Gen Z’s Conflicting Opinions on Faith, Religious Practice

At the time, it was hard to see the vicious anti-Israel advocacy of members of Gen Z as something other than antisemitism. But as the distance between us and the events of October 7th continues to grow, more and more Americans are starting to wake up to the fact that antisemitism has often been the canary in the coalmine. The reactions to the attacks have proven that the canaries on college campuses have been dead for a very long time. New data supports that thesis. According to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s 2023 Religious Freedom Index, an annual survey and analysis of American attitudes toward religion, views on religion and religious freedom are positive overall. But the report contains a striking outlier: Gen Z, whose views on religion, people of faith, and religious liberty depart starkly from their predecessors, for better or worse.