The assassination of Charlie Kirk has had a profound effect on a lot of people.
Some have even argued that it may fuel what already appeared to be a religious revival of sorts in the United States.
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| Link: https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1978456270622335016 |
Joel Kotkin recently wrote an article in Unherd where he makes the argument that a spiritual hunger is in evidence in the United States and it is driven in large part by young people.
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| Source: https://unherd.com/2025/10/why-god-came-back/ |
Nearly 60 years ago, Time magazine, then an important publication, posed a discomfiting question on its cover: “Is God Dead?” Yet today, a spiritual hunger grips America, with roughly two-thirds of religiously unaffiliated Americans still believing in God or a universal spirit, according to Pew. Overall, young people are drawing closer to a higher power, and new research reports that most Gen-Z teens are more interested in learning more about Jesus, often using the internet to find new commitments.
(Hat tip to BeeLine reader RDB for forwarding me this article.)
Kotkin's assertion is supported by data from Barna that shows that Gen Z and Millennial church members are now more likely to attend church than their parents or grandparents. This is a complete reversal from historical trends, where the older you were the more likely you were to attend.
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| Source: https://www.barna.com/research/young-adults-lead-resurgence-in-church-attendance/ |
Kotkin also sees the nature of worship taking on a much more conservative character.
The data backs up Kotkin's observations.
Churches that have embraced progressive ideology are disappearing.
Traditional protest denominations are in freefall insofar as members are concerned.
The mainline Protestant sects which once made up 50% of all church members are now only around 10% of church goers in the United States.
This chart gives you an idea of how membership has fallen since 2000 with some of the mainline church denominations.
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| Source: https://readytoharvest.substack.com/p/the-decline-of-mainline-churches |
More religiously conservative Evangelical Protestants are now the largest religious group in the United States.
Evangelicals outnumber Mainline Protestants by 2:1.
The conservative religious trend is also apparent in looking at other religious sects.
For example, the Amish have more than doubled their numbers in the last 20 years.
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| Source: https://readytoharvest.substack.com/p/the-decline-of-mainline-churches |
It is another example that proves demography is destiny.
The fertility rate for Amish women is 6.0 compared to less than 2.0 for the general U.S.population.
We can expect the Amish population to double again in 20 years with this number of births.
The Amish are on their way to overtaking some traditional Protestant sects in numbers in the near future.
Holmes County in Ohio is on track to soon be the first majority Amish county in the United States.
In the United States, there has also been significant growth in Chabad within the Jewish denomination, which emphasizes strict adherence to traditional Jewish law while also being known for its outreach efforts to engage Jews of all backgrounds.
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| Source: https://momentmag.com/chabad-thirty-years-late . |
(From the picture in the above article it is nice to know that cell phone use is not prohibited under traditional Jewish law!)
The same trends can also be seen globally.
In Israel, the Orthodox Jewish population is growing the fastest.
Orthodox Jews made up less than 10% of the Jewish population of Israel in 1990. Today they comprise almost one-fourth of the Jewish population and almost 20% of the total population of Israel.
Again, much of this is driven by birth rates in which the fertility rate for Orthodox women is double (6.0) that of the population at large in Israel (2.9).
Of course, we have all seen the dramatic turn in the Muslim faith over the last 45 years to a strict view of Islam which has resulted in moderate Muslims being largely marginalized in many parts of the world.
The radical Islam we see today has its roots in what is called the "Salafi Movement" within Islam. Its followers believe in taking a very fundamental approach to Islam. They believe that Islam has strayed from its roots and has become decadent over the years. They reject any religious innovation and support the implementation of sharia law.
At current trends, driven largely by higher fertility rates among Muslims, it is just a matter of time before Muslims outnumber Christians in the world.
Globally, Muslims are producing more children than any other religious group.
Buddhists are losing ground every year due to low birth rates.
The situation is worse in Western Europe where the fertility rate difference is much greater than between Muslims and non-Muslims globally.
On average, Muslims are having one additional child than non-Muslims in Western Europe.
This projection shows the % of the European population that will be Muslim in 2050 based on this fertility differential and current migration trends.
The Muslim population will triple in 25 years.
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| Source: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2025/08/which-european-countries-will-become-muslim-potential-tripling-by-2050.html |
Sweden will be over 30% Muslim and Germany 24% in one generation.
As I have written before, unless there is a major change in the current trajectory, large parts of Europe will no longer be Europe within one or two generations.
Previous religious revivals were the catalyst for political change in the United States.
These have been referred to as "Awakenings".
The so-called First Awakening in the American colonies (1730's and 1740's) fostered individualism and anti-authoritarian sentiment. Church membership grew. The people started to distance themselves from the King and Church of England. This revival set the the desire for American independence in motion.
The Second Great Awakening (1790's-1840's) brought about a doubling of church membership with an emphasis on free will, personal salvation and moral reform. This revival led to the abolitionist movement that eventually culminated in the Civil War.
The Third Great Awakening (1850-1900's) emphasized urban revivals as America industrialized, personal piety and social reform. The Salvation Army and YMCA were founded during this period. The foundation for Prohibition was also set in motion during this revival period with the founding of the temperance movement in 1873/1874 and the Anti-Saloon League in 1890.
It remains to be seen whether a new revival period in the United States will lead to fundamental changes in society as was seen in the lead up to the American Revolution, the Civil War and the ratification of the 18th Amendment of the Constitution which made Prohibition the law of the land from 1920 until 1933.
However, what is certain is that if the United States and (especially) Europe do not see a revival of some form in religious commitment, they may be in as much danger as traditional mainline churches.
Radical Islam shows no signs that it will be retreating
Revival may be necessary for the survival of Western Civilization as we know it.
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