Templeton Religion Trust

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Awe. Transcendence. Oneness. Revelation. Across thousands of years and every faith tradition, humans have described moments that resist explanation. Sir John Templeton urged us to look beyond what is narrow and easily explained. Yet mysticism remains one of the least studied dimensions of religious life. As traditional affiliations decline in many parts of the world, spirituality is surging. The gap between what people experience and what scholarship can describe has never felt wider. Something new is coming to bridge it.

Ask people why they follow today's moral leaders, whether activists, religious figures, or influencers, and you'll often hear the same words: authentic, courageous, caring. But do we all mean the same thing when we say them? Grantee David Lundie is finding out. His team uses a smartphone survey that asks young people about real moments from their day, twice a day for four weeks, to get past what people claim about their values and see how empathy actually shows up in daily life. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/4iQ3KQx

We asked grantee Tyler VanderWeele, and he answered. Q: John Templeton believed we knew less than 1% of the spiritual realities that surround us. Are we making progress on this front? And if so, how? A: There has been meaningful progress, though it is gradual and necessarily partial. One important development is the increasing ability to study, with greater methodological rigor, the effects of spiritual and religious practices on human life. Longitudinal studies, large-scale datasets, and improved approaches to causal inference have helped move the field beyond speculation toward evidence. For example, a growing body of research indicates that participation in religious communities is associated with better health, lower rates of depression, greater sense of purpose, and stronger relationships. These findings do not capture the full scope of spiritual reality, but they do begin to shed light on how spiritual practices shape human flourishing. At the same time, much remains unknown. Questions concerning transcendence, ultimate meaning, and the nature of spiritual experience are not easily captured by empirical methods alone. Progress will depend not only on better data but also on the continued integration of scientific inquiry with philosophical and theological reflection.

Grantee Jer Clifton has been leading a breakthrough research effort to uncover and classify people’s fundamental world beliefs. He’s labeled these beliefs “Primals” because they are so fundamental, potentially influencing virtually everything we do. Watch the full video: bit.ly/3M3kPbT

For centuries, Russia has woven philosophy and faith into a single intellectual tradition, questions of ultimate reality and meaning shared by its greatest thinkers and ordinary citizens alike. Grantee Kirill Vitalievich Karpov is helping that tradition meet a new era. As theology programs return to Russia's secular universities, he and fellow scholars are bringing the tools of analytic philosophy: conceptual precision, clear argument, logical rigor, to a centuries-old body of Orthodox thought. His bigger claim runs both ways. Orthodox theology, he believes, has just as much to teach a field long shaped by the West. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/4f6eR8O

People have asked why sacred spaces move us. Until now, no one could measure it. Grantee Rev. Dr. Matthew Niermann and co-lead Julio Bermudez are using eye-tracking, biometric sensors, and AI scene analysis to find real evidence of how architecture shapes spiritual understanding. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/4oVG818

Introducing PRISM, a Program in the Study of Mysticism. PRISM is a new five-year initiative supporting an international network of scholars working to broaden how mysticism is studied: building more inclusive theories, comparing traditions across cultures and faiths, and advancing rigorous, evidence-informed research.

Grantee Kutter Callaway and his team ran a controlled study: the same art exhibition experienced in person, via virtual tour, and inside a virtual reality environment. Asking, "Does being physically present in a space change whether you have a transcendent experience?" Explore what insights were found: templetonreligiontrust.org/explore/measur…

The COVID pandemic stripped music out of worship worldwide, often for months at a time. Researchers saw it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to study what spiritual life actually loses when music disappears, and what, if anything, fills the gap. Learn more: bit.ly/47kMTQy

More than 90% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa identify as Muslim or Christian. How those two communities engage with each other shapes the region's future. Grantee John Azumah are recovering West Africa's pacifist Islamic tradition, an overlooked legacy that could reshape how the next generation understands faith and society. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/4i4Ycln

From Buddhist chants to Black gospel, from the call to prayer to Lutheran chorales, sound has shaped religious experience across millennia. But researchers know remarkably little about why certain spaces, paired with certain sounds, produce awe. Grantee Jonathan Berger and his team are building a library of virtual sacred spaces, from canyons to cathedrals, to map the acoustic signature of transcendence. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/3uKagou

Campus communities are more diverse than ever. And yet, many students, faculty, and administrators say they hold back ideas for fear of social or professional cost. Grantee John Tomasi is working to change that. With a three-year project, his team is building the tools, research, and resources professors need to practice intellectual pluralism in their classrooms and across their campuses. The goal isn't to eliminate disagreement. It's to help people disagree better. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/4dL1pVr

Are we still making progress? Or does a promising future for the next generation seem less likely all the time? Watch the full video: templetonreligiontrust.org/explore/beyond…

Scientific and technological change is happening faster than ever. Innovations like artificial intelligence, human reproductive genetic technologies, and environmental technologies are advancing quickly, and public conversations and media coverage about them are often moving faster than careful thinking about their deeper moral implications. bit.ly/4uHwfpx

Art critics have historically dismissed text within paintings as a sign of artistic failure, proof that the image couldn't convey the message on its own. New research is testing whether 16th-century Reformation artists were actually doing it intentionally to enhance memory, emotion, and understanding. Learn more: bit.ly/403JyT3

What if research practices were less competitive and more transparent? Watch more: bit.ly/4bkoNGG

84% of the global population identifies with a religious faith. And yet, when international development organizations design programs in education, health, and poverty, faith communities are still often the last ones called. Grantee Katherine Marshall has spent her career working at the intersection of faith and development. Her current research, spanning four countries, asks a practical question: how do we bring faith communities into development planning as genuine partners, not afterthoughts? The answers are reshaping how global organizations think about whose knowledge counts. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/46rUlei

59% of Americans say science and religion are in conflict. But only 30% say that conflict applies to their own beliefs. The gap between what people think everyone else believes, and what they themselves believe, may be one of the most overlooked drivers of public confusion about science and faith. Grantee Fern Elsdon-Baker is leading a global study to investigate why the conflict narrative persists, and what it actually obscures. The story is more complicated and more hopeful than the headlines suggest. Learn more about this project: bit.ly/3M1Qmxs

Across cultures and centuries, people describe a longing that ordinary appetites cannot satisfy. Grantee Fiona Ellis is asking what kind of desire that is, and where it points. Learn more: bit.ly/3RLOE3M