To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Church attendance decline.
Journal articles on the topic 'Church attendance decline'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 27 journal articles for your research on the topic 'Church attendance decline.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse journal articles on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
HILLIS, PETER. "Church and Society in Aberdeen and Glasgow, c. 1800–c. 2000." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 53, no. 4 (October 2002): 707–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002204690200475x.
Full textAbstract:
This article discusses the relationship between Church and society in Aberdeen and Glasgow, c. 1800–c. 2000, with specific reference to levels of church attendance and membership, alongside the social and gender composition of church membership. Despite contrasts in economic development, both cities experienced a sharp decline in levels of church attendance. However, this decline was partly offset by an expanding membership in suburban areas such as Bearsden and Cults. The article confirms previous analyses of religion and social class, but further reinforces more recent research which highlights the important role of women in the Church.
2
Gerber, Alan S., Jonathan Gruber, and Daniel M. Hungerman. "Does Church Attendance Cause People to Vote? Using Blue Laws’ Repeal to Estimate the Effect of Religiosity on Voter Turnout." British Journal of Political Science 46, no. 3 (January 20, 2015): 481–500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007123414000416.
Full textAbstract:
Regular church attendance is strongly associated with a higher probability of voting. It is an open question as to whether this association, which has been confirmed in numerous surveys, is causal. The repeal of the laws restricting Sunday retail activity (‘blue laws’) is used to measure the effects of church-going on political participation. Blue laws’ repeal caused a 5 percent decrease in church attendance. Its effect on political participation was measured and it was found that, following the repeal, turnout fell by approximately 1 percentage point. This decline in turnout is consistent with the large effect of church attendance on turnout reported in the literature, and suggests that church attendance may have a significant causal effect on voter turnout.
3
Berman, Eli, Laurence R. Iannaccone, and Giuseppe Ragusa. "FROM EMPTY PEWS TO EMPTY CRADLES: FERTILITY DECLINE AMONG EUROPEAN CATHOLICS." Journal of Demographic Economics 84, no. 2 (May 14, 2018): 149–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dem.2017.22.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract:Total fertility in the Catholic countries of Southern Europe has dropped to remarkably low rates (=1.4) despite continuing low rates female labor force participation and high historic fertility. We model three ways in whichreligionaffects the demand for children – through norms, market wages, and childrearing costs. We estimate these effects using new panel data on church attendance and clergy employment for 13 European countries from 1960 to 2000, spanning the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). Using nuns per capita as a proxy for service provision, we estimate fertility effects on the order of 300 to 400 children per nun. Moreover, nuns outperform priests as a predictor of fertility, suggesting that changes in childrearing costs dominate changes in theology and norms. Reduced church attendance also predicts fertility decline, but only for Catholics, not for Protestants. Service provision and attendance complement each other, a finding consistent with club models of religion.
4
Machin, G. I. T. "Marriage and the Churches in the 1930s: Royal Abdication and Divorce Reform, 1936–7." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 42, no. 1 (January 1991): 68–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002204690000258x.
Full textAbstract:
In a general history of modern England A. J. P. Taylor stated that by the 1920s England ‘had ceased to be, in any real sense, a Christian nation’. He was no doubt referring to declining membership and attendance figures in most Protestant Churches (not the Roman Catholic Church), and may have been implying that there had been substantial abandonment of traditional belief. In regard to traditional morality, based on Christian precepts, he found greater laxity but no very noticeable decline; and this conclusion seems to be generally supported by Church experience in trying to uphold established morality in the inter-war years. Church assembly records and church newspapers show constant concern with familiar moral enemies such as drunkenness and gambling, and possible new dangers in the shape of films, broadcasting and information about birth control. Gambling was increasing because of the popularity of football pools and greyhound racing, but drunkenness appeared less common than before 1914, and the cinema was reasonably harmless (a Cinema Christian Council and other bodies striving to keep it so), as also was television when its broadcasts began in 1936. None the less, the general decline in church attendance was an indication of an increasingly secularised society in which the Churches, taken as a whole, had diminishing influence, and arguably this had a weakening effect on traditional morality.
