Isaiah King

@carson_newman_u Sociology Prof. @religiondata Research Associate. @baylor alum. Sociologist of Religion. Repost ≠ endorsement.

[Stanford University @Stanford]

The most important briefings of the day.

Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, shares the news of his Nobel Prize with his kids.

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

Well, we finally have a really rigorous answer to the question:

Did the Internet kill religion?

Yeah, it did.

When Internet penetration rose, religiosity declined in a dataset of 81 countries.

[Jesse Smith @jessesmithsoc]

Quite a good summary in this article of sociology's various challenges in these interesting times.

[KRV @KRVSoc]

Secularization in the US has plateaued. Burge accurately called it five + years ago, but most other public-facing secularization theorists insisted it wasn't happening. There's no evidence of revival among Gen-Z, Catholics, or anyone , but nones have hit a (probably temp) ceiling

[Dan Walden @dwaldenwrites]

This guy truly does not believe in the existence of human beings. Totally unrecognizable anthropology at work here.

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

Americans are relying less on religion, more on logic and science, in making moral decisions (except for Evangelicals) | The Moral Reasoning Gap in American Christianity, by @ryanburge https://t.co/j04cj0Xobd

[Secularism & Nonreligion @S_N_Journal]

🔴 New Article 🔴

“Holes in Sacred Umbrellas” by Katie E. Corcoran & Christopher P. Scheitle

Can just one non-religious friend shift your worldview? This study explores how friendship networks influence the dynamis of atheistic worldviews

🔗 Read here: https://t.co/IN55RXvvpn

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

I analyzed the voting patterns of 22 Protestant denominations between 2008 and 2024.

Here's the change in Republican vote.

Biggest swings to the right:
Natl. Baptist Convention
Seventh Day Adventist
ABCUSA
Free Will Baptist

Biggest swings to the left:
Non-denominationals.

[Landon Schnabel @LandonSchnabel]

A study I'm particularly excited about and have been working on a long time is finally live: https://t.co/Dv2ui0o19R

We follow people from adolescence into adulthood and show why they are leaving *organized* religion.

Press release summarizing it: https://t.co/1MhpG0ma42

[Jesse Smith @jessesmithsoc]

This is important. The reason we obsess over evangelical politics is because they’re a large constituency with predictable voting patterns that influence election outcomes. They’re not any more “political” than anyone else, and less politically active than their main detractors.

[Isaiah King @Isaiah_M_King]

@Prashant_Garg_ @bobdylan This is awesome.

[Neil Renic @NC_Renic]

Academic ironies

[Jonathan Shedler @JonathanShedler]

1/ Social psychologists long ago proved something utterly terrifying

People will disregard WHAT THEY SEE WITH THEIR OWN EYES to conform to what other people say

In a classic 1951 experiment by Solomon Asch, people looked at a picture of three lines & were asked to choose which

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

We don't trust anything.

Literally almost every institution in the United States is less trusted today than twenty or thirty years ago.

It's true of older Americans. It's true of younger Americans, too.

The only exception is the military. Older folks trust them more now.

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

I think we may have entered a new phase in American religious demography.

The nones rose for three decades with almost no interruption.

The next three decades will not see the same trend lines.

The nones will likely increase but at a much slower pace.

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

There's a huge education gap when it comes to trust.

Among college educated folks, they are just as trusting today as they were decades ago.

It's those without a college degree who have lost faith in their fellow man.

Silents: 47% to 32%
Boomers: 36% to 22%
Gen X: 30% to 25%