Religious Beliefs

A new study of network television programming reported by the Associated Press last month confirms the obvious. Religion is virtually absent from prime-time shows.Researchers from Duke University Medical Center, the University Dayton and Northwestern University conducted a systematic analysis of one month's fictional programming from 1990. The sample consisted of 100 prime-time shows on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV.The study was sponsored by the American Family Association, an organization based in Tupelo, Mississippi, that frequently criticizes network television programming for being hostile to Christian values.

Eddie, 16, had a record of nine arrests, including rape, assault and battery and drug dealing. But something happened that set him straight: He found religion."

Embattled Northeast Principal Joseph Carducci Jr. emerged from the brick school bearing a slight smile and a conciliatory tone -- for thefirst time since parents launched a campaign for his removal almost four months ago.Standing in the middle of the school parking lot yesterday, Carducci waved to parents driving away with students.Yesterday, in his first interview since the ordeal began, Carducci said he was ready to start again.The dismissal of popular athletic director Bob Grimm last spring prompted parent and student protest.

NEW YORK -- The state with the highest proportion of atheists is Oregon.Most Americans of Irish ancestry are Protestant.And despite all the attention given to what devotees call the New Age -- a spiritual movement that combines mysticism, psychology and holistic healing -- the number of adherents, 28,000, is practically insignificant.These findings are from an opinion poll on religious affiliation that surveyed 113,000 people around the nation, the largest and most comprehensive effort to draw a portrait of religion in America.

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS leaders have been fascinated with the Baby Boom generation -- and with good reason.First of all, Boomers make up one-third of the whole population. When they were younger, their parents flocked to churches and synagogues to provide religious education for their children.As the Boomers grew up, however, they left the church in large numbers. They were particularly responsible for the membership declines in mainline Protestant denominations since the '60s.For more than a decade, religious leaders have been looking to the Boomers to return to church.