Affiliation with organized religion is at a 50-year low among young people, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion. The study focused on the generation known as The Millennials — those under 30, born after 1980.
But the data "doesn't necessarily mean that young people are more secular," says Greg Smith, one of the researchers who conducted the study.
According to the study, one in four people (25 percent) between 18 and 30 say they are "unaffiliated."
By comparison, one in five (20 percent) Generation Xers — people born between 1965 and 1980 — identified themselves as unaffiliated at the same age.
And the number of unaffiliated Millennials is nearly twice that of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) at the same age. Among Baby Boomers in the late 1970s, 13 percent said they had no religious affiliation.
But there's a twist to the study. When measuring other religious benchmarks, young people begin to look very much like their elders. On the question of whether they believe in a heaven or hell, three-quarters (75 percent) of the Millennials answered "Yes" — the same as for people over 30.
MORE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586405,00.html?test=latestnews
But the data "doesn't necessarily mean that young people are more secular," says Greg Smith, one of the researchers who conducted the study.
According to the study, one in four people (25 percent) between 18 and 30 say they are "unaffiliated."
By comparison, one in five (20 percent) Generation Xers — people born between 1965 and 1980 — identified themselves as unaffiliated at the same age.
And the number of unaffiliated Millennials is nearly twice that of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) at the same age. Among Baby Boomers in the late 1970s, 13 percent said they had no religious affiliation.
But there's a twist to the study. When measuring other religious benchmarks, young people begin to look very much like their elders. On the question of whether they believe in a heaven or hell, three-quarters (75 percent) of the Millennials answered "Yes" — the same as for people over 30.
MORE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586405,00.html?test=latestnews