In 1995 the yearly gallup poll of Religion showed that 6 percent of Americans had no religion. In 2015, the results came to 17% of people not believing in anything. In history, empires were built around people's gods and goddesses- and soon fell to war with nations with other beliefs. Many died defending or trying to worship their deity and the long fight for freedom to religion is not won in some countries. Is all of this bloodshed in vain? “Millennials were less likely to attend services, less likely to say religion was important in their lives, and less approving of religious organizations,” found the Huffington Post when conducting a survey of 13 to 18 year olds feeling towards religion. This research stretched the span of 46 years to grasp the opinion of real growing adolescents, 11.2 million of them. Studies show that millennials are the least religious group to date. Could millennials be the blame? Will freedom from religion help or hurt our society? 

The largest majority of Americans “practice” Christianity, technically. The growth of the Agnostic and Scientology groups falling under the Christian umbrella decreases the real percentage of people who practice Christianity. This is essential to research because Christianity is the leading most practiced religion in America, but these subsections are not represented (Pew Research Center).These smaller religions may cause Christianity to remain a leading religion in statistics. This change affects the amount of people worshiping, because Agnostics and Scientologists both have no definite belief or disbelief in God.  The Huffington Post suggests that “culture change” is a factor in younger people rejecting their parents’ faith small counter culture religions like “Wicca” and the Atheism that cater to a new era of teens experimenting and finding their own paths rather than going down the same paved road of organized religion that their parents made. The new age of individualism, an end to societal norms shaping how people look and carry themselves contrasts with the idea of organized religion and pushes people away from it. Another factor in  the rejection of religion is the teachings of what religion tolerates and what it does not. Roughly 10% of adolescents identify themselves as LGBTQ+ and stigmas surrounding the religious community in regards to same sex relationships and gender change can negatively impact them a point of rejecting their religion (Religion News).

  
Now that it's apparent that Millennials - people born after 1981- are significantly less interested in organized beliefs, the question is whether this is a good thing or a set back. Science and philosophy are more important than ever and discoveries are being made every day. In Present day U.S., Religion is linked with  “fewer risk behaviors, better social functioning,and less substance abuse” according to Generational and Time Period Differences in American Adolescents’ Religious Orientation. While this is true, there's been studies showing that there is no correlation between dangerous risks and beliefs. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s interviews of spinal cord injury patients showed Atheists had no change in the risk of developing depression in comparison to religious people (RT). When one is in trouble, sick or in poverty, the historical instinct is to pray, but in this new age where there is a solution to almost any problem thanks to modern medicine. “Insecurity leads to belief. People living in comfortable situations don’t have a great need to believe in anything, they don’t have a lot of stress. If you get sick or become unemployed, the state will look after you.”(Barry Kosmin).This shows that as the people's need for religion as a crutch or coping method declines, the number of religion-less people can grow. 

Religious discrimination has always been a problem, and still is in a sense. People aren't as offended that not everyone look up to their beliefs, as some used to start wars over. This is thanks to a communal understanding of what a belief is; your own perception of what is real, that cannot be taken away or twisted into others. The large decline of religion can mean the elimination of discrimination and one using their god as means to hurt someone. Denmark and Sweden are the least religious countries in the world. The atmosphere is completely different to the US, talk about religion is muted and infrequent; it's rarely mentioned at all. With the lowest church attendance rates ever seen, they also have some of the strongest economies and  lowest crime rates. These results are were researched and illustrated for 14 months by Phil Zuckerman, author of  “Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment”. In these countries people live normally, raise upper middle class families with jobs and hobbies- but without influence of religion. This is not interesting until you look deeper into both where you live and these countries. Politics, media and school come in no contact with God, which may be able to take credit for their great economy and very low crime rates. Where major religious states have room for hate crimes and not collecting taxes from churches like the US, Denver and Sweden are more progressive. This shows the decline of Religion, and how it is impacting some positively.

In a time when religion was law, your beliefs alone could be detrimental to your life. Wars like the Crusades, that were sparked by the Pope’s promise the forgive all of the confessed sins of those who reclaimed the Church of God from the Muslims who had taken Jerusalem in 638 C.E. (History Today). Both parties had the same intentions, worshiping God, but killed each other to achieve this.To them this was ok because the Pope would forgive those sins, because they were for god, and they would not go to Hell. One to three million people may have died during all of the Crusades (Death Toll Comparison Breakdown) even though peacefulness is a large part of organized religion. People can twist their beliefs to allow them to be cruel, like Dylan Roof, South Carolina man who has 33 federal charges against him, including illegal possession of firearms and a hate crime. On June 17th, 2015, Roof entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and killed 9 people inside of the historically black church. His website revealed racist motivation and made the crime fit the US criteria for a hate crime. Dylan Roof was a Devout christian, thus the people of the Emanuel Church forgave him, even the family of his victims. Beliefs can bring people together, and forgiveness is a good thing, but not all should be forgivable. Your faith should never be a pass card. Religion has its flaws, that is apparent, but these could be affecting how many view religion as a whole, and changing how someone feels about the history of their own beliefs.

In history religion has been a huge factor in the building of civilization. Religious impulse like the need to worship and honor your deity used to be the rise of nations.  Creation stories and commandments from profits were law that kept people sane and civil, but in the modern world citizens carry themselves under government law and make decisions themselves. It's true that life is nowhere close to how it was in Bible times, but is modern man completely independant from God? As hardship becomes lesser for large amounts of people, they pray significantly less than their suffering ancestors (RT). It seems like advancements in culture like individualism and evolutions in society like modern medicine and priorities have all impacted the fast decline of religion. Young people who witness the faults of their parents and ancestors may reject religion in fear, resentment, or simple lack of need for it. Millennials are simply less interested in organized belief than any generation previous, which could possibly lead to a more peaceful society.