While listening to a teaching by Andy Stanley the other day I was struck by a statement he made regarding our connection with God and His parameters for us. The Atlanta-based pastor noted that “rules without relationship lead to rebellion.” As his sermon illustrated, that has certainly been the case in many of the stories [...]
displaying all posts about "Cultural Trends"
Telling the Truth
I was eating dinner and reading a book while my wife watched one of her favorite TV shows in an adjoining room. I have long had a deep distaste for that particular program, knowing how it has distorted facts and gutted reputations through selective editing and deceptive commentary. Over the years several friends have been [...]
Comments on the August 4 Barna Update (“Barna Study of Religious Change Since 1991 Shows Significant Changes by Faith Group”)
Although the tracking summary reports religious changes since 1991, it is worth noting that many of the changes reported happened between 1991 and 2001, with the past decade simply a time of stability. (To see the data regarding changes according to religious categorizations, click here) For instance, among Catholics, there was significant movement from 1991 [...]
Comments on the August 3 Barna Update (“Regional Shifts in Religious Beliefs and Behavior Since 1991 Revealed in New Barna Report”)
Have you heard the expression “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? Upon reviewing the regional data pertaining to religious change since 1991, that’s the overriding impression that strikes me. (If you haven’t yet read the Update about regional shifts in faith beliefs and practices, check out the Update here.) The tracking [...]
Comments on the August 2 Barna Update (“Major Faith Shifts Evident Among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics Since 1991”)
The dramatic faith changes that have unfolded within the Hispanic community over the past 20 years are hard to ignore – partially because some of them conflict so directly with the short-lived wave of immigration to Protestant churches , and partially because the current patterns are so divergent from what is assumed about Hispanic faith (Read [...]
Comments on the August 1 Barna Update (“20 Years of Surveys Show Key Differences in Faith of America’s Men and Women”)
For years, many church leaders have understood that “as go women, so goes the American church.” Looking at the trends over the past twenty years, and especially those related to the beliefs and behavior of women, you might conclude that things are not going well for conventional Christian churches. In addition to the statistics reported [...]
Comments on July 27 Barna Update (“Barna Describes Religious Changes Among Busters, Boomers, and Elders Since 1991″)
Americans seem fascinated with information about contemporary generations. Even though the concept of a generation is not universally accepted or clearly defined – can you list the number of definitions applied to the generation after the Baby Busters? – people love to talk about generation and throw around statistics related to them. Generational distinctions became [...]
Comments on the July 26 Barna Update (“Barna Examines Trends in 14 Religious Factors Over 20 Years”)
The value of conducting tracking research – i.e., asking the exact same questions of an equivalent nationwide sample of people over an extended period of time – is that you can see movement in behavior and beliefs that is undetectable when data are simply examined from year to year. In other words, a typical national [...]
Leaders Facilitate Peace
While spending the holidays with extended family in Princeton last month I had a chance to re-read parts of Thomas a Kempis’s classic, The Imitation of Christ. The following passage struck me anew. “It is a great matter to live in obedience, to be under a superior and not to be at our own disposing. [...]
Would Agreeing to Pay Higher Taxes Show Your Gratitude?
There was an interesting article in the New York Times earlier this week by Mark Miller. He argued that rich people should stop trying to wiggle out of paying a higher tax rate and instead demonstrate their gratitude for the life afforded to them in America by paying more in taxes. Given the economic swoon [...]
