items of interest

with contributions from Amanda Bower, David M. Young

"In For Goodness' Sake, sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Public Agenda [an online publication] set out to better understand what Americans think about religion, its role in the United States today, and how it intersects with public life.

"One message arrived loud and clear: Americans strongly equate religion with personal ethics and behavior, considering it an antidote to the moral decline they perceive in our nation today. Crime, greed, uncaring parents, materialism—Americans believe that all these problems would be mitigated if people were more religious. And to most citizens, it doesn't matter which religion is involved.

"However, alongside this conviction is an equally strong respect for religious diversity that translates into a strong tolerance of other people's beliefs. Americans seem to expect that they will encounter people of different faiths in their daily lives, and have absorbed the idea of respect into their social conduct."

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