Research On Religion » religious nones

Tim Clydesdale on College and Vocation

tonygill — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 08:00:23 +0000

How do we instill a sense of purpose in young adults who are attending college? Do we attempt this at all, or is it merely four years of simply checking boxes and earning a degree? Prof. Tim Clydesdale, a professor of sociology at The College of New Jersey, answers these questions in light of his evaluation of several private college programs funded by the Lilly Endowment Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation Initiative. We tap into Prof. Clydesdale’s earlier work on “emerging adults,” and specifically on the first year after high school. Some new trends among this group of individuals (roughly aged 18-30) are explored. Tim notes that it takes roughly one’s entire 20s to establish a career and find a life partner, and this period of life is noted for having to learn how to manage gratification, negotiate relationships and other “daily life” issues. Rarely is there time to think about and develop one’s broader identity and purpose in life. We talk about how many college students today are having increased difficulty in not only finding purpose in life, but dealing with intensified anxiety surrounding daily life. Tim mentions that roughly 25% of all college students today are receiving some form of mental health treatment. He also reviews the religious outlook of this young demographic, pointing out that a constant 20-30% of individuals in their third decade of life tend to be quite devout, whereas a little less than 30% now consider themselves “nones.” We review what this means (and it doesn’t necessarily mean atheist).

Next, the discussion moves on to the concept of “vocation,” which Tony sees as a very religious concept, but Tim explains that he uses it in a much broader sense which could include finding a purpose or calling from the world, listening to the voice within oneself about who to be, and/or taking one’s skills out to better society. The Lilly Foundation set upon an idea more than a decade ago to fund over 80 unique programs at private colleges and universities devoted to promoting the idea of vocation among students. Most of these schools were religiously-based, though they did cover a smattering of secular liberal arts colleges. The general nature of these programs was difficult to categorize as Lilly allowed colleges to devise a wide range of programs. Tim provides a few examples of programs including ones that emphasized “meaningful work” and sponsored internships, to themed residential halls, to the creation of a choir that had the effect of drawing many more students into participation in weekly chapel services. While the money for these programs dried up in 2009, nearly 9 in 10 of them continued beyond that date, and a network of schools who continued their emphasis on vocation developed (NetVUE, see below for link). Prof. Clydesdale discusses his research design and mission in evaluating these programs, as well as some of his most important findings.

One thing that did stand out was that the programs that focused on sophomores (second-year students) were much more successful than those emphasizing entering students (freshmen) or seniors. The reasoning here was that first-year students were usually too absorbed with just acclimating themselves to being on their own, whereas seniors were becoming more narrowly focused on the next stage of their lives, including finding jobs. The sophomore year was the “sweet spot” that allowed students to do some serious reflection on their life’s calling. Along the way, Tim reviews his category of college students — from the obsessive-compulsive grade hunters to the “beer and circus” party animals. He notes that vocation programs tended to do well amongst students who were idealistically-oriented (as compared to instrumental in their education) and did have some degree of concern over their overall student performance (usually measured by grades). Nonetheless, some students who had a more instrumental outlook on life — i.e., putting in the four years of college to move to the next stage — also benefitted from some of these programs. Another feature of success for these programs was that they were not too small, yet neither were they too big. The best range tended to be about 200-400 students. And where the upper level administrators (e.g., provost, president) were on board with the program, the effort seemed to have greater impact. This moves us into a discussion of how faculty and staff were invigorated by the Lilly Initiative with some “deadwood” and “institutional grumblers” becoming “good citizens” and finding a renewed purpose in their own professional calling. We close with Tim’s personal thoughts on how this study affected his own view of the professoriate. He noted that he has been devoting more attention to teaching and mentoring, as well has having a better understanding for the causes and consequences of anxiety within students. Although this podcast interview doesn’t explicitly focus on religion, it should be of great interest to students, faculty, college administrators, and parents of college-aged students. Recorded: October 2, 23017.

The Purposeful Graduate: Why Colleges Must Talk to Students about Vocation, by Tim Clydesdale.

