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This poll, the last of two fielded February 2013, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on a range of political and social issues. Respondents were asked for their opinions on the Catholic Church, as well as a variety of questions regarding the pope, and the selection of the new pope. More specifically, respondents were asked whether the Catholic Church is "in touch", for their opinions on women becoming priests, priests getting married, and birth control, abortion, and sex abuse in the Church. Respondents were also asked about religious freedom in the United States, health care policies in relation to religious freedom, the Vatican's investigation of nuns in the United States, their personal monetary contributions to the Church, and church attendance. Additional topics included illegal immigration, the death penalty, and same-sex marriage. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, marital status, education, household income, type of residential area (e.g. urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, religious preferences, and whether respondents thought of themselves as born again Christians.

This data collection contains county-level information on churches and church membership by denomination in Michigan for 1950 and 1960. Information is given on the names of the county, presbytery, and church. Other variables provide information on the number of churches and church members for each denomination. Additional variables give the number and percentage of the state population who were 14 years and older in each county in 1950 and in 1960, the percentage of this age group who attended churches in 1950 and in 1960, and the percentage of the change in membership in each denomination between 1950 and 1960.

The National Congregations Study (NCS) is a national survey effort to gather information about America's congregations. The first wave of the NCS took place in 1998, and the study was repeated in 2006-07, 2012, and 2018-19. The NCS tracks continuity and change among American congregations, and each NCS wave also explores new subjects. With information from 5,333 congregations collected over a span of more than 20 years, the NCS helps us better understand many aspects of congregational life in the United States, and how congregations are changing in the 21st century. The NCS contributes to knowledge about American religion by collecting information about a wide range of congregations' characteristics and activities at different points in time. In all four waves, the NCS was conducted in conjunction with the General Social Survey (GSS). The 1998, 2006, 2012, and 2018 waves of the GSS asked respondents who attend religious services to name their congregation, thus generating a nationally representative sample of religious congregations. Researchers then located these congregations. In 2006, the sample included re-interviews of a subset of congregations that participated in 1998, and in 2018-19, the sample included re-interviews of a subset of congregations that participated in 2012. A key informant at each congregation - a minister, priest, rabbi, or other staff person or leader - provided each congregation's information via a one-hour interview conducted either over the phone or in-person. The survey gathered information on many topics, including the congregation's leadership, social composition, structure, activities, and programming. The NCS gathers information about worship, programs, staffing, community activities, demographics, funding, and many other characteristics of American congregations. Respondents of the NCS survey were asked to describe the worship service and programs sponsored by the congregation other than the main worship services, including religious education classes, musical groups, and recreational programs. Informants described the type of building in which the congregation met, whether it belonged to the congregation, and whether visitors came just to view the building's architecture or artwork. Congregations were geocoded, and selected census variables are included in the public data file.

The National Congregations Study (NCS) surveys a representative sample of America's churches, synagogues, mosques, and other local places of worship. Users can download and analyze the NCS survey data online on the study website. The NCS is based on in-depth interviews with congregational leaders and gathers information about worship, programs, staffing, community activities, demographics, funding, and many other characteristics of American congregations. Respondents of the NCS survey were asked to describe the worship service and programs sponsored by the congregation other than the main worship services, including religious education classes, musical groups, and recreational programs. Informants described the type of building in which the congregation met, whether it belonged to the congregation, and whether visitors came just to view the building's architecture or artwork.

This study assessed the effects of male inmate religiosity on post-release community adjustment and investigated the circumstances under which these effects were most likely to take place. The researcher carried out this study by adding Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history information to an existing database (Clear et al.) that studied the relationship between an inmate's religiousness and his adjustment to the correctional setting. Four types of information were used in this study. The first three types were obtained by the original research team and included an inmate values and religiousness instrument, a pre-release questionnaire, and a three-month post-release follow-up phone survey. The fourth type of information, official criminal history reports, was later added to the original dataset by the principal investigator for this study. The prisoner values survey collected information on what the respondent would do if a friend sold drugs from the cell or if inmates of his race attacked others. Respondents were also asked if they thought God was revealed in the scriptures, if they shared their faith with others, and if they took active part in religious services. Information collected from the pre-release questionnaire included whether the respondent attended group therapy, religious groups with whom he would live, types of treatment programs he would participate in after prison, employment plans, how often he would go to church, whether he would be angry more in prison or in the free world, and whether he would be more afraid of being attacked in prison or in the free world. Each inmate also described his criminal history and indicated whether he thought he was able to do things as well as most others, whether he was satisfied with himself on the whole or felt that he was a failure, whether religion was talked about in the home, how often he attended religious services, whether he had friends who were religious while growing up, whether he had friends who were religious while in prison, and how often he participated in religious inmate counseling, religious services, in-prison religious seminars, and community service projects. The three-month post-release follow-up phone survey collected information on whether the respondent was involved with a church group, if the respondent was working for pay, if the respondent and his household received public assistance, if he attended religious services since his release, with whom the respondent was living, and types of treatment programs attended. Official post-release criminal records include information on the offenses the respondent was arrested and incarcerated for, prior arrests and incarcerations, rearrests, outcomes of offenses of rearrests, follow-up period to first rearrest, prison adjustment indicator, self-esteem indicator, time served, and measurements of the respondent's level of religious belief and personal identity. Demographic variables include respondent's faith, race, marital status, education, age at first arrest and incarceration, and age at incarceration for rearrest.

We conducted four studies testing whether residential mobility can explain why some regions have more low-commitment social groups, such as megachurches.