New Young Women Class Names! Young Men More Religious Than Young Women?

"Faith Builders" "Messengers of Hope" "Gatherers of Light"

Why are Gen Z men more religious? Sharp upturn! Nowhere else to go?

 Raw Transcript:

All right, welcome to Quick Show today.
My name is Greg Matson and I am your host. In this episode, we are talking about a Gallup poll that came out
talking of the rise in young men's religiosity and how it is realigning the gender gap in religion in Christianity with Latter-day Saints. And secondly,
PragerU puts up an actual very positive interview with and get this, an actual
Latter-day Saint to ask him about his own beliefs and his own religion.
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All right. So, what does this new Gallup poll reveal? Well, what it really does is solidify a continuing trend of young
men becoming more Christian, more religious. We've seen this for the last year and a half. We saw the the massive
Pew study that was done on religion recently. And now we've got in about another several months, almost six months here where we see now it's
actually closer to a two-year trend now where this is happening. A men ages 18 to 29
are turning to religion more than anything else. We can ask why. I don't think they give very good reasons for any of this. It's just the stats. I
would suggest that young men do not have anywhere to go and they're starting to feel that education is aligned for women
especially going into well all the way through K to2 and then up into secondary advanced education. You're getting more and more into a feminized environment.
You have close to a 4060 split in some cases worse especially as you get further and further along in master's degrees and PhDs. 40% men, 60% women,
which a man might say, "Hey, that's fantastic. Uh, what else could I ask for?" But it's a problem for the women.
Now, we might say, well, and this is an interesting point, right? Because for those that really want to fight for equality,
and what they're really saying is equity, the same results. Where are the protests of these same individuals going
out with their signs saying, "Hey, why aren't there more men in college?" in universities? Why aren't there more men in M's programs? Why aren't there more
men in PhD programs? I mean, you've got 1.5 women for every one man in in in in the universities today.
Pretty close to all the way across.
Again, getting worse usually as you get further along into your degrees.
But there's no outcry. Nobody's saying anything about it. And and it's turning honestly it's turning society to some
degree up up on its head because as most people understand sociologically and all
social studies show this. Women usually marry someone of equal let's call it status. It can be popularity. It can be
wealth, economic wealth. It can be education. And they're going to look for somebody who's at least even with them or higher. And men usually look across and down,
right? There there fewer men go out and say, "Well, I want a woman who's a lot more educated than me or a lot wealthier than me, uh, etc." Right? I mean, that
certainly exists. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but that's the way naturally we're built.
And and so you're causing a real issue here. And so you've got women that are graduating at a much higher clip than
men are being getting a higher education than men are. And there are fewer men to choose from, which also possibly I would
say likely helps contribute to the issues in dating and marriage today.
But where do men go? Right? Their education seems to be very feminized.
It's not really built for boys in K to2 uh to expound to manifest their energy,
right? Their testosterone that's running through them from very early ages.
You're sitting in a class. It's all built around, you know, obedience to very specific rules and attention spans.
And so we throw all these boys and make them be more like girls by giving them ADHD medication.
and an environment everywhere where we go. It's the same type of thing. I mean,
it it's it's how do we settle down the boys and and and of course most of these
institutions are run by women and and there are a lot more teachers that are women and and and in some ways that might be a positive thing.
I mean, women are better nurturers,
right? Some people don't want to hear that either. But you've got you've got environments where men and boys are going out and there's it's like where do
I go? Where do I turn? And and I think that some of them are turning to religion. And you can see that within Christianity, for example, the the areas where you're getting a lot more growth,
right, are are places that are more traditional. Men are looking for something more traditional. And so you look at some of the more traditional uh
um brands of of of Christianity like the Catholics and the Orthodox, the Latter-day Saints. Now,
our tradition is say we're traditional,
but obviously we haven't been around for that long,
but we we teach a traditional gospel and and and those areas that do more traditional, the Pentecostals and and the the Church of Christ and all these
are the ones that are growing the most in in this new trend in the West to some degree and especially in the United
States. And I think that's important to see, right? The men are looking for something more traditional because what
they see out there is very nontraditional.
