TruthBook Religious News Blog

Most university students and faculty members consider spirituality to be an important part of their lives, according to a study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA scheduled to be released today.

Over 40,000 professors from 421 colleges and universities and 112,232 first-year students from 235 colleges and universities were surveyed about how their religious and spiritual beliefs affect their everyday activities.

Seventy-nine percent of freshmen surveyed said they believed in God, and 69 percent said they pray. Eighty-one percent considered themselves spiritual.

The study found a link between students' political views and their religious involvement, stating that "among students who show high levels of religious engagement, conservatives outnumber liberals by better than three to one."

In addition to answering questions about how often they attend religious services and the importance of religion in their daily lives, students were asked to agree or disagree with statements that included whether marijuana and abortion should be legal and the role women should play in the family. The study found that students with high levels of religious engagement are more likely to support increasing military spending and oppose the death penalty.

Faculty members were administered questions from the HERI faculty survey, which has been given every three years since 1989. The survey asks a wide range of questions to college and university faculty members regarding their approaches to teaching. This year, 21 items focused on spirituality.

"We found that faculty indeed claim to be spiritual," Helen Astin said.

Faculty were asked how responsible they were for helping students find meaning in their lives and how their personal spiritual views affected their personal and professional traits.

"Faculty do see a place in the spiritual dimension of their lives in their work and workplace," Lindholm said. "The fact that we found both those things raises questions on a number of levels. For example, how can faculty incorporate this aspect of their lives into their work and how can institutions help with that?"

The project was led by Alexander Astin, professor emeritus of higher education and founding director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program; his wife, Helen Astin, professor emeritus of higher education and senior scholar at the HERI; and Jennifer Lindholm, project director at the HERI and associate director of the CIRP.

Leaders of the study said the survey was aimed at learning more about a subject that has not been fully explored.

"(Spirituality) is an area of student life and development about which we know very little," Alexander Astin said. "It's a critical part of ... personal development. It can affect their academic work and what they get out of college."

The spirituality questions were part of a larger survey given to freshmen across the nation every year that focuses on a variety of topics, including future goals and attitudes about politics. The participants will be surveyed again in spring of 2007 to see how their beliefs and opinions have changed.

By Bridget Shackelford
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
bshackelford@media.ucla.edu

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Monday, February 27, 2006

UK - Big rise in new churches

UK - More than 1,000 new Christian churches have been created over the last seven years, double the number of Starbucks coffee shops, new research has found.

All the major denominations opened new churches but the biggest growth was among the black Pentecostal churches.

About half of the new congregations were created by the Pentecostal churches, with help from other ethnic minorities such as the Chinese and the Croatians.

New initiatives such as "Fresh Expressions", alternative worship services aimed at young people, accounted for a fifth of new congregations.

The remaining new churches were scattered among the mainstream denominations. About 450 branches of Starbucks were opened over the same period.

But before Church leaders start celebrating, the survey also found that slightly more churches had closed than had opened, with the Methodists shutting the most.

Statisticians warned that it was difficult to calculate how many extra worshippers the new churches had generated as new congregations sometimes included existing churchgoers.

They added that the majority of the new congregations used existing buildings rather than constructing new ones.

The figures are initial findings from the English Church Census, a large scale survey undertaken by the independent Christian Research organisation. Peter Brierley, the executive director of Christian Research, said the findings were encouraging "but the losses in the older denominations are faster than the gains in the newer ones".

The Pentecostal Churches, whose congregations are largely drawn from African communities in London, started nearly 500 churches since 1998, the research showed.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Nigerian-based group, is one of the fastest growing black churches with 210 "parishes" across London.

The Methodist Church suffered a net loss of about 300 churches, and the Church of England fell by more than 100.

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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Rise of megachurches may be dangerous, top cleric warns

THE megachurch is a modern trend in religious life, but its vision to make religion more relevant has come under fresh fire for being light on theology and heavy on corporate logic.

The head of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Brazil this week, said megachurches could lead to a Christianity that is "two miles long and one inch deep".

The Kenyan Methodist and general secretary of the council, Samuel Kobia, said the populist appeal of megachurches lacked theological depth and held no "appeal for any commitment".

"It's a church being organised on corporate logic," he told Reuters. "That can be quite dangerous if we are not very careful." His comments came near the close of the ninth assembly of the council, a fellowship of 347 churches drawn from more than 120 countries including Australia.

