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Oxford University Press 1996. Quotes from this book across my web sites are from original paperback edition of the same year.
"Religion in the Modern World" is a comprehensive look at most areas of religion in the West since the 16th century. It looks at large scale organized religion, denominations, sects, cults and the new age and gives a comprehensive sociological breakdown.
p3
Reformation led to fundamentalism
p22
Fundamentalism causes schism
p32
Numbers of baptisms taking place in the Church of England has declined from a peak of 71% in 1927 to 27% in 1993
p41
Charities are frequently secular, even those directly ran by Churches!
p41
Faith-schools are better due to the selection process, and the staff are generally secular anyway! The actual faith-factor is irrelevant to quality of teaching
p46
Multiculturalism leads to doubt & extreme believers & fundamentalism:
p56-58
Responses to those who claim there is no decline in interest in religious beliefs.
p88
"A large number of studies agree that the growth of conservative Protestantism owes little to the recruitment of people who were previously atheists or even liberal Christians. The real difference lies in the retention of children. [...] A survey [...] showed that 72 percent of those who joined in a four-year period were moving from other evangelical churches. Only 28 percent were 'converts' and almost three-quarters of these were the children of evangelists. This suggests that the explanation for the different fate of the denominational and sectarian versions of Protestantism has more to do with the ability to retain children rather than attractiveness to outsiders"
p130-131
Public tend to exaggerate the number of times they attend religious events, the actual attendance is generally half of the level of self-disclosure.
p163
Trend: Fundie groups become more liberal over time.
p165
Causes/uniqueness of USA religion is ethnic identity and multiculturalism: