Noon. That’s the average time a teen wakes up on a Sunday; too late to attend mass, synagogue, or church services.

Religion has been abating in influence in teens for a very long time, notably in Europe and North America. There have been a few short revivals, but in recent years the decline has been accelerated. 

According to the Pew Research Center, the majority of people claim to be affiliated to a religious group, such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism. But there is a clear age gap: out of 106 countries, surveyed teens and young adults are less likely to be affiliated with any religious identity. 

Here at South Broward High School, a survey of 30 students states that: 31.25% of teens are religious and go to church every Sunday, 18.50% are not sure what to believe but 50.25% are not religious.    

Many teens believe that religion sounds too much like a “human” idea to be viable. 

“Facts don’t prove religion is feasible,” said Rasco Perez-Velasco, senior at South Broward High School. “Religion is too opinionated.”

Many religious students aren’t religious by choice, most are born into the religion.  

“I didn’t have much of a choice. I was born and raised catholic” said Destiny Pantoja, a freshman at SBHS.  

Although being religious, plenty of students don’t deny that people are less inclined to be spiritual.

Alexine Navarro, a catholic freshman at SBHS expressed “As they discover new things, people tend to lose faith in religion.” 

Some teens have tried practicing religion but have failed, saying that practitioners are “too mean” or “condescending.”

EmilieRamos, a freshman at SBHS said, “This lady once told me that in the eyes of God I was a dirty rat” said Emilia Ramos, a freshman at SBHS.

According to the Pew Research Center, both Christians and Muslims show a clear decline in religious service attendance. Brandon Caceres stated that he is religious but doesn’t attend church service. When asked why, he responded, “Church seems like a waste of time.”   

There is also a gender gap in religious affiliation. In the U.S women are more inclined to be religious than men. That relation can be seen here at SBHS too. 80% of the students who are religious are female and 20% are male.  Although this is a major gap, statistics show that men are more devout than women when it comes to religion. Female students have admitted to missing a few weeks of church service while the males continue to not miss a week.

Destiny Pantoja said, “I probably miss every other Sunday of church services.”