Trying to Understand American Religiosity

One of the main lessons that students should take away from this class is that religion is a robust phenomenon, but at the same time religion and religiosity are dynamic and always changing. It is the ability of religious groups to adapt that enables religion to stay robust as other conditions in the world change.

Keep this big picture in mind as you read this RNS article written by Cornell sociologist Landon Schnabel. Scholars of religion are very interested in understanding how American religion has changed how it continues to change. Of course, one of the biggest changes is the large drop in recent decades in the proportion of Americans who report having a religious affiliation.

As Schnabel writes:

We’re witnessing not simple secularization, but transformation and polarization — a sorting process in which those uncomfortable with religious institutions have largely already left, while those who remain are more committed. 

Our new research, based on the National Study of Youth and Religion, reveals that many of those who left, however, aren’t abandoning faith. Instead they’re rejecting religious organizations they find too rigid, judgmental or politicized.

He also offers a helpful interpretation:

This religious transformation we found stems from what we call individualization, a phenomenon in which people increasingly craft their spiritual lives according to personal values, rather than institutional dictates. Once this sorting process reaches a certain point, with most of those experiencing tension between personal values and institutional demands having already departed, the statistical decline naturally levels off.

And his conclusion:

America isn’t becoming less spiritual — it’s becoming differently spiritual.

Read the article in its entirety; it's not that long! As you read, think about the dynamism of religious markets and how religious groups may be able to adapt in the face of this individualization. Can these "differently spiritual" individuals find their way back to affiliation with organized religion? Will changes in their life -- like marriage or parenthood -- bring them back into organized religion? Or will it be adaptations by the religious groups that draw them back? What kinds of adaptations would be able to bring them back?

The Wrestling Church

Not all religious groups actively court new members, but those that do will often get very creative in reaching new audiences. Such is the case with St. Peter's Anglican Church in Shipley, England. Dubbed the "Wrestling Church," this congregation is hosting wrestling matches in their church to raise interest and attendance. See this article published by the AP.

Here's a good passage from the article:

“You’ve got to take a few risks,” said the Rev. Natasha Thomas, the priest in charge at St. Peter’s. She acknowledged that she “wasn’t entirely sure what it was I was letting myself in for” when she agreed to host wrestling events.

“It’s not church as you would know it. It’s certainly not for everyone,” she said. “But it’s bringing in a different group of people, a different community, than we would normally get.”

At a recent Wrestling Church evening, almost 200 people — older couples, teenagers, pierced and tattooed wrestling fans, parents with excited young children — packed into chairs around a ring erected under the vaulted ceiling of the century-old church.

After a short homily and prayer from Thomas, it was time for two hours of smackdowns, body slams and flying headbutts. The atmosphere grew cheerfully raucous, as fans waved giant foam fingers and hollered “knock him out!” at participants.

Skim the article quickly but take more time examining the pictures. Here are three things that caught my eye:

• The striking visual of the wrestling ring in the middle of the high-arched sanctuary.
• The written message on the shirt of the body-slamming wrestler.
• The looks on the faces of the attendees as they look at the wrestlers who took their match outside the ring.

Real-time AI Translation at Church

From the adoption of the printing press to print religious tracts and books centuries ago to the creation of ebooks, smart phone apps, podcasts and more in the 21st century, many religious groups have been at the forefront of technology adoption. This is particularly true for religious groups that actively seek new members.

It with that background that you should read this article about how some churches are now using AI technologies in real-time to translate sermons for visitors whose primarily language differs from the language of the sermon.

Some basic economics helps us to evaluate this development.

First, think of the demand side. The benefits of attending a church will be lower, all else equal, for people who attend if they cannot understand what is being said or done during the service. The real-time translation thus raises the benefits to attending for those persons even if the sermon is in a different language than their own. The availability of real-time AI translation thus raises demand for church attendance.

Next, think of the supply side. Real-time translation has traditionally been very costly. Translators are expensive to hire, and even if you have someone in your congregation who is willing to do the translation voluntarily, you still must have some technological equipment to enable listeners to hear the translation, e.g., a microphone for the translator, a radio transmitter, some headsets for those who listen. And if your congregation's translator is away on vacation one week, you might be out of luck even if you have the equipment. That means that a real-time AI translator provides some security, and the less expensive the AI translation service, the more attractive the AI option becomes. Improvements in AI translation thus lower the cost to improving the quality of religious supply.

There can still be problems, however. For example, as mentioned in the article, religious sermons often use special religious words and expressions, and if your AI translator is not sufficiently trained on religious language, then its translation may be inaccurate and less useful.

Nonetheless, I expect that real-time AI translation becomes more common in religious settings over time for two reasons.

First, there is underlying demand for translation services by many religious groups.  Even if a congregation has not translated their sermons in the past, it doesn't mean that they don't want to. It might just mean that it has been too costly to do so.

Second, AI technology should continue to improve. Don't be surprised if real-time AI translation becomes a standard part of religious worship for many religious groups in upcoming years.

Is Christianity Still Declining in the U.S.?

In February, the Pew Research Center published some findings from their 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study survey that asks a random sample of Americans many questions about religious participation, family life, religious switching (switching religious groups), and more.

One of the notable findings from their survey is that the percentage of Americans who report a Christian affiliation has held steady in the 2020s after a slow but steady decline in the 2010s. This is an important marker of religiosity in the U.S. because Christianity has always been the most prominent religious tradition in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who report no religious affiliation--called the "Nones"-- has also remained about the same in the last few years after a slow but steady increase.

Go to the webpage for their report here. and skim their summary of the findings.

