatisfaction with patriarchal teachings, including ideas around male authority, female submission and “purity culture”. Researchers also argue that religion’s close association with conservative politics, particularly after the #MeToo movement and the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, has alienated many young women, who tend to hold more socially progressive views.
Where Gallup does show a rise among young men, it is concentrated among young Republicans. According to the TIME article, David Campbell, a professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, suggested that religion may increasingly be serving as a marker of conservative identity, while PRRI president Melissa Deckman said that the rise of the online “manosphere” could also be shaping how some young men relate to faith.
(Edited by Aakriti Handa)
This should not come as a surprise. The left-liberal cabal has for long ruled over the academic spaces in the US and other developed countries. Right since kindergarten, the ideological brainwashing starts and it continues till the university level.
Religion has always been the hardest obstacle for the communists and socialists. No wonder they did their very best in indoctrinating children through the formative school and college years. The decline in religiosity amongst all young people is simply a reflection of that.
Taking away the Bible (or the Bhagavad Gita in India”s case) from the hands of the school and college going children is the first part of the job. And it’s more or less accomplished.
The next part is to put the Das Capital or Communist Manifesto in these empty hands. That would be total mission accomplished.