USC Dornsife College Of Letters Arts and Sciences

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Religion News Service: Richard Flory on Young Adults Leaving Religion

Religion News Service: Richard Flory on Young Adults Leaving Religion

Religion News Service: Richard Flory on Young Adults Leaving Religion

Young adults are leaving organized religion in high numbers. Religion News Service spoke with co-authors Melinda Lundquist Denton and CRCC’s Richard Flory on the findings in their new book about the changing shape of religion in America, Back-Pocket God: Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Emerging Adults. The interview discussed Christian labels, mainline Protestant identity, and COVID-19’s effects on young adults and religion.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

You write that the biggest “winner” is the growth of the nonreligious. Only 11% of these kids were not religious when they were teenagers, compared to 35% as emerging adults. Were you surprised?

Flory: I think that the volume of the change was more than I would have expected. What’s particularly surprising is that overall, more than half, 51%, never show up at any kind of religious service at all. I thought that more would have hung on in various ways.

Read the full interview here.