Why Baby Boomers Turned from Religion

Abstract

Mocked, vilified, blamed, and significantly misunderstood—the ‘Baby Boomers’ are members of the generation of post-World War II babies who came of age in the 1960s. Their parents of the 1940s and 1950s raised their Boomer children to be church-attenders and respectable, and yet in some ways demonstrated an ambivalence that permitted their children to spurn religion and to eventually raise their own children to be the least religious generation ever. The Baby Boomers studied here, living in the UK and Canada, were the last generation to have been routinely baptised and taken regularly to mainstream, Anglican churches. So, what went wrong—or, perhaps, right? This book, based on in-depth interviews and compared to other studies and data, is the first to offer a sociological account of the sudden transition from religious parents to non-religious children and grandchildren, focusing exclusively on this generation of ex-Anglican Boomers. Now in their 60s and 70s, the Boomers featured here make sense of their lives and the world they helped to create. They discuss how they continue to dis-believe in God yet have an easy relationship with ghosts and did not, as theologians are wont to argue, fall into an immoral self-centred abyss, but forged different practices and sites (whether in ‘this world’ or ‘elsewhere’) of meaning, morality, community, and transcendence. They also reveal the kind of values, practices, and beliefs they transmitted to the future generations, helping shape non-religious identities of Generation X, the Millennials, and Generation Z.

Honestly, no God: Baby Boomers and the decline of Anglicanism

“…Reflecting on how Americans would apparently never vote for an atheist, Ben said that he could never vote for a Christian, whom he described as someone who 'believes 95 impossible things before breakfast'. 13 Laurie expressed clearly the distinction between what the Bible said and what could be believed. 'It's impossible for me to read that book and reconcile it,' she said, apart from 'maybe some little bit of what Jesus said'.…”

“…Jennifer, a Boomer I interviewed in 2020, described in more detail another aspect of the Church that she found alienated her and, she suggested, others of her generation: patriarchy. 14 'I hated it, absolutely, I could never understand why God always had to be a man. The patriarchy really got to me.'…”

“…For example, one Boomer said that church was a 'social place', and there were no 'religion-related things at home, no grace'. 7 Another said that she was baptized and confirmed, but she did not recall 'my mother professing or talking about religion, though I remember once she said she thought the Church of England was the best'. Another Boomer agreed that there was not any religious content at home: 'Maybe little pictures of Jesus on the wall but I think that was a souvenir from New York,' adding that 'I don't remember my mum even talking about theology.'…”

“…Boomers often described their secular morality as superior to religious morality. 12 If, one Boomer wondered, there was a God, 'Couldn't he be a bit nicer?' What kind of father, another asked, would kill his own son?…”

“…2 He said that 'people one admired at the time were questioning'. 3 This was, as Robinson said, 'the modern world'.…”