This April 2004 Pew Internet & American Life survey found that 64 percent of wired Americans have used the Internet for spiritual purposes.

This March 31, 2006, article in The New York Times cites a long-awaited study that showed prayer offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, and patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications.

This 2002 survey from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, found that of the 65.6 percent who said they gave money to help victims of the attack, the average gift was about $134 and half gave small donations of $50 or less. Also, 8.3 percent said they donated time – an average of 17 […]

Read this August 30, 2005, article by Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Read this column by Terry Mattingly published on September 1, 2005, on GetReligion.org.

Read this September 2005 Beliefnet.com article detailing apocalyptic theories about what Hurricane Katrina could have meant for society.

Bill Ellis is  Professor Emeritus of English and American studies at Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton. He is the author of Aliens, Ghosts and Cults: Legends We Live (University Press of Mississippi, 2001).

Terrence Hines is a professor of psychology at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y., and the author of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Prometheus Books, 2003). He says uncritical presentation of the supernatural and paranormal in the media leads to high belief ratings. But he also thinks the human brain may be constructed to believe in “cognitive illusions,” such […]

Attorney Gene Schaerr helped draft RLUIPA, testified on its behalf before Congress and has been heavily involved in defending it.