Templeton Religion Trust
What if young people felt more comfortable talking about their faith?
What if Americans could find informational and inspirational content online about faith traditions?
What if opinion influencers had trustworthy data and stories about the positive impacts of faith?
America’s religious landscape is full of paradoxes. For instance, the United States is more religious than any other Western democracy, but much less religious than a generation ago. And while affiliation with organized religion is down, the gap is being filled with one-off spiritual and quasi-religious commitments. What’s more, while Americans spend more time discussing religion than ever, the online platforms that make that possible often elevate conflict and contempt. At the same time, many young people willingly share virtually everything about themselves on social media except their religious faith.
Healthy societies are built by people who understand and respect religious diversity and the contributions of faith. Focused on strengthening that in today’s America, Faith Counts is one of the largest online platforms presenting essential truths about religion — truths that are often skimmed over or entirely overlooked in public discourse. Its mission is to promote the individual and societal value of religious faith. Its programs have a particular emphasis on young people and opinion influencers. These are groups whose growing skepticism about the good of religion threatens mutual respect and responsibility among people with differing beliefs and values.
Promoting the value of faith is a challenging task, made even more so because many religious nonprofits lack effective PR teams. As a result, their good work often goes unpublished and unnoticed. While no one program can single-handedly reverse trends, Faith Counts is more indispensable than ever to countering the negative spin that popular culture often applies to religion.
With support from Templeton Religion Trust, Faith Counts has gained funding to significantly further its mission. In particular, the grant is aimed at amplifying the organization’s online programs and presence. This includes tools that faith groups can use to speak about their beliefs with others who don’t share them.
“A central premise is to counterprogram the negative narrative with as much positive storytelling and facts from as many responsible players as possible,” explains Kerry Troup, Faith Counts director
The organization’s strengths are many. With more than a decade of experience, it has a large and growing audience. Alongside the efforts of its scholars and researchers, it enjoys robust partnerships with America’s most influential religious organizations and leaders. The result is a trove of shareable content about faith’s positive impact — without any sectarian branding and carrying the backing of a large and credible multifaith network.
“For many, Faith Counts is the entree into the most significant multifaith work they do. The potency of the mission is maximized when Faith Counts is able to draw on the capital and efforts of a host of partners rowing in the same direction,” notes Troup.
A central thrust of the organization is creating content in formats that connect with how modern audiences consume information.
“These are not religious ‘empty calories,’” Troup emphasizes. “Most of our best-performing content contextualizes faith amidst hardship and suffering. Our social media platforms also consistently showcase religious leaders, celebrities, athletes, and other relatable peer influencers publicly talking about the importance of their religious identities and how it personally benefits them.”
In addition, she continues, Faith Counts’ program Faith Facts is a growing online hub that provides the most reliable and current information about religions currently available.
“The multifaith nature of Faith Counts sets us apart from thousands of other religiously focused sites, and our research shows that this diversity – especially with minority faiths – is key to our appeal to young Americans.”
Evidence confirms that Faith Counts is helping shape opinions about the value of faith. Its website is now garnering engagement rates more than double the standard and pulling in hundreds of thousands of new visitors. In addition, its content has been featured in news stories, appellate briefs, policy white papers, and comments to regulatory agencies.
“There are thousands of studies in academia that have great information about the positive impact of faith, but it is written for scholars and it tends to stay in academia. Our job is to make that data more accessible and tell stories about how religion enriches peoples’ lives and makes communities better,” says Dr. Ryan Burge, Faith Facts research director.
Troup underscores that sentiment: “Our hope is that those who see our work, regardless of what religion they are, will have a better appreciation for the value of faith, feel inspired to share their own stories, and ultimately feel good about expressing how faith makes them who they are.”
