Perhaps the single most discouraging part of being a young Christian woman in America today is watching my peers leave the church. Far too often, I’ve seen frustration turn into cynicism and deconstruction into deconversion.
And this is happening well beyond my circles: For the first time historically in the United States, more young men are religiously affiliated than their female peers. As cultural and political allegiances further solidify, 18- to 29-year-old women are fleeing churches, and young men are staying. This is but one data point that speaks to a cultural divide, such as political orientation, growing between men and women.
For most of recent history, women were slightly more likely to attend church and to be religiously affiliated. Now, the scales have tipped, with younger men being a few percentage points higher in categories like regular church attendance compared to younger women.
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