Churches Strike Blow to Trump Admin in Fight Over ICE Raids

PUBLISHED
OCT 21, 2026 AT 11:30 AM EDT



By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter

A federal appeals court has allowed a coalition of religious organizations to pursue its challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to lift restrictions on immigration enforcement at houses of worship.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the religious organizations had sufficiently demonstrated standing at this stage of the case, reversing a lower court decision that found the threat of enforcement was not sufficiently imminent. U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, wrote the majority opinion. The case was sent back to U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, to reconsider the request for a preliminary injunction. U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, dissented.

The ruling does not decide whether the administration’s policy is lawful, nor does it prohibit ICE from carrying out enforcement actions at churches.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stand guard in front of protesters outside Delaney Hall, which is being used as an Immigration and Cu... | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

What to Know About ICE Arrests at Churches and Schools

The legal disputes follow the administration’s elimination of protections that had generally discouraged immigration arrests and other enforcement activity at sensitive locations.

Religious organizations challenging the change say immigration enforcement in and around churches can deter some people from attending worship services and participating in ministries. The administration has argued that immigration officers should retain discretion to enforce federal law rather than be governed by categorical restrictions on particular locations.

God’s Spooks: Religion, Spying, and the Cold War

by Matthew Avery Sutton

January 15, 2026

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

—John 8:32, inscribed on the wall at CIA headquarters, Langley, VA

In the early years of World War II, the U.S. State Department asked all American personnel living near enemy lines in China to return home. Baptist missionary John Birch refused to leave. God, he believed, wanted him in Asia. For years Birch had worked with local Chinese communities. He knew their language, their customs, and the layout of their land. He soon put this knowledge to work—not just for God but for Uncle Sam. In 1942 his life took a dramatic turn when a squadron of bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle crashed in the Chinese countryside. The American airmen had taken off from a carrier in the Pacific, dropped bombs on Tokyo, and then flown toward safety in China, where they parachuted from their planes as their fuel supplies ran out. When Birch received word of the raid and subsequent crash, he rendezvoused with the soldiers and helped them navigate through enemy lines and to freedom.

Birch’s performance impressed the Army and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They saw in Birch a loyal foot soldier who knew the Chinese language and understood the geography and politics of the region. They put him to work, baptizing him in the waters of covert operations. During and immediately after the war Birch provided the OSS with intelligence on Chinese communism while still fronting as a missionary. He was eventually captured by communists and killed, becoming the first “martyr” of the Cold War. He later became the inspiration for Robert Welch’s extreme right-wing, anti-communist John Birch Society. Birch’s work for the government revealed that religious activists could make extremely valuable contributions to American intelligence services. But his death also demonstrated the potential consequences of mixing faith with work for the U.S. government.

What follows investigates the complicated relationship between the CIA and religion. Since its inception, the CIA has used missionaries and other religious activists for intelligence and espionage work; it has used religion as an effective propaganda tool, and its agents have even posed as clergy. CIA agents and religious activists managed to keep their partnerships mostly hidden until the 1970s. But in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate, numerous journalists and then Congress began scrutinizing the agency more closely. They revealed to the world that the CIA had been employing missionaries to further its agenda and that some religious activists were receiving substantial rewards for their work on the government’s behalf. In fact, the CIA and religious activists have long collaborated to achieve numerous policy goals.

In recent years, historians of religion have worked to better embed their narratives in the rich and complex historical contexts in which their subjects acted, linking issues of faith and belief to the ebbs and flows of particular environments. Historians Jon Butler, Paul Harvey, and Kevin Schultz have called for better integration of religion into more “mainstream” American history. The case of missionary-CIA collaboration answers that call by demonstrating how important it is for scholars to understand the many ways that religion functions in ostensibly nonreligious spheres. In the specific case of intelligence and espionage, religion had tangible impacts on American covert activities abroad. CIA-missionary relationships highlight underexplored intersections between religion and foreign policy; they expose in new ways the complicated nature of church-state collaboration; and they offer fresh insights into the many ways in which religion functions in nontraditional spheres.

