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Portals & General Resources

Start with
PBS - America at a Crossroads
Companion website to the April 2007 series.
"...is a major public television event premiering on PBS in April 2007 that explores the challenges confronting the post-9/11 world ó including the war on terrorism; the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; the experience of American troops serving abroad; the struggle for balance within the Muslim world; and global perspectives on Americaís role overseas."
Films include: JIHAD: The Men and Ideas behind Al Qaeda ; Warriors ; Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience ; Gangs of Iraq ; The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom ; Europe's 9/11 ; The Muslim Americans ; Faith Without Fear ; Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia ; Security versus Liberty: The Other War ; The Brotherhood.

American Religious Experience 
"The American Religious Experience Project encourages the development and publication of American religion manuscripts and images on the World Wide Web. The project directors welcome manuscript submissions from instructors, students, and avocational scholars that inform our understanding and appreciation of American Religions." Project directors are John Corrigan, American Studies Program, Arizona State University and Briane K. Turley, Program for Religious Studies at West Virginia University.
Includes American religion links, a Ask Hester Prynne section where undergraduates can ask questions related to American religion, student projects, regional studies, African-American studies, group and denominational studies, biographies, book reviews, Native American studies, women and religion, and American religious history.

Pluralism Project
"Our mission is to help Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity through research, outreach, and the active dissemination of resources."
- Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University.

Continue on with:
Adherents.com
Religion Statistics
"...is a growing collection of over 62,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations -- references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc."

American Academy of Religion

American Public Media - Speaking of Faith

  • Hearing Muslim Voices Since 9/11 (September 2006)
    "Dramatic headlines convey a predominantly violent picture of global Islam. But, during the past five years, Muslim guests on Step back with us and hear these voices from the traditional and evolving center of Islam."

American Religious Identification Survey - (dead link)
"What do adults say in America today when asked about their religion? How many belong to a church, temple, synagogue, mosque or some other place of worship? How many change their religion in the course of their lives? What is the mix of religious identification among American couples? These are among the many probing questions in the first large-scale national survey of religious identification conducted among Americans in the twenty-first century, and summarized in this report."
Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York
By Egon Mayer, Dept. of Sociology, Brooklyn College, Barry A. Kosmin, and Ariela Keysar.

  • American Religious Identification Survey 2001 - (dead link)
    Profile of the US Muslim Population

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
"strives to democratize access to the best data on religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997 and going online in 1998, the initial archive was targeted at researchers interested in American religion. The targeted audience and the data collection have both greatly expanded since 1998, now including American and international collections and developing features for educators, journalists, religious congregations, and researchers. Data included in the ARDA are submitted by the foremost religion scholars and research centers in the world."

  • Quick Stats > U.S. Surveys
    Sections include: Attitudes ; Politics ; Religious Affiliation/Identification ; Religious Behaviors ; Religious Belief ; Religious Experiences.

Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
"The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture is a research and public outreach institute devoted to the promotion of the understanding of the relation between religion and other features of American culture. Established in 1989, the Center is based in the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University."
Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis

Divining America: Religion and the National Culture - (dead link)
"Essays by leading scholars offering: content overviews, discussion guidance, bibliographies, online resources, primary sources."
From TeacherServe, National Humanities Center

Hartford Institute for Religion Research
""The Institute is committed to providing research based information on the social scientific study of religion in a way that makes this research usable for religious leaders and the general public...This site, established in 1997, include up-to-date survey findings, reports on national studies of religion and venues for interactive exchange of knowledge."

  • Denominations - (dead link) "This section of our web site contains information on denominations and other official national religious bodies.  The reports and research offered here relate specifically to the official national structures rather than regional or local religious structures."

Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE)
"It monitors all of the religious denominations, organizations, and movements functioning in North America and regularly publishes reports drawing from that activity in a series of reference books."
- Wheaton College, Wheaton Illinois

Journal of Southern Religion
"A fully peer-reviewed journal that seeks to combine the highest standards of traditional scholarship with the tremendous capabilities of the World Wide Web to make available new research and to facilitate better communication between scholars, students, and the general public."

Library of Congress

  • Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives
    A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia
    "The focus of this guide is primary source material in the area of religion as well as large or unique published collections of interest to the serious scholar or researcher of religion. The guide includes mainly libraries and archives affiliated with academic institutions or religious denominations, private institutions with strong religion resources, and state and federal repositories."

The North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History
"...published exclusively on the world wide web with two primary goals. † First, in association with the Afro-American Religious History group of the American Academy of Religion, it will provide information on events, new publications, research collections, and other resources in the field of African-American religious history.†† Second,† we will present peer-reviewed articles based on historical research that explore the religious cultures of people of African descent in the United States. While our interest is primarily in North America, we will on occasion publish work from other disciplines and/or that deals in a comparative way with other areas of the African diaspora, as well as with regions in Africa."

PBS - America at a Crossroads
Companion website to the April 2007 series.
"...is a major public television event premiering on PBS in April 2007 that explores the challenges confronting the post-9/11 world ó including the war on terrorism; the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; the experience of American troops serving abroad; the struggle for balance within the Muslim world; and global perspectives on Americaís role overseas."
Films include: JIHAD: The Men and Ideas behind Al Qaeda ; Warriors ; Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience ; Gangs of Iraq ; The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom ; Europe's 9/11 ; The Muslim Americans ; Faith Without Fear ; Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia ; Security versus Liberty: The Other War ; The Brotherhood.

PBS - Frontline - Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (Aired September 3, 2002)
"What did America see on Sept. 11? And how did it affect our notions of God, evil, and the potential for darkness within religion itself?"
Sections include: Introduction ; Questions of Faith and Doubt ; Our Religions, Our Neighbors, Our Selves ; Interviews ; Poll: Spiritual Aftershocks ; Discussion ; Video Excerpts ; Readings & Links.

PBS - Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
"...hosted by veteran journalist Bob Abernethy, is the only national TV newsmagazine program devoted entirely to the news of religion and spirituality, and major ethical issues...The Web site features show transcripts, streaming video, an online pressroom with archival information on past program topics, interview transcripts with notable guests, and suggested resource materials and related Internet links."
Sections include: Viewer's Guides ; Outreach ; Begin a Dialogue ; Web Sites ; Books ; Teacher Resources.

  • What is Marriage?
    News Feature, March 26, 2004
    "The debate about marriage for homosexuals has provoked a widespread reexamination of what marriage is for everyone. A civil contract? A sacrament? Judy Valente reports from Chicago."

The PEW Forum on Religion & Public Life

  • Liberty and Power: A Dialogue on Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy
    Discussion held October 15, 2004.
    Speakers include: J. Bryan Hehir, Harvard University, Walter Russell Mead, Council on Foreign Relations, Louise Richardson, Harvard University, Shibley Telhami University of Maryland. Moderator: E.J. Dionne, Jr., The Brookings Institution.

Pluralism Project
"Our mission is to help Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity through research, outreach, and the active dissemination of resources."
- Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University.

Religion in the News
- The Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, Trinity College

Spirituality in Higher Education
A National Study of College Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose
"The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA is conducting a major new program of research to track the spiritual growth of students during their college years."

Spirituality in Higher Education Newsletter - (dead link) (ejournal)
"A National Study of College Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose"
Vol. 1, Issues 1- ; April 2004-

Trinity College - Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion

University of Pennsylvania - Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society
"...dedicated to exploring ìthe role of religion in contemporary urban America,î including but not limited to, 'how local congregations, grassroots ministries, and other communities of faith matter in the daily lives of disadvantaged children, youth, and families.'"

Pluralism Project
"Based at Harvard University, it is an ongoing research project studying the new religious landscape of the United States. The Project website includes an on-line version of their book, "World Religions in Boston," a database of religious centers in the U.S., links to websites of a variety of religious traditions (from Afro-Caribbean to Zoroastrianism), an ImageBase, "In the News," a religious calendar, bibliographies, and information about our CD-ROM, "On Common Ground: World Religions in America."
Ellie Pierce, Project Manager


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Religion Newswriters Association

Religious Worlds of New York Student Projects
"This page contains links to student projects from the Fall 1996 and Spring 1998 offerings of Religious Worlds of New York, a seminar-workshop that focuses on religious diversity in the city. With the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, each member of the class engaged in fieldwork in a community and explored, experienced, and engaged the religious and social life of its members. Listed below are excerpts from some of the papers, information about the topics of other research projects, as well as links to various web sites."
Go to Religious Worlds of New York for online links
Dept. of Religion, Bernard College, Columbia University

spirithistory.com
19th Century American Spiritualism
Sections include: Fading Records ; Spiritualist Listings ; Books ; Essays.
By John Buescher

[UCLA] Daily Bruin

Unitarians
Unitarian Universalist Association
A nice introduction to the UUA. Especially useful is the UU's Online section with a bulletin board, chat, newsgroups, newsletters, links to other sites and search engine. Also included is Interconnections, their online magazine for Unitarian Universalist leaders and another area called 'The Minister's Study' which has guest columns from UU ministers. Other sections include an extensive listing of services, communication, and links to international associations

Notable American Unitarians
"This online project of the First Parish and the First Church in Cambridge (Unitarian Universalist) is based on research concerning some representative women and men who made significant contributions to life in the quarter-century 1936-1961. This period runs from the time of a report, Unitarians Face a New Age, to the beginning of the Unitarian Universalist Association

Created by librarian Mike Madin