Discourse concerning religion in the American public sphere exists within what Miller (2012) describes as church decline narratives. Highlighting the declining significance of organized religion, these narratives conform neatly with notions of young adults' relationships to formal authority broadly speaking and religious institutions in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between interfaith engagement and self-authored worldview commitment among 13,776 students enrolled at one of 52 institutions. Results indicated an association between formal and informal interfaith engagement and that this relationship was conditioned upon self-identified worldview.…

Background: Adolescent involvement in religious organizations has been hypothesized to protect against early age at first drink. However, the correlation between adolescent religiosity and later age at first drink may be confounded by environmental or genetic differences between families. This study tests whether, after controlling for shared…

As tensions around religious diversity escalate in America, there is an increased realization that interfaith cooperation has broad civic relevance. In this realization, there is an opportunity for American colleges and universities to play a leadership role in constructively engaging religious diversity. The authors of this article explore the…

World Youth Day, a youth-focused Catholic celebration, is the largest recurring youth event in the world. The 10th International World Youth Day (WYD) was held from 15-20 July 2008, in Sydney, Australia and attenders participated in a week-long series of religious events and activities. Little research in English has been conducted on WYD…

There seems to be an unwritten agreement among most Americans that there are three topics that are best avoided in polite company: (1) politics; (2) personal finances; and (3) religion. The American reluctance to discuss religion with acquaintances at a dinner party or picnic may be a part of a larger phenomenon: a manifestation of the secularism…

Latent growth curve modeling was used to describe longitudinal trends in community and religious involvement and Marcia's (1966) four identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement), as well as to assess relations between involvement and identity change. Cross-lagged regression models explored temporal ordering of relations…

This article looks at the contemporary rationale for faith-based universities. There has certainly been a new openness to issues in religion within higher education more generally. Religious influence and involvement in higher education continues to be extensive and manifests itself through the presence of believing Christians, Jews and Muslims in…

Author discusses the implication for religious education of the seeming lack of faith of today's young people. (CB)

Organizational religiosity is analyzed with data from a national survey of faith-based social service coalitions (N = 656). Twenty-one items related to religious practices within these organizations result in three distinct factors: service religiosity, staff religiosity and organizational religiosity scales. Self-defined faith-based coalitions…

Numerous studies that used the Chicago Attitudes Inventory in the late 1940s and early 1950s found that various indicators of religion were related to good personal adjustment in old age. This article reports findings of a 1988 study that replicated Moberg's 1951 in-depth research on the subject. Based on this earlier research, interview schedules…

A study investigated evangelist Billy Graham's numerical success in using "the invitation" and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's (BGEA) follow-up plan to preserve the beneficial effects of Christian commitment and to minimize commitment attrition. Statistics on audience response gathered throughout Graham's ministry attest to…

This bibliography is a collection of approximately 100 citations of articles, books, and edited volumes on various aspects of new religious teachings and religious cults. Most of the entries were published between 1970 and 1977, although a few date back to the mid 1960s. Entries are divided into three major sections. Section I, New Religious…

Presents statistics on students' belief in God and their lack of knowledge about various religions to justify the inclusion of religion studies in school systems. Gives a variety of Web sites for teachers planning to include religion studies in their classrooms. Covers topics such as curriculum, listservs, and indices of religions. (CMK)

Argues that too often liturgy and religious education posit an idyllic notion of the reign of God and fail to address the injustice, oppression, and violence endemic to much of modern life. This amounts to a dichotomy between the sacred and the secular. Proposes several corrective measures. (MJP)