Journal of Religion and Society

Religious differences in socioeconomic status (SES) are crucial for understanding inequality and the religious landscape in the United States. This paper updates the state of the field on SES rankings by examining income and wealth disparities across seven major religious groups: white Catholics, Latino Catholics, white mainline Protestants (MPs), white conservative Protestants (CPs), religious nones, Black mainline Protestants, and Black conservative Protestants. Findings reveal that: (1) white Catholics have SES parity with white MPs, with some indications that white Catholics could surpass white MPs on key income and wealth measures; (2) white Catholics have significantly higher income and wealth than Latino Catholics, underscoring SES disparities among Catholics; (3) white CPs have higher SES than in the past, surpassing Latino Catholic SES; (4) white religious nones and white Catholics have comparable SES; and (5) Black Protestants have significantly lower income and wealth than other religious groups. This study offers a comprehensive, contemporary view of how religion intersects with economic status, providing insights into how religious identity and SES are associated.

This paper explores the complex relationship between sex work and Christianity, focusing on how sex workers in Harare, Zimbabwe, navigate their identities amidst societal and religious stigmatization. Through interviews with Christian sex workers, we examined how these individuals reconcile their profession with their faith, by mobilizing religious beliefs to create a sense of harmony in their lives. The study introduces the concept of “harmony” as a theoretical framework to understand how sex workers manage identity conflicts and balance their religious and professional selves. It highlights that participants exercise agency by adapting to societal pressures, either through compartmentalization of their identities or by constructing personal religious narratives that affirm their faith. The findings underscore the resilience of sex workers and their ability to find spiritual solace while facing both internal and external challenges. The study contributes to discussions on identity, religion, and marginalized groups.

Chaplains who serve in elite sports settings frequently enjoy significant levels of organizational access. Indeed, in comparison to others within this context, the accountability structures surrounding sports chaplains are often relatively ambiguous. Drawing on a small-scale, qualitative study of chaplaincy within the US National Football League (NFL) and the English Premier League (EPL), this paper reveals the kinds of accountability mechanisms in place for a cohort of sports chaplains and the inconsistencies which they experienced in this area of their work. Findings illustrate the level of ambiguity which routinely accompanied respondents’ roles, and the freedoms which this afforded them. The paper concludes by suggesting that if sports chaplaincy is to achieve its potential in terms of the level of spiritual and pastoral care on offer, elite sports organizations and governing bodies should evaluate the work of their chaplains in a more formal and consistent manner.

Recently released clarifications on LGTBQ policies by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leadership is disappointing news for advocates within the Church whose hoped-for changes in Church teachings regarding LGBTQ initiatives have now been thwarted. The result is a setting of irreconcilability for those who want change for LGBTQ advocacy in comparison to stances by Church leaders. Leading the movement for change, key Latter-day Saint celebrity influencers provide assertive public discourse for hoped changes in Church policies and teachings. Utilizing fantasy theme analysis, this study examines the LGTBQ-centered subculture by some Church members in the Gather group and its associated influencers. Fantasy theme rhetorics that contradict the Church’s official teachings are driving an alternative form of the faith at the Gather conferences and through social media. This subculture within the faith suggests a potential rhetorical vision of organizational rupture where an alternative version of the Church could be established.

This article critically analyzes Aziz Al-Azmeh’s concept of Islams, while arguing for a context-based analysis of the meeting between religious identity and modernity. It provides a loose framework for analyzing encounters between Islams and modernity in the cases of Cyprus and Turkey. Despite their close cultural and political connections at the rise of modernity, these two cases diverge, showcasing a high degree of public and private secularism in Cyprus and a contested public secularism and significant private religious identification in Turkey.

The Second Coming of Jesus is a central Christian belief. Unlike prior studies that relied on conceptual, qualitative, or survey-based approaches, this study uses Google Trends data from 2004–2022 in the U.S. to examine Americans’ interest in the Second Coming. By constructing time-series variables, the study uncovers key insights. Public interest has generally declined, with a modest resurgence since 2019, consistent with earlier survey findings. Perceptions of signs of the Second Coming shifted over time: from 2017–2019, only Middle East events and the 2017 eclipse were seen positively as signs; from 2020–2022, war, famine, gospel preaching, and Middle East events were regarded as signs, while Trump-related false prophecies and eclipse overreach reduced interest. Christian persecution remained insignificant. This analysis offers novel empirical evidence on American Christian perspectives, contributing uniquely to understanding public perceptions of the Second Coming and advancing the literature on contemporary U.S. Christianity.

Afterlife belief is fundamental to religion, yet research has largely overlooked non-Christian perspectives, especially in terms of internal variety of belief. Judaism, for example, encompasses diverse afterlife beliefs across denominations that warrant attention. Survey data (N=1194) from self-identified U.S. Jews, collected in three waves, allows examination of beliefs from Jewish tradition on a 4-point Likert scale. Analysis involved chi-square tests of independence with Monte Carlo simulation for p-values, a non-parametric ANOVA equivalent, post-hoc comparisons, and t-tests to examine demographic differences. Findings from this sample reveal significant denominational differences, with expected high afterlife belief among Orthodox Jews and surprising variability among other groups. These insights suggest that assumptions about Jewish afterlife beliefs in America warrant further examination. This understanding aids professionals, such as healthcare providers, in addressing the full spectrum of Jewish beliefs. While not representative of the entire U.S. Jewish population, this study offers exploratory findings that may serve as a foundation for future, more comprehensive research on this topic.