In the July/August 2011 edition of Presbyterians Today, Joelle Anderson and Ida Smith-Williams wrote an article about trends in how Presbyterian congregations communicate digitally. They reported on research that shows a significant increase, between 2001 and 2008, in the percentage of congregations who use e-mail and websites to communicate with members. So What? While congregations have moved toward websites, perhaps congregants have moved beyond them. More specifically, Read More …
Trends
Save Me on TV? (#0507)
Reality programs have changed the makeup of television offerings. This seemingly ever-expanding segment of the market is incredibly diverse. With that framework in mind, it should not be surprising that someone is pitching the idea of a show called "Save Me!" "Save Me!" has been characterized as being something like "The 700 Club" meets "Real Time with Bill Maher" meets "Big Brother." The show is the idea of self-proclaimed "spiritual anthropologist" Jim Henderson, who Read More …
Liberal Protestant Decline – Fact Check (#0506)
Yesterday, I wrote a review of Mark Chaves' new book American Religion: Contemporary Trends (2011). In that post, I included a quote that offers a basic overview of something most people take for granted: the decline of liberal Protestant churches over the last several decades. As a result of this shift, there were twice as many Americans who "claimed affiliation with conservative denominations as with theologically more liberal ones" (p. 87). Chaves goes on to Read More …
Review of American Religion (#0505)
Meet the Author Mark Chaves is professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke University. In addition to teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Chaves directs the National Congregations Study. He is the author of three books: American Religion: Contemporary Trends (2011), Congregations in America (2004), and Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organizations (Harvard, 1997). While most of his Read More …
American Congregations Are Weaker (#0501)
Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor, recently wrote about the experiences of American faith communities during the first decade of the new millennium. His article focuses on The Hartford Institute for Religion Research recently released report titled "A Decade of Change in American Congregations, 2000 – 2010," which was authored by David A. Roozen. Among the findings: Forty-seven percent of congregations that said their worship experience was "innovative Read More …
Should Religion and Business Mix? (#0500)
When I was a young adult, I learned that religion and business were independent spheres. Since that time, I have, thankfully, learned that any such division is necessarily artificial. One does not cease being guided by one's faith because one enters the marketplace any more than one is only guided by it while on the campus of her or his religious gathering space (e.g. mosque, synagogue, church, etc.) or in some other space set aside for religious purposes. A person must, Read More …
Less Educated = Less Churched (#0495)
Religion News Service contributor Nicole Neroulias, recently wrote an article that begins with these words: A recent study reports that white Americans without college degrees are dropping out of church faster than their more highly educated counterparts . . . The study, by University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox, found that since the 1970s, white Americans with no more than a high school diploma have been leaving the pews twice as fast as other Read More …
Should Military Chaplains Share a Single Religious Insignia? (#0493)
Lauren Markoe's story, "Chaplains Push for Uniform Religious Badges, for Religion News Service considers the issue of visual identification of military chaplains. This matter is receiving considerable attention as the number of religions represented with one or more chaplains continues to expand, since each currently is represented by a unique symbol. This diversity makes it difficult for others to immediately identify chaplains. For example, when "the sole, Read More …
How Important is Religion? (#0492)
Bradley Wright is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut. His two most recent books are Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (included in my Top 10 Books of 2010) and Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (read my review here). Recently he blogged about an important question: "Is religion Read More …
America’s Largest Churches (#0489)
Writing for USA Today, Cathy Lynn Grossman shares the largest churches in America according to Outreach Magazine's latest survey: Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, led by Joel Osteen, average weekly worship attendance: 43,500 North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA, led by Andy Stanley, average weekly worship attendance: 27,429 Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, led by Bill Hybels, average weekly worship attendance: 24,377 Read More …