Rodney Stark has credentials. For 32 years he was Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington. He's written 140 scholarly articles and over 30 books including textbooks.
I care about his professional credentials because he stands strongly against the academic tide of opinion in a very striking way: as a sociologist, he claims that Christianity has been a positive force for good in America and the world.
The purpose of America's Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists (2013) was to make a "full accounting of the tangible human and social benefits of faith in American life . . . This accounting is surprisingly easy because mountains of little-reported research and reliable data exist on a wide range of religious effects" (p. 4).
Data and conclusions to follow.
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