Religious Congregations’ Technological and Financial Capacities on the Eve of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Historical place databases can be an invaluable tool for capturing the rich meaning of past places. However, this richness presents obstacles to success: the daunting need to simultaneously represent complex information such as temporal change, uncertainty, relationships, and thorough sourcing has been an obstacle to historical GIS in the past. The Qualified Assertion Model developed in this paper can represent a variety of historical complexities using a single, simple, flexible data model based on a) documenting assertions of the past world rather than claiming to know the exact truth, and b) qualifying the scope, provenance, quality, and syntactics of those assertions. This model was successfully implemented in a production-strength historical gazetteer of religious congregations, demonstrating its effectiveness and some challenges.

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Non-ordained

Fieldwork in Religion ◽

10.1558/firn.32964 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 137-156 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeanine Kraybill

Keyword(s):

Social Policy ◽

Women Religious ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Social Issues ◽

Female Leadership ◽

Religious Leaders ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Effect Change ◽

Policy Goals ◽

Institutional Church

The Catholic Church, constructed on an all-male clerical model, is a hierarchical and gendered institution, creating barriers to female leadership. In interviewing members of the clergy and women religious of the faith, this article examines how female non-ordained and male clerical religious leaders engage and influence social policy. It specifically addresses how women religious maneuver around the institutional constraints of the Church, in order to take action on social issues and effect change. In adding to the scholarship on this topic, I argue that part of the strategy of women religious in navigating barriers of the institutional Church is not only knowing when to act outside of the formal hierarchy, but realizing when it is in the benefit of their social policy objectives to collaborate with it. This maneuvering may not always safeguard women religious from institutional scrutiny, as seen by the 2012 Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, but instead captures the tension between female religious and the clergy. It also highlights how situations of institutional scrutiny can have positive implications for female religious leaders, their policy goals and congregations. Finally, this examination shows how even when women are appointed to leadership posts within the institutional Church, they can face limitations of acceptance and other constraints that are different from their female religious counterparts working within their own respective religious congregations or outside organizations.

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Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza

10.23943/princeton/9780691159676.001.0001 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Sara Roy

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political Violence ◽

West Bank ◽

Gaza Strip ◽

Social Institutions ◽

The United States ◽

Great Promise ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Regional Dynamics ◽

Second Intifada

Many in the United States and Israel believe that Hamas is nothing but a terrorist organization, and that its social sector serves merely to recruit new supporters for its violent agenda. Based on extensive fieldwork in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the critical period of the Oslo peace process, this book shows how the social service activities sponsored by the Islamist group emphasized not political violence but rather community development and civic restoration. The book demonstrates how Islamic social institutions in Gaza and the West Bank advocated a moderate approach to change that valued order and stability, not disorder and instability; were less dogmatically Islamic than is often assumed; and served people who had a range of political outlooks and no history of acting collectively in support of radical Islam. These institutions attempted to create civic communities, not religious congregations. They reflected a deep commitment to stimulate a social, cultural, and moral renewal of the Muslim community, one couched not only—or even primarily—in religious terms. Vividly illustrating Hamas's unrecognized potential for moderation, accommodation, and change, the book also traces critical developments in Hamas' social and political sectors through the Second Intifada to today, and offers an assessment of the current, more adverse situation in the occupied territories. The Oslo period held great promise that has since been squandered. This book argues for more enlightened policies by the United States and Israel, ones that reflect Hamas' proven record of nonviolent community building. A new afterword discusses how Hamas has been affected by changing regional dynamics and by recent economic and political events in Gaza, including failed attempts at reconciliation with Fatah.

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Reducing Police Brutality in African American Communities: Potential Roles for Social Workers in Congregations

Social Work & Christianity ◽

10.34043/swc.v47i3.153 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 66-84

Author(s):

Betty Wilson ◽

Terry A. Wolfer

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

African Americans ◽

Social Workers ◽

General Public ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Police Brutality ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Predominantly Black ◽

African American Communities ◽

White Congregations

In the last decade, there have been a shocking number of police killings of unarmed African Americans, and advancements in technology have made these incidents more visible to the general public. The increasing public awareness of police brutality in African American communities creates a critical and urgent need to understand and improve police-community relationships. Congregational social workers (and other social workers who are part of religious congregations) have a potentially significant role in addressing the problem of police brutality. This manuscript explores and describes possible contributions by social workers, with differential consideration for those in predominantly Black or White congregations.

