US evangelical millennials disapprove abortion, favour environmental care

Millennial evangelical Christians in the USA are more liberal than their elders in some issues, but still equally conservative in several others.

A survey conducted by Pew Research shows that 55% of believers born before 1981 agree with the statement “stricter environmental laws are worth the cost”. This approval of creation care measures contradicts the general perception that says that evangelical Christians in the USA are not interested in environmental care.

Some of the key issues asked in the survey. / Pew Research

When asked about abortion, 65% of evangelical millennials said “abortion should be illegal in all/most cases”, a position that has even more support among younger evangelicals than among older generations (63%).

Young evangelicals vs. older evangelicals. / Pew Research

Ideologically, younger evangelicals generally define themselves as “conservative” (42%) and “moderate” (34%). Only 16% of young evangelicals would define themselves as “liberal”. In contrast, of all other non-evangelical Millennials in the USA, only 22% define themselves as “conservative”.

The ideas of young churchgoers, though, are still more liberal than those church members that are older. Among evangelicals born before 1981, “conservative” (58%) and “moderate” (25%) were more extended labels.

When asked about homosexuality, 51% of evangelical millennials said they believe “homosexuality should be accepted by society”, and 45% of the respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage.

Evangelical millennials vs. non-evangelical millennials. / Pew Research

One in four believe the growth of immigrant population is a change for the better and four in ten agree with the statement “bigger government and more services are preferable.”

Read more about this Pew Research survey.