It will take years before researchers can determine if a temporary trend or if this reflects a kind of stabilization in American religiosity, but there are some indications that the stabilization is real. For example, during the 2020s the percentage of Americans who say that they pray daily has been steady at about 44-46%, and the percentage of Americans who say that they attend church monthly has also been steady in the low 30s.

At the same time, there are some indications that American religiosity will continue to decline by some measures. Younger Americans are less likely to identify as religious or as Christian than older Americans.

What do you think about these trends? Do you think religion has stabilized in the U.S.? Or do you think that this is a temporary pause from an otherwise long-run decrease in American religious? Or do you think the opposite, i.e., that American religiosity has come close to its low point and that it will eventually go back up?

What reasons can you give to support your stance?

Inviting Someone to Church

How religious beliefs and preferences form is an important question in the academic and scientific study of religion. In this class we have talked about several ways to think about the formation of beliefs and preferences, and one of the most prominent is cultural transmission that occurs along multiple dimensions. You are most familiar with vertical transmission (parent-to-child), but for many religious groups horizontal transmission (peer-to-peer) is just as important or even more important.

One way to study horizontal transmission is to measure how often people invite someone to attend a religious meeting with them. A recent article in Christianity today discusses one study of American Protestants propensity to invite others to church.

According to this study, about 60% of American Protestants who attend church have invited at least one person to attend with them during the six months prior to the survey. About 20% made two invitations during that time, and 20% also made three or more invitations.

Read the article to learn who are the people most likely to extend invitations, how the extending of invitations varies across age groups, and more.

These invitations generate create potential for a lot of horizontal cultural transmission! Of course, not all invitations are accepted, so this is very much a numbers game. The larger the number of invitations extended, the larger the number of invitations accepted even if the percentage of acceptances is low. This is all the more reason why a religious group that wants to grow should encourage its members to extend invitations.

Catholic Priest Shortage in Dublin

Dublin, Ireland has historically had a large Catholic population. That is still true today, but that does not mean that the Catholic Church in Dublin is without its share of challenges. One that recently made headlines is that there is currently only one man studying to enter the Catholic priesthood in Dublin--see the article here.

It is already well known that the Catholic Church is dealing with a shortage of priests in many areas, and Dublin in no exception. There are many factors that contribute to the shortage, and many of them center on the relatively high opportunity cost of being a priest. For example, the financial compensation is limited, and you cannot be married or have children. As a result, by becoming a priest, a young man must give up the pursuit of a financially rewarding career and an emotionally rewarding family life. And notice that I referred to a young "man," because women are not allowed to become priests, a policy that immediately eliminates half of the potential candidates.

In standard economic theory, when a market has a shortage of supply, then the price of the good in that market will increase which eventually leads to a shifting of resources from supplying goods in other markets into the market with the shortage. The market for Catholic priests could, in principle, see a similar development, with the pay for Catholic priests going up to entice more men to enter the priesthood. However, there are opposing forces that work against this solution. For example, the low financial compensation is seen to be a key aspect of being a priest and is seen as a signal of commitment. Also, by raising the compensation, the church might then have men join the priesthood for the money instead of a sense of religious duty. This is an instance of the low pay acting as a kind of screening device that allows them to identify the most committed men and thus the best priest candidates.

Instead of raising pay, the church could instead lower the cost of being a priest by allowing them to be married. This would effectively raise the non-paycheck benefits of being a priest, thereby serving a similar purpose. But this solution is also not without problems because it would the low financial compensation may make it difficult to provide for a family even with a working marriage partner. It also requires changing a policy that has been in place for years and that has its own religious justifications even though there were married priests long ago in the church's history.

Without being able to boost the supply of priests, the Catholic parishes (congregations) in Dublin are responding as best as they can. In some cases, a shortage of priests requires the combining of congregations or the establishment of new forms of worship (see the article). Another response is to shift duties that used to be performed by the priest to other volunteers. These types of adjustments will be necessary if the priest shortage continues.

How do you Identify the Most Religious Place in the World?

On Friday last week, the Pew Research Center released a short article that asks “What is the most religious place in the world?” Read the full here article and learn how they go about answering the question.

One answer to the question could be Africa. Survey respondents on the African continent consistently report that religion is very important in their lives and that they pray at high frequencies.

However, there are other possible answers.

One of those other possible answer is to say that Indonesia—which is obviously not in Africa—-is the most religious place in the world. Indonesia, which is not in Africa, is tied with Senegal, which is in Africa, for the highest percentage of residents that report religion is very important—a massive 98%. But Indonesia is also alone in first place with 98% of residents reporting that they pray daily; Senegal is in third place with less than 90%.

But another answer that a researcher is likely to give you is that it depends on how you measure religion. This is the most honest answer even if it is the most frustrating answer. Prayer might be a very important type of activity for some forms of religion but not for others, and it is inappropriate to treat frequency of prayer as a key measure of religiosity in settings where the main form of religion does not emphasize it.

This last point is one of the big takeaways from the article, so be sure you read to the end to see how the Pew Research Center plans to address this challenge of comparing religiosity across settings.

Religion at the Olympics

A recent article published by The Guardian offers some reasons why many Olympic athletes are publicly referencing their religious beliefs.

One key passage:

Research by Christians in Sport, an organisation that provides pastoral support to elite athletes, shows a marked rise in the integration of faith and sport in the past two decades. One of the key drivers is society’s shift towards protecting and respecting religious identities of all kinds. Sport likes to position itself as a champion of inclusivity, even if it doesn’t always deliver on its promises. But the visibility and acceptance of faith practices at a professional level is growing as the industry becomes increasingly globalised and diverse.

Read the article and think about how acceptance of religious pluralism and changes in government regulations on religion play a role in this trend. We will discuss religious regulations in more detail later in the class, but for now you should ask yourself how the economic way of thinking can help you think in an organized way about this topic.