What Americans really believe: new findings from the Baylor surveys of religion

Abstract

List of Tables Introduction The Stability and Diversity of American Faith Part I Congregations 1 Church-going Labels Matter 2 Church Growth Competing for Members 3 Strict Churches The Reasons for their Popularity 4 The Scattered Church Traditional Congregations are not Going Away 5 Megachurches Supersizing the Faith Part II Beliefs and Practices 6 Religious Experiences God Told Me to Go to Church 7 Gender Women Believe More, Pray More 8 Heaven We are All Going There 9 God Love Makes a Difference 10 Evil Did Sin Cause the Hurricane? 11 Spirituality Religion and Spirituality Are Not Mutually Exclusive 12 Giving The Rich, the Poor, and the Widow's Mite 13 Personality Are We Hard-Wired for God? Part III Atheism and Irreligion 14 Atheism Godless Revolution Never Happened 15 Credulity New Age Believers in Big Foot 16 New Age Adherents Well-Educated, Formerly Irreligious Elites 17 The Irreligious Simply Unchurched--not Atheists Part IV The Public Square 18 Faith and Politics Is There a Secret Plot of Evangelicals to Take over the American Government? 19 Merry Christmas, Jesus It's Okay to Put Sacred Symbols in the Public Square 20 Incivility Talking about Faith in Public 21 Religious Media Consumption The DaVinci Code Effect 22 Civic Participation Faith as Social Capital 23 Going to College, Getting a Job What Happens when Mom and Dad Take Their Kids to Church Epilogue The Institute for the Study of Religion Contributors Notes