At the same time, historians have much to learn by probing how and in what ways individuals and religious groups have benefited from their cooperation with the government. The State Department has often helped missionary groups expedite visas and gain entry into new regions of the world in return for their collaboration. Some government agencies have also provided humanitarian ministries with cash, food, and other supplies, subsidizing and supporting their work. Missionaries have received equally valuable, even if less tangible, benefits as well: many have found satisfaction in the conviction that in serving Uncle Sam, they were serving God. Despite the official disestablishment of religion, these partnerships illustrate how the state can serve as a historical actor, substantially aiding, or substantially undermining, a wide variety of missionary ventures.

UK government reportedly hands out 974 hijabs to small boats migrants

Reports suggest 974 hijabs were handed

By Ethan Davies

01:31, Sun, Oct 4, 2026 Updated: 01:31, Sun, Oct 4, 2026

Small boats crossings are down this year, by 13 percent (Image: Getty)

The government has given nearly 1,000 hijabs to migrants who crossed the Channel in small boats this year, according to reports.

The Mail on Sunday claims internal government documents show officials gave 974 hijabs this year, a religious headdress some Muslim women and girls wear. The hijabs were handed out in clothing packs given to every migrant that reaches the UK via small boats over the Channel, reports suggest.

The Home Office has responded by insisting it has the legal duty to provide them under the government short-term holding facility rules, first established under the Conservative government in 2018, and last amended when Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister.

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A spokesperson told the Mail on Sunday: “All arrivals receive a basic dry clothing pack where required. The items available form part of standard welfare arrangements.”

In total, 15,406 packs have been given to migrants as 19,000 small boat crossings have been attempted so far this year, the report says. The breakdown of the packs reflects the fact the vast majority of small boats migrants are male, as 10,694 clothing packs for men were given out.

Only 2,760 packs were given to women, and 773 to boys and 829 for girls. Another 350 babygrows were also handed out.

The packs typically include dry, clean tracksuits to be worn while migrants are placed in 'holding rooms' or 'residential holding rooms' by immigration authorities, and disposable slippers.

Small boats crossings have fallen this year, according to Oxford University. The university’s Migration Observatory says around 36,000 people arrived by small boat in the year to May 2026, 13 percent less than in the same period the year before.

There were 41,000 arrivals in 2025, more than in all other years except 2022, when 45,000 did so.

Source

Isaiah 58 (The True Spirit of Spiritual Religion)

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Isaiah 58

Plans for the 2026 G20 Interfaith Forum Year

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Plans for the 2026 G20 Interfaith Forum Year

2026 Theme:
Interfaith Engagement for Policy Impact

The United States hosts the 2026 G20 process, with its core feature, the Summit of leaders, scheduled at the Trump National Doral Miami resort in Miami, Florida on December 14-15, 2026. The G20 Interfaith Forum Association (“IF20”) plans two main meetings in conjunction with the G20 process this year: the first on May 26 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C, and the annual Forum in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 15-17, 2026.

The May 26 Washington Policy Forum will focus on analytic work on priority policies addressed through the G20 process. Four review papers will highlight diverse religious contributions to G20 2026 topics and proposed action recommendations. These topics will provide the core structure for the October meeting in Utah. The topics focus on themes related to the three themes the US government has announced for the G20 2026 US presidency: (1) Economic Growth for the Common Good, (2) Energy Security for a Sustainable Future, and (3) AI and the Human Future. A fourth review (4) will focus on more general themes: Interfaith Engagement around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The review papers and discussion at the Washington Conference will focus on ways that religious values and practices relate to and can add to the critical topic areas, aiming to highlight service of the common good. They will reflect and draw on the ongoing work of the wide range of faith and interreligious networks and alliances engaged in humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding work. Drafts of the four reports will be circulated for consultation and comment prior to the May 26 meeting, then revised as core documents for the October Forum.

The October 15-17 Annual Forum, in Salt Lake City, will focus on the themes identified during the policy review process, with some additional themes identified by Forum participants. Plenary sessions will address the policy themes developed in Washington plus other priority themes, such as the food crisis, health issues (including mental health), education, children’s issues, religion and economic progress, care for creation, etc. Concurrent sessions will facilitate in-depth discussion and analysis. The Salt Lake Forum will include invited speakers, with several sessions responding to topic proposals relevant to Forum priorities from individuals and organizations.

Engagement. The Forum will involve interactive sessions in addition to keynote presentations. The aim is to highlight pertinent experience and to identify emerging areas for constructive forward-looking action. Active civil discourse, with recognition of diverse perspectives and experience, are the driving principle. Active participation by those attending is expected. The closing plenary will highlight major themes and action recommendations, relating them to the continuing G20 agenda. Participants will bring relevant and diverse expertise, from different regions and religious communities. Expressions of interest through the IF20 Secretariat (contact above) are welcome.

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Eiffel Tower closed due to strike after female staff allegedly removed for religious group

A sign declaring the Eiffel Tower opening delayed in Paris, France, on September 7, 2026. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

By

Rhea Mogul
Updated Sep 8, 2026

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was closed on Monday as employees went on strike to protest claims female colleagues were told to stay out of sight during a visit by a Hindu religious group, drawing criticism from French politicians.

Around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global Hindu organization headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, visited the landmark on Saturday.

BAPS describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship” dedicated to improving society through individual growth and promoting the Hindu values of faith, service and global harmony. The group inaugurated a new Hindu temple in Paris on Sunday.

Diane Davoine, a union representative for the Eiffel Tower staff, told reporters that during the visit, “women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there.”

“So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” she said.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an investigation has been launched into the claims.

“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated,” he wrote on X. “These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men.”

The Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) acknowledged that the delegation had requested a visit that limited “interactions with women,” according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

SETE said that “these conditions should not have been accepted,” BFMTV reported.

CNN has contacted SETE for a response.

In a statement on X, BAPS did not directly mention the female staff but said it took the concerns “very seriously” and that the visit was organized “in coordination with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours” to limit disruption to other visitors.

“To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, we sincerely apologise for any pain or inconvenience caused.”

When reached by CNN for comment, BAPS Paris said in a statement, “It was never, at any point, intended as a request rooted in gender, and any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the spirit or values of our fellowship or the delegation.”

“BAPS remains firmly committed to the principles of equality, mutual respect, and service to all, regardless of gender, background, or belief – values that lie at the very heart of our tradition’s teachings and community work worldwide,” the statement continued.

News of the closure made headlines in India on Tuesday. Some commentators on social media asked why the monument’s management complied with the purported request to sideline female staff. Several others said the incident has stained India’s credibility and the Hindu religion.

Controversial Hindu nationalist leader spurs protests, Mamdani denunciation ahead of NYC speech

By Associated Press
Published Aug. 28, 2026, 12:32 p.m. ET

Mamdani opposes NYC event featuring RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat



https://youtube.com/shorts/qU_8bNjLbCQ?si=Rn2NdVeAOhBuoa6n

An event Saturday in New York City, featuring the head of a Hindu nationalist group instrumental in putting India’s ruling party in power, is being met with protests, a denunciation from the city’s mayor and a call for sanctions from a US panel on religious freedom.

Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, widely considered the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is scheduled to address about 5,000 members of Indian American groups at the city’s iconic Madison Square Garden arena.

Titled “Universal Oneness Celebration,” the event is being organized by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat speaks during the India International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) event on Aug. 6, 2026, in Mumbai, India.AFP via Getty Images

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at the podium during the Caribbean Heritage Reception on Aug. 28, 2026, at Gracie Mansion in Manhattan.Kevin C. Downs for NY Post

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been a polarizing figure in that country and the diaspora, emerged from the group known as RSS, a right-wing paramilitary group founded a century ago.

