SerpApi.Org
Nearly half of Gen Z Americans say Christians' support for President Donald Trump is a reason they're less likely to attend church, according to a new study.
The Billy Graham Center Research Institute surveyed 2,365 Gen Z adults, ages 18-28, through NORC's AmeriSpeak panel between Aug. 9 and Sept. 26, 2024. The study was funded by the Lilly Endowment.
According to the research, 48% of respondents said they agree with the statement “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.”
That included 19% who "strongly agreed," 14% who "agreed" and 15% who "slightly agreed." By contrast, 52% disagreed, including 21% who "strongly disagreed," 16% who "disagreed" and 15% who "slightly disagreed."
Rick Richardson, professor of evangelism and leadership at Wheaton College and the study's lead researcher, told The Christian Post on Tuesday that the research is yet unpublished and being adapted into a book.
“We realized that spiritual interest among Gen Z young adults is quite high but engagement with churches has decreased over time,” Richardson said. “There has been an upturn recently mainly among men and often with more traditional denominations like Catholicism.”
He added, “We wanted to understand the spiritual motivators and demotivators of young adults ages 18 to 28, and among many other factors, we found response to Trump [has] been one.”
Richardson said he was surprised by several of the study's findings, including that "young adults are more positive toward churches and toward engagement in churches than we expected."
“We also found that factors included political, moral and social media demotivators like the political partisanship of many churches,” said Richardson, who also serves as the Luis Palau endowed chair of evangelism.
Asked how churches might respond, Richardson told CP that "trust and authenticity are all-important to this generation in choosing to reengage with churches."
“When churches know the trust issues, they can address them head-on, thereby helping their churches reach and attract 18 to 28-year-olds, who are, after all, both the present and the future of the Church,” he said.
“Young adults are not looking for churches to agree with them on every issue, but they are looking for churches and pastors to be deeply honest and direct about where they are at and why.”
Richardson added that he believes “knowing the why helps young adults trust and reengage again” and that whenever “that is coupled with a willingness to hear the other side, young adults will often reengage.”
In recent years, there has been much debate over Trump, and his political movement is impacting the nature of American Christianity, especially among self-identified Evangelicals.
Earlier this year, during a press call, National Association of Evangelicals President Walter Kim expressed concern that the Trump administration’s effort to deport criminal illegals was “having such a profound and deleterious effect on the Church.”
According to Kim, many predominantly immigrant congregations are shifting to virtual services, closing down or are suffering drastic attendance drops "because of a deep climate of fear.”
“This is not simply within immigrant churches. Many multiethnic churches are experiencing this sort of secondary trauma as they’re witnessing their neighbors undergo [a] drastic climate of fear," Kim said. “This policy approach is reshaping American Christianity.”
