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Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in addition to Blacks, Hispanic/Latinas, and white women), this study introduces a new effort among religion and epidemiology researchers, the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. This multicohort study provides some of the first estimates of R/S beliefs and practices among American Indians and U.S. South Asians, and offers new insight into salient beliefs and practices of diverse racial/ethnic and religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the life and works of sociologist Joseph Fichter. Main stress is on the content of Joseph Fichter's work over the past two decades and its contribution to our understanding of religion, particularly American Catholicism. However, the author has prefaced his remarks on Fichter's work with some comments about the man himself. According to the author it is appropriate to do this because Fichter has revealed a great deal about himself through his own writing and because some knowledge of the man provides an important context in which he can assess his work. When Fichter began his teaching and research in the late 1940's, the Catholic Church's general attitude toward sociology seemed to be a mixture of some ignorance (not knowing what sociology was) and some arrogance (not believing that sociology could be of any possible use). In this context the contributions of Joseph Fichter in the field of sociology are discussed in the article.