RI, this is on April 16th, 2026. Rise in young men's religiosity realigns gender
gaps. Young men in US now surpass young women on importance of religion. So this is the survey. How important is how many
would say or would you say that religion is very there's different degrees but very important in your life right and
and uh men now have a slight edge on affiliation and tie on attendance
so it's it's it's practice also it's not just identity it's not just a feeling it is practice and you can see this
probably in your own pews some of you won't I mean But I'm saying broadly speaking, I see it myself, but
you'll see men sometimes now coming to church and sometimes even if they're married and they have kids, it's the men that are coming, the men that bring the
kids. Uh it's not always the case, of course, but you're see you never used to see that and and now that's starting to happen. So there's there's this change.
It's very odd. Uh something very different than than what we have seen before. The article goes on. honest is driven by a recent increase. Young men
in the US have now surpassed young women in saying religion is very important in their lives. Gallup's latest data from
8 minutes2024 to 25 show 42% of young men saying religion is very important to them up sharply from 28%. So that's a 14%
increase uh from 22 to 23. So just in those two years is that it's so interesting how
things can change. so quickly, whether it's events, whether it's uh, you know,
a cultural maybe there's a tipping point finally where where young men are like,
I I can't I am outnumbered on social media. I, you know, and I've gone over some of the other examples before, but
they're looking for something that is not being given to them in society. I I believe uh by contrast, during this
period, young women's attachment to religion has held steady at about 30%.
So, they're right there at about the same spot. Although young men had previously tied young women on this key marker of religiosity, young men now
lead by a statistically significant margin. The recent increase among young men also contrasts with minimal changes
since 2022 to 2023 among older men and women. So, you can see the graph here that is showing the differences here.
Women is in green. Okay. Overall, what is the overall the overall look here for all of this?
Of course, it's downward. It's going downward. This is going back to 2000 to 2001
where it starts. You got a 200uh4 2005. Here you've got men ages 18 to 19
and women ages 18 to 19. You can see where the difference was. Look at this.
And if you go back to looks like about 2002 2003 here, you had men were all the way up at 50%.
Women ages 18 to 19 in 2002 2003 were at 57% saying that religion was very important to them and men were at 41%.
10 minutesRight? So a 16% difference in favor of women and that is the traditional traditionally where it's been. But as you see these two graphs start to
converge here, getting pretty close here in 20145 at 35% for men and 39% women. And then
all of a sudden as we come into around 201819 it starts to increase. Men come up here they have a sharp dive for for
whatever reason in 22 23 and maybe this here is from COVID 2020 to 2021. But then a sharp increase and
this is the same thing we've been seeing for whatever reason Gen Z are moving toward religion. Gen Z men and this has
been over the last couple of years. So this this is just more data showing that this is the trend for young men which is
fantastic. Now here's an important stat to to to to look at and and going back to that 2001 2002 time period. Here's
what the article says on this is from Gallup, by the way. This article is from Gallup, the ones who run the poll. It says, "With the recent surge in their
attachment to religion, young men have returned to the high point of their expressed religiosity of the past 25 years,
roughly tying the 43% found in 20201. By contrast,
and and you have to st stop again and ask yourself why. What is happening?
By contrast, women of all age groups and older men are at at or near their
historical lows. So, they've been tracking this for for a few decades.
What's happening here? Why why is this happening? Everybody else, including older men, are are dropping.
What is going on with the young men?
and and and I I again I I just believe that the environment around them is is turning them away and they're looking for some area of acceptance.
This, by the way, is is a question I I have had for a long time. And I wonder myself, okay, well, if we're looking at
these men here, 18 years and older. You know, a lot of these Christian groups,
they will have programs and messaging that are directly to the men,
right? Get them involved and doing certain things and and a certain message directly to them saying, "You are supposed to be here. Here's responsibilities, etc.
