Conrad Hackett

Is there any truth in the Christian revival? There has been a lot of speculation about a 'quiet revival' of Christianity happening amongst the younger generations – including on this podcast. Much of this traces back to a survey conducted by…

On Holy Smoke: There has been a lot of speculation about a ‘quiet revival’ of Christianity happening amongst the younger generations – including on this podcast. Much of this traces back to a survey conducted by the Bible Society last year.

spectator.com/podcast/is-t...

To encourage reuse of our data, Pew Research Center, with support from the John Templeton Foundation, invites researchers to submit proposals for new research publications that use one or more of the following datasets (collectively, Datasets) from the Global Religious Futures (GRF) project: Global Restrictions on Religion 2007-2022 dataset. This cumulative dataset includes measures of government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion in nearly 200 countries and territories. Spring 2024 Survey. This dataset includes measures of religion and spirituality in 35 countries. (Comparable data was also collected in 2023 and 2024 for the United States. The downloadable materials which accompany the international dataset include additional information about U.S. data.) Dataset of Global Religious Composition Estimates for 2010 and 2020. This dataset includes estimates of the size of seven major religious groups in more than 200 countries and territories. We encourag

Please share: 2 weeks remain to submit a proposal for $3k for writing a paper using recent Pew-Templeton global datasets. We will support 19 projects. Submit by Monday, March 2.
https://www.pewresearch.org/2026/01/16/seeking-research-using-recent-pew-templeton-global-religious-futures-datasets/

Bots have made their way to Prolific experiments. Our lab has stopped online testing of adults entirely now for this reason - we want to know if what we study is real. Probably data collected 2-3 years ago are ok, but moving forward we just can't know. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Academic and popular interest in nonreligion has risen in parallel with the growth of religiously unaffiliated populations. In many countries, census and survey questions used to measure religion have been modified to better capture nonreligious identities. Little attention has been given to how these changes in measures affect specific claims about the rise of the “nones.” Although there is no doubt that religiously unaffiliated populations have grown in many countries during the twentyfirst century, the degree of such growth has sometimes been exaggerated due to measurement effects. We review methodological issues that affect the estimates of the size of religiously unaffiliated populations and

How Measurement Changes Can Exaggerate the Growth of Religious "Nones"
free for all to read: https://sociologicalscience.com/download/volume-13/february/SocSci_v13_89to108.pdf

How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 Christians remain the largest religious group, and Muslims grew the fastest from 2010 to 2020. Read how the global share of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated changed, according ...

Please let me know if you have questions not answered in the methodology above.

Here’s our main report about the data www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Methodology This section describes the methods used to estimate religious composition at the country level, regionally and globally; our procedures for measuring

This is a good place to start www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Has there been a Christian revival among young adults in the U.K.? Recent surveys may be misleading Despite the widely recognized decline of Christianity in the U.K., there have been persistent rumblings of a Christian resurgence.

I also discuss the UK data here www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Is there any truth in the Christian revival? Podcast Episode · Holy Smoke · 02/17/2026 · 32m

Is Christianity making a comeback? The data might surprise you. I joined the Holy Smoke podcast to dig into the evidence behind a "Quiet Revival."

Apple podcasts link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Spectator link: spectator.com/podcast/is-t... #quietrevival

Yes, PhD students and those outside the US are encouraged to apply!

My hope is that all parties can assume good intentions and avoid personal attacks. I don't want to "slam" anyone. But yes, I do want to work toward figuring out what the truth is regarding changes in religious landscapes.

32% of US Latinos have recently pondered moving out of the US
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...

Chart showing YouTube stands out for being used by nearly all teens. Roughly nine-in-ten report ever using it. About six-in-ten or more say they use TikTok and Instagram. A somewhat smaller share say they go on Snapchat (55%). Fewer use Facebook (31%) and WhatsApp (24%). And no more than about one-in-five say the same of Reddit or X (formerly Twitter). WhatsApp is one platform that stands out for its growth in recent years. Today, roughly a quarter of teens say they use WhatsApp, up from 17% in 2022. X and Facebook have declined in use over the past decade. Today, 16% of teens use X, down from 23% in 2022 and 33% in 2014-15. And Facebook, once the go-to platform for teens, is used today by about three-in-ten teens. This is far lower than the 71% in 2014-15, though on par with 2022. The shares of teens who use other sites or apps, like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, have stayed relatively stable in recent years.

Where the teens are
YouTube 92%
TikTok 68%
Instagram 63%
Snapchat 55%
Facebook 31% (down from 71%)
WhatsApp 24%
Reddit 17%
X 16% (down from 33%)
www.pewresearch.org/internet/202...

The most religiously diverse countries
1 Singapore
2 Suriname
3 Taiwan
4 S Korea
9 Australia
10 France
11 Canada
12 UK
16 NZ
20 Germany
24 Japan
32 US
34 Nigeria
78 India
83 Brazil
126 China
160 Egypt
201 Yemen
www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Religious Diversity Around the World Singapore is the most religiously diverse country, and Yemen the least, as of 2020. The U.S. ranks first among nations with large populations.

Religious Diversity Around the World
www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Religious Landscape Study (RLS) | Pew Research Center The Religious Landscape Study is a comprehensive survey of more than 35,000 Americans’ religious identities, beliefs and practices that’s been conducted in 2007, 2014 and 2023-24. Pew Research Center.

We share the disappointment that we often can't report results for smaller groups. We make an effort to conduct major surveys of smaller groups when we can & to conduct large surveys in which we can report on smaller groups.
www.pewresearch.org/religious-la...
www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Well, there are still some who argue that the Christian share of the population is growing. As far as I know, Fenggang Yang hasn’t changed his claims about the rapid pace of Christian growth.

