Religious Trends

“YouVersion reported this week that Bible reading on its app from Palm Sunday to Easter was 54 percent higher than it was for Holy Week of last year.” - CPost

“I want share what Luke 13:4-5 says. Jesus here is responding to a question about why certain people died, and he refers to 18 people who were killed in a tragic accident. Why did they die—why did that accident happen? It’s the same question people are asking today… Why is this pandemic happening now, to us? Here was Jesus’ response in Luke 13…” - Ken Ham

“As the coronavirus forces us to eat humble pie, a society that had dismissed God finds its religious conscience stirring.” - National Review

“The survey also shows, however, that Christians are somewhat more likely to think their religion’s perceived decline in influence is a temporary, rather than permanent, change. In addition, just one-in-five U.S. Christians, including a third of white evangelical Protestants, see themselves as members of a minority group because of their religious beliefs.

“Globally, evangelicals number 660 million and represent 26% of the world’s Christian population, according to estimates from researcher Sebastian Fath. In addition, the research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research in France and specialist in the study of evangelicalism says more than 60% of evangelicals live in Asia or Africa.” - F&T

“A new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research found 1 in 5 Protestant churchgoers (19%) say they typically travel to church alone. Most travel to church with their spouse (54%), while close to a third say their child or children ride with them (31%).” - F&T

“Paul Djupe and Ryan Burge, co-authors of the Religion in Public blog, have analyzed data seemingly showing that the growth of ‘nones’ (combining atheists, agnostics, and those “nothing in particular”) could actually be ‘slowing or possibly even slightly reversing.’” - FaithWire

“It almost seems counterintuitive. While significant portions of the country jettison religion, others are increasingly identifying with a more devout expression of the faith.

“Among those who never come to church, the share of Republicans has stayed exactly the same (27.3%) over the last 40 years, while the share of Democrats has dropped 7 percentage points, and independents have risen 7 points. If there was a relationship between politics and church attendance, it was that some people disaffiliated from both party and church.” - RNS

“Benedict’s concerns prefigured the themes of Religion News Service’s coverage for the rest of the 2010s. A look back at the stories that drove religion news in the past 10 years” - RNS