Generation Z are open to changing their views on spirituality and, once involved in a faith, become highly motivated to live it out, a new McCrindle report has found. Source: The Catholic Leader.
The 40-page report, An Undercurrent of Faith, shares the latest findings of Australians and their relationship to spirituality and religion.
“Despite a decline in Christian affiliation, Australians are still turning to Christianity in large numbers,” the report said.
“More than 784,000 Australians changed from ‘no religion’ to ‘Christian’ in the most recent Census.
“That’s one in 10 non-religious Australians.”
The top reasons for why Australians turn to Christianity were laid out:
- Feeling a spiritual connection or sense of divine presence.
- Finding personal meaning and purpose through Christianity.
- Christianity offers answers to questions they can’t find elsewhere.
Older Australians aged 55 or more were the most likely to move from “no religion” to “Christianity”.
While these statistics highlighted some of the positives in the data, the Church faced significant challenges in other areas.
“Australians are increasingly moving from Christianity to “no religion”, and young Australians are moving away fastest,” the report said.
In general, about 19 per cent of Christians moved to “no religion” between the 2016 and 2021 Census. For 15-24 year olds, that number jumped to 36 per cent.
The silver lining for young people was that if they were or became Christian, they were highly active.
The report found 68 per cent of Gen Z Christians attended church at least monthly compared to just 26 per cent of Baby Boomers.
The McCrindle report featured new research based on the Australian Census Longitudinal Data Set and a nationally representative survey of 3003 Australians.
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New McCrindle report shows young Christians are highly motivated believers (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