Here's how polls work now that no one answers the phone
youtu.be/NY5rBWaPFF0?...

This post explains the challenge of having a large enough sample to reliably report on smaller religious groups www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

It’s been a long time since @pewresearch.org surveys relied on landline phone lines.

Below, I welcomed debate about the Christian revival narrative.

Later, Quiet Revival co-author @robb-s.bsky.social wrote that my comments to @ncronline.bsky.social were misguided, cynical, dubious, and dismissive.

His post wasn't open to comments. I reply here: www.linkedin.com/posts/conrad...

A majority of Americans (57%) express low confidence in journalists to act in the best interests of the public, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis from the Pew-Knight Initiative. This includes 40% who say they have not too much confidence and 17% who say they have none at all. By comparison, 43% of adults say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in journalists.

Who has a great deal of confidence in journalists to act in the best interests of the public?
2% of Republicans
9% of Democrats
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/02/11/majority-of-americans-express-low-confidence-in-journalists-to-act-in-publics-best-interests/

Image shows our article about Christianity in China is the most read among articles published in Socius journal.

"The Growth of Christianity in China May Have Come to an End" is the most popular article in @sociusjournal.bsky.social.
Free to read: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Academic and popular interest in nonreligion has risen in parallel with the growth of religiously unaffiliated populations. In many countries, census and survey questions used to measure religion have been modified to better capture nonreligious identities. Little attention has been given to how these changes in measures affect specific claims about the rise of the “nones.” Although there is no doubt that religiously unaffiliated populations have grown in many countries during the twentyfirst century, the degree of such growth has sometimes been exaggerated due to measurement effects. We review methodological issues that affect the estimates of the size of religiously unaffiliated populations and

How Measurement Changes Can Exaggerate the Growth of Religious "Nones"
free for all to read: https://sociologicalscience.com/download/volume-13/february/SocSci_v13_89to108.pdf

Net favorability, by party

Among Republicans
Trump: +59
Vance: +57
RFK Jr: +54
Rubio: +48
Hegseth: +38

Among Democrats
Trump: -87
Vance: -78
Rubio: -68
Hegseth: -64
RFK Jr: -62

YouTube video by Pew Research Center How do polls work when no one answers the phone anymore?

Here's how polls work now that no one answers the phone
youtu.be/NY5rBWaPFF0?...

How Americans view key members of the Trump administration A 58% majority say they have an unfavorable view of President Donald Trump, and 40% have a favorable view.

Net favorability of how Americans view
Trump: -18
Hegseth: -15
Vance: -14
Rubio: -10
RFK Jr: -4
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

To encourage reuse of our data, Pew Research Center, with support from the John Templeton Foundation, invites researchers to submit proposals for new research publications that use one or more of the following datasets (collectively, Datasets) from the Global Religious Futures (GRF) project: Global Restrictions on Religion 2007-2022 dataset. This cumulative dataset includes measures of government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion in nearly 200 countries and territories. Spring 2024 Survey. This dataset includes measures of religion and spirituality in 35 countries. (Comparable data was also collected in 2023 and 2024 for the United States. The downloadable materials which accompany the international dataset include additional information about U.S. data.) Dataset of Global Religious Composition Estimates for 2010 and 2020. This dataset includes estimates of the size of seven major religious groups in more than 200 countries and territories. We encourag

Please share: 2 weeks remain to submit a proposal for $3k for writing a paper using recent Pew-Templeton global datasets. We will support 19 projects. Submit by Monday, March 2.
https://www.pewresearch.org/2026/01/16/seeking-research-using-recent-pew-templeton-global-religious-futures-datasets/

Bar chart showing that in nearly all countries, a single religious group makes up a majority In 194 countries and territories, 50% or more of the population falls into just one religious category. This includes 43 places where at least 95% of the population belongs to the same religious group; these places are predominantly Muslim (25), Christian (17) or Buddhist (1). While some places around the world have a diverse mix of religious groups, it is more common for national populations to primarily consist of a single religious category. In addition, many countries have a second religious category that accounts for most of the rest of the population. Only 49 countries have three or more religious categories that each make up 5% or more of the population. This includes seven places (Guinea-Bissau, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan and Togo) with at least four religious categories that each make up at least 5% of the population.3 There are seven countries in which no gro

In nearly all countries, a single religious group makes up a majority of the population. In 122 places, one group makes up at least 80% of people.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/02/12/religious-diversity-around-the-world/#in-almost-every-country-a-single-religious-group-forms-a-majority

Really excited to see our article examining trends in public confidence in scientists over the last five decades in print.

Check it out here and let me know your thoughts:

People Around the World Want Political Change, but Many Doubt It Can Happen Majorities in 20 of 25 countries surveyed say their political system needs major changes or complete reform, but many lack confidence this can happen effectively.

Our new poll finds that majorities in 20 of 25 nations say their political system needs major changes or complete reform, but many doubt change can happen. And elected officials get poor reviews for honesty and understanding the needs of ordinary people. pewrsr.ch/3Vipr1T

The Experiences of LGBTQ Americans Today How lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer adults view the impact of Obergefell and social acceptance for LGBTQ people more broadly 10 years after the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex...

Belated congrats to my Pew Research colleagues on publishing this groundbreaking study - one of the first surveys to have a probability-based sample of transgender adults large enough to reliably report their views and experiences. www.pewresearch.org/social-trend...