Research On Religion » fertility

Frank Newport on Survey Research and American Religiosity (Encore Presentation)

tonygill — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 08:00:30 +0000

Due to illness and windstorms, the staff at RoR is taking a short break. In the meantime, here is a conversation from three years ago regarding survey research, a still-timely episode given all the polling data we are hearing on a daily basis. Enjoy and know that we will be back with crescent fresh episodes soon, including some spooky stuff for Halloween.

Dr. Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll and author of the new book God Is Alive and Well, joins us to talk about how survey research is conducted and what polls have been telling us about the changing religiosity of the American people. The first half of our discussion devotes attention to the issue of polling methodology, specifically as it relates to phone surveys. While many folks see poll results reported on the evening news, few people understand the underlying procedures that produce these results. We talk about several issues that may affect the results of surveys, including non-response bias, the drop in response rates, the increased usage of cell phones and how that affects how people answer questions, strategic answering of questions in a socially-acceptable manner, and interview interaction. Dr. Newport notes that all of these issues are known to his profession and a great deal of effort is made to overcome the various problems associated with these potentially-biasing factors.

The discussion then shifts to the issue of America’s religiosity. We begin with the topic that has been capturing everybody’s attention over the past decade — the increase in “religious nones” (i.e., those people who state that they have no religious affiliation). Frank confirms that there has been a significant rise in the number of people who are not religiously affiliated based upon a standard set of questions that pollsters have been asking over time. However, what this increase means might not be obviously clear. While some scholars have jumped on these results as proof that America is becoming less religious, Dr. Newport has a different take on the matter. We xplore who the “nones” are and Frank notes that the increased prevalence of “nones” tend to be correlated with the demographics of individuals who have always tended to be less religious than in the past — e.g., younger individuals, men, singles, and people in certain parts of the nation. Tony advances a hypothesis that the trend in delayed marriages and fertility over the past twenty years has had an impact on people avoiding religious services in the earlier part of their life, which Dr. Newport confirms. Frank also notes that “nones” are not necessarily atheists or agnostic. Instead, he lays out the idea that there is more “truth in reporting” in surveys as compared with the past; people feel freer today to say they don’t attend church or are unaffiliated with a faith than in the past. This gets us into a brief discussion of achieved versus ascribed characteristics, and that religious affiliation has moved from being an ascribed characteristic to an achieved characteristic. This seems to be confirmed with the tendency that Protestants — who are more fluid in their religious affiliations — are the ones who are most likely to become “nones.”

The interview continues along other paths including an exploration to the rise of non-denominational churches and religious pluralism. We also examine the issue of church growth and Dr. Newport gives his ideas about how and why some churches grow and others do not. Fertility is quite obviously associated with church growth and there are certain denominations, namely the mainline Protestants, that have fewer children. Immigration is also discussed. The other factor that Frank raises is that of “religious marketing.” Churches that focus on marketing their faith so as to bring people into the pews do better at attracting members, not surprisingly. (Tony notes that comfortable chairs and coffee are an important part of that marketing campaign.) We finish the interview with Frank’s thoughts on how the clergy can use modern survey research to better serve their missions. Recorded: August 1, 2013.

Frank Newport on Survey Research and America’s Religiosity

tonygill — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 08:00:36 +0000

Rodney Stark on How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists

tonygill — Sun, 05 May 2013 08:00:21 +0000

Welcome new visitors. Join (and like) us at our Facebook Fan Page for regular updates, and be sure to tune in next week when we talk about Jesus & Gin!

Religious folks would agree that religion is pretty good for them. But is a more religious society good for the entire society as a whole, including non-believers? We take a look at the “positive spillover effects” that spiritual belief and church attendance has on the population as a whole with Prof. Rodney Stark, frequent guest and co-director of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. (Disclaimer: Baylor’s ISR is the sponsor of our podcast.) Our conversation begins with a discussion about how religious America really is. Recent students appear to indicate increasing non-participation, particularly among the young, and the newly-defined category of “nones” has become a regular talking point in the popular media. Prof. Stark puts these studies into perspective noting some methodological issues with these studies, but also notes that the “nones” — when examined more closely — actually behave rather religiously, including engaging in regular prayer. Rod mentions that the problem may not be so much as a loss of faith amongst the population, but rather a current weakness among churches to provide an adequate set of services. We then talk about a variety of benefits that a religious, and churched, population brings to society as a whole, including atheists. Our first stop on this journey deals with crime and its flipside, “pro-social behavior.” Despite having an image of a society out of control, Rod points out that “secular” (or “unchurched”) Europe has much higher crime rates in almost all categories except murder. We then discuss how and why religion may help to ameliorate crime by promoting pro-social behaviors, a seemingly obvious notion that has often been overlooked by criminologists. Religion not only decreases crime, but it promotes pro-social behavior such as helping people on the side of the road and donating blood, which moves us into a discussion about voluntarism. Contrary to the oft-cultivated notion that religious folks only provide charity or donate time to their own religious organizations, Rod points out that religious individuals are more engaged in secular organizations than secular folks. This moves our conversation into the realm of civic (political) involvement, and again the data show that religiously-active individuals shine in this area as well, and this includes not only evangelical Protestants, but Catholics, Jews, and members of other faith traditions. Tony then notes that being a “community volunteer” is not the only way to benefit a community, but rather being successful in one’s own chosen profession and not becoming a burden on society is also a way of benefitting the society at large. Rod talks about how religious individuals are, on average, more successful in business than secular individuals and are less likely to become a burden on society. This move us then to the issue of education and how homeschooling, promoted largely by religious individuals, has transformed the educational system to the point where many institutions of higher learning are taking note. Again, this provides a great many “positive externalities” for the local and national community. We then tackle intellectual life by playing off Mark Noll’s famous book about the lack of an “evangelical mind,” and Rod shows — to the contrary of Noll’s assertion — that religious individuals contribute greatly to intellectual life and high culture in the U.S. We finish off the interview with a discussion of health-related issues, including both physical and mental health. Both Tony and Rod share their various outrages at some of the very odd studies that have looked at the interconnection between religion and health. And just to spice things up on RoR, we get into a bit of a discussion about s-e-x, as well as how that relates to a bigger issue facing the Western world — fertility. Recorded: April 30, 2013.