Laura Yares, Michigan State University and Sharon Avni, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

“Emma,” a young Jewish woman who we met in 2019, didn’t belong to a synagogue. She didn’t have a Jewish partner. She didn’t observe Jewish rituals regularly. On most surveys about religion, she would not seem very engaged with Judaism.

But as Emma talked about what she did in her free time, a very different picture began to emerge. She visited Jewish websites and enjoyed listening to Jewish music. She read books about Jewish topics and had recently attended a retreat for young Jewish adults to learn Torah while also doing yoga.

She was highly invested in learning about Judaism, but she explored her identity without joining traditional institutions.

Most major surveys about religion ask whether someone belongs to a congregation, how often they attend services, whether they pray regularly and whether belief is important in their lives. Those measures help identify broad shifts, like the growing percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated: the “nones.”

But many Americans’ religious lives, like Emma’s, are not disappearing; they are moving away from membership of traditional institutions. To understand what religion looks like in 21st-century America, researchers may need to ask different questions.

Learning through art

As scholars of Judaism and education, we have been exploring how people learn about religion beyond traditional places like synagogues, Jewish schools and summer camps. Between 2019 and early 2023, we spoke with hundreds of people and explored different leisure time activities to discover what people learn about Judaism and Jewishness through cultural arts.

We interviewed dozens of audience members at Jewish-themed shows on Broadway, such as “Leopoldstadt” and “Parade.” We attended Jewish concerts and asked attendees what they learned. We explored how social media communities offer spaces to talk about different Jewish topics, like what fans learned about ultra-Orthodox Judaism from watching the television show “Shtisel.”

Our research revealed that there is a vibrant ecosystem of people learning about religion in their leisure time. Through the arts, both Jews and non-Jews encounter Jewish history, Jewish religious practices and representations of Jewish communities.

Screen and stage

Most people we spoke with told us that they felt meaningful connections to Judaism during activities that would rarely appear on a standard religion survey.

“Joan,” an unmarried woman in her 50s from Connecticut, told us that she was deeply invested in Judaism, but felt that synagogues and Jewish community centers were not welcoming to single people without families. Instead of joining a Jewish institution, she watched Jewish-themed TV shows and movies on Netflix, and joined social media communities to chat with other fans.

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“Luis,” who lived in Boston but was born in Argentina, was a Sephardic Jew, a group that traces their ancestry and traditions to Jewish communities who once lived in Spain and Portugal. His wife was Ashkenazi, meaning her ancestors came from Central and Eastern Europe. She considered herself secular, and so the couple joined the Worker’s Circle, a nonreligious Ashkenazi institution rather than a synagogue.

Yet Luis loved deepening his knowledge of Sephardic culture, and he often attended concerts of music in Ladino, a Sephardic language related to Spanish, with other Sephardic immigrants.

For Joan and Luis, these activities were not peripheral to their Jewish lives. Rather, they were central avenues for learning and community. We interviewed hundreds of Jews who told us that cultural experiences were opportunities to reflect on Jewish practices, explore questions of belonging, connect with family histories and find friends with common interests.

New questions

Some aspects of these patterns were distinctive to Judaism. Historically, many Jews have understood Judaism to be a cultural world, and not only a theological tradition. Learning about cultural dimensions of Judaism has long been part of Jewish education.

The broader phenomenon of informal learning, though, extended far beyond a single tradition. Across America, increasing numbers of people learn about religion through media, cultural productions and digital networks. Christians may study biblical themes through podcasts, online discussion groups or religious influencers. Muslims may participate in online learning communities that connect believers across the world.

The challenge for religion researchers, then, is not simply to determine whether engagement with religion is rising or falling. Rather, it is to develop more nuanced ways of understanding how people explore religious themes and practices, beyond traditional institutions. Only then can we more fully understand how contemporary Americans actually live their religious lives.

Laura Yares, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Michigan State University and Sharon Avni, Professor of Academic Literacy and Linguistics, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Sarah Dees, Iowa State University

As soon as news broke about the death of beloved songwriter Dolly Parton, I began receiving condolence messages from across the country, and around the world.

They came from friends, family and colleagues who knew I’d been working on a biography of the country legend – everyone from a conservative Catholic monk to advocates for queer and trans rights. The list reflects the even more diverse array of fans, people from countless backgrounds, who are mourning her loss.

The main focus of my project is Parton’s own spirituality, starting with her Appalachian upbringing. But it also examines her fandoms, including some people who elevate the singer to an almost sacred status. This was the case before her death – and even more so now.

As a scholar of American religions, I teach my students about practices, texts and beliefs that many of them immediately consider “religious” – for example, a worship service led by a pastor. However, religion is also found far beyond these official times and spaces, including in popular culture. According to scholar America Wolff, fandoms resemble religious groups in the way they focus on a single popular figure who inspires systems of belief, ritual and law.

Singer’s journey

Looking at Parton’s life reveals how a celebrity can incorporate religion into their public persona, without ostracizing admirers from other traditions. She discussed religion in interviews throughout her career, as well as in her 1994 memoir, where she recounted her maternal grandfather, a fundamentalist pastor, preaching hellfire and brimstone.