Australia's largest churches include Sydney's Hillsong and Christian City churches. They are part of the rapidly growing pentecostal movement bringing in thousands of worshippers.

The megachurch phenomenon is so significant that for the first time this year it is to be looked at in the National Church Life Survey, a longitudinal study into the health of Australia's religious life.

The survey aims to update research dating back more than a decade which found that larger congregations were better able to retain youth and could provide a "bigger supermarket of choices" in worship and missional activities.

The research found, however, that size ultimately made little difference to the health or vitality of a church, and some small congregations might do better nurturing a sense of family.

Gary Bouma, an Anglican priest and professor of sociology at Monash University, said yesterday that Mr Kobia's criticism ignored a growing cultural shift away from traditional forms of worship to a more experiential form of religious expression.

Megachurches addressed the needs of those who were uninterested in traditional church yet wanted a deeper sense of meaning in their lives, he said.

"They are where Christianity is growing, full stop," Professor Bouma said. "The mainline churches are declining in numbers, so essentially in Australia they have lost two generations and can barely reproduce themselves - whereas these groups have have the capacity to carry forward an engaged and vital form of Christianity."

Brian Houston, the senior pastor of Hillsong Church, Sydney's largest, said: "It's wonderful that around the world there are churches springing up that are attracting people back to church in their thousands. The message is sacred but the method must become more relevant."

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Poll: U.S. Latinos are regular churchgoers

Close to half of American Latinos say they attend worship services nearly every week, a percentage slightly higher than that of the general population, the Gallup Poll’s News Service reports.

Some 49 percent of U.S. Latinos say they attend “once a week or almost every week,” while 17 percent attend at least once a month and 32 percent say they seldom or never attend church.

Gallup said those figures compare to 2004 surveys which show that a smaller percentage of Americans in general—44 percent—say they attend services once a week or almost every week, while 10 percent attend at least once a month and 41 percent say they never or seldom attend.

The polling organization also found that 63 percent of Latinos identified themselves as Roman Catholics, while 16 percent said they are Protestant. An additional 10 percent said they are affiliated with other Christian faiths and 6 percent claimed no religious affiliation.

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Thursday, February 09, 2006

Survey Links Altruism and Romantic Love

In the nation’s first survey of altruistic love, scholars have found that people who have strong feelings of love for people in general are more likely to have strong romantic relationships.

The survey, released Thursday, Feb. 9 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, found wide support for altruistic love on a number of items. It also measured other related issues and compared altruistic values and behaviors with those in a similar study from 2002, and found those scores rising.

The General Social Survey at NORC conducts the nation’s most comprehensive, nation-wide, scientific survey on altruism and empathy, including measures of altruistic behaviors as well as altruistic love. Its most recent data is in the report, “Altruism and Empathy in America: Trends and Correlates,” authored by Tom W. Smith, Director of the GSS.

Those who score high on altruistic love questions are more likely to rate their lives in general and marriages in particular as “very happy.” People were asked to rate their agreement with descriptions of altruistic love, such as “I’d rather suffer myself than let the one I love suffer,” and “I’m willing to sacrifice my own wishes to let the one I love achieve his or hers.”

Among those least likely to endorse expressions of altruistic love, 50 percent rated their marriage as “very happy,” but among those most expressing altruistic love towards their partner, 67 percent say their marriage in “very happy.” Also, the married are more likely to rank high on altruistic love than the unmarried. Forty percent of the married scored in the top category on altruistic love, but only 20 percent of the never married and 26-28 percent of the divorced and separated had top scores on altruistic love.

The connection between romantic love and altruistic behavior probably comes from an appreciation of love developed in a healthy marriage and reflects the connection between marriage and love in general which is part of the teachings of many religions, including Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical, Smith said.

Religion in general plays a role in promoting altruism, the study found. In particular, people who said they pray daily were more likely to perform altruistic acts than those who never pray (77 times a year, versus 60 times).

Feelings of altruism and altruistic behaviors have been increasing in recent years, according to the survey, which found that the traditional value of caring for others is something most Americans agree on, despite their political differences.

The survey found that 75 percent of respondents in the recent survey reported having tender, concerned feelings toward the less fortunate, 5 percent more than reported in 2002. The number of respondents who felt people should look out for themselves and not “overly worry about others” fell by 7 percent to 25 percent.

Among other findings in the study:

• Women have a greater feeling of empathy than men.

