Events

July 26, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Understanding 'Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism' as the De Facto Faith of American Teenagers." Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO.

July 24, 2010 — Christian Smith, "What Teenage-Era Factors Shape the Religious Lives of 18-23 Year Olds?" Association of Christian Schools International Leadership Academy 2010 Keynote Speaker, Colorado Springs, CO.

July 23, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Understanding 'Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism' as the De Facto Faith of American Teenagers." Association of Christian Schools International Leadership Academy 2010 Keynote Speaker, Colorado Springs, CO.

July 23, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults." Association of Christian Schools International Leadership Academy 2010 Keynote Speaker, Colorado Springs, CO.

July 22, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Soul Searching: Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers." Association of Christian Schools International Leadership Academy 2010 Keynote Speaker, Colorado Springs, CO.

May 3, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults." St. Theresa’s Church, Briarcliff Manor, NY.

April 13, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults." Furman University, Greenville, SC.

April 7, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults." Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA.

March 23, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Getting a Life: The Emerging Adult and the Culture of Extended Adolescences." Worldview Forum, Malone University, OH.

February 19-20, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Soul Searching: Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers--Findings from the NSYR," and "Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults." Renew 2010, Westminster PCA Church, Suffolk, VA.

January 23, 2010 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults." Reformed Institute of Metro Washington, Washington, DC.

November 21, 2009 — Christian Smith, "Understanding the Cultural, Religious, and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (18-23 Year Olds)" Saturday Scholars Series, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN.

November 12, 2009 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: Understanding the Cultural, Religious, and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (18-23 Year Olds)" Indiana Wesleyan University.

October 29, 2009 — Christian Smith,"Souls in Transition: Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults Today," Heritage Foundation, DC.

October 23-25, 2009 — NSYR Team members, including Chris Smith, convene multiple sessions at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Denver, CO.

October 23-25, 2009 — Lisa Pearce, Melinda Lundquist-Denton, and Gretchen Gooding, "Religion and What Young Adults Hope to Accomplish Before Marrying" annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Denver, CO.

October 8-9, 2009 — Christian Smith, "Souls in Transition: Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults Today," Calvin College.

October 6, 2009 — Christian Smith, gave a web seminar for Christianity Today International, "Lost in Transition: The Religious Lives of Emerging Adults, An Interview with Christian Smith" Over 450 people signed on to listen.

September 20, 2009 — Christian Smith, "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults Today," Sunnyside Presbyterian SS Talk, South Bend, IN.

September 16, 2009 — Lisa Pearce, "Meaningful Mosaics: Types and Dynamics of Religiosity in Adolescence." UNC Dept of Sociology's Colloquium Series, Chapel Hill, NC.

June 4, 2009 — Christian Smith, presents at the Second Annual Meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, Durham, NC.

November 14, 2008 — Christian Smith, presented at the Presbyterian Church of America Conference on Christian education, Atlanta, GA.

April 28, 2008 — Christian Smith, "Understanding the Religious Lives of American Teenagers" Middle School Youth Leader's Summit, Oak Brook, IL.

April 20 & 27, 2008 — Christian Smith, "Understanding the Religious Lives of American Teenagers" Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, Adult Education, South Bend, IN.

March 5, 2008 — Christian Smith, Public Showing of "Soul Searching: A Movie about Teens and God" with audience Q&A, Azusa Pacific College, Azusa, CA.

March 5, 2008 — Christian Smith, Public Showing of "Soul Searching: A Movie about Teens and God" with audience Q&A, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.

February 7, 2008 — Christian Smith, "Understanding the Religious Lives of American Teenagers" the Marjorie Pay Hinckeley Lecture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

May 23-25, 2007 — Christian Smith, NSYR data use workshop, "Young Scholars in the Sociology of Religion (YSSR)." This 3-day conference brought together 30 of the most promising young scholars in the sociology of religion from around the country to discuss their work and the larger intellectual issues and directions in the field.

May 7, 2007 — Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" presented at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Briarcliff Manor, NY.

April 18, 2007 — Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, "Soul Searching: A Movie About Teenagers and God", presented at the Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Free but ticketed event and open to the public, 7:00-9:00pm.

