Fanning the flames of the hopes and dreams of Gen Z

On Saturday mornings I really enjoy grabbing a great cup of coffee and picking up The Times newspaper. It is a brilliant way to catch up on the news and to see where to direct my prayers.

How delighted I was to read the following headline last week: ‘Gen Z half as likely as their parents to identify as atheists.’ As I read on, it was amazing to see that those who are part of Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2010) are a far more spiritual generation than many think. This particularly impacted me as I am a parent of teenagers and had already sensed this might be true. Only 12% of under 25s are atheists which is far lower than for Boomers at 20%, or my own generation, Gen X, that is the most atheist of all the age groups.

We’re often told the story that Christianity is dying, that younger people aren’t interested and that the church in the UK has a better past than it has a future. This survey, at the very least, encourages us that younger people are open. Beyond the percentage of atheists in each generation, when asked if they have a spiritual side, 62% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ spiritual, compared to just 35% of those aged over 65, 36% of those aged 55 to 64, and 52% of those aged 35 to 44. However, the survey also showed that though younger people are far more open to spirituality, they are often put off by established religion.