5
Awuku-Gyampoh, Ransford Kwabena, Justina Sarpong Akoto, Catherine Ocran, and Bah Formijang. "Empirical Research on the Downturn in Church Attendance in Australia: The youth without Religion." International Journal of Social Science and Economics 1, no. 2 (July 27, 2021): p6. http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/ijsse.v1n2p6.
Full textAbstract:
The church has played a significant role in the lives of Australia’s people since the European settlement. It used to provide several welfare services such as educational, health, and orphanages, even more than the government. Australian churches played a significant role in shaping the culture of Australians. Australia was the only country with no newspaper on Sunday as they kept Sunday as a regular holiday and kept everything closed. Indeed, for Australia’s farmers, religion was so important that they decided to remain clear of their religion and, in 1901, to lead up the Federation. As the years passed, church attendance reduced, and others chose no religion. Few considered religion as least important, resulting in an overall decline in Australia’s churches. The paper reiterated the downturn in church attendance in Australia, found reasons for the downturn, and how the youth can be driven to attend the church. Innovation, discipleship, evangelism, oneness, care, hospitality, service to the community, and social media presence were discovered to be strategies for motivating the younger generation, first-time worshippers and new converts to the church.
6
Becker, Sascha O., and Ludger Woessmann. "Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties." American Economic Review 103, no. 3 (May 1, 2013): 539–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.3.539.
Full textAbstract:
The interplay between religion and the economy has long occupied social scientists. We construct a unique panel of income and Protestant church attendance using 175 Prussian counties, presented in six waves from 1886 to 1911. The data reveal a marked decline in church attendance coinciding with increasing income. The cross-section also shows a negative association between income and church attendance. The associations disappear in panel analyses, including first-differenced models of the 1886 to 1911 change, panel models with county and time fixed effects, and panel Granger-causality tests. The results cast doubt on causal interpretations of the religion-economy nexus in Prussian secularization.
7
Gershon, Sarah Allen, Adrian D. Pantoja, and J. Benjamin Taylor. "God in the Barrio?: The Determinants of Religiosity and Civic Engagement among Latinos in the United States." Politics and Religion 9, no. 1 (February 26, 2016): 84–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s175504831600002x.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractIt is often assumed that Latinos in the United States are deeply religious, and that this religious identity plays an important role in shaping their political beliefs and behaviors. A more controversial though unexplored proposition is that Latinos may not be as religious as is commonly believed and that forces beyond their religiosity play more prominent roles in shaping their political engagement. Relying on data from the 2006 Latino National Survey, we examine secularism — measured by church attendance — and civic engagement among Latinos. Our efforts are to analyze the social forces that shape levels of religiosity and find that generational status plays a significant role. Additionally, we further find that while church attendance declines among later generations, second and third generation Latinos have higher levels of civic engagement than their first generation peers, indicating that a decline in church participation does not depress political participation among later generations of Latinos.
8
Phillips, Rick, and Ryan Cragun. "Contemporary Mormon Religiosity and the Legacy of “Gathering”." Nova Religio 16, no. 3 (February 1, 2013): 77–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/nr.2013.16.3.77.
Full textAbstract:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the LDS, or Mormon church—has dominated the state of Utah both culturally and politically since joining the Union in 1896. Scholars note that LDS majorities in Utah and other parts of the Intermountain West foster a religious subculture that has promoted higher levels of Mormon church attendance and member retention than in other parts of the nation. However, after rising throughout most of the twentieth century, the percentage of Utah's population belonging to the church began declining in 1989. Some sources assert Utah is now less Mormon than at any time in the state's history. This article examines the degree to which this decline has affected LDS church activity and retention in Utah and adjacent environs. We find evidence suggesting church attendance rates may be falling, and clear evidence that rates of apostasy among Mormons have risen over the past decade.
9
Awuku-Gyampoh, Ransford Kwabena, and Justina Sarpong-Akoto. "Strategic Youth Management: Returning the Youth to Church in Australia." Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal 8, no. 4 (April 13, 2021): 71–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.9975.
