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Brian Steensland

@bsteens.bsky.social
119 followers 94 following 9 posts

Sociology professor. Religion, culture, politics.

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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Colleagues and I have argued that digital tech has facilitated religious unbundling. Evidence here points to relevant evidence: undermining religious authority, aligning with individuation, and serving as affordance for à la care religious goods. www.psypost.org/new-study-li...
psypost.org
New study links the spread of the internet to a global decline in religious identity
As internet access spreads across the globe, formal religious affiliation tends to fall. A new study of 81 countries links three decades of digital expansion to a steady decline in traditional religio...
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Reposted by Brian Steensland
Jaime Lee Kucinskas @jlkucinskas.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Excited to see this out! We find spiritual states - like spiritual awareness and states during prayer are tied to less depressive symptoms than rel. traits across models onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Wonderful to work with @evanstewart.bsky.social @jacquifrost.bsky.social and Brad Wright.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Protecting Mental Health Through Spiritual Awareness and Prayer: Insights From Robustness Testing
Prior research finds that different kinds of religious engagement, including beliefs, practices, and affinities, are associated with lower rates of depressive symptoms. As rates of depression in the ...
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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Excited to have this article out in the world. Hopefully our framework helps scholars name and study more of what’s happening in contemporary US religion.
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Reposted by Brian Steensland
Daniel Winchester @bishopofwestsaxons.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
IT'S ALIVE! Brainstorming, discussing, writing, and re-writing this piece on the "unbundling" of American religion with @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, and @bsteens.bsky.social was the most enjoyable part of the process, but it's gratifying to see it officially "out" in ASR.
journals.sagepub.com
Religion Unbundled: Toward a Twenty-First-Century Paradigm for the Sociology of American Religion - Ruth Braunstein, Jaime Kucinskas, Brian Steensland, Daniel Winchester, 2026
Much recent sociological work on religion in the United States is written outside the field’s two established paradigms: secularization theory and the 1990s “re...
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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Our take on how to characterize, and study, what’s happening in US religion right now. Feels almost wrong that writing a paper with these folks was so much fun.
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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
This is a great program, one open to folks in both the social sciences and humanities. The cohorts really do come together as a scholarly and supportive community and the leaders are exceptional.
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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Interesting commonalities w/Western patterns: intergenerational fading, time squeeze, changing family structure, and negative associations w/ religion. Yet non-affiliates still mix and match traditional elements.
pewresearch.org
Buddhism's Recent Decline in East Asia
Buddhism is the only major religion whose global population shrank between 2010 and 2020. Learn why it declined in East Asia, particularly in Japan and South Korea.
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Brian Steensland @bsteens.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Happy to share my research on religious parenting and choice in this keynote panel at the annual Episcopal Parish Network meeting.
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