Generation Z adults are more likely than older Americans to describe themselves as “religious,” even as many in the same age group also regularly engage in spiritual practices that sit outside traditional Christian teaching, according to a new survey released this week.

The Harris Poll released the survey Thursday, based on responses from 2,136 U.S. adults collected between July 1 and July 4. Respondents were grouped into four generational categories: Generation Z, ages 18 to 29; millennials, ages 30 to 45; Generation X, ages 46 to 61; and baby boomers, age 62 and older.

Gen Z adults emerged as the generation most likely to describe themselves as religious and the least likely to identify as neither religious nor spiritual. Thirty-three percent of Gen Z respondents described themselves as “religious,” compared with 22% of Generation X adults, 19% of millennials and 18% of boomers. Conversely, 19% of Gen Z adults said they considered themselves neither religious nor spiritual, the lowest share among the four generations, followed by 20% of millennials, 21% of Generation X adults and 23% of boomers.

Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll, said the survey results complicate the standard narrative of generational religious decline. “Gen Z self-identifies as the most religious generation in America, with the practices to back it up,” Rodney said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. “But that doesn’t show you the whole story, because they aren’t choosing religion instead of everything else. They’re stacking it. Church on Sunday, manifestation on Wednesday, tarot on Friday. The old assumption was that each generation picks faith less than the last. Gen Z picked more of everything.”

That pattern held across several specific measures of religious and spiritual engagement in the survey. A majority of Gen Z adults, 54%, said they had regularly read Scripture or other religious texts over the past year, a figure roughly matched by millennials at 53%, while fewer than half of Generation X adults, 48%, and boomers, 43%, reported doing the same. Nearly half of Gen Z adults, 49%, said they had regularly attended religious services over the past year, compared with 44% of millennials, 43% of Generation X adults and 42% of boomers.

Not every measure favored younger generations, however. Boomers were the most likely to report regularly praying on their own over the past year, at 75%, followed by 72% of Generation X adults, 67% of Gen Z adults and 65% of millennials, suggesting private prayer remains more common among older Americans even as public religious identification and engagement skew younger.

Looking more broadly at spiritual activity, 88% of Gen Z adults said they had regularly engaged in at least one of several practices in the past year, including prayer, Scripture reading, religious services, meditation or ritual, manifestation, astrology or tarot, or energy work. Smaller shares of millennials and Generation X adults, both at 84%, and boomers, at 82%, reported the same.

The survey also captured a notable generational split around manifestation and spirituality as tools for exerting personal control. Fifty-seven percent of Gen Z adults agreed with the statement that they had turned to manifestation practices or spirituality to feel greater control over their future, with millennials slightly more likely to agree at 59%. Fewer than half of Generation X adults, 46%, and just 30% of boomers agreed with the same statement. Researchers involved with the survey noted the apparent contradiction in these findings directly, saying, “The generation expected to be the most secular is now the most likely to identify as religious.”

The poll also touched on broader questions of community involvement beyond religious practice specifically. Sixty percent of Gen Z adults agreed that they now belong to more real-world, in-person communities than they used to, citing examples such as run clubs, faith communities, or hobby and volunteer groups, alongside 59% of millennials, 42% of Generation X adults and 32% of boomers. Looking ahead, 70% of both Gen Z adults and millennials said they wanted to belong to more such in-person communities, compared with smaller shares of Generation X adults, 62%, and boomers, 48%.

The Harris Poll’s findings arrive amid a broader, sometimes conflicting body of research on Gen Z’s relationship with religion. Barna Group’s 2026 State of the Church initiative found that Gen Z was the generation most likely to believe a spiritual revival would occur within the next 12 months, while separate Barna research released in 2025 identified Gen Z as including the most frequent churchgoers among current generations. At the same time, other Barna research from 2025 found that nearly 40% of Gen Z women identify as atheist, agnostic or having no religious faith at all, underscoring how differently religious identity and practice appear to be distributed within the generation depending on the specific population and measure examined.

