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Monitoring Trends in Religion - From February 1990 to January 2016

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Evangelical student activism sparked by university crackdown on gay rights

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A growth of evangelical student activism may be one unintended consequence of the hard-line that universities have taken against conservative religious groups on campus on the issue of gay rights, according to the conservative scholarly journal Academic Questions (December). The simmering conflict between conservative Christian campus organizations and university administrations over gay rights broke into […]

Current Research: January 2015

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01: The politicization of churches in the last two decades has been viewed as weakening congregational growth and aiding subsequent secularization in American society, but a new study suggests that political involvement by churches can have the opposite effect. Andre Audette and Christopher L. Weaver of the University of Notre Dame presented a paper at the […]

New religious coalition making for Northern Ireland’s moral majority

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In the religiously divided society of Northern Ireland, an unprecedented coalition of conservative religious groups—ranging from Catholic to Protestant to Muslim—is taking shape on moral and social issues and targeting rising secularism, reports The Economist (Dec. 11). The movement toward a “pan-religious ‘moral majority’” developed out of recent controversies over religious objections to gay rights, […]

Global South and Israel becoming crossroads for new Jews

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“As Western Jews continue to secularize in their lifestyles and belief systems, the increasing adoption of Judaism by committed practitioners of it in the Global South (including Africa) will parallel the transformation of Christianity,” according to political scientist William Miles of Northeastern University. Miles, who shared a paper he delivered at the November conference of […]

Findings & Footnotes: January 2015

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01: The field of Islamic studies is among the liveliest (and most employable) in religion today and, as might be expected, also the most contentious over its purposes and methods. The current issue of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion (November) focuses on the controversies and factions that have developed in Islamic studies, especially the […]

Featured Story: New church plants reproducing mainline identity?

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Mainline denominations have recently started to emphasize church planting, usually in ways that vary considerably from evangelical church plants that are likely to perpetuate their liberal identity, according to recent research. A major study of 260 new congregations from six old-line denominations presented at the recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of […]

Presbyterian schisms—deeper roots and long time coming

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Hundreds of congregations and clergy have left mainline Protestant denominations since 2000. In 2009 the ELCA and in 2011 the PCUSA adopted policies allowing ordination of gay clergy. Research reported at the Religious Research Association conference in Indianapolis this past October looked at the recent exodus of conservatives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, […]

New religious movements shaping American eating habits

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Many of the innovations in food that have been introduced by new religious movements  (NRMs) have become so much a part of mainstream America that they are not easily recognized, according to University of Oregon sociologist Marion Goldman. In presenting preliminary results from her study at the recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific […]

Current Research: December 2014

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01: People tend to think differently about spirituality and God according to what time of the day it is and the activities they are engaged in, according to a study by sociologist Bradley Wright of the University of Connecticut. Wright, who presented a paper at the recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of […]