A 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that of the 35,000 U.S. adults surveyed, 44 percent had left their childhood religious affiliation. A follow-up survey in 2009 by the Pew Forum shows the percentage has grown over the last two years. The new report estimates that between 47 and 59 percent of U.S. adults have changed affiliation at least once. When asked why, most said ...

Sometimes the uniqueness of the revealed Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ is seen most clearly when contrasted with other spiritual beliefs.

Lauding the Dalai Lama as one of the world's 100 most influential leaders, author Deepak Chopra wrote in Time magazine:

The most inspiring thing [the Dalai Lama] ever told me was to ignore all organized faiths and keep to the road of higher consciousness. ...

A 2005 poll, conducted by Newsweek and Beliefnet, asked: "What is your current religion?"

Evangelical Protestant—33 percent
Non-Evangelical Protestant—25 percent
Roman Catholic—22 percent
Other Christian—5 percent
Jewish—1 percent
Muslim—1 percent
Other, non-Christian—3 percent
Atheist/Agnostic—6 percent
Religion undesignated—4 percent

28 ...

Approximate number of practicing Christians in the U.K.—1 million

Approximate number of practicing Muslims there—750,000

A recent study of teenagers who attended church during their childhood found that for most of them their church experience was a positive part of their lives.

Nearly 9 out of 10 churched teenagers said their church experience exposed them to Bible stories (95 percent), taught them about the lives of great people in the Bible (92 percent), and gave them fun experiences related to religion (89 percent). ...

Pastor and freelance writer Mark Buchanan tells about a conversation he had with a young philosophy student who was a healthy, good-looking man in his early twenties. Mark had officiated a wedding on a gorgeous day on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, and at the reception the student asked Mark if he really believed all that religious stuff he had spouted at the church.

Mark writes:

I said I did. ...

Once when I was in the Himalayas, I was sitting upon the bank of a river. I drew out of the water a beautiful, round stone and smashed it. The inside was dry. The stone had been lying a long time in the water, but the water had not penetrated the stone.

It is just like that with the "Christian" people of the West. They have for centuries been surrounded by Christianity, entirely steeped in its blessings, ...

Somebody gave me a piece from The American Scholar by Arthur Crystal, entitled "Why Smart People Believe in God." In the article Crystal mentions some of these smart people—T. S. Elliot, Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Paschal, St. Augustine—who believe in God. But Arthur Crystal himself does not believe. He gives all the reasons that we're familiar with.

When he nears the end of his article, he says, Christianity—in ...

Increase in sales for magazines featuring Jesus as the primary cover subject: 45 percent

Increase in sales for magazines featuring the Bible as the primary cover subject: 51 percent

Non-Christian Americans who say they have a favorable impression of evangelicals: 22 percent

Those who say they have an unfavorable impression of evangelicals: 23 percent

Britain's 12-year-olds who know Easter celebrates the ...

In Rolling Stone, Chris Heath discusses religion with mega-movie star Brad Pitt:

There is one subject he refers to time and time again, and that is religion. "I would call it oppression," he says, "because it stifles any kind of personal individual freedom. I dealt with a lot of that, and my family would diametrically disagree with me on all of that."

It's only when we later drift into an unlikely ...