We used to have some of that in within within the church, right? We had general priesthood. You had uh um we we we don't
see very often things like father and sons outings and um celebrating the ironic priesthood on a camp out, the
restoration of the ironic priesthood on a camp out in the spring. Um no sports,
13 minutesno general priesthood. I think I said that. No young men's state award presidencies. no young men's
presidencies in the ward. Those that are 100% focused on the young men
and in Salt Lake now I I and I just tried to figure this out. I don't know, but there's no messaging from men,
right? I don't know. and maybe and put this in the comments because I I could totally be off on this in Salt Lake, but I don't think there is anyone
that is specifically charged with messaging and
looking out for the welfare of adult men.
And it shows, right? It shows because there except for maybe Father's Day,
there might be something, maybe Father's Day, but there's no stake women's conference or area women's conferences.
You've got BYU's conference coming up,
the women's BYU conference, and all these things I think are fantastic. You know, they're great because you get messaging directly to you. I think
they're they're wonderful, but but there is nothing for men anywhere that we get,
which is I I don't I I I and I'm sure I'm missing something. I'm sure I'm missing something uh in terms of why
that might be right. Why why why the men aren't aren't receiving something. Let me continue on with the uh the Gallup
article here. It says, "Young women were significantly more attached to religion than young men were at the start of the
millennium, leading by 9 percentage points, 52 versus 43, and calling religion very important in their lives.
That gap widened to as much as 16 points, as we covered in the early to mid 2000s before steadily narrowing over
the next decade. By the mid 2010s, the difference had shrunk to about five points and the two groups remained about
this closely aligned through 22 23. The most recent data mark, a clear break
with young men now surpassing young women on this measure of religious importance.
Now, one other thing to look at here is we also happen to know within the church and Christianity more broadly. I've seen
these studies. I don't have them with me right now, but that we are losing more women than we are men that are that are attending church. That would go along, I
suppose, with with these stats that we see here. And this has been presented by several different uh uh influencers and
scholars and and I know that there was a test that was done a BYU test that was done on this internally. You can follow some of the tracking of Jana Ree and and what she's done in her polling and etc.
Right? That's that's also the case. So there is a very odd thing happening right now in the church and and and
throughout Christianity where where there is that we're losing more women than men overall and and and at least from the rising generation we are have a
lot more men than women now. We have more men than women now that that are
being active that feel a connection to religion to Christianity to the church.
Okay. The percentage of young men saying religion is very important to them is now similar to the percentage for men aged 30 to 49 and only slightly lower
than for senior men. Young women, by contrast, are now by far the least religious women.
at 29% calling religion very important.
Women aged 18 to 29 trail the next least religious group which is the next age group 30 to 49 by 18 points and are less
than half as likely as senior women to say religion is very important. So you can see the this graph here again move myself out of the way here.
You can see the graph here and what it's saying that uh
18 to 29 you've got uh 13% gap between men and women. 30 to 49 a 5% 50 to 64 5%
and then at 65 plus we end up with again a larger gap where men are not as you
know women just the older they get the higher their religiosity gets.
And with men, it's also, you know, you got men the same and then gets older and then for whatever reason at 65 plus, it
only comes up a little bit. It's still more religious, right? That still tracks upward. But with women, it really goes high. Uh it really goes up at the age of 65 or higher.
And then I wanted to cover this also specifically look at the religious attendance by age among us men and women. How often do you attend church,
18 minutessynagogue, mosque or temple? So this is religion broadly. Every week almost every week about once a month. Seldom or never.
And here you get at least monthly. This is just at least monthly. You could see where where we go. So you have the men here and the women. men are tracking
lower but similar to where women are coming down here until 2021.
Uh the women then end up tracking up and then men again here at 2223
here their attendance they start going up higher to the point where now in 24 25 men are slightly higher one percentage point higher than women are.
So there are more men in the pews today than there are women.
And then this here is is really actually concerning to me. Some people might rah this. I I don't I I think this is
concerning in in a direction that we're starting to move in right now. This is the religious attendance among US adults aged 18 to 29 by party and gender.
How often do you usually attend church, synagogue, mosque or temple? Every week.
Almost every week. About once a month or seldom or never. These are the percentage who attend at least monthly.
Now this is built this is divided between party.
