{"id":6661,"date":"2010-02-28T13:08:50","date_gmt":"2010-02-28T18:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/"},"modified":"2010-02-28T13:08:50","modified_gmt":"2010-02-28T18:08:50","slug":"what-americans-really-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"What Americans Really Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If I were a seminary president, which I\u2019m not, or if I were a seminary dean, which I\u2019m not, I\u2019d require both professors and students to read a book a year \u2014 together \u2014 about the current state of the church and faith in the USA. We\u2019ve looked at Christian Smith\u2019s recent book, but there\u2019s a book lurking in the background that has a bigger scope in mind, and it\u2019s been out more than a year. That book is by Rodney Stark and it\u2019s called What Americans Really Believe<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Stark, a recent convert to belief in God, is a professor at Baylor and this book puts together a major project that examined the statistics about what Americans believe. The reason why pastors and seminaries need to read is because it sorts out the actual beliefs of so many Americans, and it is rooted in scads of very serious sociological studies.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So, what does he examine? It would not be possible to sample even what the author puts together.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Church-going, church growth, strict churches, traditional congregations, megachurches.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And religious experiences, gender, heaven, God, evil, spirituality, giving, personality.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Also: atheism, credulity, new age adherents, and the irreligious.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And: faith and politics, Merry Christmas, Jesus, incivility, religious-media consumption, civic participation, and going-to-college and getting a job.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In other words, a good read of this book will put folks in touch with hard data about what is going on in the souls and hearts and minds and beliefs of folks sitting weekly in pews and meeting in Bible studies\u2026\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I were a seminary president, which I\u2019m not, or if I were a seminary dean, which I\u2019m not, I\u2019d require both professors and students to read a book a year \u2014 together \u2014 about the current state of the church and faith in the USA. We\u2019ve looked at Christian Smith\u2019s recent book, but there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Americans Really Believe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If I were a seminary president, which I'm not, or if I were a seminary dean, which I'm not, I'd require both professors and students to read a book a year\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Americans Really Believe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If I were a seminary president, which I'm not, or if I were a seminary dean, which I'm not, I'd require both professors and students to read a book a year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-28T18:08:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1602581789\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/\",\"name\":\"What Americans Really Believe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-28T18:08:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-28T18:08:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"If I were a seminary president, which I'm not, or if I were a seminary dean, which I'm not, I'd require both professors and students to read a book a year\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/28\/what-americans-really-believe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Americans Really Believe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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