Taken together, the Harris Poll results suggest that Gen Z’s relationship with religion and spirituality defies simple characterization as either a return to traditional faith or a continuation of secularizing trends seen in prior generations, instead reflecting what researchers described as a broader, more eclectic blending of traditional religious practice alongside newer spiritual and self-improvement-oriented activities.

From October 1, 2026, that changes for the many contractors who buy leads through Google, and it is pushing more of them towards an AI answering service.

What Google is changing

Google’s August notice to US Local Services Ads advertisers says that from October 1, 2026, a call that goes unanswered during business hours is charged as a lead once the caller has waited more than 20 seconds. In other words, a missed call can now cost a contractor the lead fee as well as the job. Google’s own guidance also says missed calls can count against how responsive an advertiser appears, which is one of the things that decides who is shown first.

An answered call is still a lead that Google charges for. The difference is that the customer is spoken to, and the job has a chance of being won.

How many calls go unanswered

More than most owners assume. Call-tracking company Invoca’s 2026 data on home-services businesses puts the share of calls that never reach a person at about 48%. Its figures for callers who stayed on the line for 15 to 30 seconds suggest that between 27% and 35% of callers waited and still reached nobody, which is exactly the group Google’s new rule counts.

Those calls carry real money. SearchLight’s February 2026 benchmark of Google Local Services Ads, covering 888 contractors, found roughly $416 of paid work for every lead. For a shop with two or three trucks, a handful of missed calls a week adds up to thousands of dollars a month.

The answering service for contractors, rebuilt around AI

The traditional options were voicemail, a live call centre billed by the minute, or an owner answering at midnight. A newer option is an AI answering service: software that answers with a natural voice, asks structured questions and writes the job down, for a flat monthly fee.

One example built specifically for the trades is Wakeman, an answering service for contractors covering plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, restoration and more than 20 other home-service trades. It answers in the business’s own name, tells callers at the start that it is an AI and that the call is recorded, and then asks what a good dispatcher would ask: what the problem is, where the property is and how soon help is needed. It checks the service address and texts a short job summary to the owner or the technician on call.

Calls are sorted by urgency. For hazards such as a gas smell, sparking or flooding near electrics, Wakeman reads the safety steps the business has written in advance and rings the on-call phone. Urgent but non-hazardous calls, such as no heat or an active leak, go out as urgent texts. Spam calls are blocked and are not billed.

Business hours as well as after hours

Because Google’s charge applies during business hours, daytime overflow now matters as much as nights and weekends. Many shops start with an after-hours answering service that answers only when they are closed, then extend it to all-day overflow once they see what comes in while the team is on jobs.

Wakeman offers both. Its After Hours plan costs $149 a month with 300 minutes included, Front Desk costs $349 a month and answers all day, and Dispatch costs $829 a month for larger shops. Every plan is free for 14 days with no card, contractors keep their existing number, and once the owner switches booking on, confirmed jobs can go straight into Jobber.

What owners should check before choosing

Contractors comparing AI answering services should ask a few simple questions. Does it tell callers it is an AI? How does it handle a genuine emergency, and who does it ring? Does it check the address? Which field-service software does it connect to? Are prices published? And can you hear a real example call before signing up?

Contractors who advertise on Local Services Ads can also work out what the new rule is likely to cost them with a missed-call cost calculator for Local Services Ads that uses their own call volume, lead price and miss rate.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google charge for missed calls on Local Services Ads?

From October 1, 2026, Google charges US Local Services Ads advertisers for calls that go unanswered during business hours once the caller has waited more than 20 seconds.

What is an AI answering service for contractors?

It is software that answers a contractor’s business phone with a voice AI, asks trade-specific questions, checks the address and sends the job details to the owner or on-call technician.

What does Wakeman cost?

Wakeman (wakeman.ai) costs $149, $349 or $829 a month depending on the plan, with minutes included. Every plan is free for 14 days with no card, and the first month is refundable.

OSLO — Erling Haaland moved past Brazilian great Ronaldo Nazario and Sweden icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the all-time international scoring charts Friday, scoring twice as Norway defeated Denmark 3-2 in the teams’ UEFA Nations League opener, setting up a highly anticipated meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in Norway’s next fixture.

