Templeton Foundation Grants To Baylor

The John M. Templeton Foundation paid for the Baylor Religion Survey with a major grant. Sir John Templeton, an international investor, formed the foundation in 1987 to encourage an appreciation of the importance of the moral and spiritual dimensions of life. The Templeton Foundation supports studies which demonstrate the benefits of an open, humble and progressive approach to learning in these areas.
Other Templeton grants going to Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion include: 
• A $378,862 grant to fund ISR's Initiative on the Economics of Religion. The grant will provide funds for four scholars to investigate the connection between religion and economic growth and the effects of government intervention in religious markets on the practice of religion.
• A $1.7 million grant to conduct a study on the spiritual beliefs and practices in China titled "An Empirical Study of Religions in China" (ESRIC). "This grant allows us the chance to produce scholarship for the first time about the significance of religion in China," says Dr. Byron Johnson, professor of sociology and co-director of ISR with Rodney Stark. "We have anecdotal accounts of the influence of religion in China but next to no empirical data. This initiative will produce a series of objective studies, both national and local, of Chinese culture, society and religion."