Religious Trends

“Pew Research Center has found more than one in five nations impose an official state religion. The majority of religious-oriented countries are Muslim. Over 20 percent of the countries have a religion they tend to give more preference to. In contrast, about 53 percent of countries have no preferred or official religion.” WRN

“Back in 2000, around 50% identified themselves as belonging to a particular Protestant denomination. In 2016, only 30% were able to do so.” WRNews

“8 of the 10 least Christian cities are in the Northeast. Many of the more Christian cities are located in the south, such as Shreveport, Louisiana, Jackson, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee.” WRN

“The United States Department of Defense, in its quest for diversity in military chaplaincy, has announced an increase in the recognized religions list…. it has officially recognized Humanism.” WRN

“[T]he real number of American atheists may be as high as 26 percent, according to psychologists Will Gervais and Maxine Najle.” RNS

“Government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion increased in 2015 for the first time in three years, according to Pew Research Center’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion.”

“[R]esearch by Barna, commissioned by the American Bible Society on Bible reading habits showed an overall growing positive attitude towards the Bible among Americans.” World Religion News

“Barna has released a report on the first of a two-part exploration of faith and spirituality outside the church, looking at the ‘fascinating segment of the American population who, as the saying goes, love Jesus but not the church.’”

“Many Christians are turning to apps and memes to express their faith instead of churches – and it’s raising intriguing questions about the future of the world’s largest religion.” BBC News

“In the United States … women are more likely than men to say religion is “very important’ in their lives (60% vs. 47%)… American women also are more likely than American men to say they pray daily (64% vs. 47%) and attend religious services at least once a week (40% vs. 32%)….According to media accounts, women so outnumber men in the pews of many U.S.