Religious progressives predicted to outnumber conservatives

A new study has found that while the number of religious conservatives is still greater than that of progressives, the religious left might have a better chance of maintaining its foothold with Americans over time, reports The Huffington Post.

'If you’re using a generational snapshot today as a proxy for the future, it is is safe to say that religious progressives hold a stronger appeal among Millennials,' said Robert Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, which surveyed 2,000 adults in partnership with the Brookings Institute.

While the Christian right makes up 28 percent of the population and garners more cultural attention -- Jones found that there are 27,000 global monthly Google searches for 'Christian Right' compared with just over 8,000 searches for 'Christian left' -- religious progressives are only 9 percentage points behind, with 19 percent of the population.

With each generation, the popularity of religious conservatism has declined. Forty-seven percent of the Silent Generation (ages 66 to 88) are religious conservatives, compared with 34 per cent of Baby Boomers, 23 per cent of Gen Xers and 17 per cent of Millennials.

'What we see is not a one-to-one replacement of religious conservatives with religious progressives,' Jones explained. Instead, the ranks of religious conservatives over time are declining, while religious progressives maintain their share of the population. 'But there's also this growing number of non-religious Americans.' If the trends continue, religious progressives eventually will outnumber religious conservatives.