The Association of Religion Data Archives (The ARDA)

The Association of Religion Data Archives (The ARDA) was founded in 1997 to democratize access to the best data on religion. The ARDA includes a variety of free tools and modules to foster better research, teaching, and understanding of religion data. Explore some of our resources in this thread.

Learning Module Spotlight: Mormons in the United States One of the largest and most widespread religions that originated in the United States is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This free learning module will explore how Mormons are spread throughout the United States.

Leaving the LDS #AheadOfTheTrend To learn more about falling retention in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we interviewed Jana Riess, Senior Columnist at @rns.org. Read through our conversation on the external factors and reasons young people are leaving the LDS Church.

The ARDA Data Archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by researchers and made available online for free. The archive is organized by category, recent additions, and alphabetically. It is also fully searchable by topics and keywords. Browse the collection today!

Catholic Schools and Weekly Mass Aren’t Solving the Retention Crisis American Catholicism seems to be hemorrhaging members at an alarming rate. @pewresearch.org's Religious Landscape Study found that just 58% of Catholics were being retained into adulthood. Read the full column below:

Meet our host and panelists for this week's episode of Religion &! This episode, hosted by Dr. Steensland will feature research and expertise from Dr. Braunstein, Dr. Kucinskas and Dr. Lawton. They will examine the limits of traditional organized religion as well as emerging religious forms & more!

Learn more about religion and statistical terms in the ARDA's dictionary. Today's featured entry highlights one of the terms defined in Confucianism. "Li" refers to individual performances needed for personal development. Find more key definitions at www.thearda.com/research/rel....

Lilly Endowment is inviting organizations that support student ministries and chaplaincy programs at colleges and universities to apply for two new grant initiatives aimed to nurture the religious lives of young people. Learn more about these initiatives at www.thearda.com/research/nat....

"Are Evangelicals Holding the Line Against Secularization?" In the latest installment of Ahead of the Trend, @ryanburge.bsky.social seeks to determine whether the assertion is true that evangelicals are remaining steady while other denominations are falling rapidly.

Lilly Endowment has launched the Serving Neighbors Through Congregational Collaborations Initiative to support programs that encourage local communities to build stronger ties between congregations and charitable organizations. Read more about this Initiative at: lillyendowment.org/serving-neig....

Recent datasets are now available for free access on the ARDA, from the longest-running barometer of public opinion in Afghanistan to three waves of @pewresearch.org's American Trends Panel. Explore these and other datasets now on thearda.com.

Did you know that heresy can refer to religious behavior as well as belief? In the ARDA Dictionary, popular religion terms are not only defined but also contextualized with sources for further research and learning, as seen in this entry. Discover more terms at www.thearda.com/research/rel....

Parents and Adult Children Aren't Fighting as Much as TikTok Thinks | #AheadOfTheTrend The @pewresearch.org American Trends Panel (Wave 137) seeks “to evaluate the relationships between parents and their adult children.” The survey checks perceptions on both sides of this debate using one source.

Although Christianity has been dominant in the religious history of America, freedom of religious expression has allowed non-Christian faiths to develop and thrive. This learning module explores the important events, movements, and people who increased the diversity of America's religious landscape.

Who Do You Talk to When You’re Struggling? | #AheadOfTheTrend Recent data from @pewresearch.org shows that only a third of non-evangelical Protestants, Catholics, and LDS members feel very or extremely comfortable speaking with their pastor about their struggles. For evangelicals, it jumps to 56%.

Evangelicals in the United States | Free Learning Module How much does the average person really know about evangelical Christianity? This college-level exercise illustrates how you can use the Association of Religion Data Archives to explore data related to belief systems in American religion.

The ARDA Guiding Paper Series allows prominent scholars to provide guidance on the study of religion and new research agendas. From improved measurement concepts to rethinking commonly held assumptions on religion, these papers represent essential framing for the study of religion today.

How often do survey respondents report religious experiences—miraculous healings, feeling the presence of a deity, visions, or near-death experiences—in their everyday lives? This free learning module explores the degree to which Americans report having these various religious experiences.

Just as religion can be studied at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels, as well as how trends in each may change over time, we can similarly study secularisms. The ARDA team has developed a free, college-level learning module to better understand data on global secularism.

Browse dozens of topics and see responses from major national surveys and demographic patterns. The ARDA's Quickstats feature provides in-depth statistics for a variety of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors on U.S. Religion. Each topic has sourced data graphs, and notes for better understanding.

The @pewresearch.org Religious Landscape Survey asks a question about belief and follows up with certainty about that belief. This setup ensures everyone gets the second question, no matter how they answered the first one. This edition of #AheadOfTheTrend looks at the distinction of certainty.

Want to conduct a deep dive into religion data? The ARDA has curated lists of resources for researchers, educators, journalists, and congregations to provide information related to your context. From archives and indexes to journals and associations, see our list of external resources below.

Free Module | Religion in United States Public Schools The role of religion in public schools has long been a topic of debate. As many public schools begin their fall semesters, learn more about the opinions of average Americans on the place of religion within the classroom.

Over the next several months, we will phase out some popular OSF features. These changes do not affect current public content, which remains safe and accessible. We have prepared support material to help users adapt. I am very sorry for the disruption to your work. Please read this post for details.