February 8, 2007 — Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" presented at Trinity School, Durham, NC, 7:00-9:00pm.

December 7, 2006 — Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, "God, Religion, Whatever: On Moralistic Therapeutic Deism?" from Soul Searching, presented at the Notre Dame Interdisciplinary Workshop on American Religion (IWAR), Decio, Room 131, 12:00-1:00pm.

November 2, 2006 — Chris Smith speaks at Fordham Center on Religion and Culture's Headline Forum: "Catholic Teenagers: Faith at Risk?" Fordham University, New York, NY. Free and Open to the Public. See: www.fordham.edu/ReligCulture for more information.

May 24, 2006 — Chris Smith spoke to faculty and students on "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: the New De Facto American Religion?" at the University of Exeter (UK).

May 15, 2006 — Chris Smith spoke to faculty and students on "The Religious and Spiritual Lives of U.S. Teenagers: Research Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion" at the University of Exeter (UK).

April 3-4, 2006 — Chris Smith delivered the plenary lecture on: "Understanding the Religious Lives of U.S. Teenagers — on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism — Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion" to the British Sociological Association's Religion Study Group, University of Manchester (UK).

March 6, 2006 — Chris Smith gave a public lecture on: "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Youth: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)" at Messiah College, Grantham, PA.

March 6, 2006 — Chris Smith gave a faculty forum talk on: "Understanding the Religious & Spiritual Lives of American Youth: On Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism — Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)" at Messiah College, Grantham, PA.

February 28, 2006 — Chris Smith spoke with campus ministers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on "Understanding the Religious Lives of American Teenagers."

February 22, 2006 — Chris Smith gave a talk on: "Understanding the Religious Lives of American Youth — Findings from the NSYR" to leaders in Free Methodist Church educators, Phoenix, AZ.

December 2, 2005 — Chris Smith gave a public lecture on: "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Youth: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)" at Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.

November 17, 2005 — Chris Smith led a day-long youth ministry symposium on: "Soul Searching: Findings from the National Study of Youth & Religion (NSYR)" at Gordon College, Wenham, MA.

October 19, 2005 — Chris Smith and Melinda Denton were featured speakers at Seattle Pacific University's 2005 Day of Common Learning and Church Leaders Forum, "The Faith of the Next Generation" in Seattle, Washington.

September 23, 2005 — Chris Smith gave a plenary lecture on: "The Faith Lives of Contemporary American Teenagers: Findings from the National Study of Youth & Religion (NSYR)" to the Association of Mennonite Educators in Chevy Chase, MD.

September 9, 2005 — Chris Smith discussed NSYR findings at the Blue Ridge "Listening" on religion in higher education, sponsored by the Teagle Foundation, Little Switzerland, NC.

June 6, 2005 — Chris Smith featured on a 45 minute radio interview with WFIL, Philadelphia, PA.

May 19, 2005 — Chris Smith, John Bartkowski, and Steve Vaisey present on NSYR findings at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

March 17, 2005 — Chris Smith was a guest on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation radio program. Topic was "Teens and Religion".

March 1, 2005 — Chris Smith interviewed on Barry Lynn's Culture Shocks, a nationally- broadcast radio show.

February 28, 2005 — presentation on "Religion and Spirituality of American Teenagers" for the UNC General Alumni Association.

February 15-16, 2005 — presentation at Princeton Theological Seminary's Faithful Proctices Empirical Researchers Consultation in Princeton, NJ.

January 27-28, 2005 — Chris Smith presented a workshop on NSYR findings at the Lilly Endowment's Fund for Theological Education 2005 Forum in Indianapolis, IN.

Jan 5-8, 2005 — Chris Smith lectured on Youth, Church and Culture for the Princeton Theological Seminary's Institute for Youth Ministry's Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry, St. Simons Island, Ga. See www.ptsem.edu/iym/ for more information.

Dec 2-5, 2004 — Christian Smith spoke at the 2004 National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry, held in the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Smith's workshop, "Understanding the Lives of American Teenagers," provided a summary overview of many of the findings of his book, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.