The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens after High School, by Tim Clydesdale.

The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE).

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Kelsey Dallas on Religious Journalism

tonygill — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 09:00:36 +0000

In a world where the non-affiliated are on the rise, religious journalism is still alive, well, and adapting to a changing media environment. To discuss the world of “faith-driven stories,” we are joined by Kelsey Dallas, a regular journalist for the Deseret News who has written over 600 news articles of varying length and depth about the world of faithful. We begin the discussion with how a kid from a small town in Illinois makes it to the University of Iowa, on to graduate school at Yale University, and then lands a job as a religion beat reporter in Utah. Ms. Dallas shares her religious upbringing and intellectual experience at Yale, including taking a class from the famed-journalist Bob Woodward, and how she was able to bring together her three great passions — writing, reading, and religion. She also explains her membership in the Religion News Association and how important that organization has been in helping to link journalists and columnists who focus on religious news. This draws us into a discussion about where the topic of religion is in today’s mainstream media. Kelsey then explains the difference between news stories about religion and faith-driven stories, the latter which are based less on changes in major institutions (e.g., a new appointment of a Catholic bishop) and more about personal stories about how people live their daily lives. Throughout the podcast, Kelsey shares a number of her favorite, most interesting, and oddest stories. The latter includes a piece on how religions would react to the discovery of life on other planets (see link below). We talk about the prominence that stories on religious liberty have taken over the past few years with events such as the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case and Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy. Ms. Dallas also shares her insights on being a journalist attending the services of different faith traditions, including one where she visited an Islamic mosque and was moved to the women’s section during the formal prayers. Our conversation also covers football, both prayer circles after NFL games and the fantasy version. Kelsey finishes off with some personal reflections on what she has learned over the span of the past few years and reaffirms for Tony the importance of ice cream. Recorded: February 10, 2017.

RELATED LINKS

Kelsey Dallas’s news feed at Deseret News.

Kelsey Dallas on Twitter.

Religion News Association.

“How Would Religions React to the Discovery of Life on Other Planets?” by Kelsey Dallas (Deseret News

“Taking a Knee: Professional Football and Its Mysterious Postgame Prayer,” by Kelsey Dallas (Deseret News).

“How Religious Pilgrimages Feed Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Health” by Kelsey Dallas (Deseret News).

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Leigh Eric Schmidt on Village Atheists

tonygill — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 09:00:28 +0000

In an era dominated by a Protestant ethos, how did atheists manage to make their presence known? Prof. Leigh Eric Schmidt, a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis and fellow at the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, joins us to discuss his latest book Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation. We begin with Prof. Schmidt’s own intellectual journey from studying evangelicals to his latest work on unbelievers in the 19th century (give or take a few decades). We then talk about the religious landscape of the 1800s and the types of social pressure and legal penalties freethinkers faced in expressing their unbelief in Christianity. Noting that Thomas Paine was the first doubter to openly express his views in the public square, Prof. Leigh talks about how a number of other atheists began coming out of the closet by the mid-1800s. He explains that he chose the title Village Atheists as it recognizes the more localized and vernacular style of many of these unbelievers. We review a number of other names that these folks adopted, including freethinkers, liberals, humanists, and infidels – a name initially meant as a derogatory term, but one in which many of them embraced to the point of sponsoring Infidel Conventions. After pointing out a number of common themes that all these atheists shared — e.g., anticlericalism, separation of church & state, promotion of scientific inquiry — we move to a discussion of several of the more colorful characters that represented some of the diverse ways in which freethinkers interacted with their surrounding culture. Leigh covers the life and legacy of Samuel Porter Putnam (the secular pilgrim), Watson Heston (the cartoonist of the movement), and Elmina Drake Slenker (a feminist freethinker ). Prof. Schmidt shares his thoughts about what this history means for our society today as well as what he has learned over the course of his several decades of superb scholarship. Recorded: Nov. 4, 2016.

Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in A Godly Nation, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Holy Fairs: Scottish Communions and American Revivals in the Early Modern Period, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Heaven’s Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock …, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Watson Heston’s cartoons on Flickr.

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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.

Gallup’s Polling Matters.

God Is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America, by Frank Newport.

Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People, by Frank Newport.

Summary of report on marriage survey as mentioned in podcast.

American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).

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Joseph O. Baker on American Secularism

tonygill — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:00:36 +0000

The biggest trend in American religiosity in the past two decades has been the increase in “religious nones,” individuals who do not proclaim an affiliation with any particular denomination or faith tradition. We invite Prof. Joseph O. Baker, assistant professor of sociology at Eastern Tennessee State University, to talk about this phenomenon in light of his recent book (with Buster Smith) entitled American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems. After a brief chat about his work on the paranormal and other fringe religious movements, we dive into the topic of secularism and Prof. Baker provides a nuanced definition of that term. He actually notes that there are secularisms (plural) and explains what that means. Four categories of individuals with a non-religious cosmic belief system are identified including atheists, agnostics, non-affiliated believers, and cultural religionists. Joseph reveals that you could break these down into more nuanced categories, but sticks with these four basic types for the purposes of our conversation. We then break down the demographics of American secularism. Joseph points out that non-theists tend to be found in the upper social classes and have higher levels of education. Younger individuals tend to fall into the four basic groups of secularists, more so than older generations. Racially, whites and Asians tend to be the most secular, with second generation Asians being the least religious, but 3rd generation Asians looking more religiously similar to whites. African-Americans are the least secular of the major racial categories. Prof. Baker also notes that individuals often shift between categories in a more fluid manner than one might predict, often moving between different identities even within one year’s time. We then review the history of American secularism dating back to Thomas Paine, through the Freethought period of the early 19th century, evolutionary agnosticism coming in the late 1800s, and then seeing a subsiding of secularism during the middle part of the 20th century, with the 1950s being the high-water mark of American religiousness. We then explore the origins of what Joseph calls the Great Abdicating (a term he and Buster Smith hopes sticks). We see a gradual decline in religiousness in the 1960s and ’70s and then becoming more pronounced in the ’90s and early part of the 21st century. Several explanations for this trend are advanced, including political polarization, changes in family structure (e.g., later marriages), and a change in the concept of what “religion” is. This is followed by some of the social and political implications that might arise from increasing secularism. We conclude with some of Prof. Baker’s surprises in this study, including how diverse the category of “secular Americans” really is. Recorded: June 24, 2016.

American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems, by Joseph O. Baker and Buster G. Smith.

Paranormal America, by Christopher Bader, Joseph O. Baker, and Carson Mencken.

The American Religious Data Archives.

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Rodney Stark on the Triumph of Faith.

Daniel Libenson on Present and Future Judaism.

Frank Newport on Survey Research and America’s Religiosity.

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Michael Cromartie on Religion, the Media, and Think Tanks

tonygill — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 08:00:22 +0000

Jay Hein on the Invisible Revolution. How did the secular and religious media react to the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States? And what does a think tank do to influence the national dialogue and policymakers on a variety of issues related to religion and faith? These area a few of the questions we explore with Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. A former research assistant to Chuck Colson, member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and founder of The Faith Angle Forum, Mr. Cromartie has a unique perspective on the world of faith, the news media, and public policy.

We begin with a lesson on the Scottish pronunciation of names. Tony, being the football fan he is, mispronounces “Cromartie,” placing the emphasis on the wrong syllables, but Michael instructs him on the proper syllabic emphasis. And then it is off to a discussion on the pope’s recent trip to the United States. Instead of focusing on what the pontiff said, we look at how both the secular and religious media covered the event. Michael points out that the media is fascinated by Francis due to his lack of ostentation, but the coverage of what was said was skewed towards the economic and climate message, but avoided the cultural issues that were part of Francis’s message. We also talk about the liberal and secular nature of the national news media and the recent emphasis on “religious nones” and why a population that is seemingly becoming less religious would be so fascinated with this spiritual figure. Michael also tosses in some of his thoughts on how the Protestant media covered the pope and how this opens a door for evangelicals to reframe their image in the public square.

