Spiritual and religious practices vary around the world. Some activities, such as prayer, are widespread across many societies. Other practices, such as fasting and lighting incense or candles, are ...

This chapter focuses on three groups of U.S. adults, based on their answers to the following four questions: Do you think of yourself as spiritual? Do you think of yourself as religious? How important ...

It was “the most significant event in ecclesiastical history since the Reformation.” So said Presbyterian Patriarch Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin. At 8 o’clock on a steaming hot morning in Madras, India, ...

In the United States, we recognize a separation between church and state, but does that delineation apply to work, too? That’s an earnest question from a self-identifying choirboy—literally, I grew up ...

Plenty of studies over the last two decades have found that people who have some sort of religious faith tend to have somewhat better psychological well-being than those who aren’t religious. These ...

Nearly 30% of Americans say they have no religious affiliation. Today the so-called “nones” represent about 30% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans – and they are making their voices heard.