By Michael Gryboski, Editor Wednesday, October 01, 2025

Evangelical Christians under the age of 35 are less likely than their elders to believe that Jews are God's "chosen people" and are more likely to support "Replacement Theology," according to a recently released survey.

Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter recently released a report titled "Crossroads of Belief: Evangelicals and the Jewish People" that examined how Evangelicals view the Jewish people. The report drew on an online study conducted earlier this year, which gathered data from a sample of 1,008 Evangelical Protestants. No margin of error was stated.

While 49% of overall respondents said that they believe Jews are God's chosen people, only 29% of respondents below the age of 35 agreed.

By contrast, 50% of respondents aged 35-44 said the Jews were God's chosen people, as well as 51% of those aged 45-54, 55% of those aged 55-64 and 56% of those aged 65 and above.

Among respondents below the age of 35, 26% endorsed Replacement Theology — the belief that Christians have replaced Jews as God's chosen people after the birth of Jesus. Another 26% said they do not know, and 16% said they believe that the Jews were never God's chosen people. Evangelical supporters of Israel have long criticized Replacement Theology as a "false doctrine." 

The report also shows a lower interest in Israel-related topics among younger Evangelicals. For example, 55% of overall respondents considered "Israel's role in prophecy" to be an essential topic, but the total drops to 45% for Evangelicals under 35. By contrast, 65% of the oldest Evangelicals surveyed considered it an important topic.

Researchers measured how important Evangelicals viewed the seven topics of "Israel's role in prophecy," "What the Bible teaches about Israel," "Jewish roots of Christianity," "US/Israel political relations," "Antisemitism or anti-Jewish bias," "How Israel is covered in US media," and "How US Christians are viewed by Israelis."

While 44% of all respondents rated all seven issues important, that percentage drops to 31% of respondents under the age of 35. By contrast, 62% of respondents aged 65 and above rated all seven issues as important, as did 48% of those aged 55-64, 41% of those aged 45-54, and 34% of those aged 35-44.

"The long-term outlook suggests we may be witnessing a broader theological evolution," said Infinity Concepts CEO Mark Dreistadt in a statement. "Just as younger evangelicals are shifting views on other key cultural topics, we see a similar pattern emerging in attitudes toward Israel."

Dreistadt says the findings "highlight the need for thoughtful engagement and discipleship that bridges generations and reinforces biblically grounded understanding of Israel and the Jewish people."

Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research Consulting, believes that the findings are consistent with previous polling, which he found "amazing" and "heartening."

"It's nice to feel that important religious beliefs, whether you agree with them or hold those same beliefs or not, are not affected by who's president, what's going on [at] CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, that the beliefs are staying constant," Sellers told Baptist Press.

"And I think that's an incredibly important thing for Evangelicals, and for Evangelical leaders to note that their people are not just swaying with the wind."

Regarding the apparent generational gap in sentiment about Israel and the Jewish people, Sellers acknowledged that "younger Evangelicals are less engaged with Israel, less supportive of Israel, less likely to see the Jews as God's chosen people."

"And if those attitudes don't change as they get older, long term, we're looking at a very different environment on how Israel and the Jewish people are thought of within Evangelical circles," he added.

"Israel and the Jewish people are more likely than not to find support among Evangelicals, but there are significant subsets who either are not supportive of Israel and the Jewish people, or they are generally supportive."

In 2021, Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research released data finding that 51% of Evangelicals believed that the Jews were still God's chosen people, 19% said they were not sure, 17% believed Christians replaced Jews as the chosen people, and 10% said they believed Jews were never God's chosen people.

The 2021 report also found a generational difference, as 59% of respondents aged 70 or older believed Jews were still the chosen people, while only 44% aged 40 and below agreed.