STURGE: 2025 was the year of Gen Z’s religious, patriotic revival
In 2025, I reported a revival of conservatism on college campuses, a surge in military enlistment driven by young Americans, and a renewed embrace of faith and family values among Generation Z.
Every year brings new trends. Most come and go. But in 2025, a handful of trends among Generation Z signaled a real cultural shift felt on college campuses, in churches, and even at military recruitment offices.
The biggest story of 2025 was this: Gen Z led a conservative cultural revival.
As a reporter for the Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform, I spent the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term documenting that shift firsthand. Across the country, I saw conservatism return to college campuses, military enlistment surge among young Americans, and a renewed embrace of faith and family values take hold within my generation.
Not long ago, Gen Z conservatives felt pressure to hide their views just to survive campus life. Campus Reform previously reported on a survey that revealed 80% of students self-censor on campus. Students told me they lied to friends about who they voted for, avoided political involvement, or kept their heads down in class, worried that the wrong opinion could cost them friendships, grades, or opportunities.
The era of conservatives hiding their tails between their legs is over.
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Across college campuses, conservative events that once struggled to fill a classroom are now filling auditoriums. At the University of Mississippi, Vice President JD Vance spoke to a crowd of 14,000 students—over half of the school’s student body—at a Turning Point USA event in November. Student chapters that used to operate quietly are seeing record turnout, standing-room-only meetings, and waitlists. Turning Point USA reportedly received over 120,000 inquiries from students to start new chapters after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Openly wearing conservative values on campus shifted from being a liability to a badge of confidence.
Even elite campuses have felt the shift. Harvard University’s Republican club said there’s never been a better time to be a conservative on campus. That sentence would have sounded unthinkable just a few years ago, but in 2025, it’s reality.
America’s churches are feeling the change, too.
This year, I spoke with dozens of young Americans who told me they either discovered their faith for the first time or returned to it with new seriousness. Many described their faith journey as a search for truth, structure, and meaning. At a time when so much of modern culture offers confusion and chaos, Gen Z is turning to religion for something steady.
“Gen Z is turning toward religion, conservatism, and traditional values because they long for order,” Coleman Bunn, a student at the University of Florida, told me in an April interview.
That same hunger for purpose is showing up in America’s armed forces.
This year, every branch of the U.S. military met its recruitment goals. Following President Trump’s return to office, enlistment numbers surged, driven largely by young Americans who want to serve a country that values strength, standards, and honor.
Gen Z watched as the military shed the distractions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology and refocused on readiness, merit, and mission. They responded accordingly. Young men and women lined up to raise their right hands because they trust leadership that prioritizes American strength.
“The priority of the military for four years [under the Biden administration] was to teach warriors about diversity and sensitivity…and the current administration is going back to the basics,” West Virginia State Delegate Elias Coop-Gonzalez told me in a July interview. He said he plans to join the military under the Trump administration.
“People are doing push-ups, they’re doing pull-ups, they’re going to the shooting range, and they’re doing everything in their power to be ready to protect America,” he continued.
The trends I witnessed among my generation in 2025 give me immense hope for 2026. My generation is no longer apologizing for loving our country, our faith, and our traditions.
Trends come and go, but revivals change history. In 2025, Gen Z changed history for the better.
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Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.