In 1971, for example, she told journalist Gene Guerrero how religion inspired some of her songs: “My mama used to read us all the Bible stories. I know the Bible pretty well, and I especially loved the stories.” That same year, she released “The Golden Streets of Glory,” the first of her several gospel albums.

Six years later, talking with Rolling Stone interviewer Chet Flippo, Parton claimed that she wasn’t a Christian. But “I do believe, I know there is a God and He is still the best friend I got in the world,” she explained. “I talk to Him often, but I’m one of the world’s sinners.”

Later in her life, though, Parton embraced the label “Christian” – albeit in a way that was very much her own. In the memoir “My Life and Other Unfinished Business,” she explained that “Christianity and its symbols are powerful parts of my life.” However, she diverged from socially conservative elements of her grandfather’s faith by embracing makeup and flashy fashion, celebrating her own sexuality, and speaking up for LGBTQ+ rights.

She was never interested in proselytizing. People do not have to embrace Christianity “to be a decent and worthwhile human being,” she wrote. “Spirituality is the most intimate part of a person’s makeup, and it’s strictly up to the individual to choose how to express it.”

‘Gospel of Dolly’

This openness explains part of Parton’s widespread appeal. The popular podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” produced by journalists Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee, was based on the premise that Parton is one of the few public figures to have fans across the political spectrum.

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After her death, President Donald Trump posted a tribute on his social media site, TruthSocial, and ordered that flags be flown at half-staff for a week. At the same time, in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco – a haven for the queer community – a Pride flag was also flying at half-staff in her honor.

Mourners include Jesuit priest and author James J. Martin, who thanked Parton for “teaching me about the Christian life,” and numerous Christian musicians who looked up to her. “She was the epitome of faith, grace, talent, beauty and humour,” country artist Carrie Underwood wrote. “She had a humble heart for Jesus and made everyone around her feel special.”

But even non-Christians discussed Parton in sacred terms: a “secular American saint,” as Vox writer Constance Grady designated her in 2021.

Beyond her music, these fans admired her philanthropy, from the Imagination Library program that distributes books to children around the world to her US$1 million donation that helped fund COVID-19 vaccine research. They also highlighted her support for the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ+ rights. “Dolly Parton is beloved because she has devoted her career to standing for love,” Grady wrote.

Even before her death, though, some people idolized her in a saint-like way. In 2011, for example, photographer Alice Hawkins produced a project titled “Dolly Parton is my religon.” Rev. Lindy Vogado, a Presbyterian pastor,likened her to a prophet. “Dolly Parton, through her life and work, inspires us to be better versions of ourselves,” Vogado wrote in 2025. “Just like any good prophet would do.”

In recent years, churches in Illinois, Oklahoma and New York have held services based on “the gospel of Dolly.” I attended the service in New York, which interspersed Parton’s songs with readings from scripture and homilies. Like the other services, the one I attended emphasized Parton’s “teachings”: love, care and acceptance.

Angels and atheists

Since her death, the religious language has only intensified. Musician Roseanne Cash referred to the singer as a “goddess” on Instagram, and cartoonist Marshall Ramsey portrayed her as an angel. “Listen, I’m fairly well atheist and have been for decades,” Threads user @cartergoesplaces proclaimed, “but Dolly Parton is in heaven with Jesus now. That’s simply a fact, and I’ll hear no arguments, no matter how vast the cosmos…”

Parton had her own personal brand of Christian religiosity, but she encouraged others to find and follow their own paths. I believe this helps to explain the huge outpouring of admiration – from followers of many religious traditions, followers of none, and followers of Dolly herself.

Sarah Dees, Associate Professor of American Religions, Iowa State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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U.S. News & World Report has released its 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings, giving families a fresh, data-driven snapshot of top-performing public, charter, and STEM high schools across the country. The new edition evaluated about 27,000 eligible public high schools, with nearly 18,000 schools ultimately ranked at national, state, and local levels.

At the state level, Massachusetts again led the nation, with 47% of its high schools landing in the top quarter nationally. New Jersey followed at 44%, with Maryland close behind at 43%. Metro-area results also highlighted standout regions with high concentrations of top-ranked schools, including San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (60%), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (59%), and Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin (56%)—each with the highest shares of ranked schools placing in the top 25% nationwide.

Charter and STEM schools were a major storyline in the 2026-2027 release. While California (96) and New Jersey (50) led the nation in the number of ranked STEM schools, charter schools claimed 23% of the national top 100. U.S. News pointed to Arizona’s BASIS charter network as a key example of that performance, noting it secured three of the country’s top five STEM schools and placed 12 campuses in the overall national top 100.

U.S. News said the rankings are based on six performance indicators, including state assessment achievement, graduation rates, and college readiness measures such as AP and IB participation and performance. The methodology was implemented with RTI International using data from the 2023-2024 school year.

Source: U.S. News & World Report

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