Millennials are abandoning organized religion. A new study provides insight into why

A new study published in the journal Socius sheds light on how and why young Americans are disengaging from organized religion. Tracking a cohort born in the late 1980s over a ten-year period, the research found that while traditional religious involvement has declined sharply, many young people are not abandoning spirituality altogether. Instead, they are reshaping it to better align with their values—especially those related to individual autonomy, authenticity, and social justice.

Over the past few decades, the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated—often referred to as “nones”—has grown rapidly. In the 1970s, only about 5% of Americans fell into this category. Today, that number exceeds 25%. Scholars have debated whether this change simply reflects a general decline in belief, or whether it signals something more complex. The research team wanted to explore the deeper forces at play: Why are people leaving institutional religion? What are they replacing it with? And how are their personal values shaping that process?

“I’ve been exploring religious change for a while now using general population cross-sectional adult survey data from sources like the General Social Survey,” said study author Landon Schnabel, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell University. “I wanted to know how religion changes over time among the same people, starting before they get to adulthood as a lot of change happens as people grow up before they’re ever captured in general population surveys of people who are already adults.”

For their study, Schnabel and his colleagues used data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. This included four waves of longitudinal survey data and 183 in-depth interviews conducted from 2003 to 2013. The sample included over 1,300 individuals, each tracked from adolescence into young adulthood. Participants came from a wide range of religious, regional, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The researchers examined changes in religious behavior and belief over time, focusing on both institutional practices like church attendance and personal practices such as prayer, meditation, and spiritual beliefs. In their interviews, they explored how young people made sense of their religious identities and values as they transitioned into adulthood.

Quantitative analysis showed a steep and consistent decline in institutional religious involvement. The number of respondents attending religious services dropped dramatically between 2003 and 2013. At the start of the study, over 80% attended services at least occasionally. By the end, nearly 60% reported never attending.

Affiliation with religious institutions also declined, with formal identification falling from nearly 89% to just 60%. Belief in God showed a more modest drop—from about 83% to 66%—while individual spiritual practices like meditation actually increased. The percentage of participants who practiced meditation rose from 12% to over 21%, suggesting that spirituality remained meaningful even as institutional ties weakened.

The researchers used growth curve modeling to examine how individual religious trajectories changed over time. The results showed that institutional measures—attendance, affiliation, and proselytizing—declined more quickly than personal measures such as private prayer or belief in a higher power. Notably, people who supported same-sex marriage and abortion rights showed the steepest declines in church attendance and religious affiliation.

Political ideology also played a role: those identifying as liberal were more likely to disengage from organized religion than moderates or conservatives. However, declines were evident across the political spectrum, suggesting that broader cultural trends were at work beyond partisanship.

“Religion isn’t just going away, it’s transforming,” Schnabel told PsyPost. “People aren’t just becoming secular due to reason or rationality — though they can definitely be relevant — they’re becoming fed up with religious organizations based on faith traditions that taught them to love others, care about more than money, and be moral and ethical people of integrity.”

“But then sometimes they don’t see the organizations living up to those values and they leave the organization but not always the faith tradition. Or they leave the faith tradition and they explore other ways of being people of integrity, often, though certainly not always, through spirituality.”

To understand these trends more fully, the researchers analyzed interview data from 54 participants whose religious involvement had significantly declined over the decade. These interviews revealed a recurring theme: many young people left institutional religion not because they stopped caring about spirituality, but because they felt a growing disconnect between their personal values and the teachings or practices of religious organizations. They spoke of churches that felt judgmental, hypocritical, or out of touch—particularly on issues of gender and sexuality. Participants described feeling alienated by institutions that seemed to limit, rather than support, their pursuit of authenticity, justice, and self-understanding.

For example, one participant, Chris, initially held strong Catholic beliefs but became increasingly disillusioned by the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Despite his early devotion, he eventually stopped attending Mass, citing his frustration with what he saw as discrimination and politicization within the Church.

Another participant, Daniela, was active in her church and school’s Gay-Straight Alliance as a teenager. Over time, the tension between her inclusive values and the church’s doctrines led her to reject organized religion while maintaining a spiritual identity. Like many others, Daniela didn’t become secular in a dismissive sense—she still believed in something beyond herself—but she no longer saw institutional religion as the right vehicle for exploring the sacred.

These personal stories were not isolated cases. Across the sample, respondents described similar turning points—moments of moral conflict, exposure to new perspectives, or negative experiences with religious authority—that led them to reassess their commitments. Some turned toward agnosticism or atheism; others retained belief in God or a higher power but adopted less structured spiritual practices.

Many described a desire to “find their own path,” expressing faith through acts of compassion, mindfulness, or private reflection rather than institutional participation. For some, spirituality became a way to cope with life’s challenges, offer meaning, or stay connected to something bigger than themselves.

The study’s authors argue that this shift represents a broader cultural movement: the individualization of American religion. In contrast to traditional religious authority, which emphasizes community norms and institutional hierarchy, this new model centers on personal authenticity, moral autonomy, and flexible spiritual expression.

While some religious traditions—particularly those with less bureaucratic structure—may still appeal to young adults, many are choosing to craft their own belief systems outside of organized religion. This shift aligns with other societal changes, such as the decline of civic organizations, the rise of self-expressive values, and growing skepticism toward large institutions.

Despite the depth and richness of the findings, the authors acknowledge some limitations. “This study followed one cohort of people born in the late 1980s over time, providing fine-grained detail about their lives and relationship to religion,” Schnabel noted. “That zoomed in detail is great for some things, but ultimately it tells us about one cohort of people in one country rather than how religion is changing globally or even among other cohorts of people in the United States. We can infer some things and connect the patterns for this group to others, which could allow us to see potential explanations when we see similar patterns among other groups.”

The study, “Breaking Free of the Iron Cage: The Individualization of American Religion,” was authored by Landon Schnabel, Ilana Horwitz, Peyman Hekmatpour, and Cyrus Schleifer.