1) The Trinity Forum released a report, "Christianity, Pluralism, and Public Life in the United States," authored by Michael Wear and Amy Black.
We share this report with several audiences in mind. First, we hope to equip Christian leaders, institutions, and church communities with ideas and practices for living out their faith in a pluralistic context in a way that is faithful to their tradition and oriented toward the good of the community and nation in which they live.
Second, we hope this report will spark a renewed imagination among leaders in secular institutions—government, secular philanthropy, news and other media, business, cultural institutions, and more—for the positive contribution Christianity has made and can make in American public life, even in a pluralistic society
Third, and finally, we hope this report will provoke conversations and activity at the local level, where people live out their lives and interact with diverse groups.
Download the full report here.
2) Prison Fellowship released a survey, conducted by Barna, on "Christian Perceptions on Incarceration & Justice Reform." Lots of interesting findings here. One that I pointed out on Twitter is that most US adults wrongly believe that the crime rate has increased over the past 25 years. But the most wrong, by far, are practicing evangelicals, 21 points higher. (See table below.) PF Senior VP Craig DeRoche noted, "We have work to do..."
3) Evangelicals who live in conservative states watch the most porn.
4) How will Christian political scientists vote in 2020?
36 percent say they will be voting for the Democratic nominee, while 18 percent say they might vote for the Democratic nominee depending on who it is. By contrast, just 26 percent say they will certainly be voting for Donald Trump, 13 percent said they would be voting for another candidate, and six percent said they would not be voting.
Read the rest here.
5) Related, and also at the Religion in Public blog, there is an education divide among evangelicals on support for Trump.
6) Speaking of Trump and evangelicals, Karen Swallow Prior in Christianity Today:
When the Israelites elected to worship Baal, they didn’t do so with evil intent. On the contrary, they bargained that Baal would save lives because Baal was believed to have the power to bring about prosperity and fertility. Fealty to Baal was, a kind of backup plan in case God didn’t work quickly or satisfactorily enough. The Israelites thought they could have their Baal and their Yahweh, too, so to speak.
Read the rest here.
7) Supreme Court to decide whether states can stop conservative religious groups from providing adoption services.
8) Event: 2020 Politics and the Evangelical Conscience, Eastern University, April 16, 7-9 pm.
9) Job Posting: National Immigration Forum is looking for a Vice President of Communications.
