International Association of Religion Journalists

A new wave of research on religious leadership is finding that significant numbers of clergy show evidence of struggling with clinical signs of narcissism. The troubling discoveries cross liberal and conservative boundaries, and can be found among evangelical, mainline Protestant and Catholic religious leaders, as well as among rabbis and imams. This problem—and promising solutions through developing healthy forms of humility—are explored in this new Global Plus column by Dr. Steven J. Sandage, research director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Psychology, and David Briggs, who writes for the Association of Religion Data Archives.

The COVID-19 pandemic is posing new challenges to journalists covering faith and religion. In early April, we invited our IARJ members covering this unprecedented story to share their holiday-related religion stories. We continue to receive news reports related to the impact of COVID-19 in different regions of the world—and we are passing along these fascinating reports by our members.

Two of the IARJ’s top journalists report on a wide range of research that suggests active involvement in religion promotes health and well being. They collaborated on this Global Plus column, which was sponsored by the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), a leading association of university scholars who study religion.

ALERT for journalists across Europe and around the Mediterranean basin: only one week left for submitting your works to the first Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award.

APRIL 2020—The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) is proud to announce that we have formed a new board effective immediately.