The study found that volunteering and financial giving have rebounded since the pandemic began—half of churchgoers volunteer monthly, and over one-third have increased their financial giving. The shift to electronic giving continues, with more than half of respondents using this method. The greater frequency of people attending multiple churches has likewise continued: 46 percent regularly attend or view other church services, and 7 percent identify as having more than one “home” church, even if such worshippers show lower commitment. As much as 38 percent of church attenders joined their current church after the pandemic began. These new members include switchers, returners, and first-time participants, “many of whom bring more energy and higher optimism about their church’s future.” The study concludes that the pandemic strengthened individual faith and deepened congregational trust for many people. Over half reported stronger faith and spirituality post-pandemic, and nearly half felt greater belonging, trust in leaders, and connection to their church.
(To download this report, visit: https://www.covidreligionresearch.org/research/national-survey-research/this-place-means-everything-to-me-key-findings-from-a-national-survey-of-church-attenders-in-post-pandemic-united-states/)
Beyond the personality and policy differences, the rift between Elon Musk and Donald Trump may also reflect a religiously influenced split over technology among the fans and followers of these two men, a recent survey suggests. The feud between Trump and Musk has hinted that the prospects of a fusion between religious conservatives and populists and technological futurists [see RW, Vol. 40, No. 3] may be more fraught than expected, especially since Musk has proposed to start his own political party. The shaky alliance between the men may reflect the weaker reception of Musk’s products, especially his electric car company Tesla, among Trump’s core constituency, particularly evangelicals and Latter-day Saints. The American Communities Project (ACP) has analyzed 15 types of communities in the U.S., showing the geographic tribalism marking American society and suggesting the difficulties Musk will have in reaching out beyond his base, whether in business or politics. Aside from polling data from Gallup showing that the electric car consumer base is more Democrat than Republican (71 percent versus 31 percent), in its Substack newsletter, the ACP finds that of the roughly 275 Tesla dealerships, more than three-quarters (213) are based in what it designates as the Big Cities, Urban Suburbs, College Towns, and African American South, which are the only four community types that did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The evangelical and LDS community types were among the least likely to have Tesla dealerships. While these disparities have much to do with the incomes of residents in these communities, it is also the case that business and consumption increasingly follow politics.
(This study can be downloaded from: https://www.americancommunities.org/as-politics-and-consumerism-clash-a-look-at-tesla-dealerships-across-communities/)
Baptist congregation in Brazil.
The recently-released Brazilian census finds a steady loss of Roman Catholics and a slowing yet still growing evangelical Protestant presence. Writing in his blog Byzantine Calvinist (June 11), David Koyzis cites the census finding that while 30 years ago Catholics made up 82.9 percent of Brazil’s population, they now account for just over half (56.7 percent). The number of evangelicals has continued to grow, rising from 9 percent of the population to 26.9 percent over the past three decades. Although the growth rate of this group has slowed slightly—having risen by 6.5 percentage points between 2000 and 2010, and 5.3 since—the new data show that, for the first time, at least one in four Brazilians identifies as evangelical. As a proportion of each racial group, there are more black evangelicals than white ones—“a particularly relevant finding given that the majority of Brazil’s population, 56 percent, is black.” Koyzis adds that the Guardian newspaper article reporting on the census findings also notes that the growing evangelical political force in Brazil has led to an erosion of support for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will be standing for reelection next year. “Rationally, the government understands it needs to engage with evangelicals, but internally, many of Lula’s party leaders still believe religion is a thing of the past and that the faithful are simply people who haven’t had proper access to education,” said anthropologist and historian Juliano Spyer, an author of books on the evangelical movement in Brazil.
(Byzantine Calvinist, https://byzantinecalvinist.blogspot.com/2025/06/evangelical-population-growth-in-brazil.html?m=1)