Critics have accused the group of promoting the political ideology of Hindutva, which means “the essence of being Hindu,” and seeks to define Indian culture and national identity in terms of Hindu values.

The party and its branches have also been accused of fostering a culture of intolerance and committing human rights violations such as mob lynchings, targeting minority places of worship and razing Muslim-owned properties with bulldozers.

This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly declared his opposition to the event, labeling RSS ideology as exclusionary and contrary to the pluralistic views of the city.

Protest in Dearborn, Michigan Near Henry Ford Centennial Library

Anti-Islam protesters expected at Dearborn City Council meeting

 

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38 experts say ‘climate alarmism’ has become a profit-driven religion

Tom Harris Thu Jul 9

Religion has been a force throughout history that has helped societies flourish and given people meaning, but it has also been a vehicle for fundamentalism and intolerance. A religion can be characterized by a common set of beliefs about the truth of existence, ritual practices, moral codes, and a community of those who share the same beliefs. From this standpoint, climate alarmism has become nothing short of a religion, one that has been taking over societies around the world.

The newly released book, Canary in a Climate World: Climate Realism vs. the Net Zero Myth, is an eye-opening compilation of essays from 38 experts about the science of climate change, the fallacies of Net Zero, and the story we are not being told by the government and media.

Margaret Anna Alice, a writer focusing on propaganda and psychology, writes in her Canaries essay about how she lost her “religion” of climate alarmism, which for her had been an “inviolable belief.” She writes that “In this religion, gods such as the United Nations carve out the Ten Commandments in the form of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, and the SDG7 Global Roadmap for achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.”

Additionally, “sermons” cite the “sacred texts” of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shaming everyday citizens into believing that they are contributing to a devastating environmental catastrophe. It is only by aligning themselves with the religion of climate alarmism that they will be redeemed from their sins. Namely, by giving up their standards of living and putting their hard-earned money toward expensive projects to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) or subsidize intermittent and expensive renewable power such as wind and solar.

Just like the church in Medieval Europe, the climate doctrine is widespread and encroaches into our daily lives. Yet data corruption abounds at the IPCC and other official institutions, and for decades, few scientists have had the courage to speak out against it with their livelihoods on the line. These “heretics” are ostracized, lose their jobs, or are refused funding. But the tide is shifting. With the serious consequences of climate policies being enacted, now is the time to reveal that the climate scare is based on corruption and flawed ideology. Governments will spend trillions of dollars and drive their citizens into poverty if we continue down the route to Net Zero. IPCC contributor Mike Hulme admitted that “The debate around climate change is fundamentally about power and politics rather than the environment.” And the scientists and experts writing in Canary in a Climate World: Climate Realism vs. the Net Zero Myth are also disseminating crucial information to help us better understand the climate and the policies that have stifled our society’s growth for decades.

Thirty Years of War in God’s Name I SLICE HISTORY | FULL DOCUMENTARY

 

The Rise of Political Religion in America KEEP the FAITH

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We are seeing something we have never seen before but has been predicted in Bible prophecy. It is the rise of political religion and a softening up of America for big changes to the interpretation of it Constitution. There are some surprising developments that are not understood in their connection to the Sunday law. Join us for this engaging presentation and discussion of the position God’s people are in as America celebrates religion on its 250th birthday.

Transcript 

Historic divinity school is offering the first doctoral degree in ‘AI and Moral Agency’

By YONAT SHIMRON
Updated 6:20 PM EDT, July 29, 2026


(RNS) — At the end of the Civil War, a Union soldier and Baptist minister founded a school in Raleigh, North Carolina, to provide formerly enslaved people with religious literacy.

Now that same school — Shaw University — wants to provide literacy of a new kind: AI literacy.

Starting next year, Shaw’s divinity school plans to offer a new degree track: a Doctor of Education (or Ed.D) in Artificial Intelligence and Moral Agency.