Oct 22-24, 2004 — NSYR Team members including Chris Smith, Phil Schwadel, Melinda Denton, Sondra Smolek, Dan Dehanas, Tim Cupery, Youn Ok Lee, Richard Flory, David Sikkink, Darci Powell, John Bartkowski, Mark Regnerus, Lisa Pearce and Kimberly Manturuk convened four sessions at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Kansas City, MO. See las.alfred.edu/~soc/SSSR/ for more information.

Oct 10-11, 2004 — Christian Smith was a featured speaker at "Faith, Fear and Indifference: Constructing Religious Identity in the Next Generation" at the Davidson Conference Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. This conference is jointly sponsored by The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation, Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion, and UCS Center for Religion and Civic Culture, College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, and Office of Religious Life. For more information, see www.ifacs.com/ffi/savethedate.

August 14-17, 2004 — Phil Schwadel presented "Jewish Teens' Syncretism and Exposure to Jewish Life" at the 99th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, Calif.

March 25-27, 2004 — Chris Smith, Melinda Denton and Roxann Miller led two 90 minute workshops at the Religion Communicators Council 2004 Convention in Birmingham, Ala., on "Exploring the Religious and Spiritual Lives of U.S. Teenagers: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion." See www.religioncommunicators.org/convention.html for more information.

Feb 25-26, 2004 — Chris Smith spoke at the Group Publishing Youth Ministry Summit, Loveland Colo.

Feb 15 and 22, 2004 — Chris Smith gave a 2-part talk entitled "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Adolescents" at Church of the Holy Family, Episcopal, Chapel Hill, N.C.

February 13-14, 2004 — Melinda Denton led an educational session for persons working in youth in the United Methodist Church, Southeast Jurisdiction. Event was held in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

October 24, 2003 — Members of the team participated in "The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR): A Report on Research Methods and Preliminary Findings," and "Issues in Qualitative Research Design and Methodology For Studies of Youth Religion and Spirituality" at the 2003 Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), Norfolk, Va.

August 17, 2003 — Chris Smith and Darci Powell gave a presentation at the American Sociological Association, "Religious Autonomy and Individualism Among Contemporary American Adolescents: Findings from the National Survey of Youth and Religion."

July 21, 2003 — Christian Smith presented about the NSYR to the Governing Board of the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministries in West Palm Beach, Fla.

April 24-26, 2003 — Chris Smith, Melinda Denton and Roxann Miller led a 90 minute workshop at Religion Communicators Council 2003 Convention in Indianapolis on "Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of U.S. Teenagers: Initial Findings from The National Study of Youth and Religion" (click on this link and scroll down about halfway to see a photo of Chris Smith). The Religion Communicators Council is an interfaith association of more than 600 religion communicators working in print and electronic communication, marketing and public relations.)

April 1, 2003 — Chris Smith spoke to the Rotary Club of Chapel Hill, NC, on "Religious Influences in the Lives of American Adolescents"

January 24, 2003 — Chris Smith presented the paper "Theorizing Religious Effects Among American Adolescents," at a consultation of "Culture, Morality and the Power of Religion in Social Life" at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.

January 13, 2003 — Chris Smith addressed an audience of 20 at the Shaftesbury Society of the John Locke Foundation on "Religious Influences in the Lives of American Teenagers"

November 5, 2002 — Chris Smith spoke to 80 members of the Chapel Hill Rotary Club on "Religious Influences in the Lives of American Teenagers"

November 2, 2002 — Chris Smith and Melinda Denton presented the NSYR web site in a session on the Internet as a means to communicate scholarly findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Scientific Study of Religion

October 15, 2002 — Chris Smith guest lectured in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at UNC; HBHE 189 (Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors)

August 16, 2002 — Five members of the team participated in a session on "Religion and Adolescent Life Outcomes" at the annual meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion in Chicago.

May 12 and 19, 2002 — Chris Smith led a two-part Adult Education class on "The Faith Lives of American Teenagers" at Holy Family Episcopal Church, Chapel Hill.

As the study progresses, we plan to disseminate our findings through public presentations and conferences. Click here to sign up for email updates alerting you to upcoming seminars and conferences.