The Latest!

Terry Mattingly, ON RELIGION syndicated national column in the New Braunfels, Texas Herald-Zeitung, July 1, 2023

NYC has become a ‘post-secular’ quilt

“Early in his church-planting work in New York City, the Rev. Tim Keller focused on what he called the center city, which started in lower Manhattan, near Wall Street, and extended past Central Park…. The team at A Journey through NYC religions found — through a face-to-face census with church leaders — 120 evangelical congregations in the Manhattan center city by 2000. That number reached 197 a decade later, 251 in 2014, 308 in 2019 and is expected to near 370 in 2024. …’The post-secular city is a contested city between varieties of religion and nonreligion. New types of leaders, ethical questions and communal identities raise all sorts of contested areas over which neither the secular nor the religious have exclusionary authority,’ noted Carnes in an essay at A Journey Through NYC religions published after Keller’s death.”

Robert Just, WND Column DuJ Jour, June 27, 2023

Fatherhood & Motherhood: Rethinking neighborhood safety and civility. Just offers effective solutions to communities with broken families, troubled children

Read the full story at A Journey through NYC religions

Terry Mattingly, ON RELIGION syndicated national column, May 25, 2023

Redeemer Presbyterian’s Tim Keller: An Outsider Who Came To New York City — To Stay

Keller was more than aware that he was an outsider…The bookish preacher understood the depth of the “monolithic public philosophy of secularism” that dominated Manhattan culture, said Tony Carnes, who edits A Journey through NYC Religions website. w=…[W]aves of young professionals were arriving, and Keller “discovered that he could speak to that mindset. … Wall Street can be so empty and meaningless. Pressure: How do you cope with that? Tim started asking: ‘Where do we get the strength to survive in this city?'”

Dominic Steele, Sidney Australia “The Pastor’s Heart” online television show, May 20, 2023

A special night at New York’s Redeemer Church honouring founder Tim Keller – with Tony Carnes

Tony Carnes of A Journey through NYC religions has this emotional account of the special meeting of the Redeemer Presbyterian NYC churches last night, where members gathered from all their congregations for a prescheduled meeting, which gave them a unique opportunity to grieve the death of Tim Keller, just hours after they had received word of his passing.

Aaron Renn, urbanologist, March 3, 2023

“Tony Carnes references my three worlds model in his review of Collin Hansen’s new book about Tim Keller. Sociologist and journalist Carnes is the foremost expert on religion in New York City and has known Keller since at least the early 90s, so this in-depth look is one to read. It contains additional details not the book. If you didn’t see it, but sure to read my review as well.”

Tony Carnes, February 13, 2023

“Tim Keller: Pastor for the Postsecular City”

“Keller is a lot like Pope Francis in being a religious leader who is modeling a winsome way to live in and sustain the postsecular society against both the extreme secularists and religionists. As sociologist Michelle Dillon has noted, Pope Francis is the leader of a “postsecular Catholicism,” which relishes a dialogue with the seculars without building walls based on a psychological defensiveness. It seems Keller has charted a similar path.”

James Estrin, December 18, 2022

Capturing the Religions of New York on Camera

“This nine-month assignment — a report on the diversity of worship in New York City, which the Metro desk published online on Friday and which will run in newspapers this weekend — was among the most meaningful of my career at The Times. [In preparation] I spoke with Tony Carnes, the founder of A Journey Through NYC religions, a nonprofit that is mapping New York City’s houses of worship and has documented 39 categories of religions in the city. Among them are at least 435 variations, many of which can be considered separate religions.”

Accessed December 2, 2022

NEW YORK RELIGION. Studying religious diversity in the Promised City

“For up-to-the-minute, journalistic looks at New York’s religious life, also check out the articles, blog posts, and photos on the Journey Through NYC Religions website…”

Finalist for the 2022 Award for Excellence in Religion Commentary:

Critical race theory raises a storm in California math classes,” November 5, 2021;

Yesterday’s racist attack on Asian American says it all,”  April 13, 2021;

Vindicated! NYC Christians rallied around George Floyd,” April 20, 2021.

This nomination is dedicated to Galina Vasilyevna Starovoitova, a Soviet dissident assassinated in St. Petersburg by a Soviet/Russian Army hitman soon after Carnes and she had dinner.

