One of the most common critiques I hear about survey research on religion is that it flattens something that is deeply personal and profoundly complex. Questions about belief certainly fall into this trap. The General Social Survey has questions about a respondent’s…
The Socializing Power of the Pew: How Church Closes the Education Gap
If you’ve been around my work at all, you know very well that the relationship between education and religious attendance cuts against the prevailing view. If you walked up to the average American and asked them, “Who is more likely…
What Really Happened to Religion in the 1990s?
I’ve got a lot of data visualizations in the post today, and I don’t want to make it overly long. So, let me just get right to the graph that started me down this rabbit hole. It’s from the General…
Vatican makes clear that Catholic churches might welcome LGBTQ Christians but cannot bless their unions
Pope Francis signaled a bit of welcome for LGBTQ Christians in October, but the Vatican made clear March 15 that the Catholic Church will not bless same-sex unions, which it considers to be a sinful “choice.” While the pope is the…
More evidence religion is declining — and that’s OK with these pastors
A computer scientist who crunched the numbers on American religion says the decline of faith will accelerate during the next 20 years. But is decreasing religiosity and increasing secularization such a bad thing? Some clergy don’t think so.