Bengtson says that emotional warmth rather than devoutness or discipline appears to be the key factor in families that successfully transmit religious traditions across generations. Allowing their children—particularly adolescents—to venture away from orthodox expressions of belief might seem counterintuitive to parents who want their kids to remain in the fold. Yet Bengtson’s work shows that a home environment that is nurturing but not constricting appears most likely to encourage spiritual roots to grow deep.

CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota appeared on an episode of Pivot TV’s TakePart Live along with The OpEd Project director Zeba Khan and comedian David Harris to discuss changing views of religion …

CRCC Research Director Richard Flory has been quoted in an article appearing on the KPCC website. Flory discusses the ways that non-religious young adults still take part in some traditional religious practices …

This month, the Yiddish Book Center will launch a new program called Tent: Encounters With Jewish Culture, which is based on the belief that “modern culture can inspire us to think imaginatively …

This post originally appeared on Patheos’ Black, White and Gray blog. Several news stories about religion in the U.S. have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks, and they each …

I attended chapel today at Biola University (where I once worked), which increased the number of times I have attended a Biola chapel from zero to one. But, if chapels had been …

This post originally appeared on Trans-Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. In an effort to rally evangelical support for one Republican candidate in the upcoming South Carolina primary — …

This post originally appeared at Trans/Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. Several recent reports suggest that the evangelical Christian world, as we have come to know it over …

A panel discussion that was part of “Spirit in the World: The Dynamics of Pentecostal Growth and Experience,” held October 7, 2006.

A panel of politically informed commentators assess the policy implications of the new administration. Together with politically engaged students, they look at whether religion mattered in this election and its role within the new administration.

This post originally appeared at Trans/missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. With an important election looming, our constantly simmering political contest over “values” is once again at full …

That evangelical Christians have long been able to co-opt popular cultural forms, give them a nice (and wholesome) Christian gloss, and then turn them into forms intended to further their aims is …

Or maybe we could develop an alternative explanation and call it the “Spiritualization Thesis.” Americans are, apparently, as interested in religious and spiritual activities as ever, including prayer and seeking out various forms of spiritual guidance and direction.

Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation Richard Flory & Donald E. Miller (Rutgers University Press: 2008)             Despite the masses still lining up to …

A Sociology of Spirituality Kieran Flanagan, editor (Routledge: 2007)             The emergence of spirituality in contemporary culture in holistic forms suggests that organised religions have failed. This …