Part four of a five-part series: According to the Gallup organization, between 1984 and 1998 there was a phenomenal jump in the number of people who said they felt a need for greater spiritual growth — from 56 percent to 82 percent, in just 14 years. Part five looks at the many Americans, both religious and nonreligious, who have turned to alternative practices to facilitate this spiritual growth. More
Read an excerpt from Brian Doyle’s memoir “Altar Boy.” More
Part three of a five-part series exploring religious America: There are more than 60 million U.S. Catholics, making them 40 percent of all the Christians in the country and the largest single group of American Christians. Part three examines the experience of being Catholic in America, and looks specifically at the Hispanic Catholic experience. More
Read more of Judy Valente’s interview with Rosemary Radford Ruether on the Catholic sex abuse scandal. More
Read excerpts from Judy Valente’s interview with Richard McBrien on Catholicism in America. More
Read Bob Abernethy’s interview with George Weigel on Catholicism in America. More
Read more of Judy Valente’s interview with Sister Carolyn Farrell on Catholicism in America. More
Read more of Judy Valente’s interview with Father Andrew Greeley about Catholicism in America. More
Read excerpts from Kim Lawton’s interview with Robert Franklin on American Protestantism and culture. More
Read more of Kim Lawton’s interview with Nancy Ammerman on American Protestantism. More