Finding Faith Today

Welcome to the Finding Faith Today Project

How do persons come to faith in our time? How do they adopt a religious faith as their own? Or does the faith adopt them?! Is it a journey? Or is it more like a sudden conversion? Are friends and relatives most important to the process? Do clergy matter? Are books, television, or films significant factors? What sorts of values, practices, and lifestyles tend to change for those who newly come to faith? What, if any, are the substantial differences in how one comes to faith among Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and persons of other religious traditions?

The Finding Faith Today Project is a nationwide research project that attempts to answer these and other questions by surveying and interviewing adults aged 18 and over who, since January 1, 2011, have made a new declaration of faith or otherwise signaled that they have adopted a religious faith as their own (or “converted,” or “become a member,” depending on the appropriate language), even if that happens to be a “return” to faith from an earlier commitment in their lives. An initial study was conducted on Christian populations in the United Kingdom over twenty years ago by Bishop John Finney, but surprisingly little research has been done since then. Finding Faith Today is an expansion and follow-up of that study and it also has a comparative interfaith component that will look at those who become.