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A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out o of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all. Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study...

Catholics on the Move, Non-religious on the Rise | No TrackBacks American Religious Identification Survey is Third in Landmark Series Para español oprima aquí HARTFORD, Conn. - The Catholic population of the United States has shifted away from the Northeast and towards the Southwest, while secularity continues to grow in strength in all regions of the country, according to a new study conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College. "The decline of Catholicism in the Northeast is nothing short of stunning," said Barry Kosmin, a principal investigator for the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS). "Thanks to...

HIV prevalence is higher among non-religious Kenyans compared to faith practitioners, the first ever large study to interrogate the relationship between religion and the disease in the country has found out. The government-sponsored Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS) whose final findings will be released in a couple of weeks, indicates that prevalence levels among non-believers stands at 7.7 per cent against the national average of 7.1 per cent. When preliminary findings of the survey were released in 2008, they did not include the new findings. The prevalence levels are even different among various faiths, with the highest being among Protestants...

Running a successful church requires cutting-edge marketing and branding as much as it does innovative preaching and ministry. The Fellowship at Celebration Baptist Church has learned that the hard way during the past decade as a similarly named congregation has become synonymous with the word "Celebration." As a result, the East Arlington congregation is changing its name on Thursday to FaithBridge Church. That's something church member Jaime Brasseit said she's had to pray to accept. "I liked 'Celebration,' and I kinda wish we had kept 'Baptist,' " Brasseit, 22, said after a recent Sunday morning service. But Brasseit said she...

Bringing our fallen-away relations back to Church during AdventREV. JOHN HORGANEach Christmas, our churches are thronged with people who come to pray before the Manger, join in the singing of carols, and feel the warmth of the Saviour's love. Some of these men and women are not Catholic; others do not practice the Faith regularly. Some are estranged from the Church, angry at her teachings, hurt by her representatives; a larger number simply live their lives as if the Church had no place in their world, no bearing on their lifestyles, careers, and choices. . . except at Christmas. Many...

The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives. It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books. The study comes amid ongoing controversy over the role of women in all Christian denominations. Last month its governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time, having admitted them to the...

DALLAS (ABP)—Men are disappearing from the church. According to the Barna Research Group, there are 11 million to 13 million more American women who are born again than there are born-again men. While nine out of 10 senior pastors are men, a majority of regular church attenders are women. Not only are women the majority of born-again American Christians, the Barna Group reports, “Women are the backbone of the Christian congregations in America.” Perhaps indicative of women’s sense of spirituality, 41 percent of women said they have set specific spiritual goals they hope to accomplish in the coming year or...

With churches largely mapping out their local mission around what they identify to be an "unchurched" population, a research firm set out to paint a clearer picture of who unchurched Americans really are. “There’s a whole industry seeking to help clergy reach the unchurched, with seminars, books, videos, training centers, and consultants,” Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, noted. “However, many people don’t really have a basic notion even of just what it means to be ‘unchurched.’ There’s often an assumption that people either do attend worship services, or they don’t." "But what we find in this study is that...

Sen. Barack Obama is taking a break from church until after the presidential election. Campaign staffers told the New York Post that Obama will visit different houses of worship while he campaigns, ending 20 years of attending regular Sunday services. After the election, he will decide on a more permanent church for himself and his family. Sources told the Post that by doing so, Obama will be able to avoid a scandal similar to the controversy that erupted over his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose racially charged sermons triggered a firestorm of criticism.

(Ventura, CA) - Marketers devote billions of dollars to penetrating the Baby Boomer market – the generation of 77 million individuals that populate the nation. There is another market segment equally as large that is of interest to the faith community: the 76 million adults who regularly avoid going to church. A new report based on its annual tracking survey by The Barna Group reveals that one-third of the adult population (34%) has not attended any type of church service or activity, other than a special event such as a funeral or wedding, during the past six months. The Barna...

LONDON - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Superman and he's bringing his otherworldy powers to British schools to teach godless children about Christianity. The Daily Telegraph reported that religious education teachers were being encouraged to use the cartoon superhero as a modern-day model for Jesus Christ to give youngsters an insight into morality and religious thinking. "Teenagers visit the cinema and see films on television and DVDs, so it's hardly surprising that their assessments of what is heroic and what is evil, possible or impossible, are partly based on what they watch," said academic Helen...

Church must have a clear message and deliver on it. 'No reserve, no retreat, no regret' News Analysis By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org BIRMINGHAM, AL: (1/15/2006)--The Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy seems more like a CEO than a bishop. He thinks and talks like senior management of a high level company that has just gone public and is ready to move from a $2 million to a $10 million corporation complete with charts, a VCR-II plan, promoting 'vision', 'risk' and 'reliability'. He speaks with passion about 'growth', 'stewardship' and drops phrases like 'money is muscle', '130 million Americans need Jesus' and...

After spending four years with the unchurched, my research team and I have gained valuable perspectives on this group of non-Christian men and women. I recently assimilated our interview material to glean a summary of an interesting issue. The interview quotes we found were related to the unchurched persons' view of Christians. Below are the seven most common responses we received. Held in Good Light The unchurched generally have a favorable view of Christians. Contrary to conventional wisdom and media myths, most unchurched view Christians in a positive light. Kenneth M., an unchurched 28-year-old man from Florida, typifies this perspective:...

Christina, 34, is expecting her second child. Her husband, Tom, is one year older. Unlike many of the 353 formerly unchurched we interviewed, the couple has never faced a major crisis in their lives or marriage. They obviously love each other deeply.Christina and Tom had been Christians for only seven months at the time of our interview. When they moved to a mid-sized city in North Carolina, they decided to visit a Southern Baptist church. I asked them what prompted them to visit a church."I honestly don't know," Christina responded. "I can't even remember Tom and I having much discussion...

Ventura, CA) Since 1991, the adult population in the United States has grown by 15%. During that same period the number of adults who do not attend church has nearly doubled, rising from 39 million to 75 million – a 92% increase! These startling statistics come from the most recent tracking study of religious behavior conducted by The Barna Group, a company that follows trends related to faith, culture and leadership in America. The latest study shows that the percentage of adults that is unchurched – defined as not having attended a Christian church service, other than for a holiday...

Spiritual Viagra by Hans Zeiger 17 May 2004 The greatest plague of our time is a drastic spiritual impotence that we might say requires a heavy dose of spiritual Viagra. There seems to be a proliferation of television ads for Viagra, Cialis, and the other mass-market impotence drugs. There are nearly three times as many Google hits for "Viagra" as for "George Bush." Then there is the most frequently deleted spam title from my email box, something about potions that one can order online to restore vitality. I suppose with the market as it is, Bob Dole's crusade against...

How the media's reporting on the Religious Right keeps it from seeing the story of the Secular Left As a practicing Christian, a political conservative and a professional journalist, I've long been amazed at how ignorant and uncurious my mostly intelligent and urbane colleagues are about conservatives, especially religious conservatives. Many have looked at me--their friend, despite my Catholicism and Republican Party registration--with the same slack-jawed incomprehension as elderly Southerners when they step off the tour bus in London and hear a black man speaking with a crisp British accent (I’ve seen this, and it’s a hoot). People like me--religious...