RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND SECULARITY AMONG MILLENNIALS This book explores the world of religion, spirituality and secularity among the Millennial generation in the United States and Canada, with a focus on the ways Millennials are doing (non)religion differently in their social lives compared with their parents and grandparents. It considers the influences exercised on the (non) religious and spiritual landscapes of young adults in North America by the digital age, precarious work, growing pluralism, extreme individualism, environmental crisis, advanced urbanism, expanded higher education, emerging adulthood and a secular age. Based on extensive primary and secondary quantitative data, complemented with high-quality qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups, this book offers cross-national comparisons between the United States and Canada to highlight the impact of different social environments on the experience of religion, spirituality and secularity among the continent’s most numerous generation. As such, it will appeal to scholars of religion and sociology, with interests in religious and societal change as well as in religious practice among young adults. Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She com- pleted her DPhil (PhD equivalent) in sociology at the University of Oxford in 2015. Her research interests include quantitative methods, sociology of religion, immigration and ethnicity as well as political sociology. Dr. Wilkins-Laflamme is co-author of None of the Above: Nonreligious Identity in the US and Canada with New York University Press, and has also published 24 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters to date. Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Religion A platform for the latest scholarly research in the sociology of religion, this series welcomes both theoretical and empirical studies that pay close attention to religion in social context. It publishes work that explores the ways in which religions adapt or react to social change and how spirituality lends meaning to people’s lives and shapes individual, collective and national identities. A Visual Approach to the Study of Religious Orders Zooming in on Monasteries Edited by Marcin Jewdokimow and Thomas Quartier Bisexuality, Religion and Spirituality Critical Perspectives Edited by Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip and Alex Toft The Transformation of Religious Orders in Central and Eastern Europe Sociological Insights Edited by Stefania Palmisano, Isabelle Jonveaux and Marcin Jewdokimow Society and the Death of God Sal Restivo Polish Catholicism between Tradition and Migration Agency, Reflexivity and Transendence Wojciech Sadlon Religion, Spirituality and Secularity among Millennials The Generation Shaping American and Canadian Trends Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Studies-in-the-Sociology-of-Religion/book-series/RRSR RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND SECULARITY AMONG MILLENNIALS The Generation Shaping American and Canadian Trends Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme Cover image: stock_colors First published August 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme The right of Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-032-10602-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-10921-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-21769-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003217695 Typeset in Bembo by MPS Limited, Dehradun CONTENTS List of Figures viii Acknowledgments xi Data Availability Statement xiv 1 Millennial Religion, Socially Located 1 Outsider Representations 2 The Millennial Social Location 5 A Digital Age 7 Neoliberalism and Economic Precarity 9 Growing Pluralism Paired with Ongoing Systemic Racism and Inequalities 11 Individual Choice and Consumerism 14 Environmental Degradation and Climate Change 17 Further Urbanism and Cosmopolitanism 18 Expanded Higher Education 19 Emerging Adulthood as an Extended Life Stage 20 Religion among Millennials 23 The Impact of a Secular Age 27 Heading Down the Yellow #Lit Road … 28 2 Different Approaches to Millennial Religion, Spirituality and Secularity 38 Identifying with and Belonging to Religion 38 vi Contents Doing Religion 42 Believing Religion 49 Attitudes toward Religion 52 Toward a Latent Class Typology 55 The Religious Millennial 56 The Spiritual Seeker Millennial 59 The Cultural Believer Millennial 59 The Nonreligious Millennial 60 3 The Religious Millennial 65 Digital Religion among Millennials 68 Headed Left: Moving along the Political Spectrum 76 Experiencing the Cross-Pressures 82 4 The Spiritual Seeker Millennial 89 Conceptually Distinct, but Empirically Entwined 91 Nature and the Outdoors as Spiritual Resources 96 Millennials as Reverential Naturalism Forerunners? 103 5 The Cultural Believer Millennial 109 The Importance of Cultural Ties 111 Stronger In-Group Identity Can Sometimes Also Mean Stronger Out-Group Sentiments 114 Cultural Catholics and Bill 21 in Québec 115 Anti-Group Sentiment in the 2019 MTS 117 Why Cultural Believers? 118 The Transitional Category 122 6 The Nonreligious Millennial 131 Defining and Measuring Something That Is Not 132 (Non)Religious Switching and Retention from Parent to Millennial 135 Intergenerational Disaffiliation 136 Strong Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Nonreligion 142 Different Ways of Being Nonreligious 145 7 Conclusion 156 Cross-Generational Continuity 157 Contents vii Cross-Generational Difference 158 Comparing the United States and Canada 162 Looking Forward to Middle Adulthood 167 Looking to Raising Their Children 172 Appendix A 178 Index 179 FIGURES 1.1 Eight key trends of the Millennial social location 8 2.1 “What, if any, is your religion?” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 41 2.2 “Do you identify as (select all that apply),” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 41 2.3 In the past year, practiced or took part in the following activities at least once a month, respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 45 2.4 “How often have you ever celebrated, or plan to celebrate in future, your own rites of passage events with a religious or faith group?” respondents 18-35 years old, MTS 2019 45 2.5 In the past year, did the following on the Internet at least once a month, respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 45 2.6 “How important are your religious or spiritual beliefs (or not having any) to the way you live your life?” respondents 18–35 years old, United States, MTS 2019 51 2.7 “How important are your religious or spiritual beliefs (or not having any) to the way you live your life?” respondents 18–35 years old, Canada, MTS 2019 51 2.8 “Government employees should be allowed to wear religious symbols or clothing while they are working, such as a Christian cross, a turban (Sikh head covering), a kippah (Jewish head cap), or a hijab (Islamic headscarf),” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 53 Figures ix 2.9 “Religious or faith groups should receive tax exemptions,” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 53 2.10 Average feelings scores, “Select all words that generally have positive or negative associations or meanings for you,” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 54 2.11 “On a scale from 0 to 10 (0 indicating very uncomfortable; 10 indicating very comfortable), indicate what level of comfort you would feel if the following type of person became your relative by marriage (in-law),” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 55 2.12 Proportional size of each latent class among Canadian and American Millennial respondents, MTS 2019 62 3.1 “In the past 12 months, how often on average did you do the following on the internet? Read or watched online content on religious or spiritual beliefs, values, ideas or practices; Posted on social media (Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, etc.) about religious or spiritual beliefs, values, views or practices,” respondents 18–35 years old, United States and Canada, 2019, with CI 95% 70 3.2 Overlap and rates of monthly or more frequent religious or spiritual activities, respondents 18–35 years old, United States and Canada, MTS 2019 71 3.3 Average feelings scores, “Select the words that generally have positive or negative associations or meanings for you,” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 77 3.4 Issue stance, religious and rest of population, by generation, American National Election Study 2020 79 3.5 Issue stance, religious and rest of population, by generation, Canadian Election Study 2019 81 4.1 Average feelings scores, “Select the words that generally have positive or negative associations or meanings for you,” respondents 18–35 years old, MTS 2019 90 4.2 Frequency of spiritual activity, among the 29% of respondents 18–35 years old who practice unchurched spiritual activities, MTS 2019 94 5.1 Theoretical curvilinear distribution of attitudes toward immigrants and minorities, among the actively religious, marginal affiliates and the nonreligious 121 5.2 Theoretical distribution of religious, fuzzy and secular individuals, secular transition theory 124 5.3 Distribution of religious, marginal affiliate and no religious affiliation individuals, by 5-year birth cohort, United States 2018 125