How Religious Is Your State?

"Which of the 50 states has the most religious population? Since there are many ways to define 'religious,' there is no single answer to this question. But to give a sense of how the states stack up, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life
used polling data to rank them on four measures: the importance of religion in people's lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer and absolute certainty of belief in God. Mississippi stands out on all four, and several other Southern states also rank very high on the measures."

Decade in Review: New Leaders, Scandal, Conflict in Religion

"The decade's religious news featured scandal, conflict, new leaders and a new statistical portrait of American religiosity. . ."

Year in Review: God, Politics, Pop Culture Intertwined in '09

A retrospective on subjects related to religion/politics/popular culture that appeared in 2009.

Interview With Author - Book on Religious Colleges in 21st Century

"In his new book, Seeing the Light: Religious Colleges in 21st Century America (Johns Hopkins University Press), Schuman makes use of his administrative experience, but at institutions different from those he led. He focuses on 3 Roman Catholic colleges and 10 Christian colleges. Generally, the book finds much to praise at religious colleges, but Schuman also notes biases against them and widespread ignorance about them. In an e-mail interview, he discussed the themes of the book."

Spiritual Needs Rank High as Death From Cancer Nears

"Addressing the spiritual needs of someone with advanced cancer could be just as important as taking care of their medical needs, a new study suggests."

Oral Roberts Remembered as Charismatic Leader

"For decades, Oral Roberts deftly used television to become one of the nation's most recognized and influential preachers. On Monday, that same medium was used to broadcast the memorial service for the godfather of TV evangelism to tens of millions of homes across the world."

Survey: Southerners Lead U.S. in Religious Devotion

"There's a reason the South is known as the Bible belt: A survey shows that Southerners— and Mississippians in particular — are most active in their religious practices and beliefs."

Barna Studies the Research, Offers a Year-in-Review Perspective

"Based on his company’s interviews with thousands of people during the year, researcher George Barna synthesized the findings across numerous studies and summarized four themes that emerged from his research regarding religion in 2009."

First Jesus-Era House Found in Nazareth, Israel

"Days before Christmas, archeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus — a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy."

Religious Interest Among Historians

"Religion is the most popular theme studied by historians, according to a new survey of members of the American Historical Association."

Evangelicals at a Crossroad: A Dialogue

"Three Bethel University professors discuss the historic significance and present health of evangelicalism."

Irish Bishop Resigns Over Sex-Abuse Scandal

"A Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland has resigned after an investigation into child sex abuse by clergymen accused him of ignoring reports of crimes by priests in his diocese, the Vatican said Thursday."

Multi-Site Churches Mean Pastors Reach Thousands

"Megachurches with two or more locations under the same leadership made up 37% of U.S. Protestant churches in 2008, up from 22% in 2000, according to a study by the Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn."

Study: Muslims Feel They're Being Shut Out of European Society

"The report, published on Dec. 15, surveyed Muslims in 11 cities across the E.U., and found that 55% of respondents believed religious discrimination had risen in the past five years. And while many Muslims are a long-standing and integral part of the fabric of their cities, the report says they are still almost three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslims."

Study: Religion Repressed in Third of All Nations

"A new report has found that nearly a third of countries have stiff restrictions on religious practice, either because of government policies and laws or hostile acts by individuals or groups. The study by the Pew Research Center, "Global Restrictions on Religion," also found that of the world's 25 most populous countries, citizens in Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and India live with the most restrictions when both measures are taken into account."

Here is the actual Pew Study.

Shroud From Jesus' Era Found, Researchers Say

"Researchers said Wednesday for the first time they have found what they believe to be pieces of a burial shroud from the time of Jesus."

Fast-Growing Christian Churches Crushed in China

"While the Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of religion, Christians are required to worship in churches run by state-controlled organizations: The Three-Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association for Roman Catholics. But more and more Chinese are opting to choose their own churches, despite them being technically illegal and subject to police harassment. Christians worshipping in China's independent churches are believed to number upwards of 60 million, compared to about 20 million who worship in the state church, according to numbers provided by scholars and church activists."

Americans' View of Clergy's Ethics Hit 3-Decade Low

"Americans' views of the 'honesty and ethics' of clergy have hit a 32-year low, with just half rating their moral caliber as high or very high, according to Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics Ratings of Professions survey."

Pew Forum: Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths

"The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse traditions."

A New Online Project Seeks to Purge Liberal Views from the Scriptures

"The conservative online encyclopedia is hosting a project of amateur conservative readers that are putting together their own interpretation of the Bible, to counter what they say is liberal bias by scholars."

Religious Groups Active in Climate Debate

"In all, as many as 100 religiously affiliated representatives from the USA plan to attend the summit, estimates Tyler Edgar, assistant director for the environmental arm of the NCC. Worldwide, she says that number will likely run 'in the hundreds.'"

Business as Mission

"The Business as Mission movement began in the 1990s, when globalization allowed Christian business people to build companies overseas. Often they did so without the help of churches. This missions model required some initial capital but no long-term subsidies. Business missionaries could become integral parts of a community, build trust with locals through business relationships, and minister every day of the week—not just Sunday—to employees, vendors, suppliers and customers."

Nuns Offer $193 Million for Child Abuse Cases

"A major Irish order of Roman Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, offered Thursday to pay child abuse victims, the government and charities a further $193.5 million to compensate for decades of abuse in its schools and orphanages."

N.Y. Protestant Churches Apologize to Native Americans

"Four hundred years after their spiritual ancestors took part in the decimation and dislocation of Native Americans in New York, one of the nation's first Protestant churches held a 'healing ceremony' to apologize."

Resources on Worship in the Early Church

Here are a number of interesting articles from Christian History.

Experts: Bishops Covered up Priests' Child Abuse

"Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin covered up decades of child abuse by priests to protect the church's reputation, an expert commission reported Thursday after a three-year investigation."

Study: Man Creates God in his Own Image

"U.S. researchers conclude that on important (and controversial) matters, people project their own beliefs on those attributed to God, New Scientist reports. 'Intuiting God's beliefs on important issues may not produce an independent guide, but may instead serve as an echo chamber to validate and justify one's own beliefs,' writes a team led by Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago."