The American Culture and Faith Institute (ACFI) published results of a survey earlier this month. The survey measured the core beliefs of millennials compared to older generations. The study shows that millennials hold more liberal views of things like socialism and same-sex marriage than older generations. But there’s another big difference. Millennials are much less likely to become conservative in the future.

While it’s normal for younger generations to hold liberal views, they drift to the right over time. Not so for millennials. “Millennials are so far to the left-of-center” that “even a typical amount of repositioning” will leave them very liberal, says George Barna. It’s unlikely that even 10 percent will ever hold a biblical worldview, he says. Barna is the Executive Director of the ACFI and is cited in the study. 

ACFI conducted the study in February 2017. It measured responses from 1,000 millennials, that is, those under age 30. Notable findings include:

• Only 59 percent of millennials identify as Christian. This compares to 72 percent of adults from older generations.
• Only 33 percent of millennials (one in three) are born again Christians.
• Only twelve percent of millennials identify as conservative. Twenty-six percent are liberal. For adults older than 30, conservatives outnumber liberals two to one.
• Almost have (44 percent) of millennials prefer socialism over capitalism.
• As many as 15 percent of millennials identify as LGBT. Only six percent of those over 30 identify as LGBT.