Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Click on the title to browse this journal

The SSSR Is Looking for its next Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the @jssreligion.bsky.social, to begin service in January 2026, for a four-year term. Join us in advancing knowledge and public understanding of #Religion. Learn more ⬇️ sssreligion.org/announcement...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1468...

Religious Inequality in America: The View from 1916 The Censuses of Religious Bodies contain detailed information about early 20th-century American religious groups. However, these data have not been used to their full potential—likely because until r...

Learn more about complex religion theory in this new @jssreligion.bsky.social Research Note: 'Religious Inequality in America: The View from 1916,' by Melissa J. Wilde, Tessa D. Huttenlocher & Elena G. van Stee.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Barriers Inhibiting Women's Path to the Pulpit and the Gender Gap in Compensation This study examines the gender gap in Protestant churches’ leadership and its connection to head clergy compensation, using the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices (NSCEP) data. The a....

Clergywomen, glass ceilings and glass cliffs: Young-joo Lee, David P. King and Brad R. Fulton explore the dynamics of the gender pay gap among Protestant clergy. Learn more in this #OpenAccess article in the @jssreligion.bsky.social. #Religion #Gender onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Tattoo on forearm. Photo by Alexey Demidov on Unsplash.

In their study: 'Religion, Tattoos, and Religious Tattoos: The Body as Sacred Subculture,' researchers Jerome R. Koch, Kevin D. Dougherty & Patricia A. Maloney ask: How religious are people with religious tattoos?

Published in the @jssreligion.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

“Exceptional Bodies” and Lived Religion: Religious and Spiritual Experiences Among Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer A paucity of research has examined the lived religious practices of women with terminal cancer. The purpose of this paper is to examine how women with metastatic breast cancer engage in religious and...

➡️ Findings from a study by Rachel Kraus & Scott A. Desmond "show women with metastatic breast cancer engage in a variety of lived religious practices with more women reporting their participation outside of religious institutions." @jssreligion.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fellowship in the Fiery Furnace: Do Christian Persecution Narratives Transcend Racial Divides? By Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe “Section 1. Purpose and Policy. It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the…

Hot off the presses! @pauldjupe.bsky.social and I have a new piece out @jssreligion.bsky.social that argues that Christian persecution beliefs are less racialized than previously believed. (1/4) religioninpublic.blog/2025/06/06/f...

Ethnodoxy and Immigration Attitudes in the Middle East/North Africa Migration is a prevalent social concern in the Middle East/North Africa. In addition to emigration, the countries struggle to incorporate immigrant and transiting populations. This article examines t...

Read and cite Hannah's open-access paper, "Ethnodoxy and Immigration Attitudes in the Middle East/North Africa," here 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

When ethnic group becomes religious orthodoxy YouTube video by JSSR—Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Muslim ≠ Arab and vice versa...but for many, ethnicity and religion become conjoined in what's termed "ethnodoxy." Do people who share this view more strongly have different attitudes about immigration? @hmridge.bsky.social explains her findings in this video:
youtu.be/Sz6417k0nGE?...

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion: Vol 64, No 1 Click on the title to browse this issue

📖Table of Contents alert for the March, 2025 issue of our flagship publication: The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JSSR) @jssreligion.bsky.social.

➡️ Research on Christian nationalism,voting trends, diversity, racial justice, & more. #Religion

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14685906...

Race and Faith: The Role of Congregations in Racial Justice Following the killing of George Floyd, some congregations more fully entered the conversation on race. Although sometimes reinforcing institutional racism, many religious traditions also have tools f...

In their paper "Race and Faith: The Role of Congregations in Racial Justice," Rebecca Glazier, Gerald W. C. Driskill, and Dominika Hanson lay out the varied landscape of how religious congregations address race. Read and cite their work on this here 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

When talking about race isn't enough YouTube video by JSSR—Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Rebecca Glazier and her coauthors started with an unsurprising finding: Black Protestants see race as a more important issue than others do. But they also found something they didn't expect: Black Protestants were also less likely to want the church involved in addressing race. youtu.be/KsrhEmInavA

Soc of Religion:
re: in the Pacific Northwest, where most people are "unchurched" but are "spiritual not religious, " participate in esoteric "woowoo " practices, the "mindfulness industry" etc.
DIY spirituality replaces old denominations/sects.

Leaving Haredi Judaism: Coping Resources and Perceived Social Support During Community Transitions and Religious Disaffiliation Navigating transitions across community boundaries, such as former Haredim leaving their covenantal communities of origin to integrate into mainstream society, is a widespread phenomenon with profoun...

New study on Haredi Judaism ➡️ Erhard says "there is a need for a more holistic understanding of disaffiliates’ coping efforts and the resources by which they sustain those, among others, to inform policy and professional practice." @jssreligion.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Religiously Unaffiliated Youth in Europe: Shifting Remnants of Belief and Practice in Contexts of Diffused Religion and Cohort Decline This study investigates the remnants and dynamics of religious beliefs and practices among religiously unaffiliated youth in Europe, comparing them with the older unaffiliated as well as with the rel....

