ED VoxPop is where we ask people different survey questions and get responses to conduct sort of a poll of our own.
Being religious and patriotic were once seen as deeply personal anchors, sources of identity, moral grounding, and collective belonging. Today, especially among Gen Z, these same ideas often arrive wrapped in suspicion, irony, or outright discomfort. This shift is not accidental, nor is it merely a “generational rebellion.” It is shaped by the social, political, and digital ecosystems Gen Z has grown up in.
Unlike earlier generations, Gen Z has consumed religion and nationalism less through lived community practices and more through screens, viral speeches, outrage cycles, selective history, and performative displays of loyalty. In this environment, belief is frequently reduced to optics, and patriotism is measured through compliance rather than care. The result is a growing perception that these values are less about ethics or responsibility and more about control, conformity, and political utility.
At the same time, Gen Z is also the most vocal about liberal values, individual freedom, equality, mental health, and accountability. When religion or patriotism is presented as incompatible with these principles, it creates a false binary: believe or question, belong or critique, love your country or call out its failures.
Many young people resist this framing. For them, faith and nationalism are not inherently regressive, but the way they are enforced, weaponised, or simplified makes them feel exclusionary.
Also Read: ED Vox Pop: We Ask Gen Z If Terrorism Is Connected To Religion
What emerges from Gen Z’s responses is not a crisis of belief, but a crisis of representation. Religion and patriotism are not being dismissed outright; they are being interrogated. Young people are asking harder questions about who controls these narratives, who benefits from them, and who is excluded in the process.
For some, faith and national pride remain meaningful tools for justice, dissent, and reform. For others, their negativity stems from being demanded without reciprocity or reflection.
Ultimately, Gen Z is not anti-religion or anti-nation. It is anti-coercion, anti-hypocrisy, and anti-performative loyalty. The discomfort lies less in the values themselves and more in how they are deployed in public life.
In that sense, this generation’s skepticism may not signal erosion, but evolution: a demand that belief, like citizenship, be ethical, accountable, and chosen, not imposed.
Images: Google Images
Sources: Contributors’ opinion
Find the blogger: Katyayani Joshi
This post is tagged under: Gen Z, Vox Pop, Religion And Liberalism, Patriotism Debate, Youth Opinions, Gen Z Perspectives, Faith And Freedom, Nationalism Discussion, Liberal Values, Youth Voices, Identity Politics, Free Thought, Modern Belief Systems, Young India Speaks, Social Commentary, Opinion Journalism, Cultural Discourse, Youth And Politics, Questioning Tradition, Critical Thinking
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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