Sociologist Bradley Wright teaches at the University of Connecticut. I have mentioned his work on several occasions, including reviews of his two most recent books: Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (2011 – my review here) and Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (2010 – my review here). Earlier this month he blogged Read More …
Trends
Help Stop SOPA/PIPA (#0612)
I talk about many issues on my blog, but politics is not typically a part of that diverse mix. Today, I feel it necessary to share a little about an issue that has become quite political. A few weeks ago SOPA or PIPA were acronyms known by a select few; today a majority of Americans will learn more about them. Two bills -- SOPA in the House (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA in the Senate (Protect IP Act) -- seek to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Read More …
Low Commitment Christianity (#0609)
Yesterday, I reviewed Rodney Stark's latest book: The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion (2011). Throughout the book he offers considerable sociological insight, including the following paragraph on the shortcomings of low commitment religious groups: The conclusion that competition among faiths will favor "low cost" religious organizations mistakes price for value. As is evident in most consumer markets, people do not Read More …
What Pastors Believe (#0607)
LifeWay Research released the results of their latest poll of Protestant pastors earlier this week. The 1000 participants "overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people." More specifically, "I believe God used evolution to create people" - 73% of pastors disagree "I believe Adam and Eve were literal people" - 74% of pastors agree So What? Thankfully the article does note that this pastoral group's beliefs Read More …
No Longer Divided: Virtual & F2F (#0605)
Earlier this week Arnab Sen, head of strategic planning at MRM (a global, top-five digital and direct agency in India), wrote a post for Mashable.com arguing that the virtual world or online world and the offline or face-to-face world are melting into one. More specifically, he writes: Social science studies increasingly suggest that the divide between the virtual and real worlds is narrowing. Our experiences of reality may no longer constitute a duality. So What? The melting Read More …
Digitizing Theological Texts (#0602)
Leonard Allen, Director of Leafwood Publishers and Abilene Christian University Press, recently wrote a guest post for the New Media Project's blog about the challenges and opportunities in digitizing theological texts. Allen suggests that digitization expands the potential audience for these texts and allows for increased interaction between readers as well as, in some cases, between readers and the authors. While these potential gains are significant, they are only Read More …
Time in A Web-Based World (#0600)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. As we start the year most call 2012, he wrote a 204 word post about the artificiality of time that included this sentence: "The decision to work at a different rate than others can be a significant competitive advantage." So What? Time isn't what it was Read More …
Better Off Than Our Parents (#0597)
While the economy has struggled the last few years, most Americans feel that financially things now are better than they were in our country a generation ago. More specifically, according to Gallup's latest research 69% of Americans believe they "are better off financially than their parents were when they were the same age." So What? While the majority of those polled in all age groups and at all income levels believed they are better off than their parents, the percentage holding Read More …
Progressive – The Best Word? (#0596)
The Pew Research Center for People & the Press released the results of their recent poll of American's views of political terms. The term with the most favorable view is progressive. Interestingly, it rates about 33% higher than the term liberal. So What? Many people characterize mainline churches as theologically liberal. Do you think congregations and denominations should move beyond that label and claim the more culturally valued term progressive to describe themselves? Read More …
A Unique Top 10 News Stories of 2011 (#0592)
Christianity Today published its list of the "Top 10 News Stories of 2011," which includes the following explanation: "The events, people, and debates of the past year that have shaped or will significantly shape, evangelical life, thought and mission." The list is available online (here as a quick loading web page or here as a pdf including the graphics printed on p.9 of the January 2012 edition of the magazine). The list includes two pastors and one decision regarding Read More …