Haaland’s brace against Denmark pushed his international tally to 64 goals in just 56 appearances for Norway, a scoring rate exceeding 1.1 goals per game. That mark moves the Manchester City striker ahead of both Ronaldo Nazario and Ibrahimovic, who each retired from international football with 62 goals for Brazil and Sweden, respectively. Where Haaland reached his total in only 56 matches, Ronaldo Nazario needed 98 appearances to reach his mark and Ibrahimovic required 122, underscoring the unusual speed with which the 26-year-old has climbed the international scoring charts relative to two of the sport’s most prolific historical goalscorers.

Friday’s match itself produced a tense, back-and-forth contest despite Norway’s eventual comfortable-looking scoreline. Norway raced to an early lead when Oscar Bobb opened the scoring in the 14th minute, before Haaland doubled the advantage just four minutes later, finishing clinically through the goalkeeper’s legs after Antonio Nusa drove into the penalty area and slipped him a pass. Denmark responded with goals from Mikkel Damsgaard and Rasmus Hojlund, turning what had briefly looked like a comfortable Norwegian win into a genuinely contested match. Haaland ultimately had the decisive say, restoring Norway’s lead in the 74th minute by finishing off a short-corner routine to seal the 3-2 victory. The result marked Norway’s first-ever competitive win over Denmark.

While Haaland’s new international scoring mark represents a significant individual milestone, it still falls short of the overall Nordic international scoring record. That distinction belongs to Sweden’s Lotta Schelin, who scored 88 international goals over the course of her career in the women’s game, a total that remains well clear of Haaland’s current tally.

The timing of Haaland’s latest milestone carries particular significance given Norway’s upcoming schedule. Norway is next set to face Portugal in Nations League play, a matchup that will pit Haaland directly against Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal captain and the all-time leading scorer in men’s international soccer history, with 146 goals to his name. The meeting sets up a notable generational clash between two of the sport’s most prolific international goalscorers, with Haaland entering the fixture having climbed to 64 goals in 56 appearances against Ronaldo’s much longer, more decorated international career total.

Beyond the upcoming Portugal fixture, Norway’s Nations League group schedule continues with a match against Wales on October 1, before Denmark hosts Norway in the final group-stage match on November 17, giving Denmark an opportunity to respond to Friday’s defeat later in the campaign.

Haaland’s continued goalscoring surge for Norway comes amid a broader stretch of record-setting form across multiple competitions this year. He has separately been reported to have surpassed the pace Lionel Messi once set for goalscoring in the UEFA Champions League, with his own tally in that competition having reached 59 goals in just 59 appearances following a brace against Porto, marking the fastest anyone has reached that milestone in the tournament’s history.

Haaland’s rise to prominence on the international stage has coincided with Norway’s own resurgence as a competitive force in European football, with the national team increasingly built around his goalscoring output in recent qualifying campaigns and tournament matches. His strike partnership with teammates including Antonio Nusa and Oscar Bobb has continued to develop, with Friday’s match against Denmark showcasing the kind of combination play that has helped generate scoring opportunities for Haaland throughout his recent run of international matches.

For Cristiano Ronaldo, the upcoming meeting with Haaland adds another chapter to a career that has already spanned more than two decades at the international level, with the Portugal captain continuing to add to his all-time scoring record even as younger forwards like Haaland begin closing the statistical gap between them at a considerably faster career pace than Ronaldo’s own trajectory suggested at a similar stage.

With Haaland now sitting ahead of two of the most prolific international goalscorers in the sport’s history and set to share the pitch with the format’s current all-time leader in Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the upcoming Nations League fixture between Norway and Portugal is shaping up as one of the most closely watched individual storylines of this international window, offering a direct comparison between a rapidly rising goalscoring record and the sport’s most decorated international scoring career to date.

Nearly 333 pounds of tuna distributed across five states are being recalled after testing found elevated levels of a toxin that can cause a form of food poisoning, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA said the recall covers 332.9 pounds of Buckhead tuna distributed in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The advisory was designated a Class II recall, meaning use of or exposure to the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences,” according to the FDA.