November 25, 2022

Katherine Alsdorf, founding director of Redeemer Presbyterian NYC’s Center for Faith and Work, has gone on record saying that as an egalitarian woman…, she has witnessed and experienced much greater levels of respect, esteem, and empowerment of women in Redeemer’s …setting than in her previous, egalitarian church settings. You can read Katherine’s related essay here — it is short and well worth your time.

August 2022 Emily Belz

“New York City’s Largest Evangelical Church Plans Billion-Dollar Development”

“Tony Carnes…has documented the histories and stories of New York houses of worship with his project A Journey Through NYC Religions.”

December 29, 2021 James Estrin

"‘A Moment of Intimacy’: New Yorkers and the Sacred Spaces in Their Homes"

“New York most likely has more religions than any other city in the world,” said Tony Carnes, the founder of A Journey Through NYC Religions, a nonprofit that is mapping houses of worship and religious sites in the city. His organization has identified 39 different categories of religions in New York, but within those, there are at least 435 variations, many of which can be considered separate religions, he said.

September 9, 2021 Radio interview on religious effects of 911. Click here for an excerpt.

Click here for “His People” Program Page.

April 12, 2021 Ruth Graham, The New York Times

Published comment by Tony Carnes on “A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok”

“I grew up surfing and hot-rodding and would probably have invited the current Abraham Piper to come along to catch some waves. …I have noticed that people who come from outside the evangelical subculture have a different psychology. Some of us find the insiders to be a little disconnected with the world, set in their ways, stale, and grouchy about their upbringing….Hope he comes back; we will leave the light on for him.”

April 1, 2021 Sarah Pulliam Bailey, The Washington Post

“Tony Carnes, who runs a site called A Journey through NYC religions, said he turned down a potential funding call with the foundation because he felt uncomfortable after hearing speculation that Hwang was using his foundation to make a comeback. He said while it’s okay for churches and ministries to receive money from people who might not have stellar backgrounds, he was concerned that Hwang was being heralded for his great business and ethics approach.”

February 13, 2021 Richard Ostling, Get Religion.“Did the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol involve Christian ‘heresy’ or was it ‘apostasy’?

Tony Carnes, editor of the A Journey Through NYC Religions website observed that, “no pastors, priests, or other organized religious leaders have been identified so far as part of the riot.”

January 21, 2021               Terry Mattingly, Get Religion

“the website called “A Journey Through NYC Religions.” (That’s a deep website that GetReligion readers should include in their “favorites” lists in online browsers.)

The Masculinist Podcast, “The Post-Secular City,” October 28, 2020: “a phenomenal website that you should check out called A Journey through NYC religions

A Community of Scholars, Columbia University Press, November 2020 (Thomas J. Vinciguerra, editor): “In the spring of 2010, geographer Justin Beaumont came from the University of Groningen to lead a mini-symposium hosted by the Seminar on “Are There Post-Secular Cities?” To advance the question, Tony Carnes [of A Journey through NYC religions] called to replace Weber’s ideas of “objectivity” and inevitable secularization with what he called “Sympathetic Objectivity.” This concept came right out of the Columbia Seminar discussions.”

Mac Pier, New York Disrupted, 2020: The charting of church growth in New York City of Journey Data Center “stunned and amazed” and led to the creation of a leadership training and church-planting movement that has swept the world. 26,000 leaders have been trained, over 400 congregations planted around the world. Over 40,000 church leaders have been catalyzed to meet together in Movement Day held in New York and other cities. “Research matters. Measurement matters. If you want to impact your city or community, invest the time to get to know it” like A Journey through NYC religions knows its city.

Journey TV is the winner of the First Place award for 2020 EXCELLENCE IN TELEVISION NEWS MAGAZINE RELIGION REPORTING of the Religion News Association. “In the judges’ words, the host did something so many TV hosts failed to do today. He allowed his guest to speak without constant and meaningless interruptions to get out of the way, and let his guests shine. Engaging, informative, made me think, and want to discuss faith. Great TV! A real success!”

