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2015-11-03
Pew Research Center;
Is the American public becoming less religious? Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person. An extensive new survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults finds that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years.
But the Pew Research Center study also finds a great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape. The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the "nones" -- the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the Millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith. Among the roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults who do claim a religion, there has been no discernible drop in most measures of religious commitment. Indeed, by some conventional measures, religiously affiliated Americans are, on average, even more devout than they were a few years ago.
The 2014 Religious Landscape Study is a follow-up to an equally extensive survey on religion in America, conducted in 2007. An initial report on the findings from the 2014 study, released in May 2015, described the changing size and demographic characteristics of the nation's major religious groups. This report focuses on Americans' religious beliefs and practices and assesses how they have changed in recent years.
2008-06-23
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life;
Presents findings on Americans' religious beliefs, practices, and experiences, such as varying conceptions of God and degrees of dogmatism. Looks at attitudes toward morality, modernity, and tradition, as well as political and economic ideology, by faith.
2010-09-28
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life;
Compares survey results on knowledge about world religions and U.S. laws on religion by religious and political affiliation, race/ethnicity, and other demographics. Analyzes contributing factors, including education, belief in God, and family structure.
2009-04-27
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life;
Analyzes survey results on how often Americans change religious affiliations; at what age; from what former faith or lack thereof; and why, with a focus on former and new Catholics and Protestants.
2017-04-26
Pew Research Center;
The idea that highly educated people are less religious, on average, than those with less education has been a part of the public discourse for decades, but some scholars of religion have called this notion into question. And a new analysis of Pew Research Center surveys shows that the relationship between religion and education in the United States is not so simple.
2011-11-01
Rockefeller Foundation;
This paper examines the contemporary role of Islamic philanthropy in promoting human wellbeing.
2015-05-03
Jewish Funders Network;
The "Handbook for Funder Collaborations" is a compilation of research conducted by JFN that provides a comprehensive review of existing studies, articles, and in-depth interviews with 27 stakeholders in Israel. While the Handbook focuses on collaborations based in Israel, most examples include Israeli and American funders working together, and the lessons are relevant to any cross-cultural partnership.
Funder collaborations are effective tools that multiply efforts, and build unique models to achieve common goals in order to maximize impact. The process of collaborating creates opportunities to move beyond the work of a single actor by bridging gaps, and bringing together different players who share the same vision, goals, and strategy.
The Handbook aims to help funders navigate the benefits and the challenges, along with the pros and cons, of starting or joining a pooled funding collaboration. In doing so, it offers tools and tips to structure the collaboration for maximum success and impact.
2008-07-01
Research for Action;
In the spring of 2008, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) asked Research for Action to conduct an exploratory study of partnerships between faith-based organizations and schools. The goal of the study was to understand the types of supports and benefits schools receive from their faith-based partners as well as the range of outcomes and impacts that result from these partnerships. This study was based on interviews at 23 schools and surveys received from 54% of all SDP schools. The study found that although nearly half (44%) of schools in the sample had a faith-based partner, the remainder were struggling to create or maintain a partnership (27%) or had never attempted to develop a faith-based partnership (29%). Faith-based partnerships in this study also varied in their complexity, ranging from one-time events to partnerships that provided multiple services, such as use of facilities, monetary donations, mentoring, parental engagement and tutoring services. Although principals cited some challenges to their partnership related to time, funding, staffing, and retaining a consistent volunteer base, most principals also reported positive benefits from these partnerships. Principals at most schools with active faith-based partnerships believed these programs helped improve students' motivation, self-esteem, goal setting, and/or conflict resolution skills.
2003-09-25
International Center for Religion and Diplomacy;
On September 2, 2003 the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy conducted its tenth mission to the Indian side of the Line of Control that included activities in Ladakh and Delhi.
2007-05-18
International Center for Religion and Diplomacy;
I visited five women's madrasas, in addition to meeting separately with other male madrasa leaders and briefly sitting in on Hafiz Khalil and Shabbir Ahmed's own 10-day workshop.
The report documents the experiences of the author touring women's madrasas in Pakistan.
2005-10-01
Forbes Funds, The;
For as long as anyone can remember, congregations have played a vital role in nurturing the spirit of the community. Aside from being a source for spiritual grounding, congregations also provide social ministries to address the needs of the community. Over time, these social ministries have developed into more formal and professional faith-based programs and organizations, which often function independently from those offered by their founding congregations. Such national organizations as Catholic Charities, Young Men's Christian Association and the United Jewish Federation, and such local organizations as Holy Family Institute, Pittsburgh Project, the Jewish Community Center and East End Cooperative Ministries, have emerged from congregations as ways to respond to the social needs of the community. While faith-based organizations (FBOs) have played important roles in their communities for many years, the issue of public funding for their efforts has become the subject of extensive public debate relatively recently. The current national dialogue can be traced back to 1996 and the Clinton administration's support for changes to what has been called "charitable choice" legislation: making federal contracts more readily available to support the work of congregations and FBOs. Subsequently, in 2001, the Bush administration established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives as a way to further address the needs of FBOs. Despite the great variety of beliefs represented by FBOs, they share some important characteristics: a broad commitment to community; support for spiritual growth and social justice; and a willingness to serve in areas of great need. These characteristics were confirmed by a recent survey of incorporated 501(c)(3) faith-based organizations carried out by a team of researchers led by Dr. Kevin Kearns, Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. For example, the team found that when compared to their secular counterparts, FBOs benefit from much higher levels of commitment from volunteers, and this commitment does not abate as the organizations grow larger and gain more professional staff. In recent years, government at all levels has come to rely on FBOs to deliver services to populations in need. Annually, FBOs in the United States provide more than $15 billion in social and human services, serving approximately 70 million persons. In some communities, government contracts with FBOs have increased more than 500% within the last two years. In 2002, the Hudson Institute released a study that examined government contracting with FBOs in fifteen states. Their report cited 726 examples of government contracting with FBOs, totaling almost $125 million. (Nine states were studied in the year 2000 and an additional six in 2002.)This study also found that government contracting with FBOs in eight of nine originally surveyed states increased substantially, from over $7.5 million in 2000 to over $88 million in 2002.
2003-07-25
National Council on Crime and Delinquency;
Released Time Religious Education is a program started in 1914 by a public school superintendent in Gary, Indiana. The program, which was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952, is primarily designed to teach religious education during the school day to public school students off campus with parental permission. A key by-product has been improved academic performance and the development of positive moral character among youth. While many incidents of improvement have been documented, there previously has been no major independent study of Released Time. School Ministries, Inc., a nonprofit organization that has been encouraging the expansion of Released Time nationally, engaged the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) to do an independent program evaluation in cooperation with the Oakland, California, Released Time program.