Full textAbstract:
In a brief review of scholarship, this paper presents the general assessment of Church decline among the Youth in Australia. Journals, books, magazines, and websites information were the resources employed in the analyses. It was discovered that the spiritual and personal growth, discipleship role, and mission life/work determine the young adult's understanding of the church and environment. Lack of interest, busy life schedule, political issues, and people-pleasing were found to have triggered why the young ones have declined in their church attendance. The review recommended that effective youth ministry is possible if there is a specific and time slot for busy life schedule people; pastors adopt strategic ministry to the youth and focus on enhancing the youth's philosophical thoughts. The findings would help appropriate youth ministry in the contemporary context. Future researchers may consider the explanatory or exploratory mixed-methods design.
10
CHAPMAN, ALISTER. "Secularisation and the Ministry of John R. W. Stott at All Souls, Langham Place, 1950–1970." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 56, no. 3 (July 2005): 496–513. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022046905004288.
Full textAbstract:
This article uses the parish ministry of John R. W. Stott as a case study of the resilience of evangelical churches in England in the postwar period. It situates Stott's experience at All Souls in the context of the debates over the reasons for the resilience of conservative Protestantism in the western world, and argues that closer attention to particular historical facts is necessary in order to understand this phenomenon properly. The article suggests that in England in the 1960s secularisation theory became a part of the story it was trying to tell, as it generated anxiety among Christian leaders, like Stott, who were committed to reversing the decline in church attendance in England.
11
Meunier, E. Martin, and Jean-François Laniel. "Congrès eucharistique international 2008. Nation et catholicisme culturel au Québec. Signification d’une recomposition religio-politique." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 41, no. 4 (October 1, 2012): 595–617. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008429812459631.
Full textAbstract:
This article explores the Church’s recent institutional and symbolic re-articulations with regard to the society and nation of Quebec. Its observations were collected during the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress, and over the course of an investigation led by the authors on the state of different facets of contemporary catholic practices (church involvement, attendance at Mass, marriage and baptism statistics). Tying field observations to statistical tendencies, this article takes a novel approach to better comprehend the evolution of the Catholic Church in its relations to Quebec society. In conjunction with the continued decline in catholic expression in Quebec since the Quiet Revolution, the shaping of a new religio-political configuration has been noted, at the centre of which the Catholic Church seeks to determine its current place and involvement.
12
Muñoz, Daniel. "North to South: A Reappraisal of Anglican Communion Membership Figures." Journal of Anglican Studies 14, no. 1 (October 26, 2015): 71–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1740355315000212.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractIn recent decades Anglicans have developed a largely unquestioned and unchallenged narrative of global growth and decline. This narrative tells a story of Anglicanism’s success being largely due to growth in developing, postcolonial nations which, according to the narrators, is ongoing and unstoppable. At the same time, first-world, mostly postmodern nations have seen a steep decline in church membership and attendance. Numeric growth and strength have been used to define ecclesial identity and to legitimate understandings of ‘Anglican orthodoxy’. This article offers an up-to-date reappraisal of Anglican Communion membership and, in that process, challenges many of the premises of such a narrative.
13
Farina, Egidio, and Vikram Pathania. "Papal visits and abortions: evidence from Italy." Journal of Population Economics 33, no. 3 (December 31, 2019): 795–837. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00148-019-00759-0.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractWe investigate the impact of papal visits to Italian provinces on abortions from 1979 to 2012. Using administrative data, we find a 10–20% decrease in the number of abortions that commences in the 3rd month and persists until the 14th month after the visits. However, we find no significant change in the number of live births. A decline in unintended pregnancies best explains our results. Papal visits generate intense local media coverage, and likely make salient the Catholic Church’s stance against abortions. We show that papal visits lead to increased church attendance, and that the decline in abortions is greater when the Pope mentions abortion in his speeches.
14
Hirschle, Jochen. "From Religious to Consumption-Related Routine Activities? Analyzing Ireland's Economic Boom and the Decline in Church Attendance." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49, no. 4 (December 2010): 673–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01536.x.
Full text
15
Morais, Ubirajara, Larissa Zeggio Perez Figueiredo, and Egydio Barbosa Zanotta. "Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and the religious marketing." Revista Ibero-Americana de Estratégia 3, no. 1 (December 12, 2007): 53–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5585/ijsm.v3i1.51.
