Religion is declining in America and at USD

Generation Z is the least religious generation yet

MARIANA COMBARIZA / CONTRIBUTOR / THE USD VISTA

American religious affiliation has been on a decline for the past 30 years. According to the Survey Center on American Life, a non-partisan organization dedicated to research on the socioeconomic and cultural changes in American society, Generation Z is the least religious generation yet. In a research article published  by the Survey Center on American Life, earlier this year, they discovered that more than one-third (34 percent) of Generation Z does not identify with any religion. In contrast, 29 percent of Millennials, 25 percent of Generation X, less than 18 percent of Baby Boomers and less than five percent of the Silent Generation considered themselves to be religiously unaffiliated.

USD, as a Catholic university, witnesses these generational differences with every incoming class of undergraduate students. USD’s Institutional Research and Planning Data, available on the university’s website, holds records of enrollment demographics over the past 14 years, including undergraduate student religious affiliations. 

In the fall of 2008, over half of the undergraduate student body identified as Catholic at 52.7 percent. In fall 2022, only 37.7 percent are Catholic-identifying. Other Christian denominations (Lutheran, Methodist, Non-Denominational, Orthodox, Presbyterian and Protestant) experienced the same decline. In the fall of 2008, 13.9 percent of students identified with one of the Christian traditions previously stated, whereas this year, just six percent do – a percentage change of -56.8 percent in Christian religious affiliation.

However, Christianity is not the only religion represented on campus. There are students who identify as Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or Hindu; however these religious affiliations have not experienced significant change in their enrollment rates in the past 14 years. Most vary with a slight rate increase or decrease of 0.3-0.8 percent. The most notable change among non-Christian students was that the Muslim student population has nearly doubled proportionally speaking from 2008 at 1.4 percent to 2022 at 2.6 percent.

The only other group of students who had a significant shift in enrollment rates are those who decline to state their religion. Though the institutional data includes the demographic of those students who have “no preference” when it comes to religion (showing no significant changes throughout the years), those who “declined to state” increased over 270 percent of undergraduate enrollment from 2008 (5.2 percent) to 2022 (19.4 percent).  It is unclear why these students chose not to state their religious affiliation, but it remains possible that they don’t subscribe to one.

Dr. Russell Fuller, Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at USD, shares his insight as to why he speculates America, as well as USD, is experiencing a generational decline in religious affiliation. 

“It could be that people are disenchanted with these existing religious traditions,” Dr. Fuller stated. “Though religion affiliation is down, that doesn’t mean religiosity is down: the peoples’ need for faiths or beliefs of some sort. God knows there are a lot of beliefs out there, not all of them religious, but nevertheless, very important and very strong.”

Some USD students prove Dr. Fuller’s point. USD first-year Fiona Smith did not grow up with a religious background. 

“I am slightly spiritual, in the way that I like to think about sometimes in the idea of there being a higher being, but I do not consider myself as practicing any religion,” Smith said. “I haven’t found something I can connect with and identify with at this exact moment.”

She further shares that, although she hasn’t found a strong desire to start practicing religion, she does love learning about different faiths. In her Exploring Religious Meaning class at USD, she learned about many world religions and the impact they’ve had on society. 

Smith’s comments support The Survey Center on American Life, since they found that those who never practiced a religion growing up are less likely to pursue and affiliate with  one in adulthood. Additionally, the Survey Center also stated that people who did grow up with a religious background but weren’t too involved in religious activities, such as going to church, were more likely to drift away from their faith as they entered adulthood.

USD sophomore Kaiya Panomvana witnessed that pattern in her own religious life. She grew up Catholic, and currently identifies as Catholic, but she admits that she is not really practicing Catholicism. 

“During high school, my family would go to church a lot on Sundays, but eventually I kind of just stopped going, and here [at USD], I’ve been to one Mass maybe. I’ll go to the Immaculata once in a while but am not a super religious, practicing Catholic,” Panomvana said. 

Before USD, she wasn’t too involved either in her Catholic faith but notes that nothing is holding her back from pursuing it. Nonetheless,   she did mention how, even as a Catholic, she appreciates that USD does not impose its Catholicism on its students. 

As an example, Panomvana  shared her experience in her World Religions in San Diego class. 

“It is very helpful because it helps us understand and think about different religions besides Catholicism, so I think USD is very good on giving us a broader scope on different religions,” Panomvana said.

Regardless of one’s religious affiliation, Dr. Fuller reminds all students of why he views religion to be important not just in the U.S., but worldwide. 

“Without understanding religion as a component of culture and society, you cannot understand other people. So that means it’s absolutely essential for business, for government and for any sort of interaction — it is just absolutely essential,” Dr. Fuller said.

Interestingly, Dr. Rob Whitley, the Principal Investigator of the Social Psychiatry Research and Interest Group at the Douglas Hospital Research Center in Quebec, seems to agree with Dr. Fuller on religion’s essentiality by focusing on its implications on mental health. In his Psychology Today article titled “The Mental Health of Atheists and the “Nones,” Whitley argues that those who identify themselves as non-religious, or “nones” (lapsed, non-affiliated, agnostics, the “spiritual but not religious,” and atheists), tend to have higher rates of rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, self-harm and substance use when compared to those who identify as religious. 

“The protective mental health effects of religiosity have been attributed to various factors,” Whitley states. “This could be due to a variety of factors, such as the religious having social support in religious congregations, a sense of purpose and meaning offered by religions, and moral codes commanding certain behaviors (e.g. abstinence) within religions.”

USD senior Aya Kawkab, a Muslim student leader who has represented her Islamic faith in the All Faith Service last year, weighs in on the positive impact she sees in having a religion. 

“In my opinion, people who have a religious background are more mature, more faithful,” Kawkab says. “They’re people who have more hope, who do not lose themselves in any way in life compared to those who say they are not religious.” 

She encourages people who grew up without a religious background to “get educated on religion and learn more about them.” She chimes in about USD’s core requirement of two theology courses. “There are courses in Christianity, in Islam, in any religion you want, there’s a course for it! And I think this is the perfect opportunity for students to learn more about the importance of religion and of having a religion, it doesn’t matter which religion it would be.”

Although the two religions courses are mandatory for all undergraduate students, the Department of Theology and Religious Studies has noticed a steep decline in its Theology majors. Though never the most popular major in the College of Arts and Sciences, Theology majors in the past ten years have ranged from 11 to 15 students. Last year, that number dropped to eight. This year, there are only three.

USD students — religious and nonreligious — have the opportunity to learn more about faith traditions not just in the classroom, but in daily conversations with each other.Despite Generation Z being the least religious generation thus far, the influence of religion is woven into society, whether students identify with a religion or not. 

Only  future  generations will tell how strong the threads of religious affiliation remain, or if eventually, they’re all going to break.