Image by Himsan/Pixabay/Creative Commons November 14, 2022 By Bob Smietana (RNS) — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many Americans lost the habit of churchgoing after almost every church in the country closed down their in-person services and shifted online. But did some of them give up on God? Sociologists like Michael Hout want to know. Hout, a

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November 11, 2022 By Yonat Shimron (RNS) — A decennial study of U.S. religious life shows what many demographers and others have long known: Participation in congregational services has not kept up with overall population growth. However, religious groups drawing large numbers of immigrants have seen steady growth. The U.S. Religion Census, conducted every 10 years by

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Image by Joseph Redfield Nino via Pixabay/Creative Commons November 10, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — It’s been 30 years since The Washington Post published an article on Christian televangelists, describing their followers as “largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.” The pushback was immediate and overwhelming, as thousands flooded the Post’s telephone switchboard and

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Forget the centuries-old narrative of Christian missionaries being predominantly white and Western. Workers from the Global South are the force behind one of the great transformations of missions in the modern age.

A new wave of research on religious leadership is finding significant numbers of clergy show evidence of struggling with clinical signs of narcissism. Yet there is a powerful countervailing force: Humility.

Social and medical sciences are increasingly finding evidence to support how religion promotes better health, including living longer. This voluminous new wave of research is helping both religious communities and medical professionals to understand the promises and pitfalls of the faith-health connection. The potential for science and religion to work together for the common good holds great promise for improving global health during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.