Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Pew Pentecostals Prosperity

I'm a fan of the Pew Center for the People and the Press. They do a lot of interesting national and cross national surveys on all kinds of topics. Two of them recently caught my attention.

The first looks at the values, habits and worldviews of young adults (ages 18-25) in comparison to other generations and other points in time. A couple of findings jumped out at me:

pew1

I'm not certain what to make of the large numbers who want to be famous--maybe it's just that those over 25 realize that they're too old to rise to stardom.

pew2

This one confirms a suspicion I have had. Next Gen students are text messaging like crazy, but using email less than their older counterparts. I admit to finding this a bit worrisome since I have argued before that email is a central part of professional communication and lack of use by students may hinder their connections and communication with those beyond their peers. Students, maybe you have thoughts on this or want to set me straight; if so, please comment below.

On a completely different topic, the Pew Center has a good report on pentecostalism and charismatic movements in the Americas, Africa and Asia. They conclude, as others have elsewhere, that this charismatic revival will profoundly shape religious and political life around the world in the coming years. Read the report here.