For Mormon Missionaries, Some ‘Big, Big Changes’

At The New York Times, Lauren Jackson writes that the Church of Latter-day Saints is modernizing missionary service, making room for missionaries to engage in weekly communication with family and friends and to evangelize on social media alongside traditional practices, a change from the conventional service practices which involved restricted communication and door-to-door preaching as a main form of engagement. The shift has led to an increase in missionary sign-ups. PRRI research finds that as of 2023, the rates of religious churning for Latter-day Saints resulted in zero net gains or losses in terms of their representation in the overall U.S. religious landscape.

Many People of Faith Support Access to Abortion

Carl Smith at Governing reports that PRRI’s latest research shows that majorities of most faith groups support the legality of abortion in all or most cases. Furthermore, the three religious groups where a majority believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases are relatively small portions of the country’s population: 14% of Americans are white evangelical Protestants, roughly 2% of Americans are Latter-day Saints, and around 1% are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Smith writes that Idaho, which enacted one of the nation’s strictest bans on abortion, has become a national flashpoint on this issue. PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., said, “I do question whether there’s long-term sustainability for some of these very extreme policies… Because there’s no support for those policies in those states.”

Key Underground Railroad to Mexico Site Closer to Historic Recognition

Russell Contreras at Axios reports that the U.S. National Park Service has officially included the Jackson Ranch Church and Martin Jackson Cemetery, located in San Juan, Texas as part of its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Historians believe between 4,000 to 10,000 enslaved Black people migrated south, and Contreras writes that there has been limited recognition of these sites until now. Meanwhile, in Virginia, the Shenandoah County School Board voted to restore the names of two schools previously named for Confederate leaders, despite the urging of most community members in attendance at the meeting. PRRI findsthat almost all Americans (90%) say they support efforts to tell the truth about the history of slavery, violence, and discrimination in their communities as well as efforts “to promote racial healing by creating more inclusive public spaces” (81%).

Family Religious Dynamics and Interfaith Relationships

A new PRRI Spotlight Analysisexplores the role religion plays in family life, the prevalence of interfaith and interreligious households, and the extent to which parents believe their children will maintain their faith affiliations as adults. While around four in ten Americans (41%) agree with the statement “Religious practices are an important part of my family’s home life each week,” Republicans (54%) are significantly more likely to say religious practices are an important part of their family’s life than independents (37%) or Democrats (34%). PRRI data finds that married or partnered non-Christian Americans (27%) are more likely to be in a relationship with someone who has a different religious affiliation than themselves compared with unaffiliated Americans (22%), white Catholics (22%), Hispanic Catholics (19%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (18%), Black Protestants (10%), and white evangelical Protestants (7%).