This is divided between party. And so you have uh at you have here the uh Republican men who at 2000 2001 were at 50 5% attended at least once a month.
um that actually starts to increase here and increase here and then coming up to 2012 2013 it starts to drop and keeps
dropping. Now at this point here at 2018 to 2019 Republican men start a surge back up and
here they are at 52% now. Okay. Women track track very closely to this with men. Republican women uh are are very
very close. They're higher all the way through. You can see here coming up here where they end up at 58% at 24 25%
attending at least monthly. So that doesn't between men and women. This this part doesn't change a whole lot. Now
let's take a look down here. Democrat men and here this is a positive thing certainly coming through here. But you have 40% starting in 20,21.
It continually moves down fairly similar, not quite similar at the end here with with the Republicans. You
actually get a surge here in 2018 to 19 with Democrat men. It drops off again and then again uh in this 24-25 season here it moves back up. So they're at 26.
They are exactly at half the amount of Republican men. Okay. And women who
track pretty closely on this, they have actually come back up here or they were very similar to men here in the 2018,
2019 and 202021 area. They then track up a little bit to 31% almost half also a
little higher but almost half of uh a little over half of what the Republican women are at are. So again, this is
something I've I've watched closely the last several years. you have a growing good good to see that tick up with the
Democrats uh recently especially with the men but you've got this divergence
you know that continues to happen between Republicans and and Democrats as far as religiosity goes uh that this is
their religiosity in other words how they uh do they affiliate with a church at all and and do they would they count themselves as religion and is religion
22 minutesvery important in their lives and their actual attendance and practice uh in in church. And so there is that growing
divide. I I don't want to see a growing divide there. Some people are like,
"Yeah, divide them up." I I hope we don't see that. I would love to see a lot more uh of the Democrats, especially going to church.
Um what are the differences there? I believe that politically there are more secularized strains of
world view that run through the left and and so you know this this is you
know this is where you're you're getting into the ideas of religion of academia not as strong of an order of family um
not as many people believing in God uh not as many people praying you know all of those all kind of go together in this
so you've got that discrepancy there with with the two different parties.
Just interesting to see. But men are young men are coming back to religion
and and that's a real positive. And and of all the cultural opposition that's facing them right now, maybe this is a
positive. This is the silver lining of things where where men have uh they see that there's actually something there.
There is a separation between culture and religion and and more and more are choosing choosing religion. All right,
let's get to the new name changes for the young women in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Uh this is
brand new. Came out, I believe, uh this morning or last night, maybe yesterday.
and a letter that was sent out by the First Presidency and an announcement here on the newsroom of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We'll
take a look at that right now. And here we have uh their headline which says,
"New young women age group names emphasize faith, hope, and light." Uh so I'm guessing that's kind of along the
lines of faith, hope, and charity. Uh I wonder about that. I thought I I thought about I read why they chose these
themes. Um this was uh according to President Freeman. This is you know this was inspiration to her while she was in I think it was Tahiti.
Um but faith, hope and charity. Here you go. Faith, hope and light on this. So there are new names. They're not just names. They're actually phrases. I want
to get your feedback on this. Do you think that these are easy to work with?
And maybe they will be. I mean, look, we did the same thing with moving from Mormon to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
and can we do the same thing with the youth here on giving longer names to the different classes? So, here's what it
says here. The first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
has announced changes to age groups to age group names for young women. The purpose of the new names is to there's
the purpose love seeing why why they do things right is to help young women understand their divine place in God's
work to represent their spiritual dignity as his beloved daughters and to highlight their progression. I think all
that is fantastic. I think you know you're thinking that in those terms I think that's great. Here's the new age group names
uh or phrases that they're going with here. It is the 12 and 13 year olds.
Those that are turning 12 and 13 are builders of faith. So that class is now called builders of faith. And one thing
I don't quite understand yet, you know,
previously you would have these this was not just the name of the class. This was the name of the young women. You know,
like you had the beehives and you had the Mayameades and you had the laurels.
