UT Professor Publishes Book that Answers Questions About Religion

What is a religion? Why are people religious? Is religion good for your health? Are people becoming more or less religious? A University of Tampa professor has answered these questions and more in a new book, What You Don’t Know About Religion (but should).

Ryan Cragun, associate professor of sociology, wrote What You Don’t Know About Religion (but should) to present scientific data to answer questions about the nature and state of religion (and nonreligion) across populations.

“Our increasingly complex, globalized, multiethnic world presents a series of challenges that demand a reasoned response,” Cragun said. “Our world needs tolerance. It needs technology. It needs science. It needs education. It needs respect for the environment. It needs gender equality. It needs good parents. And, as the data presented in this book make plain, it also needs a new way of thinking about religion.”

The book also investigates whether religion helps or hurts society — and what the future holds for religion. According to the publisher, Pitchstone Publishing, the book will change how you view religion, both in your life and in society at large.

Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry magazine, described the book as a “witty, concise, trenchant yet many-faceted summary of the phenomena of religion in contemporary society.”

Most recently, Cragun wrote Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? An Election-Year Guide to Mitt Romney's Religion (Strange Violin Editions, 2012).

What You Don’t Know About Religion (but should) is available at local and online booksellers.