“More and more young people are embarking on spiritual journeys,” writes Susan Akyeampong in her latest article, ‘Why Are So Many Young People Looking for God?’. In 2019, just 22 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds in the UK said they believed in God. By early 2025, that figure had more than doubled to 45 per cent. New research commissioned by the Bible Society reveals that, since 2018, the number of young men attending church has risen from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, while attendance among young women has grown from 3 per cent to 12 per cent. A similar trend can be seen in the US, where 46 per cent of Gen Z identify as Christian – many of them young boys and men. But what’s behind this religious revival? And why is this surge in faith and churchgoing largely concentrated in conservative Christian spaces?

This week on the podcast, Halima Jibril and Elliot Hoste are joined by editorial director Ted Stansfield (our resident Christian) to unpack what’s drawing young adults to faith and spirituality, the reasons behind the striking gender divide and whether online trends like #tradcath and “Catholic chic” are making Christianity more attractive to the chronically online.

Related articles:

Why Are So Many Young People Looking for God? by Susan Akyeampong

Trump and the changing face of America’s young evangelicals by Laura Pitcher

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Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s Adolescence has sparked vital conversations around the radicalisation of young boys and men. However, writer Esme Hood argues that while these discussions are crucial, they often overshadow an equally pressing issue: the radicalisation of young women.

From platforms like Tumblr normalising self-harm and eating disorders content, subtly desensitising girls to violence and control to “tradwife” aesthetics that repackages far-right values in aesthetically pleasing, hyper-feminine forms, framing submission and domesticity as aspirational.

In this episode, Halima Jibril and Elliot Hoste sit down with Hood to unpack the gendered nuances of radicalisation, question why female susceptibility is so often overlooked and ask how we combat this quiet but profoundly effective form of propaganda online.

Related articles:

We need to talk about female radicalisation by Esme Hood

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Since its release on Netflix last month, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s Adolescence is all anybody has been talking about. The British crime drama television mini-series centres on a 13-year-old schoolboy named Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) who is arrested for the murder of a girl in his school. The show has reinvigorated conversations about the manosphere, incels and the rise of misogyny among young boys and men.

In this week’s episode, Halima Jibril and Elliot Hoste are joined by our deputy editor, Serena Smith, to discuss the show’s popularity, the Labour government’s new initiative to show Adolescence in schools, the problems with the way we discuss toxic and positive masculinity, and so much more.

Related articles:

‘The problem with Adolescence’ by Serena Smith

‘Are young men really doomed?’ by Halima Jibril

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