US Generational Gap Widening

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published a report indicating that the generation gap on many issues has grown in the United States. Younger generations are increasingly in disagreement with their older counterparts on social issues including religion, homosexuality, evolution, and the impact of Hollywood on society.

According to Reuters, the report explains that while 63% of millennial adults (age 18-29) agree that homosexuality should be accepted, just 35% of adults over 65 think the same.

The report also found that while one in four millennials described themselves as unaffiliated with any particular faith, 20% of generation Xers (born between 1965 and 1980), and 13% of baby boomers (1946 to 1964) said the same at comparable points in their lives. Fifty-five percent of millennials believe that evolution is the best explanation for human life, while 47% of older generations -- 30 and over -- think it is.

However, the study notes that "this suggests that some of the religious differences between younger and older Americans today are not entirely generational but result in part from people's tendency to place greater emphasis on religion as they age."

Less than a third of millennial adults viewed Hollywood as a threat to moral values, while 44% adults aged 30 and older did.