Full textAbstract:
Several studies have show that the decline in Catholic Church attendance, as a result of its ongoing stagnant policy that does not attempt to win back or retain its flock, apart from its general neglect as to the financial situation, may have influenced the rise of new religious institutions. But the reasons behind the growing number of evangelicals, especially followers of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God have yet to be seriously studied. Could it be that the leaders of this denomination have been using conventional marketing tools to support its expansion? And what would such tools be? Within this scarcely investigated context, the object of the present study has to propose a methodology and an instrument to appraise the profile of the followers’ entry and permanence.
16
Voas, David. "Value Liberalization or Consumption: Comment on Hirschle's Analysis of Ireland's Economic Boom and the Decline in Church Attendance." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49, no. 4 (December 2010): 688–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01537.x.
Full text
17
Mukerjee, Swati, and Arun Venugopal. "Religiosity and Health Through the Decades: Is There a Gender Difference?" American Journal of Health Promotion 32, no. 4 (March 9, 2017): 1028–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0890117116687886.
Full textAbstract:
Purpose: An empirical examination of the long-term association, disaggregated by gender, between religiosity and self-rated health with reference to demographic shifts in labor force participation, education, and income. Design: General Social Survey data. Setting: United States, 1974 to 2012. Participants: A total of 23 353 respondents. Measures: Self-assessed health; 2 key religiosity variables: attendance and intensity of belief; income, labor market variables, education, standard demographic variables, household size, region, and time dummies. Analysis: Probit estimation conducted for the aggregate sample by gender as well as by decades to examine possible gender differential changes over time. Results: Attendance has declined overall with a much greater decline for women. The overall positive association between religiosity and health masks considerable heterogeneity across gender and time; higher and stable for males, there is no longer a significant association for females. Increased education, income, and labor force participation can explain only part of this association. Education is the strongest mediator. Conclusion: The way women and men benefit from religious attendance has changed, suggesting that some pathways may be working differently for women now, especially those with less education. Moving away from church networks could be due to a perceived lack of support or substitution by other social networks. Ceteris paribus, since religious participation has been shown to weaken preference for risky consumption, declining participation, especially for women, may show up as an increase in risky behavior.
18
Howrey, Bret T., Soham Al Snih, Joyce A. Middleton, and Kenneth J. Ottenbacher. "Trajectories of Frailty and Cognitive Decline Among Older Mexican Americans." Journals of Gerontology: Series A 75, no. 8 (February 3, 2020): 1551–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glz295.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Background Progressive physical frailty and cognitive decline in older adults is associated with increased risk of falls, disability, institutionalization, and mortality; however, there is considerable heterogeneity in progression over time. We identified heterogeneous frailty and cognitive decline trajectory groups and examined the specific contribution of health conditions to these trajectories among older Mexican origin adults. Methods We use a sample from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (HEPESE) with at least two measures of frailty criteria during 18 years follow-up: slow gait, weak handgrip strength, exhaustion, and unexplained weight loss (n = 1362, mean age 72). Cognition was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results Using group-based trajectory models we identified three frailty groups—non-frail (n = 331), moderate progressive (n = 855), and progressive high (n = 149)—and three cognitive decline groups—non-cognitively impaired (476), moderate decline (677) and rapid decline (n = 209). The probability of membership in a high-frailty group given membership in a progressive cognitive decline group was 63%, while the probability of being in a non-frail group given membership in a non-cognitively impaired group was 68%. Predictors of membership into both the progressive high frailty and rapid cognitive decline groups combined were low education and diabetes. Weekly church attendance was associated with a 66% reduction in the odds of being in the combined groups. Conclusions Interventions to reduce frailty rates and cognitive decline might focus on the management of underlying chronic disease and on increasing participation in activities outside the home.
19
Kasselstrand, Isabella. "‘We Still Wanted That Sense of Occasion’: Traditions and Meaning-Making in Scottish Humanist Marriage Ceremonies." Scottish Affairs 27, no. 3 (August 2018): 273–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/scot.2018.0244.