Read and cite their open access article here! 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

"Secularized" doesn't mean "atheist" YouTube video by JSSR—Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

What does the big decline in religious *affiliation* mean for religious *belief and practice* for young Europeans? Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme and José P. Coutinho talk about what they found out when they dug into that question.
youtu.be/FcEMF7eFsfU

Parental Sanctification, God Images, and Parental Happiness and Satisfaction in the United States The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between non-theistic parental sanctification and well-being among parents, and whether parents’ primary images of God (authoritative, benevolent,...

New study by Upenieks & Ellison shows "the relationship between non-theistic parental sanctification and greater happiness and parental satisfaction was stronger for individuals with either an authoritative or benevolent God image..."@jssreligion.bsky.social ⬇️
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

📢 Calling all religion scholars! 📢Please consider this my personal invitation to submit a paper or organize a session at the upcoming @sssreligion.bsky.social Annual Meeting in Minneapolis this October! Reach out to me or @evanstewart.bsky.social with questions or ideas!

📣The submission portals for the SSSR 2025 awards and grants are now open:

-Distinguished Article Award
-Student Paper Award
-Jack Shand Research Grants
-Jack Shand International Travel Grants
-Student Research Grants
-Student Travel Grants

Learn more ⬇️
sssreligion.org/awards-grants/

Currently reviewing proofs for a new article on U.S. #religious #wealth #inequality in 1916, and the hierarchy is remarkably similar to @ryanburge.bsky.social 's contemporary analysis (minus Hindus).

Coming soon in @jssreligion.bsky.social with Melissa Wilde & Tessa Huttenlocher!

How Christian nationalism played a role in incorporating the phrase ‘so help me God’ in the presidential oath of office The phrase ‘so help me God’ is believed to be a part of the presidential oath ever since George Washington is said to have used it 236 years ago. Except, says a historian - there is no evidence of it.

New @us.theconversation.com article on #ChristianNationalism by David B. Parker cites the work of SSSR members @andrew-whitehead.bsky.social, Samuel Perry and Eric L. McDaniel.

#Religion #ReligiousStudies #SociologyOfReligion #AmericanPolitics

theconversation.com/how-christia...

“Too Much to Hope”: Analyzing Clergy Rhetoric on White Supremacy As Du Bois observed a century ago, the White Church as an institution is largely associated with maintaining the status quo of racial stratification rather than offering a progressive force. To analy....

Read and cite Gilliland's excellent, open-access paper here 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I find that clergy draw on individualistic, other-worldly, and structural frameworks to explain the causes of and solutions to racism and racial violence. These frameworks carry different consequences; individualistic explanations are associated with calls for self-examination and prayer, while seeing racism as a battle between forces comes limited individual engagement. Further, these frameworks are overlapping within the sermons, clouding the appropriate responses to racial violence. As a whole, these responses largely affirm Du Bois' low expectations for the White Church in combatting racism and inequality.

This method gives us great access to the frameworks religious actors draw on natively to explain social and political events. Gilliland's paper takes off from W. E. B. Du Bois's claim that it's "too much to hope" that White Christianity will be a strong opposing force to White supremacy.

When White pastors talk about White supremacy YouTube video by JSSR—Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

What do clergy say to their congregations about big social and political questions? Sermon-focused methods in Claire Chipman Gilliland's paper tell us how White pastors in Charlottesville, VA talked about the Unite the Right rally. She made a great summary video 👇 youtu.be/yeJBSjJdFOo?...

Religion and Policy Preferences in Context: Born‐Again Christian Identity, Support for Inclusive COVID‐19 Aid, and the Broader Political Environment How COVID-19 economic aid should be distributed continues to be an important societal question, with relevance to current and future public health policy. We argue that religious identities condition....

A collaboration with my awesome mentor, Dr. Selena Ortiz, is in this month's issue of @jssreligion.bsky.social. We argue that religious identities can act as social conduits through which the surrounding political environment shapes policy preferences. Open access! dx.doi.org/10.1111/jssr...

“Ye Double‐Minded”: Black Parishioners’ Attitudes toward Nonaffirming Church Climates Homophobia in the black community has been largely attributed to the Black Church's conservative views concerning sexual orientation. Prior research demonstrates that black congregations are generall...

You can read and cite the article here.

“Ye Double-Minded”: Black Parishioners’ Attitudes toward Nonaffirming Church Climates

doi.org/10.1111/jssr...

Black Christians and nonaffirming churches YouTube video by JSSR—Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

How do Black Christians respond to church environments where nonheterosexuality is not affirmed? Luther Young finds a mix of contentment with or indifference toward non-affirming churches—but also advocacy for change. He walked through his research in this video 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzK-...

We're super excited to chat with all the scholars in so many disciplines who are doing great research about religion and sharing it on this platform. Thanks to everyone who has followed so far, and make sure to also follow @sssreligion.bsky.social as another way to connect with this community!