Sociologist Mark Chaves (Duke) has published  American Religion: Contemporary Trends (Princeton UP).  The book is a study of religious trends in the United States, seemingly akin to Robert Putnam and David Cambell’s American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.  Chaves “challenges the popular notion that religion is witnessing a resurgence in the United States–in fact, traditional belief and practice is either stable or declining. Chaves examines why the decline in liberal Protestant denominations has been accompanied by the spread of liberal Protestant attitudes about religious and social tolerance, how confidence in religious institutions has declined more than confidence in secular institutions, and a host of other crucial trends.”  — MOD