“What Secular City? Contrary to popular stereotypes, religious life is flourishing in the Big Apple” by Peter Feurherd, September 1, 2020, US Catholic.  A Journey through NYC religions “chronicles…the religious transformation of New York.”

“Oh no! ‘New Yorkers’ upset about Franklin Graham’s hospital tents near Central Park angel” by Terry Mattingly, April 2, 2020, GetReligion.org. “So let me end by reminding readers, and journalists who are not familiar with it, about this website: A Journey Through NYC Religions. Editor Tony Carnes and his team already have a short piece online describing the nuts and bolts of this Samaritan’s Purse operation.”

“Podcast talking: Would Democrats take Marianne Williamson seriously if her name was …,” by Terry Mattingly, July 13,2019,  GetReligion.org “I would like to point readers to a long and quite serious piece about Williamson by Tony Carnes of the sociology-meets-journalism website called A Journey Through NYC Religions. … must-read piece”

“What is Brooklyn-Queens Day?,”  June 10, 2019

“Tony Carnes, editor of A Journey through NYC religions, said that “as the city changes, holidays like this take on new significance.”

Reforming American Politics. by Harold Heie. Published by Read the Spirit Books, June 4, 2019.

Are there limits to civil discourse and free speech? A conversation between Tony Carnes, a journalist and publisher working in New York City, and Mark Douglas, a seminary professor of Christian ethics. “I leave you with what may be Tony’s most radical suggestion as to what constitutes loving someone who disagrees with you: ‘If we are going to criticize someone, then first we should consider if we have ever looked for the good in that person?'”

Journey joined the Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR to discuss the disaffection of millennials with religion and how mainstream institutions are responding (or not) to their departure, and how others are finding that other paths to religion. Journey joins show at the 29 minute mark. April 23, 2019, 1 pm and 8 pm.

Muslims for American Progress “Impact Report of Muslim Contributions to New York City,” July 2018

“We found A Journey through NYC religions … particularly helpful in providing rich ethnographic context as well as our base numerical  count of Muslim New Yorkers.” 

Love: declining to comment is sometimes the best policy  by Tony Carnes, July 23, 2018

“I am reminded of Mr. Fred Rogers’ response to the mass broadcasting of television…He thought that there could       be a better way, based on the parable of the Good Samaritan.”

Feature story: “Billy Graham and Johnny Cash: An Unlikely Friendship” by Tony Carnes, February 22, 2018.

“Here come the faithful, introduction to the photo series “The Believers” by Martin Schoeller

“According to …  A Journey through NYC Religions, Harvey Cox’s secular metropolis has become the exemplary post-secular metropolis, directly following Jürgen Habermas’s idea of post-secular society. Faith cannot be more democratic. Here every religion has its own place, which no one else can dispute. Even atheism and secular humanism stand apart as equal systems of belief.”

Sixty percent of Manhattan’s evangelical churches have started since 1978.” by W. Scott Lamb. September 6, 2017.

“the incredible website, A Journey Through NYC Religions.”

Video story

The Life and Times of Redeemer Presbyterian Church,” by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, May 22, 2017.

“Manhattan is the secular symbolic center to the city,’ Tony Carnes of A Journey through NYC religions said. ‘Once you have altered the symbolism of the center to include religion, … people’s mindsets started to change.’ And ‘because New York City also occupies mindspace around the world,’ Carnes said, ‘a change in its symbolic center starts to have global effects.'”

Empire State of Change,” by Kathyrn Watson, February 26, 2017.

“Heading up A Journey through NYC religions, a non-sectarian, non-denominational organization with no direct religious affiliation, Tony Carnes has been walking the crevices and alleyways of all five boroughs, street by street collecting data at every religious site that he and his group have come across since 2010. What he’s discovered is astounding.”

Everyday Muslims of New York,” by John Leland, February 23,2017.

“The first Muslims in New York City date back to the 17th century, and the first small, short-lived Islamic prayer room appears to have opened in 1893, near Madison Square Park. When researchers from  A Journey through NYC religions set out to count every mosque in the five boroughs in 2015, they found 285, up from 175 just five years earlier. Muslims, in all their diversity, are a longstanding and hardy part of New York life. That diversity runs through a new exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York called ‘Muslim in New York: Highlights From the Photography Collection.'”

New York City is a book conservatives should read,” by Rebecca Solnit, author of Nonstop Metropolis:A New York City Atlas, November 2, 2016.

“New York may be a book you haven’t read, but it is rich in Talmudic scholars of the everyday who read it as carefully as any sacred text [like]…New York’s wonderful religious scholar Tony Carnes.”

Journey of Faith,” by Warren Cole Smith,  October 25, 2016.

“A website called A Journey through NYC Religions …covers the waterfront when it comes to religion in New York.”

Journey intern Sadie Cruz was a finalist for the 2016 Chandler Award for Excellence in Student Religion Reporting given by the Religion Newswriters Association. She and Rebecca Hia of Yeshiva University are the only journalism students in New York City that are finalists.

Finalist for 2016 Gerald A. Renner Award for Enterprise Reporting of the Religion Newswriters Association for series “Mosque City NY.”

The pastors out to save Millennials’ souls,” by Amanda Abrams, July 10, 2016.

Prior to Keller’s success, says Tony Carnes, who runs the A Journey through NYC religions website, “the word was that a church planter goes to New York to meet his end. Now, coming to New York becomes the coolest thing in the world for pastors: You’re getting the very best to come.” That’s true for other big cities as well. What Keller showed church planters is that all of the damning news to come out about religion in the past few years—particularly the Pew Research Center’s reports on the steep rise in religiously unaffiliated people, especially among millennials—doesn’t mean young adults don’t care about religion. In fact, they’ve found, many urban dwellers grew up with Christianity and are looking for something to ground them where they are. It just needs to feel right.

The New York Times, “Orlando Killings Rob Young New York Muslims of a Cherished Holiday Respite,” by Liz Robbins, June 18, 2016.

“Bay Ridge has been transformed like so much of New York. There are nine mosques in the area now, according to A Journey through NYC religions. Many of the store signs on the avenues are written in Arabic.”

WPIX-TV 11, “Off Ted Cruz’s suggestion, how realistic is it for police to watch over NYC’s scattered Muslim communities?,” by Narmeen, Choudhury, March 24, 2016.

“Tony Carnes, editor with a non-for-profit, A Journey through NYC Religions, explores all faiths and their role in every city neighborhood. Carnes’ organization found the population of Muslims to be anywhere from 400,000 to 800,000 in NYC.  The city also has the largest concentration of mosques in the country, 285.”

GetReligion.org, “Message from Madison conference: Religion news is struggling, but still surviving,” Jim Davis, March 17, 2016.

“Tony Carnes introduced his Journey through New York City religions – a thorough, systemic exploration of people of faith in the nation’s largest city, even including a Muslim cooking show. He called the exhaustive approach the ‘Pixar Principle,’ emphasizing fine details.”

Reporting on Religion Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 14, 2016. Sponsors: The Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions; UpperHouse; The UW–Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication; the Madison Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; Wisconsin Newspaper Association; Wisconsin Broadcasting Association; Wisconsin State Journal; WKOW; and WisconsinWatchDog.org.

“Faith on the Street — Tony Carnes and Christopher Smith will present their work covering religion at the street level in New York City. Over the past five years, “A Journey Through NYC Religions” has explored, documented, and explained the great religious changes in New York City. Using videos from the project’s web site, Carnes and Smith will demonstrate how journalists might use this approach to cover religion in their regions.”

Houston Chronicle, “Holy weed — it’s kosher! — now available in Queens,” February 15, 2016.

“Orthodox Jews, reported the on-line magazine, A Journey through NYC Religions, traditionally have been wary of the drug’s recreational use, which could lead to bad judgment and behavior at odds with Jewish values.” But kosher marijuana is now being offered now as “a mitsvah, an imperative, a command…” to reduce suffering.

Finalist for three religion Newswriters Associations 2015 awards: two Gerald A. Renner Awards for Enterprise Reporting; and the Short Video Award.

EntertainmentDesign.com, “How Museums Are Celebrating the Holidays,” lead photo of creche at Metropolitan Museum of Art by A Journey through NYC religions, December 16, 2015.

