Traditional Religion Is Making a Comeback

What’s happening: Celebrities such as Shia LaBeouf, Rob Schneider, Candace Owens, and Tami Peterson recently joined the Catholic Church. Other prominent figures, like Russell Brand and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, have also become Christians.

• Judaism too: Outside of Christianity, Orthodox Judaism is projected to grow exponentially in the coming decades due to its adherents’ high birth rates. Less traditional branches, Reform and Conservative Judaism, are expected to shrink.

The younger generations were raised in a culture pervaded by modernized religion, with guitar-playing in churches and synagogues and irreverent architecture. As modernized religious branches of the 1960s fade, a denser core of traditional religion is taking root.

• New is old: The Catholic Church’s new generation of priests is overwhelmingly more conservative than its older peers.

• Craving tradition: The A.P. reports, “[younger Catholics] attend confession regularly and adhere strictly to church teachings. Many yearn for Masses that echo with medieval traditions – more Latin, more incense, more Gregorian chants.”

Beyond the headlines: In recent years, Father Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” podcast topped the charts as the number one podcast in the country, soon to hit half a billion downloads.

Rise of the “nones”: Despite the increasing faithfulness of some sects, Americans with no religious affiliation — or “nones” — have grown rapidly as the number of self-identifying Christians collapses.

• To the ends of the earth: Although Christianity is declining in the West, it continues to grow in Asia and Africa. By 2050, Africa is projected to have a larger Christian population than Latin America and Asia combined.