Just a couple of generations removed from widespread pressure to stay at home, evangelical working moms are now being welcomed into congregations, new research indicates. Conservative Protestant women, a category mostly made up of evangelicals, also were less likely to face work-family conflicts than women from other traditions.
The keys to a good night’s sleep include skipping midnight snacks, turning off the computer before bed – and faith. A new wave of research on religion and sleep is finding a close relationship with a caring divinity may help religious individuals enjoy a good night’s rest.
Miscarriage is often a socially taboo topic that can isolate parents in their grief. But some new studies are finding there is one area of life that can have a significant positive effect on the mental health of women dealing with miscarriages: Faith. One major study found that religious participation may increase mental health and be an important coping mechanism for women dealing with pregnancy loss.
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.
The majority of congregations are at a crossroad today: They must adapt to a culture where churchgoing is increasingly more of a choice than an obligation, or face a future of sustained decline. Yet many congregations have been reluctant to embrace any major changes in outreach to attract new members or retain younger generations. Instead, they appear to be cutting back, research indicates.
Faith may play a powerful role in relation to the continuing widespread acceptance of body shaming in America, according to new research. People who consider their body, in the words of Psalm 139, “fearfully and wonderfully made,” were significantly more likely to report feeling good about their bodies, one study found. However, believers who consider the body to be basically sinful were more likely to be ashamed of their body.
The religious stigma surrounding divorce remains a powerful source of anguish for believers, but few congregations have ministries for people recovering from failed marriages, new studies find. Believers are finding solace in a personal relationship with the divine, but many report feeling alone and judged at communal services across faith traditions, the research indicates.
Faith may be a strong antidote to the pop culture worship of ultra-thin body types, new research indicates. But not just any kind of faith. Individuals who believe in a judgmental God often feel worse about themselves as they engage in activities such as binging or excessive exercise to win approval from a distant, demanding divinity. However, young people who have faith in a God who loves them as they are have much healthier body images, according to several studies.
Americans with little or no ties to organized religion are significantly more likely to be male, single, and liberal. But within this broad portrait researchers are discovering a more nuanced diversity that provides a clearer picture of the nation’s “nones,” those who claim no religious affiliation on surveys. Maybe it is even time to stop calling them nones.
A new wave of research on religion in the marketplace is revealing both what is more likely to make a sale with religious consumers, and how believers are putting their faith into practice when they shop online or at the mall. The payoff: Religious commitment matters to the bottom line.
