Browse 114 concepts used in the study of religion, review how survey researchers measured them in the past, and quickly compare the results of more than 7,600 survey questions.
The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world. Review and analyze data online, or download free of charge.
Examine the religious composition, religious freedoms, demographics, constitutional clauses, survey findings and multiple social and political measures for 250 nations.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Generate congregational membership reports for any county, state and urban area in the United States using data collected by the Religious Congregations & Membership Study.
Compare the members of 31 different religious groups (including agnostics and atheists) using data from the 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, collected by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The profiles chart schisms and mergers, document membership trends, offer basic descriptions, and link to additional resources for more than 400 past and present American religious groups.
Browse dozens of topics from a major national survey of religious congregations. See how the responses vary by the size, religious family and region of the congregation.
Browse dozens of topics covered by major national surveys. See how the responses vary by demographic categories and, when available, how they change over time.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Generate congregational membership reports for any county, state and urban area in the United States using data collected by the Religious Congregations & Membership Study.
A new wave of international scholarship addressing public concerns over bullying is extending into religious communities.
Researchers are discovering that congregations are uniquely positioned to offer the type of social support and the promotion of values such as empathy, forgiveness and love of neighbor that appear to be effective ways of addressing the issue.
Women ministers are making dramatic strides in achieving equal pay with male clergy. The gender pay gap shrunk from women clergy making 60 cents on the dollar compared to men in 1976 to 93 cents on the dollar in 2016, a new study finds. But women clergy still face significant obstacles to equal pay.
Jokes about religion should be left to the professionals, not the politicians, a comprehensive new survey of religion and humor finds. The research is part of a larger project involving several Scandinavian studies on religion and humor that indicate support for a less hostile, more nuanced approach to religious humor that has the potential to break through the polarization in the West over perceived threats from immigrants and religious minorities.
By Larbi Megari, Yazeed Kamaldien and Muna Abdelfattah
For hundreds of millions of Muslims, Sharia is a way or a path to divine understanding that enables human beings to reach their full potential. So why does so much public conversation about "sharia" or "sharia law" focus on extreme interpretations grounded in intolerance and ignorance? The answers are complex, involving historical, political, cultural, regional and religious factors that need to be understood in context. Yet complexity and reason are often dangerously absent amid the emotion and politics attached to Sharia.
Who are the nonreligious? Depending on how they are counted, the nonreligious today may be considered the world's third largest 'religion,' trailing only Christianity and Islam. They exercise an increasingly influential voice on issues from the immigration crisis in Europe to secular-religious tensions in Asia Pacific. Now a developing body of research is shedding critical light on the diversity and complexity of this group in an age when the makeup and balance of religious and nonreligious populations, along with their shared history, matters in ways both small and large.
Across the world, billions of worshippers this weekend will be going to mosques, temples, churches and other places of worship hearing messages declaring that the choices they make in this life can affect their eternal destiny. How each of them, and secular individuals, face the great existential question of the meaning of life in the face of mortality can make a major difference in areas from mental health to preventing terrorism and promoting more generous, compassionate societies less likely to experience civil strife, new research shows.
Providing deadline access to the finest national and international data on religion.
National Profiles
ARDA's National Profiles provide detailed data by country on religious adherents, religious freedom, demographics and a host of other social measures. Choose a country below to see its profile:
US Denominations
Our American Denominations feature provides detailed information and family trees for over 400 U.S. religious denominations.
The following primers and interactive tutorials were developed by theARDA.com and the International Center for Journalists.
Ahead of the Trend columns, GlobalPlus reports and religion quizzes bring you the latest news in religion research from throughout the world. This is a collegial effort, enlisting the cooperation of researchers, universities, journal editors, institutes and associations of scholars to increase the impact and awareness of important findings in religion research.
About The Author David Briggs, a former national writer for The Associated Press who holds a master's degree from Yale Divinity School, is consistently honored among the Top 10 secular religion writers and reporters in North America.
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