The percentage of men ages 18-29 who say religion is “very important” jumped to 42% from 28% in 2022-2023, surpassing young women for the first time in at least 25 years, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday. The gender reversal is driven almost entirely by rising religiosity among young Republican men, marking what political scientists describe as a potentially transformative shift in American religious life.
The finding breaks a decades-long trend in which young women were more consistently religious than young men. Experts attribute the reversal both to young men’s attraction to religious institutions as spaces of belonging and young women’s growing perception of organized religion as aligned with restrictions on abortion and LGBTQ rights.
The gender reversal
Gallup’s latest aggregated data, based on approximately 295 men and 145 women ages 18-29, shows the magnitude of the shift. In 2022-2023, just 28% of young men reported that religion was very important to them. By 2024-2025, that figure had risen to 42%. Over the same period, young women’s attachment to religion remained flat, at roughly 30%.
The gender reversal is confined to adults under 30. Among those 30 and older, women remain more religious than men—a pattern consistent with historical trends stretching back at least 25 years.
Why young men are returning to faith
The data breaks down sharply along political lines. The percentage of young Republican men who attend church, synagogue, mosque or temple at least weekly has been rising steadily since 2019, according to Gallup. Meanwhile, young Democratic men’s attendance has largely fallen. Among women, roughly one-quarter of Democrats under 30 attend church at least monthly, compared to about 60% of young Republican women.
Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and longtime American Baptist pastor, said the shift “represents a seismic change in society and the future of the church.” Burge attributed the change partly to young men perceiving religious institutions as spaces where they feel accepted in a world where other institutions are “less interested in white men compared to women and people of color.”
“It’s the only place where you don’t have to apologize for being a white man,” Burge said. He added that American religion is “very white male dominated and young men are drawn to institutions that elevate them and give them influence and power.”
The values divide
The religious divergence reflects deeper disagreement on core moral issues. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2025 found that about 4 in 10 men under 30 say divorce is morally wrong, compared to only about 2 in 10 young women. On abortion, roughly half of young men surveyed said it is morally wrong, compared to about one-third of young women. Young men are also likelier than young women to say homosexuality is morally wrong, though both groups are substantially less likely than older men and women to hold this view.
Burge said the divergence reflects how young women, increasingly identifying as politically liberal, view religion as patriarchal. “Abortion is illegal in many states because of Christianity and young women tend to be progressive on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights,” he said. “It feels repressive to them.”
Some religious institutions report drawing people seeking belonging and purpose. Rabbi Nicole Guzik, co-senior rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, said her congregation of 5,000 members has seen “a steady, significant increase” since the end of the pandemic and the October 7 attack on Israel. She hasn’t observed a gender gap in attendance at her congregation, though she welcomes the broader trend.
“It’s about being in a place of belonging and inspiration,” Guzik said. “People are seeking something right now. There’s a crisis of loneliness and mental health. Social media and AI are not helping. I’m glad that religious institutions are able to provide some semblance of light in these times.”
Signs of stabilization
Frank Newport, a senior scientist at Gallup, offered a broader perspective on the data. While church attendance remains roughly equal between men and women overall, an underlying pattern is shifting: religiosity among young Americans, which has been declining for years, appears to be stabilizing.
“One of the dominant trends we’ve observed in recent years has been a decline in religiosity among Americans,” Newport said. “Now, in young people, we’re seeing that decline beginning to stop. That’s pretty significant.”
The stabilization is uneven. Young women remain substantially less likely than older women to attend church at least once a month, continuing a decades-long pattern of declining religious participation among women.
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