Was the Constitution inspired by God? Is Oprah a spiritual leader? – Deseret News

This article was first published in theState of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.

Last week, Deseret News and The Marist Poll released their first Faith in America survey, which explored religions evolving role in American life. So far, Ive used the new data to write about some of the reasons why people are less interested in organized religion today than they were in the past and Americans beliefs about wearing religious attire in public.

My teammates have also contributed articles and columns to the ongoing project. Jennifer Graham discussed anxieties surrounding the concept of a post-Christian society and Mya Jaradat explored the enduring popularity of the golden rule.

Despite the quantity (and quality!) of these stories, my colleagues and I have only scratched the surface of whats in the Faith in America survey report. For this weeks newsletter, I wanted to highlight a few other fascinating data points that havent yet made it into a Deseret News story.

Around 1 in 5 U.S. adults (22%) report that their religious beliefs and faith-related activities play a major role in their social network. An additional 28% say religion plays a more minor role.

Republicans (35%) are nearly twice as likely as Democrats (18%) and Independents (18%) to report their religion plays a major role in deciding with whom they spend time, researchers noted.

More than half of U.S. adults (55%) believe the Constitution, as a whole, was inspired by God, according to the Deseret-Marist poll. Similar shares of Americans said the same about the First Amendment (free speech and freedom of religion), 15th Amendment (voting rights for Black men) and 19th Amendment (voting rights for women).

Americans are less confident about divine support for the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. The survey showed that just 37% of U.S. adults say the Second Amendment is inspired by God.

Oprah may be a hugely popular celebrity, but shes not a common source of moral guidance. Just 1 in 10 U.S. adults look to her for tips on how to live a moral life, the Deseret-Marist poll found.

In the legal context, stay refers to a court decision that halts a legal proceeding. In most cases, stays are only temporary; they expire once various details are worked out.

Stays often come up in death penalty cases, since those typically involve many requests for delay. A court might stay an execution to give parties involved the time needed to address lingering questions.

Last week, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay in an ongoing battle over the Navys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The decision will allow Navy officials to temporarily refuse to deploy unvaccinated service members. Previously, district and appeals court judges had ruled that the Navy could not take any adverse action against people with religious concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines.

My friend Daniel Silliman recently completed a once-in-a-career assignment: investigating instances of sexual harassment within his own organization. He wrote about allegations against two former Christianity Today leaders and how the organization spent years protecting those men instead of the people concerned about their behavior. Slate recently spoke with Silliman about covering abuse at CT and elsewhere.

This years St. Peters Peacocks may be out of the March Madness basketball tournament, but theyll live on in my heart. If the same is true for you, check out Religion Unpluggeds look at the scrappy, Roman Catholic school.

I really enjoyed The New York Times look at the story behind one of the most shared photos from Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation hearings.

The Deseret News recently published an interesting look at the land on which the Washington D.C. temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was built.

If you have room in your heart and brain for more survey data, check out this new report from the Survey Center on American Life on Gen Z and the future of faith.

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Was the Constitution inspired by God? Is Oprah a spiritual leader? - Deseret News