Gallup poll: More than half of Americans rarely go to church
United States RNS The most popular church in America might be St Mattress, followed by Bedside Baptist. Those two – euphemisms for sleeping in on Sundays – increasingly describe the attitude of many Americans toward attending churches or other houses of worship. Mark Galli kneels in prayer before Mass at St Michael Catholic Church, on […]
Essay: A religious calling to protect democracy
CHRIS CRAWFORD, a policy advocate at US-based Protect Democracy, says – in an article first published on Religion News Service that while most religious doctrines do not require an embrace of democracy, in today’s world, authoritarians are attempting to do the opposite…
Americans like Jews, Catholics and mainline Protestants. Evangelicals, not so much
United StatesRNS What do most Americans think of faiths not their own? Not much. That’s according to a new Pew Research survey that asked 10,588 Americans if they had positive or negative feelings toward other faiths. Between 40 per cent and 60 per cent answered “neither favorable nor unfavorable” or “don’t know enough to say.” “It may speak […]
Essay: Americans support religious freedom – as long as it’s convenient for everyone
In an article published by Religion News Service, RYAN BURGE, an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, a pastor and author, says speaking in generalities about religious freedom will always win admirers…
Poll: America growing more secular by the year
RNS Christmas is just 10 days away, and most Americans will celebrate the birth of Jesus. But a new poll from Pew shows the share of US adults who consider themselves Christian is falling. Only 63 per cent of Americans self-identify as Christian this year, a marked drop from 75 per cent 10 years ago. The declining […]
Young people make their mark at Religions for Peace conference
RNS The 2021 Religions for Peace conference, which closed on Thursday, will be remembered as the first hybrid meeting, with most observers looking in via internet as 130 participated in person. It was also the most youth-oriented gathering in the 51-year-old interfaith organisation’s history. Nearly a quarter of those who came to this year’s conference, […]
Child sex abuse found across major UK religions – report
London, UKAP An inquiry investigating child sexual abuse in a wide range of religious organisations and settings in England on Thursday found “shocking failures” in how many religions handled abuse allegations, with victim-blaming and abuse of power by religious leaders often contributing to under-reporting. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse looked into child protection […]
Essay: Faith still shapes morals and values even after people are ‘done’ with religion
US researchers PHILIP SCHWADEL and SAM HARDY, in an article first published on The Conversation, look at how religion influences the way people think about and respond to the world – even after they’ve left the religion…
Older US Christians being quickly replaced by young “nones” – Pew report
RNS The United States is steadily becoming less Christian and the number of people with no religion is rising. Those are the twin headlines from the latest Pew Research report released Thursday, which shows a dramatic decline in American religious habits over the course of a decade. The report, an aggregation of yearly political surveys […]
New Zealanders trust Buddhists most, evangelical Christians least, survey finds
New Zealanders trust Buddhists the most and evangelical Christians the least according to the findings of a new survey conducted a month after the Christchurch shootings in March. The online survey of 1,000 New Zealanders, carried out for researchers at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, asked them how much […]