New Digital Archive of Jan. 6 Insurrection, ‘Uncivil Religion,’ Debuts

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Religion Editor Frank E. Lockwood reports on the launch of UncivilReligion.org, a digital repository about the role of religion in the U.S. Capitol insurrection. The project, a joint effort of the University of Alabama and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, examines and memorializes the religious imagery, identities, and rhetoric embodied within the attack on January 6, 2021. Alabama Associate Professor Michael J. Altman, one of the directors of the project, said: “This event was very much religious. Religion was everywhere.” PRRI founder and CEO Robert P. Jones described the archive as “a vitally important project for documenting and recording” the insurrection. “This will be, I think forever, understood as one of the darkest days in American democracy. Keeping the documentary evidence in front of us is hugely important, not only for the moment we’re in… but for future generations.”

Members of Generation Z Believe There Is a Lack of Support for LGBTQ+ Rights Among Faith Groups

Josh Packard for Religious News Service outlines the opinions of Generation Z, who are commonly ardent activists, as they relate to religion’s acceptance of the LGBTQ community. In Springtide’s study, The State of Religion & Young People 2021, over 75% of young people identify as religious or spiritual but are not turning to faith communities during stressful moments in life. In a question that asked what the participant cares about compared to religious groups, the largest discrepancy was on LGBTQ rights, with a 27% difference. Packard observes those in Generation Z are becoming young adults at a time when our country is changing the way it regards LGBTQ rights, with a growing percentage of the U.S. population identifying as LGBTQ. Packard cites PRRI data that found solid majorities of all major religious groups in the United States support laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. The latest data from PRRI on LGBTQ rights found that majorities of every racial and ethnic group favor nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, with support for protections across every subgroup of Americans. Although hundreds of faith groups and their leaders joined half of Americans in supporting the Equality Act, the article cites several members of Generation Z who feel that outreach from religious leaders is forced or insincere. Springtide’s research shows “that religious leaders have a long way to go…to make LGBTQ people feel welcome.”

Robert P. Jones: Reflections on Blending Memoir and Data

In his latest #WhiteTooLong Substack post, PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones writes on the theme of reflection at the start of a new year. He recounts a conversation last year with Jenny Skoog, co-host of the Ink Slingers podcast, about deep reflection and the process of personal writing, discussing his motivation to write “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.” He notes: “Part of it was about telling a truer history–white Christians weren’t just on the sidelines, but were really in the center and some of the key activists in these movements that provided moral cover for white supremacy.” Jones cited PRRI research on whether America has changed. One of the biggest predictors in who would vote for Trump in the 2016 election, he said, was if the voter believed American culture had changed for better or for the worse since the 1950s. He noted that no other groups thought America had changed for the worse more than white Christians. “The angst about the changing demographics of the country with white Christians slipping from being the majority was part of the big dynamic that Trump tapped into.” You may directly access the podcast episode via SoundCloud here. Sign up for the #WhiteTooLong Substack here.