See a website on the history of the Azusa Street Revival.

“Pneumatology: Exploring the Work of the Spirit” was the title of a November 2004 symposium sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. The conference participants offered a range of perspectives on issues related to Pentecostal spirituality

The Azusa Street Centennial was the major Pentecostal anniversary observance and was held April 25-29, 2006, in Los Angeles. It featured a raft of famous Pentecostals, led by T.D. Jakes, Paula White, Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland.

In October 2006, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a 10-country survey on Pentecostals and charismatics (whom it together calls “renewalists”), covering issues of practice and belief. It found that one in four Christians are part of these movements. Read the executive summary, which links to the 233-page PDF report.

A 2002 poll indicated 86 percent of Pentecostals said religion was “very” important in their lives, and 88 percent said they believed religion could solve all or most of the major problems facing the country.

A 2006 Gallup Poll showed Pentecostals top the list of people who attend church on a weekly basis.

As Pentecostalism spreads into traditionally Catholic areas in Asia, Africa and especially Latin America, its popularity has created often fierce disputes with the Catholic Church, as this Dec. 15, 2005, Los Angeles Times story reports.

Denyse O’Leary is the faith and science columnist for ChristianWeek magazine and author of By Design or By Chance? The Growing Controversy On the Origins of Life in the Universe (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2004). She lives in Toronto, Canada.

David DeWolf is a professor emeritus of law at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Wash. He is a fellow of the Discovery Institute and co-author of its Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curricula: A Legal Guidebook.