Is this thought of in a way that is you have the builders of faith, you have the messengers of hope, you have the gatherers of light. Are we going to
speak in those terms or is that just the name of the class? You know, in other words, where are we going to be saying
where do the 12 and 13 year olds go for their class? Or and and and and along with that saying, where is the builders of faith class?
Or are we going to actually be calling each of the girls? Oh, you're a builder of faith. I I don't know if I see that
happening, honestly, and I don't know if it matters, but I I that that I'm not sure that that is that
is exactly what's going to happen. But anyway, builders of faith is the 12 and 13 year olds. It says the following. A builder of faith helps build God's kingdom through her faith in Christ,
steadfast witness, and actions that uplift and encourage others. Okay, fantastic. The 14 and 15 year olds,
those turning 14 and 15, are are the messengers of hope. A messenger of hope carries Christ's message of hope to the weary, speaking peace, sharing comfort,
and lifting hearts through the power of the spirit. All that is fantastic.
Gatherers of light is what the 16-year-old and older are. That is the class and maybe that's what they are
called to. I don't know. A gatherer of light trusts divine guidance and draws strength from covenants as she seeks, gathers, and reflects God's light. Now,
here's what I do like about all of these is that you have, you know, what does Maya mean? I mean, I don't think it's a problem, right? Or a beehive. You know,
I know beehive kind of ties to Desireette, uh, the laurels. I, you know, that's what I grew up with. That's what I was used to. Um,
but I guess I you it's hard to say,
okay, we're going to tie these directly to the gospel or we're going to tie these directly to Christ in some way. So in this way, this certainly does that
more. And so on that alone, perhaps you just say, "Yeah, this is a great move to do this." I think the names are a little difficult.
Who am I? I'm nobody. But I do think that the names will be a little bit of a little bit tough at least identifying the girls as that.
Um I think we might guess we're going to say, "Oh, you're with the builders of faith class. You're with the messengers of hope class." That that's my guess.
But we'll see how that goes. And there was an official uh letter from the first presidency that
went over this. And these things are going to happen right away, right? These are things that are happening right away. Young Women General President
Emily Bell Freeman visited a for strength of youth conference in Tahiti at the end of 2025. This is how this
came about. As local young women sang as sisters in Zion, the spiritual power behind the names was once again confirmed. The young women leaders saw
how each verse of the hymn reflected the purpose of each of the age groups.
First, builders of faith, then messengers of hope, and finally in the third verse, gatherers of light. Again,
the messaging is is great. I love the messaging.
As the girl saying, I was inspired to think of these covenant keeping young women whose purpose and mission would be to build faith, share hope, and gather
and reflect light around the world. I like that reflect light part, too.
That's cool. So, so that's how this was inspired. That's where this came about.
The letter encourages local leaders to prayerfully seek inspiration as they organize the young women in their congregations for instruction and
activities. It's our hope, says the First Presidency, that these age groups names and the principles they teach will help young women become lifelong
disciples of Jesus Christ, prepared to participate in the great work of the Relief Societies or the Relief Society.
Members, the letter says, are encouraged to begin using these names immediately.
30 minutesWard Young Women organizations will change from a class structure to an age group structure on June 1st, 2026.
This allows local leaders to to make age group presidency changes if needed.
And we've got a few frequently asked questions here covering this. When will the T changes take place? It takes place
in 2026, but we're starting to use the names immediately. Do existing class presidencies need to be released and called again? If all members of an
existing class presidency, it says, will be in the same age group, they do not need to be released and called again.
However, the ward clerk will need to reassign the callings in LCR, right, in the system because there will be new new
places for them to be called new age or new new callings. Basically, the names of the callings.
What's the difference between an age group and a class? That's the first thought I had.
31 minutesCurrently, Bishop Ricks and adult young women leaders work together to organize young women into one or more classes.
Effective immediately, three age groups will be organized according to the age each young woman turns during the year.
And there's a few more here. I'm not going to cover these, but so that's a a difference here that we're going to have. We get a lot of changes, I'll tell you.
I mean I since especially since uh President Nelson came around there is like change
change change change um with all this which is great I mean there's revelation there's things that are happening people are making things happen and and that's wonderful to see.
Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow.