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Religion trends are full of puzzles. Why are some Catholic churches growing? Why are others in rapid decline?

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On the surface, religious statistics look kind of static, but dig a bit deeper!​


It’s a question that I hear several times a year: If Protestants join Eastern Orthodox parishes, did they “convert” to Orthodoxy? To state the matter another way, did they “change religions”?

That question is at the heart of a new Pew Research poll that we discussed during this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, along with yet another recent Pew poll that led to this New York Times headline: “Christianity’s Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted, Major Study Shows.”

While we were recording this week, I told Lutheran Public Radio listeners that I was well aware that much of the information I was sharing was complex if not downright confusing. That was kind of the point. When it comes to statistical trends in religion, we live in a confusing age.

Let’s go back to the “conversion” issue. In the online version of the latest blast of numbers from Pew — “Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions” — the researchers explained:

Continued below.