According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, between June 2014 and January 2017, American views shifted to become more positive about about most of the world's great religions. More specifically, survey respondents were asked to to rate a variety of groups on a “feeling thermometer” that ranged from 0 to 100 (with higher numbers reflecting warmer or more positive feelings). Respondents warmed to several religions during this two and a half year period, including Read More …
Mormon
Mormons Go Social (#1143)
Late last month leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a shift in missionary strategy. More specifically, the church will increasingly encourage missionaries to leverage social media rather than the traditional door-to-door approach. This change is significant for several reasons, including: the recent lowering of the minimum age for missionary work ( from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men), the old rules that limited Read More …
Top 10 Religious Stories of 2012 (#0963)
According to members of the Religion Newswriters Association (he world’s oldest and largest professional association for journalists who write about religion), the top 10 religious news stories of 2012 are U.S. Catholic bishops lead opposition to Obamacare requirement that insurance coverage for contraception be provided for employees. The government backs down a bit, but not enough to satisfy the opposition. A Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey shows that “nones” is the Read More …
12 Religions in a Year (#0729)
Amanda Greene's recent article explores the yearlong religious experiment of 29 year old Andrew Bowen, a man who sought to attain faith in humanity rather than divinity through his quest. During 2011 he practiced a new religion each month, in effect becoming Hindu in January, Baha'i in February, Zoroastrian in March, Jewish in April, Buddhist in May, Agnostic in June, Mormon in July, Muslim in August, Sikh in September, Wiccan in October, Jain in November, and Read More …
Mormon Growth: Myth or Fact? (#0724)
According to the latest data from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) U.S. Mormon growth rose 45.5% "jumping from 4.2 million in 2000 to 6.1 million in 2010." This incredible growth does not accurately reflect the growth in adherents during the last decade; it reflects a change in the data being reported. More specifically, ASARB tracks self-reported data given to them by some 153 bodies. What happened? In 2000 Mormons reported 4.2 million, a Read More …