I was fortunate recently to be asked by my old friend Tom Landy to deliver one of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. My talk, “How Do People Become Catholic?” was based on my book, Becoming Catholic: Finding Rome in the American ReligiousContinueContinue reading “Lecture on How People Become Catholic at College of the Holy Cross”
Category Archives: Religion
Mencken and Froese on the Sources and Strength of America’s Gun Culture
As I noted in my last post, scholars associated with the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey held a session at the recent annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion unveiling their data. (Of course, this is more of a tease since the data will not be publicly available for a year orContinueContinue reading “Mencken and Froese on the Sources and Strength of America’s Gun Culture”
Faith and Firearms in the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey
Having begun my sojourn from the sociology of religion to the study of American gun culture a couple of years ago, I was excited to make a “homecoming” of sorts by attending the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Indianapolis this past weekend. I was there to present myContinueContinue reading “Faith and Firearms in the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey”
Official Catholic View of Use of Lethal Force in Self-Defense
Miguel at the Gun Free Zone blog posted recently about a new book by a Texas police officer called Jesus Christ on Killing. I expect to see evangelical Christians taking this position, but Miguel brings to light some interesting passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that I had not previously read: The seldomContinueContinue reading “Official Catholic View of Use of Lethal Force in Self-Defense”
Three Blog Posts on Initiation in the Contemporary Catholic Church
Oxford University Press was good enough to allow me to write three blog posts this Easter weekend with my thoughts on initiation in the contemporary Catholic Church. Here are links to the three posts: Initiation into America’s Original Megachurch (18 April 2014) Reinventing Rites of Passage in Contemporary America (19 April 2014) Easter Rites ofContinueContinue reading “Three Blog Posts on Initiation in the Contemporary Catholic Church”
Enter to Win a Free Copy of My Book “Becoming Catholic” from Goodreads
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Sociologists are Open Minded Toward the Open Minded
I just came across a review of some interesting work by my fellow sociologist of religion, George Yancey on religious and political bias in American higher education. His book, Compromising Scholarship, was reviewed in a Chronicle of Higher Education Innovations blog post by Peter Wood called “Preferred Colleagues” (back in 2011 — I missed it!).ContinueContinue reading “Sociologists are Open Minded Toward the Open Minded”
Shopping for Faith in the American Spiritual Marketplace
Much has been made in recent years about the phenomenon of American religion as a “spiritual marketplace” in which individuals are consumers out “shopping for faith” that suits their religious or spiritual tastes. But how do we reconcile this image of a large and diverse marketplace of producers and consumers with the considerable conventionality weContinueContinue reading “Shopping for Faith in the American Spiritual Marketplace”
Speaking of Duke
Speaking of Duke, here’s a quote from a recent New York Times article called “Rebels with a Cross”: [Christian Smith, a University of North Carolina sociologist,] compared the romance of rebellion to the middle-class fascination with hip-hop culture. “Spoiled suburban white kids act like rappers, and there is a real connection to something, but reallyContinueContinue reading “Speaking of Duke”