Religion Watch Archives

Monitoring Trends in Religion - From February 1990 to January 2016

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives
    • By Issue
    • By Article
    • By PDF (2008-14)
    • By PDF (1985-97)
    • All Articles
  • Sections
    • Current Research
    • Findings & Footnotes
    • On/File
  • Google Search
You are here: Home / Archive / Attacks spur religious revival or temporary comfort?

Attacks spur religious revival or temporary comfort?

October 1, 2001 by Richard Cimino

Print-friendly

Interest in spirituality and religious observance have been on the upturn since the attacks, and religion has found a new place in the public square, but for how long?

Time magazine (Oct. 8) reports that churches, synagogues and mosques were packed the weekend after Sept. 11. Sixty percent of all Americans attended some kind of memorial, and Bible sales rose 27 percent. Yet Gallup polls taken September 21 and 22 find that weekend church and synagogue attendance rose only six percent (compared to about 20 percent after President Kennedy was shot).

Still, the amount of religious activity generated after the attack may endure longer than jumps in attendance. David Van Biema writes that “Muslims and others have been doing furious research on the concept of jihad. Traditional antiwar denominations like Quakers and the Church of the Brethren are challenging the more common Christian concept of just war. Some mainline Protestants, Buddhists and religious liberals have begun peace initiatives. Many conservative Christians are speculating about the Apocalypse, and sales of the apocalyptic book series `Left Behind’ are booming.”

On the revival of public religion, Gerald Seib writes in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 18) that “Just one year after a presidential campaign in which the question of whether religious beliefs should be mingled in public life was heatedly debated, Americans have accepted virtually without question a very public turn to religion by their nation and its leaders in a time of grief.

The fact that the first public gathering of the nation’s full political leadership took place in a cathedral rather that he halls of Congress was one such sign of the return of public religion, according to Seib. He adds that the “most remarkable thing about this development is how unremarkable it has been. Howls of protest aren’t being heard. There is no suggestion of a constitutional crisis. The nation seems relieved by the turn to religion. All told, it’s clear that America can handle more religion in public life than cynics and critics contend.”

Print-friendly

Filed Under: Archive

Also in this issue

  • Mainline clergy leaving middle class?
  • Findings & Footnotes: October 2001
  • Chabad’s Messianic views grow more radical, influential
  • Alpha impacts Canada with a difference
  • Sunday schools — the hidden factor in church decline, growth?
  • Current Research: October 2001
  • Buddhism changing after terrorist attacks
  • Faith-based peace movement taking shape
  • Judgment theme makes a comeback post-Sept. 11
  • Muslim websites cover the spectrum on attacks
  • Muslim organizations as fronts for terrorism — fear or fact?

Search the Site

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Click on the image for downloading

© 2016-2023 Richard Cimino / Religioscope
·News Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress