www.ReligionInsights.org Enables Religious Leaders and Journalists to Source Content from More Than 20 Constituent Organizations

Chicago - April 7, 2010 - The Insights into Religion portal, (www.religioninsights.org) was introduced to hundreds of religion communicators and journalists at the Religion Communication Congress in Chicago on April 7. The Insights into Religion portal is a single source for religious research, articles and information from more than 20 organizations supported by the Lilly Endowment's Religion Division.

The goal of the Insights into Religion portal is to centralize information from a wide range of sites recognized as some of the best sources on the Web for religious content. Pastors, lay church leaders and religion journalists can access the latest religious research, articles and journals from the affiliate sites in a single search. This reduces the time required to gather the information from a variety of sources.  Scott Thumma, Executive Director of the Insights Into Religion portal, states, "Once users begin exploring the Portal and see how easy it is to find the content they need, they will quickly adopt it as a primary Web resource in their work."

The Religion Communication Congress is a particularly appropriate venue to launch the portal because the portal fills a void for religion communicators who lack easily searchable, rich and dependable sources for information about faithful living and congregational leadership. It also serves the audiences that religion communicators address, specifically clergy and lay leaders. These groups also need easy ways to find the best and most relevant material for their efforts in churches and with members.

During the Congress, hundreds of attendees saw firsthand the outstanding search capability and excellent content available from affiliates sites via the site. Added Thumma, "We are extremely confident that all the people we serve will be very pleased when they discover how fast and easy it is to find information and resources on major religion projects and organizations. Such information assists in their efforts to improve faithful living and congregational leadership."