The New York Times, “Muslims in Donald Trump’s Old Neighborhood Say, Come Get to Know Us,” by Liz Robbins, December 8, 2015.

“Now, not far from Mr. Trump’s childhood street, a dozen mosques are spread out along Hillside Avenue — there are 93 in Queens, one-third of the city’s total, according to Tony Carnes, the editor of “A Journey through NYC religions,” which collects data on faiths. In all, Mr. Carnes said, there are 770,000 Muslims in the New York metropolitan area.”

The New York Times, Francis in America: “A Confluence of Big Events for 3 Faiths,” by Rick Rojas,  September 24, 2015.

“For Tony Carnes, editor and publisher of the web magazine A Journey Through NYC Religions, this week is like a ‘World Series,’ he said. Or, offering another metaphor, he said, ‘It’s like the sun and the moon creating a high tide.'”

The New York Times, “Pope’s Visit to East Harlem School Highlights Church’s Challenges,” by Joshua Emerson, July 24, 2015.

Deseret News, “5 stories of faith from New York City that helped one man find his,” by Shelby Slade, July 23, 2015.

The New York Times, “Central Park Festival to Highlight New York’s Vibrant Evangelical Movement,” by Liz Robbins, July 9, 2015.

“That the event is in Manhattan’s most celebrated park, one rarely used these days as a religious stage, attests to the evangelicals’ increased traction in civic life. ‘They now can say they constitute one of the chambers of the heart of the city,’ said Tony Carnes, a sociologist who publishes an online journal, A Journey Through N.Y.C. Religions. … According to Mr. Carnes, there are 1.2 million to 1.6 million evangelicals in the city, which he said was an increase of about 22 percent since 2000.”

World magazine“Church, Inc.,” by Emily Belz, June 27, 2015

“Tony Carnes… has tracked religious trends in New York for decades…”

Acton Institute PowerBlog, “New York City is Post Secular and Highly Religious” by Anthony Bradley, June 9, 2015.

“What, then, is New York, and other large northern cities like her? They are religiously plural, politically progressive, ‘post secular’ cities.”

The Religion Guy @getreligion, “Offering sociological journalism about the mosques of New York City” by Richard Ostling, June 2, 2015.

“Today’s New York City is not holy ground, but it’s “post-secular… Any newswriter interested in religion or immigration in America’s largest city can acquire ample material from the online magazine  A Journey through NYC Religions… Journalists should take note.”

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RNA Award

Finalist for the Religion Newswriters Association 2013 Gerald A. Renner Award for Enterprise Reporting.

Winner of the Religion Newswriters Association 2011 Gerald A. Renner Award for Enterprise Reporting: “This is what enterprise reporting is all about: a brilliantly informative series about religion in New York City.”

The Exchange, Christianity Today, “Morning Roundup 6/2/15″ by Ed Stetzer.”

“As I learned recently, my ancestors were one of the founding families of New Amsterdam. However, that’s not what I knew growing up. We were Irish and we were stronemasons. So, it’s pretty neat to see both of those in this video!”

It’s All Journalism, “Religion and empathetic journalism,” March 6, 2015.

“Maybe Otis Redding had it right after all. Perhaps the best approach to reporting isn’t to start researching a story without emotion, guard up and skepticism out front, but with a little tenderness and compassion.”

NY Post, “Do we need to integrate our churches?,” February 23, 2015.

A Journey Through NYC Religions found 130 ethnicities represented in the city’s evangelical churches.”

The Blaze, “Mayor de Blasio Refuses to Drop Church Worship Ban in NYC Public Schools — but This Congregation Isn’t Backing Down,” January 27, 2015.

“New York City church expert Tony Carnes explained the city’s brief and associated arguments in detail.”

National Geographic en Spanish. “Religion and tourism join hands in New York.” January 15, 2015

“This religious change in recent years in New York is considered by many as a spiritual revolution, and is being recorded by A Journey through NYC religions, an international non-profit organization created in 2010 which now has 20 million visits. For its director, Tony Carnes, tourists’ growing interest in religious subjects also feeds on the increasing attention to religious architecture, the preachers, the historical origins of different religions or cultural activities related to faith. An example is the success of the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center, showing the ability of music to “illuminate the many dimensions of our inner lives,” held since every October and November since 2010. Hillsong services in Manhattan are also increasingly attended by tourists visiting the city of skyscrapers, joining other iconic religious tourist stops such as gospel masses in Harlem , the cathedrals of St. Patrick and St. John the Divine and walks through the neighborhoods of Orthodox Jews .”

