Intellectuals Need to Question Conventional Categories

Last updated on: November 18, 2011 at 7:40 pm By Margarita A. Mooney

How does one’s faith influence the intellectual vocation? In part, at least, by encouraging both deep questioning and seeking to be consistent in one’s thinking. The renowned economic historian, Professor Harold James of Princeton University, recently shared his thoughts with Princeton Professor Robert George, himself a renowned political theorist, on his faith and his work. The full interview appeared in the Daily Princetonian this week. I particularly liked how Professor James described the Christian vocation to be consistent in standing... Read more

What Asian American Religion Tells Us About Religious Incongruity

Last updated on: November 19, 2011 at 9:46 am By Jerry Park

So as you’ve probably figured out, I am fascinated by Asian Americans and their religions. And wherever possible I try to find the best examples that can shed light on this population because they help us to learn about how we know anything about religion today, and how we need to improve what we know. I mentioned earlier that sociologists are struggling over how to identify Asian Americans and their religious preferences in surveys. And I alluded to the problem... Read more

Why Do Christians Leave the Faith? The Fundamental Importance of Apologetics

Last updated on: December 8, 2011 at 6:38 am By Bradley Wright

Part 1 in a series on deconversion. Several colleagues and I recently finished a study of why Christians leave the faith, and we were surprised at what made a difference as well what didn’t seem to matter. In the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing our findings in a series of posts. To start with, let me tell you how we conducted our study. We were interested in how people who left the faith—let’s call them deconverts—explained their actions; i.e.,... Read more

Women’s Dignity in the Workplace

Last updated on: November 18, 2011 at 7:31 pm By Margarita A. Mooney

Do women have to act like men when they enter the professions? The person who has most helped me to ponder this question is Edith Stein: an intellectual and a woman of deep faith who worked in philosophy and education. Stein was raised Jewish in Germany, became atheist, converted to Christianity and became a Carmelite nun, and then was killed in WWII for her Jewish heritage. She was canonized a saint in 1998. Although she points out that women’s temperament... Read more

The Surprising Consequences of the Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal

Last updated on: November 15, 2011 at 8:27 am By Bradley Wright

It’s no surprise to think that the Catholic sex abuse scandal has resulted in people leaving the church, but where did they go? When one is disappointed in a religious institutions, does one give up religion altogether or find a substitute? Daniel Hungerman, an economist at Notre Dame, has looked at this issue and he came out with a paper entitled: “Substitution and Stigma: Evidence on Religious Competition from the Catholic Sex-Abuse Scandal.” Here is its abstract: This paper considers... Read more

The Last American Sin

Last updated on: November 17, 2011 at 2:34 pm By Mark Regnerus

Watching the Penn State fiasco shake out last week awoke to my consciousness something that stirs every time we witness—or rather, hear about in the media—a sexual abuse scandal that involves children. Facebook and the blogosphere lit up with indignation from all corners. Penn State students who rallied in support of Coach Paterno were lumped in with him in Americans’ collective disgust. Simply put, there are to be no viable defenses of Penn State, its administration, or its football staff.... Read more

Interview on 100 Huntley Street

Last updated on: November 15, 2011 at 8:28 am By Bradley Wright

100 Huntley Street is one of Canada’s top religious programs, and here’s an interview that I did with them over the summer for my book Upside: Surprising Good News about the State of the World. I did several dozen interviews on radio and a few on tv, and this one went really well because the host, Jim Cantelon, is not only a good interviewer, but he had read and thought about the book, and so he had interesting, challenging questions.... Read more

Asian American Faith and the Problem With “No Religion”

Last updated on: November 14, 2011 at 9:27 pm By Jerry Park

In a previous post I shared the current prevalence of Christianity among Asian Americans. Based on three different surveys, each with different drawbacks, less than half of all adult Asian Americans are not Christian. To some of my Korean Christian second-generation friends, this may or may not be surprising. In fact they would raise concern that I am perhaps overstating the figures because the “true” Christian is one who is active in his or her faith. From their perspective there is... Read more

Does God Use Natural Disasters to Guide American Politics?

Last updated on: November 15, 2011 at 8:29 am By Bradley Wright

In recent weeks, I have written about my discomfort with people aligning religion with a particular party and the costs that it might impose. Today I examine what I view as an unhelpful instance of a bringing religion into a political debate. I use this not to critique the candidate who said it, but rather to examine its underlying logic. In August, Republican candidate Michele Bachmann told an audience in Florida that God had sent deadly tornadoes and earthquakes in... Read more

Civil Religion in America Then and Now

Last updated on: November 11, 2011 at 8:10 am By Margarita A. Mooney

Yesterday, I discussed with my class Robert Bellah’s famous 1967 essay entitled “Civil Religion in America.” In a time when news commentators and some scholars express concern that there is too much religion in American politics, Bellah’s essay reminds us that religion has always been part of American politics and national discourse. Referring to John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Presidential Inaugural speech, Bellah remarked that President Kennedy referred to God three times in that famous speech. Bellah then asks, “Considering the... Read more