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 professor of sociology at

September 13, 2022 By Bob Smietana (RNS) — America has long prided itself on being a country where people can choose whatever religion they like. The majority has long chosen Christianity. By 2070, that may no longer be the case. If current trends continue, Christians could make up less than half of the population —

September 8, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — According to Bloomberg News, South Korea’s fertility rate dropped from .84 babies per woman to .81 in 2021, the lowest figure on record. If current trends continue, the number of people in South Korea will be the same in 2100 as it was in 1960. In response, the government

April 13, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — Possibly the most oft-repeated statistic in American religion is the rise of the religiously unaffiliated from just 5% of the population in the early 1970s to about 30% of adults in 2022. In a field where shifts typically move at a glacial pace, that demographic factoid may represent the

March 22, 2022 By Alejandra Molina (RNS) — A survey of nonreligious people reveals that women are more likely than others to encounter stigma and discrimination in nearly every area of their lives — social media, education, employment, the military and within their families — because of their beliefs. The report, “Nonreligious Women in America,” released Tuesday (March

October 14, 2021 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — Richard Rorty, the late philosophy professor, once claimed that religion is a “conversation stopper” — the ideal way to end any debate. For instance, if someone says in a debate, “It’s against God’s law for anyone to abort their child,” there’s no real way to move forward

March 4, 2021 By Bob Smietana Produced in collaboration with the Religion News Service.  (RNS) — In recent decades, a number of studies have found that being religious can be good for your health. People who regularly attend services are less likely to smoke, may be less likely to use drugs or be obese and may live longer than those who don’t attend services.

A study in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion strongly associated queer identity with a decision to attend church less frequently or stop going altogether.

Hopes for a revived religious left may be based more on a wing and a prayer than solid evidence of any such new awakening. Rather, there are several signs indicating “a notable decline” in political activity among religious liberals, new research indicates..

No political party should take the “nones” for granted, new research suggests. “Nones now have the potential to rival evangelical Protestants as a politically relevant constituency,” a sociologist stated.