Study: Religion soothed US evangelicals at start of COVID. Politics put them at risk.
RNS Religion provided great comfort to evangelical Christians in the US in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But according to a study in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, their politics made them less likely to see the virus as a threat. Researchers Landon Schnabel of Cornell University and Scott Schieman of […]
US study finds multi-racial Methodist churches draw and keep more people than their white counterparts
RNS Pastor Talbot Davis routinely knocks on doors in the neighbourhoods around his Good Shepherd Church, offering to pray a blessing over a new home or a new homeowner. Over time, he realised his congregation did not reflect the growing diversity of the neighbourhood. So about 20 years ago, he set about transforming his church, […]
Medicine not chainsaws: Indonesian clinic keeps villagers and forests healthy
Thomson Reuters Foundation Offering affordable healthcare to villagers and Indigenous communities living near forests could help reduce illegal logging and fight climate change, researchers said on Monday. A new study led by Stanford University analysed a clinic providing such a service, set up by two non-profits adjacent to Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan […]
Children may be their parents’ best climate-change teachers, scientists find
New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation Teenagers in the US coastal state of North Carolina who were schooled in the basics of man-made climate change saw their parents grow more concerned about the issue, scientists said on Monday in the first study of its kind. The results suggested nationwide protests by young people urging action […]
Is American religion exceptional? Maybe, maybe not
RNS America is more religious than Europe, almost everyone agrees. Two-thirds of US Christians pray daily, compared with a median of just 18 per cent of Christians across 15 countries in Europe, to cite just one recent survey. But there is disagreement brewing among sociologists over whether the intense religious devotion that has long characterised a […]
HEALTH INSIGHT: TEN HABITS OF PEOPLE WHO LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF
In an article first published on The Conversation, Dr GINA CLEO, of Bond University, reports on the findings of a new study looking at the habits of those who successfully lose weight…
Fight fires with indigenous knowledge, researchers say
Thomson Reuters Foundation Countries at risk of catastrophic wildfires should adopt ancient practices used by indigenous people, researchers said on Monday, after scores of deadly blazes engulfed parts of the northern hemisphere. Wildfires have menaced villages and forests from Greece to the United States this summer, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands of people. […]
Some 70 per cent of young adults in UK say they have no religion, study finds
Some 70 per cent of young adults in Britain don’t identify with a religion, according to a new study of young people’s religious attitudes in more than 20 countries. Launched last week, the report – which examined levels of religious affiliation and practice among 16 to 29-year-olds in 21 European countries as well as Israel – […]
Regular churchgoers in UK more open to immigration, study finds
Christians who attend church regularly are more open to immigration than those who don’t, according to new research. UK-based Christian news agency Premier reports that the University of Bristol study found that 55 per cent of regular churchgoers agreed asylum seekers fleeing persecution should stay in the UK compared to 45 per cent of those […]
ENVIRONMENT: FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE US, THE GREEN REVOLUTION IS STALLING – AND POLITICS MAY BE WHY
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports on the findings of a new study showing despite decades of advocacy, Christians in the US are not any greener in their outlook…