The recall involves Buckhead tuna sold in refrigerated Styrofoam containers in 10-pound, 12-pound, 15-pound and 3-to-5-pound cases. The product number is 0004255.

E. COLI OUTBREAK LINKED TO RAW MILK CHEESE LEADS TO 13 ILLNESSES AND EIGHT HOSPITALIZATIONS ACROSS THE US: FDA

Nearly 333 pounds of Buckhead tuna distributed across five states are being recalled after testing detected elevated levels of scombrotoxin, according to the FDA. (Lauri Patterson/Getty Images)

The recall was initiated after the company was notified by the New Jersey Department of Health that two tuna samples had tested positive for elevated levels of scombrotoxin.

The company initiated the recall on July 24, while the FDA classified it as Class II on Sept. 16. The recall remains listed as ongoing.

According to the FDA, scombroid poisoning is “a unique form of food poisoning caused by consumption of certain marine fish species that have experienced partial bacterial spoilage.”

Scombroid poisoning most commonly occurs when certain types of fish, including tuna and mackerel, begin to spoil as bacteria grows, potentially creating elevated levels of histamine.

FLORIDA WOMAN DIED AFTER EATING E COLI-TAINTED FROZEN BLUEBERRIES FROM PUBLIX, LAWSUIT ALLEGES

The recall covers Buckhead tuna sold in refrigerated Styrofoam containers in several case sizes and distributed across five states. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

The toxins are not destroyed by freezing, cooking, smoking, curing or canning, according to the FDA.

People exposed to scombrotoxin typically do not experience severe or long-term illness, the agency said.

Symptoms can resemble an allergic reaction and may include facial rash, hives, swelling, short-term diarrhea and abdominal cramps, according to the FDA.

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The FDA classified the Buckhead tuna recall as Class II, meaning exposure may cause temporary or medically reversible health consequences. (Towfiqu Ahamed/Getty Images)

The FDA recommends that fish such as tuna be properly handled and refrigerated or immediately frozen to help prevent bacterial growth and spoilage.

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Alexander Jay is CEO of Little Green Button, the Norfolk business behind panic alarm software used by staff in healthcare, education and local government.

Founded by Jon Witte in 2004, the company says its system is used by more than 100,000 people at over 2,500 organisations. In November 2025 it launched the Mini Green Button, a wearable Bluetooth button that lets lone workers raise an alert without unlocking their phone. He tells Business Matters why he wants workplaces to stop waiting for an incident before they think about safety.

What do you currently do at Little Green Button?

I am the CEO of Little Green Button. We make digital panic alarm and lone worker software, used in multiple sectors including healthcare, education and local government. Staff can raise an alert from a desktop app, a mobile app or a physical button, including the Mini Green Button wearable we launched in November 2025.

My job is to set the direction for the business, keep us growing sustainably and make sure we do not lose sight of why we exist, which is keeping staff safe.

A current challenge for me is changing how workplaces think about safety. Unfortunately, many people are reactive and wait until something happens, which is when an organisation goes looking for a solution.

We would much rather staff had the tools and training in place beforehand, so if a difficult situation does come up, they are protected and know how to react. Technology has made that far more achievable than it used to be, and I think we are starting to see a real change in how organisations approach risk.

Internally, a lot of my time is spent developing the Little Green Button team. That means mentoring, clearing blockers and making sure people have what they need to crack on and do good work.

What was the inspiration behind your business?

Our founder, Jon Witte, spent time with frontline workers in the early 2000s and kept hearing the same thing. They wanted a discreet way to get help from colleagues when faced with a challenging situation, ideally using the equipment they already had. Radios, expensive hardwired systems and unreliable free apps were not doing the job, so Jon built Little Green Button.

The product has come a long way since then. It covers far more use cases, devices and types of organisations than it did at the start. But the core idea has not really changed: make it easy for someone to get help when they need it most.

We are now used in more than 25 countries, which I am genuinely proud of given we started from humble roots in Norfolk. We also support a range of public-facing organisations in sectors from healthcare and education to retail, helping professionals in critical services to feel safe in their workplace.

