John Ortberg, one of the best known Christian teachers and writers in the country, very kindly agreed to write a foreword for my book.  Here it is, he does a really nice job of capturing the essence of the book.  There’s just one problem, though.  He’s such a gifted writer, that I’m afraid that my own writing will suffer in comparison.  So, read the foreword, but then try to forget just how good it is.  😉 “The good news about... Read more

This month’s issue of Christianity Today has an article by me as its cover story. It was both a challenge and a joy to write as it forced me into a bit of a different style of writing, one that I hope is more effective for reaching non-academic types. After 20 years or so of learning to write as boringly as possible, to maximize the chance of getting through peer-review, I’m having to learn some new tricks. Here’s the link... Read more

Is religion less important now than it used to be? There are many ways to think of this question. For example, is religion less important in politics, in local communities, in education, in community life, and so forth. However, one critical feature of the importance of religion regards its importance to individual people. Since 1986, the New York Times, CBS, Gallup, and several other groups have surveyed Americans about the importance of religion. In particular, they have asked Americans the... Read more

Christian Smith has a wonderful op-ed on the Huffington Post. He makes a strong case for “authentic pluralism”–avoiding both sectarian conflict on one side and what he terms “liberal whateverism” on the other. Here is part of his conclusion: I think we need to reject both sectarian conflict and liberal whateverism and commit ourselves instead to an authentic pluralism. Genuine pluralism fosters a culture that honors rather than isolates and disparages religious difference. It affirms the right of others to believe... Read more

Rodney Stark and Byron Johnson have written a provocative essay for the Wall Street Journal. In it, they document the various ways that the media selects “scare” stories about Christianity for publication while ignoring “stay-the-same” or “getting-better” stories. They start: “The national news media yawned over the Baylor Survey’s findings that the number of American atheists has remained steady at 4% since 1944, and that church membership has reached an all-time high. But when a study by the Barna Research... Read more