Scholars offer data on role of religion in U.S. life

From the Presbyterian News Service:  Scholars offer data on role of religion in U.S. life

PORTLAND, OR — Who’s speaking in tongues? Do chastity pledges work? What do religious consumers buy?

Exploring a world immersed in faith and mystery, religious research scholars provide hard sociological data to give some practical answers about the role of religion in American life.

More than 500 researchers met here recently for the joint meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association. Some of their findings:

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Studies by scholars at the University of Texas at Austin found that religion and chastity pledges have “robust protective effects” on the incidences of premarital sex, and their restrictive influences may improve marital and health outcomes for young adults.

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Worshippers’ race, gender and personal income don’t matter much in determining factors of congregational growth. Nor does it matter whether the pastor is male or female or the congregation is theologically conservative.

What does help a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation grow, even when the church overall — along with most mainline denominations — continues to decline, is sharing authority, welcoming new members and making children’s and youth ministries a priority.

In a study combining membership data with the results of a random survey of 523 congregations, denominational researchers Perry Chang and Ida Smith-Williams found that churches that empower lay leaders were more than twice as likely to grow as churches that did not share authority.

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A national study of U.S. congregations found speaking in tongues is not limited to traditional Pentecostals. Researcher Keith Wulff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) found that 8 percent of respondents reported having spoken in tongues.

Twenty-one percent of people who reported speaking in tongues were conservative Protestants, but 5 percent were Catholics and 3 percent were mainline Protestants, according to Wulff’s research.