church attendance
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2021 ◽  
pp. 73-100
Author(s):  
Neal M. Krause

Many researchers focus primarily on the frequency of church attendance when they study the religion-and-health relationship. The many shortcomings of this strategy are discussed in this chapter. A plea is made for focusing on communities of faith instead. Four issues involving communities of faith are examined: (1) a preliminary working definition of communities of faith is provided; (2) because communities of faith constitute a vast conceptual domain, a good deal of this chapter is spent on identifying the key characteristics of communities of faith and explaining how they arise and are maintained; (3) in an effort to move the literature forward, a detailed research plan for devising measures of communities of faith is presented; and (4) a submodel is provided that further illuminates the relationship between religious identities and communities of faith.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110606
Author(s):  
Ruth Dassonneville ◽  
Ian McAllister

Party membership is in decline across the established democracies, but populist parties appear to be reversing this trend. The expansion of populist parties’ membership base raises the question whether these parties are fulfilling their role as actors who serve as a “corrective to democracy” by mobilizing the socially and politically marginalized to become politically active. Using large comparative datasets from the European Social Survey and the World Values Survey, we examine the characteristics of populist party members in terms of their socio-demographic background and their political attitudes. We show that, with the exceptions of income levels and church attendance, the members of populist and non-populist parties look very much alike and hold similar political attitudes. These findings imply that mobilizing the politically disaffected remains a challenge, even for populist actors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nate Breznau

Welfare policies are a common feature of many societies and often strongly favored by the public. This is a primary reason that every advanced capitalist nation remains a welfare state (Brooks & Manza, 2007). Research abounds on welfare policy differences across nations yet scholars pay less attention to why and how the public formulate opinions on welfare policies. The following analysis shows evidence that the public are not merely self-interested in their policy preferences. I propose instead that they have a further goal in mind unrelated to material gains: the reduction of social inequality. I investigate this possibility using survey data from large, representative national samples in Australia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Finland, and Poland (N=13,294). Structural equation estimates correcting for measurement error show that those with economic egalitarian values are much more supportive of welfare policies consistent with instrumental rationality theory. These egalitarian values are more important than self-interest and national institutions in shaping preferences for government control of social services, price controls for basic needs, and subsidies for basic needs. This holds true after controlling for policy regime, attitudes toward government, family income, education, occupational status, sex, age, and church attendance and holds in all five nations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 284-284
Author(s):  
Eva Kahana ◽  
Poshan Dahal ◽  
Tirth Bhatta ◽  
Polina Ermoshkina

Abstract Religiosity in late life has been linked to psychological well-being outcomes. However, there has been insufficient attention to complex associations between different domains of religiosity and domains of psychological wellbeing. We explored associations between religious identity, religious participation, religious coping (trust in God), and mental health indicators of depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and positive/negative affect among 797 independent, retirement community-dwelling older adults. At baseline, religious identity (expressed as self- concept) and religious participation (church attendance) each were associated with fewer depressive symptoms (b=-0.47, p<0.05; b=-0.19, p<0.05). Religious identity, however, was significantly associated with both life satisfaction and positive affects but not with negative affect. Religious coping was associated with greater life satisfaction and positive affect. Our longitudinal analysis documented a statistically significant decline in depressive symptoms, and increase in life satisfaction and positive affect, with corresponding increase in religious identity over time. However, changes in religious identity did not lead to significant changes in negative affect over time. Religious coping and church attendance fully explained the influence of religious identity on changes in life satisfaction. Although the influence of religious identity on depressive symptoms and positive affect was weakened, its significant influence was maintained even after the consideration of religious coping and church attendance. Beyond religious identity, we also observed a significant increase in positive affect with a corresponding increase in religious coping. Overall, our findings support expectations that religious identification and practices are associated with greater psychological well-being among community dwelling old- old adults.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110550
Author(s):  
Joel Thiessen ◽  
Kennedy Quantz ◽  
Arch Chee Keen Wong ◽  
Keith Walker ◽  
Bill McAlpine

With the recent surge of “religious nones” in many Western nations, there is a growing interest among some church attenders to effectively “reach” this demographic. In this article, we build on theories of strictness and social embeddedness to tackle three questions regarding evangelistic belief and behavior in Canadian Catholic, mainline Protestant, and conservative Protestant congregations. First, in what ways are evangelistic beliefs and behaviors similar or dissimilar across theological traditions, notably when comparing stricter and less strict contexts? Second, how are evangelistic behaviors similar or dissimilar based on a person’s frequency of church attendance? Third, what challenges do people confront in their evangelistic efforts? Drawing on survey data with over 9100 Catholic, mainline, and conservative Protestant respondents in over 250 Canadian congregations, this study compares responses across theological sectors, reported levels of importance that church members attach to evangelism, as well as church attendance frequency. Data reveal that those in religious traditions with stricter “insider–outsider” boundaries and who were more socially embedded in their religious groups (i.e., conservative Protestant traditions) were the most likely to embrace evangelistic attitudes and behaviors, in contrast to those in religious groups with less strict boundaries or social embeddedness in their religious group (i.e., United Church of Canada). However, those with the strongest “us–them” boundaries also found those boundaries particularly prohibitive to their evangelistic efforts reflected, in part, in a widespread leaning toward passive versus assertive forms of evangelism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 90-116
Author(s):  
Melanie C. Ross

