Latino Protestant growth in the U.S. is being fueled by new congregations that include people who are new to the country, a recent survey finds. The study, conducted by evangelical research firm Lifeway, found that less than nine percent of Hispanic congregations trace their history to before 1950, with the majority (54 percent) having been […]
While religious identity has remained stable in post-pandemic America, a new study finds that there have been significant losses in religious attendance. The 2022 American Religious Benchmark Survey, conducted by the American Enterprise Institute and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, compared religious affiliation and attendance data before the pandemic (from 2018 to […]
Aside from using online technology to extend their reach, congregations’ spiritual and religious leadership also cultivated more locally based practices during the pandemic that lessened their reliance on maintaining an online presence. In contrast to the predominant narrative focusing on congregations’ innovative use of online technology, Steve Taylor and Dustin D. Benac write in the […]
Non-denominational congregations continue to grow and have just overtaken any single Protestant denomination in terms of adherents, according to the U.S. Religion Census. The census identified 44,319 independent congregations without any denominational affiliation, increasing from 35,496 in 2010, lead researcher Scott Thumma reported at the annual meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of […]
While priests and bishops in the United States overwhelmingly report that they are “flourishing” in ministry despite the pressures caused by two decades of clerical abuse scandals and church responses, a new survey also finds that priests’ relationships and attitudes to their bishops are problematic. The Pillar (October 19), a Catholic newsletter, reports on the […]
A new study examining the political behavior of people engaged in spiritual activities such as yoga, meditation, making art, and walking in nature, finds not much difference from the behavior of more conventional religious believers. The study, conducted by Evan Stewart and Jaime Kucinkis and published in the online magazine The Conversation (September 3), measured […]
A reported decline in claims of strong or intense religiosity over the last year may well be due to changes in survey methods because of the pandemic rather than an actual weakening of religious faith. In a paper presented at the recent meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion in Los Angeles, Landon […]
The pandemic and other factors have led to dire forecasts about churches, not the least being the Episcopal Church. Writing in the blog Religion in Public (July 15), Ryan Burge notes that the Episcopal Church’s long decline in attendance seemed to have leveled off at about 550,000 shortly before the pandemic. Since then, however, the […]
Americans’ belief in God has dipped to a new low, according to Gallup poll results. While a large, 81 percent majority of Americans still say they believe in God, that number represents a six-point dip from the 87 percent rate of belief consistently reported from 2013 to 2017. Over 90 percent of Americans had said […]
Muslims are depicted more negatively in U.S. and Western media than members of other religions, a new study finds. Writing in the Conversation (May 29), political scientists Erik Bleich and A. Maurits van der Veen report that while newspapers tend to publish a balanced proportion of negative depictions of other minority religions, Muslims face negative […]