• Children who grow up in a two-parent household are more likely to develop empathetic feelings, while those reared only by mothers, are slightly likely to develop the feelings.

• Least likely to develop empathy are children, particularly girls, raised only by a father.

• Financial status had very little to do with feelings of altruism or empathy.

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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative

Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

"For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority," the statement said. "Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough."

The statement calls for federal legislation that would require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through "cost-effective, market-based mechanisms" — a phrase lifted from a Senate resolution last year and one that could appeal to evangelicals, who tend to be pro-business. The statement, to be announced in Washington, is only the first stage of an "Evangelical Climate Initiative" including television and radio spots in states with influential legislators, informational campaigns in churches, and educational events at Christian colleges.

"We have not paid as much attention to climate change as we should, and that's why I'm willing to step up," said Duane Litfin, president of Wheaton College, an influential evangelical institution in Illinois. "The evangelical community is quite capable of having some blind spots, and my take is this has fallen into that category."

The Evangelical Climate Initiative, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, is being supported by individuals and foundations, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Hewlett Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.

The initiative is one indication of a growing urgency about climate change among religious groups, said Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, a clearinghouse in Amherst, Mass., for environmental initiatives by religious groups.

Interfaith climate campaigns in 15 states are pressing for regional standards to reduce greenhouse gases, Mr. Gorman said. Jewish, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox leaders also have campaigns under way.

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

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Monday, February 06, 2006

Barna research finds discrepancy over spiritual health

A huge gap exists between the perception of pastors and the reality of people's devotion to God, a new report by The Barna Group has revealed.

Barna found that, on average, pastors believe that 70 percent of the adults in their church consider their personal faith in God to be the highest priority in their life.

But when similar questions were asked of those who attend church, Barna discovered that only one out of every seven adults, or 15 percent, placed their faith in God as the top priority.

Barna research indicates few pastors rely on criteria that reflect genuine devotion to God, opting instead to evaluate the spirituality of their members by whether they are involved in some form of church-related volunteer activity, whether they attend church regularly or whether they made a public profession of faith.

Among the criteria Barna said was used too infrequently to assess the spiritual health of a church: stewardship, evangelism, lifestyle changes, and community service.

Pastors, Barna found, are "nine times more likely to seek reactions to their sermon than they are to assess the congregation's reactions to visitors," and pastors are "21 times more likely to evaluate whether people show up for church than to determine whether people experienced the presence of God during their time at church."

"It has been said that 'you get what you measure' and 'you see what you want to see,'" researcher George Barna said in an online analysis. "Both of those sayings go a long way toward describing the assessment problem that plagues churches today. The only way to explain the enormous gap between the perceptions of pastors and the reality of people's lives is to understand that pastors evaluate spiritual health from an institutional perspective — that is, are people involved in keeping the system going — while people are aware of their unmet need to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.

"People only live up to the expectations set for them. When the dominant expectations are that people show up, play nicely together and keep the system going, the potential for having the kinds of life-changing experiences that characterized the early Church are limited, at best. If churches believe in the life-changing power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, they must hold people to a higher and more challenging standard."

By Erin Curry Roach

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20% of Italian youths pray daily

Young Italians have less and less time for religion but one in five still prays every day and one in three does so 'sometimes', according to a new survey .

In the country which is home to the Vatican, some 70% of under-24s define themselves as Catholics, although this might mean anything from being a fervent and regular worshipper to simply writing the word 'Catholic' when filling in forms .

"Religious practice among young people seems to be increasingly subjective," said a report by the Milan-based IARD research institute on behalf of the Italian Catholic Church .

In fact, attendance at Mass continues to fall. Only 17% of young Italians go to mass regularly, compared to 25% in 1992, the survey found. The research, carried out on 3,000 young people from all over Italy, also found that girls are generally more interested in religion than boys and devotion is strongest in the less developed southern regions .

One in four young Italians said they never prayed and never went to mass .

It was also confirmed that, as years pass, each generation worries less about transmitting the faith to the next. A large proportion of interviewees said the crucial person in this area was the mother .

Monsignor Domenico Sigalini, head of the Church organism which commissioned the survey, said more had to be done to answer the questions that young people asked about life .

"There is a yearning for spirituality and faith, but it fails to find satisfying answers through the traditional forms of religious participation," he said .