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An Overview of Tax Issues for Synagogues (and Other Religious Congregations)

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1611930 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Ellen P. Aprill

Keyword(s):

Religious Congregations

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The Congregational Character Questionnaire: An Initial Empirical Examination of the Significance of Collective Church Character Traits

Journal of Psychology and Theology ◽

10.1177/00916471211021923 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 009164712110219

Author(s):

T. Ryan Byerly ◽

Keith J. Edwards ◽

Peter C. Hill

Keyword(s):

Meaning In Life ◽

Satisfaction With Life ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Well Being ◽

Character Traits ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Future Research ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Empirical Examination ◽

Christian Churches

Researchers in several academic disciplines have begun to take an interest in group character traits, including the character traits of religious congregations. This article reports the first empirical studies of congregational virtues. The Congregational Character Questionnaire was developed for measuring 12 different virtues of Christian churches: clinging to apostolic teaching, honoring teachers, prayerfulness, hopefulness, discipleship, emotional supportiveness, material supportiveness, spiritual equality, unity, submission, peace with the world, and spreading the faith. The instrument was then used with an online sample ( N = 530) to study how congregants’ perceptions of their congregation’s virtuousness related to congregants’ evaluations of their congregation, participation in their congregation, as well as congregants’ satisfaction with life, presence of meaning in life, and religious well-being. Results indicated that congregants’ overall perceptions of congregational virtuousness were significantly positively related to all of these dependent variables. These results help to reveal the important role that congregational character may play in the experience of congregants. Directions for future research in this area are outlined.

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When Religion Hurts: Structural Sexism and Health in Religious Congregations

American Sociological Review ◽

10.1177/0003122421996686 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 000312242199668

Author(s):

Patricia Homan ◽

Amy Burdette

Keyword(s):

General Social Survey ◽

State Level ◽

Religious Participation ◽

Religious Institutions ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Positive Health ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Positive Health Outcomes ◽

High Degree ◽

The Relationship

An emerging line of research has begun to document the relationship between structural sexism and health. This work shows that structural sexism—defined as systematic gender inequality in power and resources—within U.S. state-level institutions and within marriages can shape individuals’ physical health. In the present study, we use a novel dataset created by linking two nationally representative surveys (the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study) to explore the health consequences of structural sexism within another setting: religious institutions. Although religious participation is generally associated with positive health outcomes, many religious institutions create and reinforce a high degree of structural sexism, which is harmful for health. Prior research has not reconciled these seemingly conflicting patterns. We find that among religious participants, women who attend sexist religious institutions report significantly worse self-rated health than do those who attend more inclusive congregations. Furthermore, only women who attend inclusive religious institutions exhibit a health advantage relative to non-participants. We observe marginal to no statistically significant effects among men. Our results suggest the health benefits of religious participation do not extend to groups that are systematically excluded from power and status within their religious institutions.

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The Bridging Activity of Multiracial Congregations

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel10030204 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 204

Author(s):

Edward Polson ◽

Rachel Gillespie

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Ethnic Diversity ◽

Social Trust ◽

Ethnic Composition ◽

Religious Congregations ◽

Bridging Social Capital ◽

Service Programs ◽

Multiracial Congregations ◽

The Relationship ◽

Racial Ethnic

The growing diversity of U.S. communities has led scholars to explore how racial/ethnic diversity effects social capital, civic engagement, and social trust. Less is known about the relationship between diversity and the work of community-based organizations (CBOs). In this study, we examine how the racial/ethnic composition of one ubiquitous type of CBO, religious congregations, is related to measures of organizational bridging social capital. Analyzing data collected through a census of congregations in one Midwestern county, we explore the relationship between racial/ethnic diversity and the bridging activity of religious congregations. We find that multiracial congregations are more likely to be involved with externally focused service programs, tend to support a larger number of programs, and report more interorganizational collaborators than other congregations. Our findings suggest that multiracial congregations can provide a valuable resource for increasingly diverse communities and civil society.

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