Northeast U.S. Metro Churches Close; Religious Artifacts End Up in Secular Locations
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Religious artifacts are migrating as America's shifting population leaves empty churches across the Midwest and Northeast.
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This March, New York City's archdiocese recommended shutting 31 metro parishes, and Boston has closed almost 60 in three years.
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So, chalices appear in antique shop windows. A confessional turns up in an Italian cafe. A stained-glass window of St. Patrick lands in a pub. People who deal in such artifacts say interest in them is growing.
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And while some are troubled by secular reuses of religious items, they are encouraged about a different set of collectors: new churches in booming suburbs and in the South and West that are reaching for the relics of an older generation.
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From 1952 to 2000, hundreds of thousands of Catholics left the inner cities, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
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Meanwhile, the South and West boomed. Los Angeles County added 3.4 million Catholics, and the counties that are home to Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Miami and San Antonio grew by more than 400,000 each.
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Date: 6/12/2006
Baptist Colleges Among ‘Most Religious Campuses’
You have undoubtedly heard that such-and-such Baptist college is not religious enough or conservative enough or strict enough in its student-conduct code. Baptist colleges, including Alabama Baptist-related colleges, have been targets of such criticism for generations.
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Date: 1/5/2006
Religion in America: Who Has None?
| PRINCETON, NJ -- The Los Angeles Times recently ran a story on the upsurge in "religious doubt" in the United States, touting research that shows the percentage of Americans who claim no religious preference more than doubled between 1990 and 2001.
[Beginning in 1968 with Gallup's research], an average of 3% of Americans claimed no religious preference. The average percentage has increased gradually since then, and the average so far in 2005 stands at 10%*.
Who are the nones?
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Men are marginally more likely than women to claim no religious preference (13% of men vs. 8% of women).
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As might be expected, there are more "nones" in the lower age categories: 17% of 18- to 29-year-olds claim no religious preference
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There's a slight skew toward higher levels of education among the "nones": about 12% of college graduates and those with postgraduate education claim no religious preference
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Date: 12/6/2005
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