Death of Religion?, The

The common media and scholarly story—especially with the rise of people who don’t identify with any religion—suggests that religion in America is in serious decline. In Death of Religion?: Nones, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith, Byron R. Johnson and Tommy Kidd strongly challenge this view.  

In this work, they argue that the idea of religion’s decline has been greatly exaggerated and that survey data can often be misleading or incomplete. Their approach is to show that faith is actually healthier and more active than many believe, and that it continues to play a vital role in a thriving society. To support this claim, Johnson and Kidd use recent data from the Global Flourishing Study. This research provides valuable insights into patterns of religious commitment both nationally and worldwide, helping readers understand that faith remains an important factor in human well-being and societal flourishing.  

Byron R. Johnson (PhD, Florida State University) is the founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion and distinguished professor of the social sciences at Baylor University. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Human Flourishing program at Harvard University, a senior research fellow at Gallup, and visiting distinguished professor for the scientific study of religion at Pepperdine University.   

Thomas S. Kidd (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is research professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is affiliated with Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion.