{"id":4215,"date":"2012-10-10T22:16:56","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T03:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=4215"},"modified":"2012-10-10T22:16:56","modified_gmt":"2012-10-11T03:16:56","slug":"religion-in-america-boom-or-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2012\/10\/10\/religion-in-america-boom-or-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion in America: Boom or Bust?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love thinking about maps, and I love thinking about religions. \u00a0So it totally blows my mind to see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/religions.pewforum.org\/maps\" target=\"_blank\">mapping of aspects of American religiosity<\/a>\u00a0done by credible polling institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at religion from this 30,000 foot level, we need to ask: is religiosity in America on the declinine as in other indstrialized nations? \u00a0Or is it thriving, as an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/God-Alive-Well-Religion-America\/dp\/1595620621\/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1349300065&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=frank+newport\" target=\"_blank\">upcoming book<\/a> by Gallup pollster <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/speakersbureau\/18556\/frank-newport-phd.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Frank Newport<\/a> will be arguing? \u00a0From the blurb:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Popular books such as The God Delusion have dismissed religion as a delusional artifact of evolution and ancient superstitions. But should millions of Americans\u2019 statements of belief and their behavior be dismissed that quickly? The pattern of religious influence in American society suggests mass consequence rather than mass delusion. In God Is Alive and Well, Frank Newport, Gallup\u2019s Editor-in-Chief, provides a new evidence-based analysis of Americans\u2019 religious beliefs and practices \u2014 and bold predictions about religion\u2019s future in the U.S.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Reading about this upcoming book reminded me of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/blogs\/democracyinamerica\/2012\/08\/atheism\" target=\"_blank\">recent article in the <\/a><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/blogs\/democracyinamerica\/2012\/08\/atheism\" target=\"_blank\">Economist<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that atheism in America is on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>How could both trends be true?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s interesting to note that Harvard University has a <a href=\"http:\/\/harvardhumanist.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Humanist chaplaincy program<\/a>. \u00a0 \u00a0What this provides secular or atheist students is a community and all of the other stuff that comes with religion, sans belief. \u00a0Is Harvard leading a new trend that other universities will follow? \u00a0\u00a0Could we see institutions like hospitals adopting this trend? \u00a0Will Christians or Hindus be okay with being approached by a Muslim Chaplain at a hospital? \u00a0What about a Humanist one?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love thinking about maps, and I love thinking about religions. \u00a0So it totally blows my mind to see\u00a0mapping of aspects of American religiosity\u00a0done by credible polling institutions. Looking at religion from this 30,000 foot level, we need to ask: is religiosity in America on the declinine as in other indstrialized nations? \u00a0Or is it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4215"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4221,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4215\/revisions\/4221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}