As the AI spreads and performs more and more tasks traditionally done by humans, the divinity school wants to get ahead of the curve and probe its moral implications.

“We say Shaw was created to provide leadership in building literacy,” said Mark Harden, dean of Shaw University Divinity School. “We (half)joke this is our second calling because we’re building AI literacy for vulnerable communities with an emphasis on social justice and ethics.”

In June, the divinity school secured the go-ahead from the regional accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It is now working on receiving a seal of approval with the Commission on Accrediting at the Association of Theological Schools, a network of 280 graduate schools of theology across the United States and Canada.

Shaw’s AI degree would be the first among the ATS network in either the master’s or doctoral level, said Chris Meinzer, ATS’s chief operating officer. Several divinity schools have begun offering solo classes in AI and ethics.

In December, Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good received a $50 million gift from the Lilly Endowment to support the so-called DELTA network that will provide practical resources for pastors, churches and schools to navigate challenges posed by AI. DELTA stands for dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence and agency — which it believes are the core Christian values. (RNS also receives grant support from the Lilly Endowment.)

“Almost everybody we’re talking with and working with in higher education right now is just getting really serious about how issues involving artificial intelligence are really shaping a lot of the ethical questions that we want to study going forward, and a lot of the formation work that we need to do with our students,” said Meghan Sullivan, a philosopher and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good at Notre Dame.

I fed 5 major religions into an AI engine. Here is the 'winner.'

By Jay Atkins, Op-ed Contributor Monday, April 20, 2026

iStock/Chor muang

I recently did something that will likely make both my Christian and atheist friends a little uncomfortable: I asked a popular AI engine to evaluate the world’s major belief systems and tell me which one makes the most rational sense.

To be clear, I didn’t prompt it to favor Christianity. I didn’t ask leading questions or try to stack the deck. I asked it to analyze the heavyweights — Atheism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity — using a simple two-step framework: First, which worldview best explains reality, and second, which one does so while requiring the fewest unsupported assumptions? In other words, tell me which one has the highest explanatory power with the lowest evidentiary burden.

As a professing Christian for more than 40 years, what I got back should not have surprised me, yet it did. AI, in seconds, reached the same conclusion I’ve been working towards for decades: Christianity offers the most reasonable overall explanation of reality with the fewest leaps of faith.

Pause and let that settle in. AI ranked Christianity as the most reasonable view of the world.

The analysis I asked AI to do was not complicated, but it was comprehensive. I asked it to evaluate each worldview against the same basic questions:

1. Why does anything exist at all?
2. Why is the universe ordered and intelligible?
3. Why do humans possess consciousness and reason?
4. Are moral truths real or are they just social constructs?
5. Does human life have meaning or purpose?
6. Do the historical and fact claims of each belief system hold up?

I framed the analysis this way, not to pick a winner for rhetorical effect but to see which belief system actually holds together under the pure, rational scrutiny of a machine. When the analysis was done, here’s what happened.

Atheism scored well on simplicity. It doesn’t require belief in miracles or divine revelation. But that simplicity comes at a cost. It struggles to explain the biggest questions: why does the universe exist at all, why is it governed by rational laws, how does consciousness arise from mere matter, and why do we experience moral obligations as something real and binding? In many cases, it simply labels these things as either illusory or as “brute facts” and moves on, but it does not answer them.

Buddhism performed better as a practical system. It offers profound insight into human suffering and provides a quasi-workable path toward inner peace, but it largely sidesteps the deeper metaphysical questions. It gives advice on how to cope with reality, but not what reality ultimately is.

Hinduism fared about as well as Buddhism. It offers a sweeping explanation of reality with concepts like ultimate unity, karma, and reincarnation that attempt to account for both the material and spiritual world. That gives it significant explanatory depth, but with a big tradeoff. The system relies on a complex web of metaphysical claims that can’t be verified or falsified, creating a very high evidentiary burden relative to other worldviews.