Chapter 4 introduces North Point Community Church, a congregation that is especially concerned about the declining church attendance of young adults, and regularly experiments with new, sometimes-controversial methods in an effort to make its services more appealing. This chapter parses North Point’s “sequentialist” understanding of progress. Sequentialists believe that Old Testament teachings—once a necessary part of God’s plan of salvation—cannot be “retrofitted” to be made compatible with New Testament doctrine. Similarly, the service patterns and musical repertoire that worked in previous decades must be replaced if a church hopes to be relevant to a new generation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jonathan Timothy Beazer

<p>This thesis explores the subjective experiences of New Zealand men who identify as gay and Christian. In particular, the study questions why gay men attend churches that have traditionally not welcomed or supported them. A small number of international studies have investigated gay men who have left the Church but there are few studies of those who stay. This research uses the work of Michel Foucault to theorise the contours of gay Christianity. Foucault's work has been little used in the sociology of religion. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twelve men who identified as gay and Christian. Transcripts were examined using theoretically based thematic analysis, and three resulting themes are explored. The first theme describes religious exclusion of gay men and the value of supportive networks for gay Christians. The second theme theorises the concept of religious belief as both a type of knowledge/power and a practice, as well as exploring connections between religion and power. The third theme focuses on subjectivity, analysing ways in which those interviewed constructed an integrated gay and Christian self. Church attendance by gay men is attributed to three factors summarised as reasons of faith, reasons of fellowship and reasons of identity. These findings contribute to academic literature concerning religion, gay identity and Foucault, and there is scope for further research in these areas. The use of Foucault's work in this way may contribute to theoretical and methodological developments in the sociology of religion.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jonathan Timothy Beazer

<p>This thesis explores the subjective experiences of New Zealand men who identify as gay and Christian. In particular, the study questions why gay men attend churches that have traditionally not welcomed or supported them. A small number of international studies have investigated gay men who have left the Church but there are few studies of those who stay. This research uses the work of Michel Foucault to theorise the contours of gay Christianity. Foucault's work has been little used in the sociology of religion. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twelve men who identified as gay and Christian. Transcripts were examined using theoretically based thematic analysis, and three resulting themes are explored. The first theme describes religious exclusion of gay men and the value of supportive networks for gay Christians. The second theme theorises the concept of religious belief as both a type of knowledge/power and a practice, as well as exploring connections between religion and power. The third theme focuses on subjectivity, analysing ways in which those interviewed constructed an integrated gay and Christian self. Church attendance by gay men is attributed to three factors summarised as reasons of faith, reasons of fellowship and reasons of identity. These findings contribute to academic literature concerning religion, gay identity and Foucault, and there is scope for further research in these areas. The use of Foucault's work in this way may contribute to theoretical and methodological developments in the sociology of religion.</p>


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 963
Author(s):  
Bernadette Sweetman

The culture of provision of adult religious education and faith development, whereby talks or courses are made available at parish level and/or in formal educational settings, has undoubtedly dominated the Irish scene for many years. The low level of uptake of such opportunities or long-term engagement, however, coupled with the recognised decrease in regular church attendance would suggest that this culture of provision does not meet the needs of the adult population. This mismatch was a key driving force behind the inception of the Adult Religious Education and Faith Development (AREFD) project. Cognisant of cultural and societal changes, a core aim of the project was to assess this traditional culture of provision within a detraditionalised context. The present study is based on data gathered in phase two of the AREFD project consisting of fourteen semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted between December 2019 and April 2021. The participants were involved for a number of years in adult religious education and faith development in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and across a variety of settings. The purpose of these interviews was to gather together the rich insights from the wealth of experience of the interviewees on the practicalities and possibilities central to adult religious education. The findings affirm dissatisfaction amongst participants with the current state of AREFD in Ireland, but indicate that there is hope for the future. Fresh and innovative engagement with adults is called for. This paper outlines key themes emerging from the data which contribute to the conversation of how innovative engagement with adults can revitalise church culture in Ireland.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 908
Author(s):  
Ferenc Moksony ◽  
Rita Hegedűs

Objective: To examine the effect of religion on negative attitudes and beliefs about suicide. Methods: We use data from a large nationwide survey conducted in Hungary covering more than 3000 individuals. Suicide-related stigmas are captured with three Likert-type measures that we combine into an overall indicator. Religion is measured by denomination (Catholic vs. Protestant) and church attendance (at least weekly vs. never or less than weekly). We employ logistic regression and the SPSS statistical software. Results: People attending religious services frequently have greater odds of stigmatizing self-killing than those reporting no or infrequent attendance. Compared to Protestants, Catholics are significantly less condemning of suicide. The two measures of religion also work in tandem, with denomination modifying the impact of church attendance. In particular, while church attendance strongly increases the odds of negative attitudes among Catholics, it has practically no effect among Protestants. Discussion and Conclusions: The results presented are in keeping with our expectations and suggest that a social climate that stigmatizes suicide without providing for people a strong community network that pressures individuals toward conforming to fundamental moral principles can be especially harmful for mental health.


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