Survey: Millennials' Religious 'Unaffiliation' Similar at Faith-Based, Public Colleges

April 27, 2012

According to a new survey, "millennials" enrolled in faith-based colleges are just as likely to leave the religious affiliation of their childhood as students at public universities, the Christian Post reports. The 2012 Millennial Values Survey found that college-age millennials are more likely than the general population to be religiously unaffiliated. In addition, only 23 percent believe the Bible is the word of God and should be understood literally, while 26 percent believe the Bible is the word of God but should not be taken entirely literally, and 37 percent believe the Bible was written by men and is not the word of God. Study author Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, said that while there was a positive correlation between higher levels of education and an increased percentage of those who identified as religiously unaffiliated, correlation was not necessarily causation. "We can't infer from this that attending college makes one more likely to be unaffiliated," he said.