Tony follows this discussion by probing Mr. Cromartie’s background, wondering how he ended up in a Washington DC think tank. Michael reviews his high school and college experiences, including time living in a Christian commune, and how he surprisingly ended up working for Chuck Colson and getting mugged in Denver. It is from there that he eventually became linked to the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC) in Washington DC. We then follow the conversation into the world of think tanks and discuss what the EPPC does and how it originated. Tony asks about how and whether such think tanks actually effect policy and Michael provides a number of examples of how EPPC attempts to slowly change the nation’s dialogue by bringing academics and policymakers together in a number of different forums. We discuss two of these programs that Mr. Cromartie helped shape — the Evangelicals in Civic Life Program and the Faith Angle Forum. As to the latter, Tony asks how the EPPC is trying to get journalists and academics to break out of the bubble they are in. Michael presents some of his thoughts on this.

We finish the interview with some of Mr. Cromartie’s personal reflections on his own life experience and how this might be useful for a younger generation. He notes that rather than trying to make a world-changing impact immediately when you are young, it is important to be “significant where you are right now,” which relates to being faithful in the ordinary tasks of life. Recorded: October 9, 2015.

The Faith Angle Forum.

Evangelicals in Civic Life Program.

Religion and Politics in America: A Conversation, edited by Michael Cromartie.

Religion, Culture, and International Conflict: A Conversation, edited by Michael Cromartie.

A Public Faith: Evangelicals and Civic Engagement, edited by Michael Cromartie.

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Jeremy Lott on the Media’s Pope-O-Rama.

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Owen Strachan on Chuck Colson.

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Joseph Castleberry on the New Pilgrims

tonygill — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 08:00:57 +0000

What role are immigrants to the United States playing in America’s religious landscape? Dr. Joseph Castleberry, president of Northwest University (Kirkland, WA), examines this question and discusses his recently-published book The New Pilgrims. While many pundits and commentators have focused on the role of immigration in labor markets, Dr. Castleberry adds to the conversation by showing how newcomers to our country have helped to revitalize our spiritual lives, both historically and in the present.

Tony first asks Joseph how he was able to research and write a book whilst also serving as the president of a growing university. Dr. Castleberry replies that because he has such a great staff and doesn’t have any direct teaching duties, he was able to pick up on a topic that has interested him for a long time. His experience as a missionary abroad informs many of his views on this topic and he brings fresh insights to the table. We then turn briefly to the contemporary religious landscape in America and Tony asks Joseph about his thoughts on the increase of “religious nones.” This facet of the conversation (and Castleberry’s book) is important to understand how people from around the world bring their own faiths with them and reshape and revitalize America’s spiritual life, both in terms of religion as we normally think of it, but also in terms of America’s “civic religion.” Joseph explains his thoughts here and notes that immigrants have always played an important role in various “great awakenings” in U.S. history.

We move next to a discussion of the dimensions of contemporary immigration, exploring both the demographics of the people who are coming, and their reasons for wanting to make the United States their home. Dr. Castleberry then provides a number of examples of how these “new pilgrims” are reshaping our cultural landscape with stories of students from his own university (Northwest) and places where immigrant churches are being planted or working in conjunction with existing denominations to “re-missionize” America. We finish with some of Dr. Castleberry’s thoughts on the current political conflict surrounding immigration issues and how this affects notions of Lex Rex (or the rule of law). He adds his thoughts on how Christians should be responding to all of this. Recorded: September 14, 2015.

The New Pilgrims: How Immigrants Are Renewing America’s Faith and Values, by Joseph Castleberry.

Joseph Castleberry’s blog in English and Spanish.

Joseph Castleberry on Twitter.

The Kingdom Net: Learning to Network Like Jesus, by Joseph Castleberry.

Your Deepest Dream, by Joseph Castleberry.

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