Islam held together fairly well. It offers a strong account of God, morality, and purpose, which is understandable given its Abrahamic roots. But it runs into serious historical tension when it comes to the historicity of its claims about divine revelation to Muhammad, Jesus’ crucifixion, and correction of earlier traditions. Islam’s brand of retrospective revision carries a very heavy evidentiary burden that it simply can’t carry.

Religion’s Longstanding Gender Gap Is Narrowing Among Gen Z. But Which Gender Is Narrowing It—and Why?

by Chantelle Lee

Reporter
Jul 9, 2026 6:00 AM ET

Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Fabrice Lerouge—Getty Images; Weiquan Lin—Getty Images; Hiroshi Higuchi—Getty Images; Syuzanna Guseynova—Getty Images; SivStockMedia via Canva)


A gender gap has long persisted in religious identity. Historically, data has widely, and with remarkable consistency, shown women being more religious than men. But that appears to be changing when it comes to Gen Z.

Recent surveys indicate the longstanding gap is now closing among young men and women—and one even suggests that it might be beginning to open in the opposite direction.

Which gender is driving the shift, and why, is a matter of some contention, however.

Recent Gallup polling attributed the narrowing gender gap among Gen Zers primarily to a rise in religiosity—meaning the depth of religious belief—among young men. But other surveys have found no such change in young men’s religious identities, and have instead shown that the change is being caused by more young women turning away from religion—a trend that some attribute to young women’s frustration with the sexism that persists in some places of worship.

TIME spoke to pollsters, political scientists, religious leaders, and others about the data and what they make of it.

Are young men becoming more religious?

Gallup polling released in April found that in 2024-2025, 42% of men between the ages of 18 and 29 said religion was “very important” to them. That figure marks a jump of 14 percentage points from just two years before, when 28% of young men said this. It also shows a reversal of past gender dynamics: in previous years, women surpassed men in saying that religion is important to them. In 2012-2013, for instance, 51% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 said so, compared to just 41% of men in that same age group. In 2024-2025, meanwhile, just 29% of young women said religion is very important in their lives, notably lower than the 42% of young men who said the same.

“Historically, there has been a gender gap in religiosity in this country as long as we’ve had survey research,” says Frank Newport, a senior scientist at Gallup who worked on the poll. “What I think is important in our findings so far is that the gender gap among young Americans—18 to 29—has basically disappeared across several measures of religiosity. Men and women are either statistically the same or, in one measure, men are more religious, among 18 to 29 year olds.”

Thousands Of M*slims Flood New York City Beating Their Chests In Ashura Martyrdom Celebration

2026 LGBT-Affirming Christian Denomination Report

 

A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed heart.

Many Protestants suppose that the Catholic religion is unattractive and that its worship is a dull, meaningless round of ceremony. Here they mistake. While Romanism is based upon deception, it is not a coarse and clumsy imposture. The religious service of the Roman Church is a most impressive ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the senses of the people and silence the voice of reason and of conscience. The eye is charmed. Magnificent churches, imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of beauty. The ear also is captivated. The music is unsurpassed. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ, blending with the melody of many voices as it swells through the lofty domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, cannot fail to impress the mind with awe and reverence.

This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony, that only mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of inward corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such attractions to recommend it. In the light shining from the cross, true Christianity appears so pure and lovely that no external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the beauty of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value with God.

Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an index of pure, elevated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement of taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and sensual. They are often employed by Satan to lead men to forget the necessities of the soul, to lose sight of the future, immortal life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and to live for this world alone.

A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship has a seductive, bewitching power, by which many are deceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as the very gate of heaven. None but those who have planted their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against her influence. Thousands who have not an experimental knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godliness without the power. Such a religion is just what the multitudes desire.

The Great Controversy, pp. 566,567.

Pentagon revises religious codes, reclassifies Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Washington Nationals Director Admits Religious Discrimination Against Pitcher Williams