The New York Times, “Tarzan and Jane’s Manhattan” describes our mighty Deputy Director & Assistant Editor Melissa Kimiadi working the “traveling rings” in Riverside Park, by Keith Mulvihill, July 24, 2014.

Vice, “NYC’s New Megachurch Is More Popular Than Jesus,” by Grace Wyler, May 6, 2014.

“Hillsong NYC isn’t the first New York City church that’s tried to reach a younger, hipper crowd. Once considered a graveyard for church-planting, in recent years the city has become a hub of startup churches aimed at disrupting traditional religious models. “We’ve seen a number of different congregations throughout the city sprout up around the idea of just doing church in a different way,” said Melissa Kimiadi, deputy director of A Journey Through NYC religions. “Younger generations in New York City aren’t as closed off to religion as their parents were, so they are more open to different types of belief and worship.”

The Washington Post, “Bill de Blasio, New York’s new ‘spiritual but not religious’ mayor,” by Sarah Pulliam.

“’This is the first election that we know of in recent times that Protestants decided who is mayor in New York,’” said Tony Carnes, editor of the website A Journey through NYC religions. ‘From the planning of his leadership, he has signaled that he’s faith interested and faith friendly.’”

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Featured on PBS television, ” New York City’s Houses of Worship.”

In The Wall Street Journal‘s “Top Stories from New York” via Associated Press: “Despite its reputation, New York is not the godless Gomorrah that outsiders envision…, according to nycreligion.info…”

New York Magazine — “we turned to nycrelgion.info, a group that is mapping out every one of the city’s churches — for a walking tour of Manhattan’s houses of worship.”

Time magazine — “A Journey Through NYC Religions…an awesomely granular website on Gothamite houses of worship”

The New York Times — “Nobody else is looking so methodically for religion in New York…probably has more thorough and reliable numbers about religious life in New York than any…”

The Washington Post — “With traditional media outlets eliminating religion reporters, Carnes’ site may be the new face of religion reporting; an independent nonprofit doing quality journalism on a contract basis for the mainstream media. The site, which has gotten 390,000 page views to date, is modeled after ProPublica, a public interest journalism site that produced a Pulitzer this year.”

Get Religion — “Journalists! Remember this: When in doubt, dig into the riches in the “A Journey Through NYC Religions” website.”

David Mills, First Things magazine — “the always interesting website A Journey Through NYC Religions”

NY Business Journal (@NYBizJournal) — “@nycreligioninfo is fascinating coverage of religion in New York City”

Cover story, Southern People Weekly, China –“Tony Carnes is attempting to record all the religious sites of the New York. He was not merely making a record, but through the web magazine A Journey through NYC religions to help people of different ethnic groups and faiths to get along better in the city.”

Ed Stetzer, “The Exchange,” Christianity Today — “If you are not reading his ongoing work on NYC religion, you are missing out. It is fascinating and important work.”

The NY Tech Blog— “NYCReligion.info is an encouraging exercise of new media. The bare bones site’s open-minded approach to covering all religious/spiritual groups has made it into a major source of community-centric news that’s honest and comprehensive.”

The Social Science Research CouncilA Journey through NYC religions offers “an infectious embrace of the urban landscape.”

Religion in American History— “a fascinating web venture”

The Media Project–“Online magazine reaches millions…a place where people can discover for themselves the innovations and valuable contributions of religion. The site is also a place where readers are free to discover religious options on their own without anyone telling them what to believe.”

Notnewyork.org— “A Journey Through NYC Religions is a website that covers religion throughout the five boroughs. Perhaps a bit “cleaner” than we ruffians here at Not New York, the site seemingly has no trouble slipping into cracks and alleyways in order to get the haps on religious life in our always warm and always sunny city.”

Santospopsicles— “cool project”

stephanienikolopolous.com— “I love the way Carnes and his nonprofit organization are uniting houses of worship.”