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Thursday, February 02, 2006

BRYAN SERIES FEATURES DESMOND TUTU, BILL MOYERS AND KAREN ARMSTRONG IN 2005-06

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, award-winning broadcaster Bill Moyers and best-selling author Karen Armstrong will be the Bryan Series speakers during Guilford's "Year of Spirit and Spirituality" in 2005-06.

Armstrong will speak Sept. 27, Tutu Nov. 3 and Moyers March 13 at War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro. Please note the date change for the Moyers event, which was originally scheduled to be held March 14.

Season passes and single-event tickets for the Tutu lecture are sold out. A limited number of single-event tickets for the Armstrong and Moyers lectures are on sale at the Greensboro Coliseum box office, online (www.Tickets.com), by phone (1-888-397-3100) or at selected Lowes Food Stores in the Greensboro area. There is a service charge for all tickets purchased online or by phone.

Guilford student and employee free ticket pickup is Sept. 6 (Armstrong), Oct. 11 (Tutu) and Feb. 21 (Moyers).

Karen Armstrong

Armstrong is a writer, lecturer, broadcaster and author of 12 books. Her best-known book is A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for many months. She teaches at the Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism and the Training of Rabbis and Teachers in London, England.

Educated at Oxford University, she taught modern literature at the University of London. She was a Catholic nun from 1962-69, and in 1982, she became a freelance writer and broadcaster.

Armstrong's books include Through the Narrow Gate, a best-seller in Britain, The Gospel According to Women, Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, and The Battle for God. Her latest book, published in 2004, is a memoir, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb out of Darkness.

A provocative, original and inclusive thinker on the role of religion in the modern world, since Sept. 11, 2001, she has been a frequent contributor to conferences, panels and throughout the media on both sides of the Atlantic on the subject of Islam. She lives in London.

Desmond Tutu

Tutu, one of the best-known and most-honored people in the world today, is Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, and Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape. As a priest, dean, bishop and archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa, he was a leading figure in the struggle against apartheid. For his passionate advocacy of nonviolent change, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

After apartheid ended, he was chosen by South African President Nelson Mandela to chair South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed during the apartheid era. He was presented with the highest civilian awards by South Africa and France.

Tutu is the author or editor of numerous books, including Crying in the Wilderness: The Struggle for Justice in South Africa, Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches, The Rainbow People of God: The Making of a Peaceful Revolution and No Future Without Forgiveness.

Tutu was born in the Transvaal area of South Africa. In his late twenties he began to study for the priesthood in the Anglican Church, was ordained in 1960 and did three years of graduate theological study in England. In 1975 he became the first black person to become dean of St. Mary's Anglican Cathedral in Johannesburg. In 1976, he became bishop of Lesotho.

In 1984, he became the first black bishop of Johannesburg, and in 1986, he was elected the first black archbishop of Cape Town, and thus, titular head of the Anglican Church in South Africa. He was archbishop until his retirement in 1996. He has chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission since retirement.

Bill Moyers

Moyers is a reporter and commentator on contemporary American history, a gifted storyteller through words and images who reveals the spiritual, emotional and historical sides of our culture through his award-winning films and best-selling books.

Since 1986, when he and his wife, Judith, established the independent production company Public Affairs Television, Moyers has produced hundreds of hours of programming including Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, Amazing Grace and Genesis. His books include the 1971 best-seller Listening to America and the 2004 book Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times.

Before establishing Public Affairs Television, he served as executive editor of the Bill Moyers Journal on public television, senior news analyst for the CBS Evening News, and chief correspondent for the acclaimed documentary series, CBS Reports. Moyers hosted a PBS news magazine, NOW with Bill Moyers, for three years through December 2004.

A survey of television critics by Television Quarterly, the official journal of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, placed Moyers among the 10 journalists who have had the most significant influence on television news. In 1996, he received the Charles Frankel Prize (now the National Humanities Medal) from the National Endowment for the Humanities "for outstanding contributions to American cultural life." He has received every major journalism award, including the coveted Gold Baton, and more than 30 Emmy Awards.

In addition to broadcasting, Moyers was deputy director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration and special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson from 1963-67, including two years as White House press secretary. He left the White House in January 1967 to become publisher of Newsday.

A native of Oklahoma, Moyers earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and degrees from the University of Edinburgh and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Texas). He is an ordained Baptist minister.

For event information, call 336-316-2308 or visit www.guilford.edu/bryanseries. For information about the Year of Spirit and Spirituality, visit www.guilford.edu/yearspirit.