More young people in Northern Ireland are showing an interest in religion, according to a new poll commissioned by The Iona Institute.
It found a clear reversal of the previous continual decline by age, with the 18-24-year-old age group more likely to have a "very positive" attitude of Christianity (30 per cent, with only 4 per cent having a "very negative" view).
This revival of interest among 18-24-year-olds is consistent with poll findings in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and Britain where it’s known as the "Quiet Revival".
The poll of 1200 adults in Northern Ireland found that 17 per cent of this age group also have a very positive attitude towards the Catholic Church – higher than any of the other, older, age groups polled.
The 18-24-year-olds said they are more likely to pray and read or watch religious content than the 25-34-year-olds.
However, while the 18-24-year-olds are the most likely to have a "very positive" view of religion, half said they are neither religious nor spiritual, indicating this age group is quite polarised on religion.
One big finding is that Northern Ireland can no longer be viewed as being simply divided between Catholics and Protestants, but that the "nones", that is, those who say they don’t belong to any religion, have become a major force as well.
Twenty-eight per cent of those polled identified as Catholic, 14 per cent as Presbyterian, 11 per cent as Church of Ireland, while 36 per cent said they don’t belong to any religion.
Meanwhile, 40 per cent of Catholics polled are regular Mass-goers (double the percentage in the South), with 51 per cent saying they pray and 44 per cent saying they attend religious services.
The report authors said the findings are encouraging. "The fact that some kind of revival of interest in religion is occurring among the youngest age group surveyed should encourage all the Churches," they stated.
"It is not an outlier finding because polls elsewhere have seen the same thing. Maybe a growing subset of young people are concluding that secularism isn’t really giving satisfactory answers to life’s big questions."