• National media outlets highlight new Baylor Religion Survey results

    USA TodayTwo years ago, Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion released the results of the first Baylor Religion Survey, and the study’s findings earned national attention, topped by a front page story in USA Today.

    Earlier this month, the study’s authors shared what they found in wave two of the survey, once again shining the national spotlight on the research being done at Baylor. In addition to a series of stories in USA Today, the work done by ISR professors Dr. Rodney Stark, Dr. Byron Johnson, Dr. Christopher Bader and Dr. Carson Mencken was profiled in national media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, and ABC News. Local news stations in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh televised reports on the survey, and even publications as far flung as Italy, Australia, India and Mexico ran with the story. (Click here for a complete list of media coverage.)

    This second wave of the study asked a number of new questions as well as some of the same questions as the first version two years ago, which will allow researchers to track trends across time. The Baylor Religion Survey will continue to be repeated every two years, thanks to funding from the John M. Templeton Foundation and the University.

    In conjunction with the release of these results, Dr. Stark has written a book, What Americans Really Believe, which expounds on some of the study’s findings. Some of those conclusions may come as a surprise to you — that megachurches are more intimate communities than small congregations, for instance, or that the percentage of atheists in America has not changed in over 60 years. If these or other findings described here interest you, pick up a copy of the book.

    Sic ’em, ISR, for your groundbreaking research and for shining the light so brightly on Baylor!