Born after 1980, Millennials constitute the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Pew, this cohort of teens and twenty-somethings is "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change." But what of religion? What can this Millennial generation tell us about where American religion is going?
The core finding of Pew's "Religion Among the Millennials" report is that young Americans are "less religiously affiliated" than their elders. In fact, one in four of Americans ages 18 to 29 do not affiliate with any particular religious group. This is not entirely unexpected, since it is a sociological truism that young people cultivate some distance from the religious institutions of their parents, only to return to those institutions as they marry, raise children and slouch toward retirement. According to Pew, however, "Millennials are significantly more unaffiliated...