For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers, reports the New York Times.

They attend services more often, with a 3pc increase over 25 years ago, and they are more likely to identify as religious than young women.

“We’ve never seen it before,” Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, said referring to young men surpassing young women in religiosity.

Almost 40 percent of female Gen Z’s (born between 1997 and 2012) describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, compared with 34 percent of males, according to a survey last year.

Ryan Burge cites research where among those born between 1940 and 1970 women are 2-4 points more likely to be attending weekly religious services than men.

But that changes for those born around 1970-1975 as female weekly attendance bottoms out, but male attendance increases. The weekly rates for men born around 2000 is 25% – about three points higher than men who were born twenty-five years earlier and 2-3 points higher than young adult women.

Young adult men who never attend religious services is 32%. A decline of four points from middle-aged men and about two points lower than younger women.