Who do you admire?

People like Jon and my colleagues, who are prepared to put themselves out there to change something for the better. I am also lucky to have the support of a peer group of founders, leaders and colleagues who have each taught me something.

What they tend to have in common is ambition without ego. They all want to build something meaningful and push themselves and their businesses forward, but they also recognise the responsibility that comes with leading other people.

It can be a balancing act. The leaders I respect most are the ones that want the best for the company and their team, but not at the expense of their morals or wellbeing.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

I would have liked to get exposure to entrepreneurship and technology businesses much earlier. I did what a lot of people do and went to university and then into a job, mainly because those were the routes I knew and was nudged towards. If I had seen a business being built from the inside sooner, I might have done things quite differently.

It has shaped how I think about young people starting out now. There are far more options than most people realise, and often someone just needs to see an alternative before they know it is there. That is why I advocate mentoring, work experience and access to people who run businesses in my network and local community.

You do not necessarily need to know exactly what you want to do at 18 or 21, but seeing what is out there and the career paths others have taken gives you a much better chance of finding the right one for you.

What defines your way of doing business?

Putting people first. Little Green Button is where we are because of some very talented people who have chosen to build this business with us. We work hard as a team to ensure we feel trusted and supported to do our best work, something that takes consistent effort but pays off both for wellbeing and results.

It is the same with our customers. Some of ours have been brilliant advocates for the business and, just as importantly, their feedback, stories and suggestions keep pushing us to make the product better.

I do not see being commercially ambitious and looking after people as a trade-off. In my experience the best businesses do both. If you look after your people, listen to your customers and make sensible, sustainable decisions, then the commercial side usually follows.

I still face difficult decisions, but this mindset allows me to approach them fairly, with compassion and an understanding of the human impact of our business choices.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Make the ask. Ask for the opportunity, ask for feedback, ask someone experienced for half an hour of their time, ask if you can sit in on the meeting or take part in a new project. A lot of progress can come from simply being willing to put yourself forward and letting others know you are willing to participate.

Most people are much more generous with their time than you would think, especially when they can see you are keen to learn or trying to progress. But you usually have to ask and put yourself out there, because the opportunities and feedback do not tend to come looking for you.

This paper examines a shift in global equity flows, highlighting that local factors now dominate over global ones in emerging markets, driven by investor sensitivity to local returns post-COVID.

Structural Shifts in Global Financial Flows

The question of whether the global financial cycle still predominantly influences capital flows to emerging markets is explored in this insightful working paper. Utilizing detailed, investor-level data, the authors investigate a notable shift in the drivers of global equity flows over recent years. With the aid of a dynamic factor model, the research dissects these flows into global, or “push,” factors and country-specific, or “pull,” factors. Historically, global elements had a commanding influence; however, the paper reveals that local, country-specific factors have now taken precedence in driving capital allocations, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This recalibration illustrates a renewed investor focus on local excess returns, effectively reconnecting capital flows with domestic price discovery dynamics.

The Rise of Local Factors in Investment Decisions

In the analysis presented, the authors showcase how local projections underscore the evolution of active return chasing. This trend indicates investors’ growing responsiveness to local market conditions and their renewed focus on local excess returns. These findings suggest a marked shift towards a more nuanced understanding of regional markets, where domestic factors now exert more influence on investment decisions than overarching global trends. This local emphasis is particularly pronounced in the post-pandemic landscape, where investors are keen on engaging in markets with robust local price discovery mechanisms.

Collaboration Among Leading Economists

The working paper is a collaborative effort involving Jongrim Ha, a Senior Economist at the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO); Daisoon Kim, an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University; and Inhwan So, an Assistant Professor at Hongik University. These experts bring together a wealth of academic and practical expertise, providing a comprehensive examination of capital flow dynamics in emerging markets. Their joint research offers valuable insights into how investor behaviors shift in response to changes in global and local market conditions, shedding light on the intricate balance between global financial cycles and country-specific investment drivers.

Source: Local Factors and Return Chasing: A New Phase in Emerging Equity Markets – ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office