CRA

Sunday Best

How the church shaped New Zealand and New Zealand shaped the church

PETER LINEHAM

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From: 2018 Census content: Summary of feedback from engagement and consultation

Religious affiliation – 16 submissions, 47 comments online

by Tom Wilson on February 12, 2016, published in Fulcrum

I would not normally do a full review of a second edition, but this particular second edition is well worth investing in. This is a sociological, big picture view of the religious context of the UK that is an informative and stimulating read. For some readers it will be more a case of articulating and clarifying what you already know, but for those who are thinking through these issues for the first time, this is an excellent introduction to the religious landscape of the UK.

Pew Research Center - 3 September 2015

At the center of the Pew Research Center’s mission is a commitment to measuring public attitudes on key issues and documenting differences in attitudes between demographic and political groups.

1. Protestants no longer make up a majority of U.S. adults.
2. Religious switching is a common occurrence in the U.S.
3. Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses are among the most racially and ethnically diverse U.S. religious groups.
4. U.S. Catholics’ views of climate change mirrored those of Americans overall – including major partisan divisions.
5. In a typical week, about one-in-five Americans share their faith online.
6. Americans have continued to become more supportive of same-sex marriage.

PewResearchCenter, 2 April 2015

Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest and the Unaffiliated Are Shrinking as a Share of the World’s Population

The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 …

Barna Group - April 2015

Jesus Christ remains a central figure and perennial person of interest in the American religious landscape—especially in the days leading up to Easter. And this year is no exception. This past Sunday, National Geographic Channel premiered its adaptation of Bill O'Reilly's book Killing Jesus to 3.7 million viewers—the channel's biggest audience in history. Google searches of Jesus Christ are up 53 percent in the past week—a likely result of both television programming and the forthcoming holiday. 

Much has changed in the world since 2000, and few can deny that many of those changes have been facilitated by technology. The Internet, in particular—both how much we use it and what we use it for—has dramatically altered the way people live their lives, do their work and engage in their relationships. Pastors are no exception: In the past 15 years, church leaders have significantly increased their use of the Internet and have, by and large, come to accept it as an essential tool for ministry in the 21st century. 
In a recent study of American church leaders, Barna Group looked at pastors' use of the Internet and their attitudes toward it today compared to 15 years ago, at the turn of the century. While many of the trends are what you might expect—increased use, increased acceptance, an increase in the variety of ways they use the Internet—pastors still express caution toward just how much the Internet can do in terms of spiritual guidance and religious experiences.