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Saturday, March 08, 2014

Anugrah Kumar: Millennial Generation Less Religious, More Liberal, Pew Study Shows


America's Millennials are less likely to believe in God compared to older generations. They are also less attached to organized politics and religion, are linked by social media, distrustful of people and in no hurry to marry, but they are optimistic about the country's future, a new Pew Research Center report shows.

About 29 percent of adults aged 18-33 say they are not affiliated with any religion, shows the Pew study released Friday. Eleven percent say they don't believe in God compared to 6 percent of Gen Xers. Fifty-eight percent of Millennials say they are absolutely certain of their belief in God while 69 percent of Gen Xers say the same. Twenty-eight percent of Millennials and 24 percent of Gen Xers say they believe in God but aren't certain.

Meanwhile, half of Millennials describe themselves as political independents.

The study notes that these are at or near the highest levels of religious and political disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century that the research group has been polling on these topics.

"It's not that they don't have strong opinions, political opinions – they do," said Paul Taylor, co-author of the report. "It's simply that they choose not to identify themselves with either political party."

While many Millennials call themselves political independents, they tend to support Democrats and liberal views on many political and social issues, ranging from a belief in an activist government to support for same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization, the study adds. Keep reading

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