Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion

Social Science

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

April 2018

April 11, 2018

How Can Churches Retain Their Youth?

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has sponsored two research projects on the retention of young...

March 2018

March 22, 2018

Marriage, Living Together, Divorce Statistics–by Denomination

The Pew Research Center has released a study of marital status in U.S. religious groups. It...

March 20, 2018

Secularism or Liberal Religion?

Having spent time lately in the "happiest" countries that are also allegedly among the least...

March 16, 2018

What Is Religion, Anyway?

Christian Smith is the Notre Dame sociologist who identified the religion of America's youth as...

March 09, 2018

The News that Spreads Most Is False, Negative, and Surprising

A major study of how information spreads online has found that information that is false...

February 2018

February 27, 2018

Catholic, Lutheran, & Reformed Approaches to the Poor

I've been reading a ground-breaking new book in the field of the sociology of religion...

February 23, 2018

When Christians Change Churches, Where Do They Go?

One out of six American Christians changed religious affiliation over a four year period. Where...

February 05, 2018

Why Don’t Churches Try to Reach the Biggest Demographic of the Unchurched?

My granddaughter invited a friend to church yesterday. She was nine years old and she...

January 2018

January 30, 2018

And now Generation Z

Churches were told to make adjustments for Generation X. Lately, new adjustments had to be...

January 25, 2018

How Should Churches Respond to the New Findings about American Religion?

In our recent post "Only Moderate Religion Is On the Decline," we reported on new research...

January 23, 2018

“Only Moderate Religion Is On the Decline”

We keep hearing statistics about religious decline in America. But new research has shot that...

January 04, 2018

New Religions Rushing into the Void

Is the criticism of religious “politicization” really fair? Could the problem be that politicians have...

December 2017

December 19, 2017

Divorce Has Brought Back Large Families

Large families have come back. Not because couples are having more children. But because the...

November 2017

November 30, 2017

The LCMS Adult Conversion Rate & Other Surprising Statistics

Per capita, the LCMS has one convert for every 44 adult members. That is a...

October 2017

October 19, 2017

The Christianophobia of the Rich

Hostility against Christians among the general public has not increased over the last three decades....

October 06, 2017

Appreciating Your Pastor

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and this Sunday, October 8, is Pastor Appreciation Day. I...

September 2017

September 22, 2017

On the Threshold: Religious Liminals

Religion surveys ask you to check a box that describes your religious beliefs. But that...

September 21, 2017

Teenagers are forswearing “adult activities” like sex & drinking

The number of teenagers who have had sex and who have tried alcohol has plummeted since...

September 20, 2017

The Number of Congregations Is Growing

Contrary to the narratives of religious decline in America, a new study has found that...

September 12, 2017

Hostility to religion grows in U.S.A.

The United States found itself in unfamiliar company when it made the "Hall of Shame" in a...

September 08, 2017

Secularization Comes From Sex

Cohabiting couples tend to stay away from church. So do others engaged in sexual practices...

August 2017

August 21, 2017

What cities have the best quality of life?

The UK Economist has released its annual “Global Livability Ranking” assessing the "quality of life" of the...

July 2017

July 28, 2017

The academic effects of marijuana: A controlled experiment

Marijuana is legal in the Netherlands, with "cannabis cafes" being a fixture of university towns....

July 19, 2017

America’s birthrate is going down

America's birthrate has gone down for the second year in a row. Teenagers and twenty-something...

July 17, 2017

The Reputation of Churches

Studies show that, despite everything, churches still have a good reputation in the United States.

July 17, 2017

Discrimination in footnotes

Two geographers have written an academic article arguing that scholars should not cite research by so...

July 12, 2017

The success sequence

If you follow this sequence, exactly, in this order, there is only a 3% chance...

June 2017

June 30, 2017

Lutheran Sociologist Peter Berger Dies

One of the most prominent figures in the field of sociology, Berger was a pioneer...

June 26, 2017

Most Christians have non-Christian worldviews

A new study from Barna has found that most "practicing Christians" in America--defined as those...

June 15, 2017

Statistics on the churched, unchurched, & dechurched

Recent statistics from a Barna study on cities with the largest and smallest church attendance...