Full textAbstract:
As a secularising nation in Northern Europe, Scotland has, over the last few decades, experienced a steep decline in religious belonging, church attendance, and beliefs. Ritual participation, which is arguably an understudied dimension of secularisation, follows a similar pattern of decline, with a significant majority of Scottish marriage rituals now being conducted in secular ceremonies. Using data from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 married couples, this study examines the decisions that secular Scots make when planning their wedding. Moreover, it places a particular focus on humanist marriage ceremonies, which have seen a noteworthy increase in popularity since they became legally recognised in Scotland in 2005. The secular participants emphasised the role of personal convictions and family expectations in choosing a particular type of marriage ceremony. The narratives also revealed how positive attitudes toward humanist ceremonies, in contrast with civil ceremonies, are centred around their ability to create personalised, nonreligious, celebrations that nevertheless give attention to culture and heritage. Ultimately, the findings suggest that repeating history through cultural traditions are an important aspect of both secular and religious rites of passage.
20
COLEMAN, PETER G., CHRISTINE IVANI-CHALIAN, and MAUREEN ROBINSON. "Religious attitudes among British older people: stability and change in a 20-year longitudinal study." Ageing and Society 24, no. 2 (March 2004): 167–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x03001636.
Full textAbstract:
Britain along with other western European countries has seen a marked decrease in allegiance to traditional forms of Christianity during the latter part of the 20th century. Although church attendance remains relatively high among older people compared with younger age groups, there has been little or no investigation into the stability or change of people's religious belief and practice with increasing age. This paper present findings on these issues from the Southampton Ageing Project, which from 1977–78 to 2002 followed 342 people almost all of whom had had an entirely Christian religious education and all of whom at the outset were aged 65 or more years. Although religion has continued to have considerable meaning in the lives of up to one-half of the participants, approximately one-quarter of the sample expressed a declining commitment to a religious faith and to church membership. The participants' accounts of their recent life experiences, for example following bereavement, give instances of disappointment with the support that they received from institutional religion and show that this was a factor in their declining adherence. They also provide suggestions for further investigation into the origin of this decline. The conclusion argues that the study of older people's religious and spiritual beliefs and practice should be integrated with the investigation of self and identity and of sources of existential meaning in later life.
21
Horkusha, Oksana. "Church and religious situation in the Ukraine: Trends 2019 - request for extension of questionnaires for sociological surveys." Religious Freedom, no. 24 (March 31, 2020): 31–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.32420/rs.2020.24.1778.
Full textAbstract:
Recently the Razumkov Center published new sociological data “State and Church in Ukraine - 2019: results of the year and prospects of relations development” and organized a round table on “Religion and power in Ukraine: problems of relations”. This sociological data is an extremely important fixation of the empirical indicators of the religious situation in contemporary Ukraine. Analyzing them, we can see a clear correlation between faith, religious and church affiliation, and the experience and position of those interviewed. However, for further in-depth understanding of how religious and denominational identity and church affiliation correlate with event experience, prevailing historiographical discourse, life position, and civic consciousness, it would be worthwhile to expand the questionnaires. Undoubtedly, religion is a significant factor in shaping Ukraine's future. Especially the influence of church affiliation on social reality is noticeable in the situation of armed aggression against Ukraine of the Russian Federation, which does not neglect to use as a weapon in the information war a religious sermon in the temples of the subordinate Moscow center of the church. That is why it is so important to systematically monitor the correlation of religious and ecclesiastical affiliations with world-view parameters and real events in the context of which transformations of the religious situation and socio-state-church relations take place.Current trends in religious change clearly include factors that are reflected in sociological research (such as a decline in the Church's recognition of moral authority is an indication of the spread and affirmation of secular tendencies and the activation of secular ideology in conjunction with cultural and world-view circumstances of the Church. and confessions turned out to be unsolicited, irrelevant, ineffective, incompetent, etc.) and factors that went unaddressed due to the fact that previous questionnaires did not contain questions that Anish not issued to date. Therefore, it is time to complete the questionnaires to explain the jumps unexpected in terms of previous sociological data.
The information age updates additional parameters: here it is necessary to find out the relation of religious, civil, state systems with the information environment, to understand how specific information flows influence the spread of confessional, religious, civilizational and other discourses. Another block of issues that need to be covered in future polls is to find out the level, form and type of religiosity not only in relation to religious, denominational and ecclesiastical affiliations, but also in the value-meaning parameters of the consciousness of believers / non-believers in Ukraine.
After all, religion is not only a religious activity, which is evidenced in the attendance at worship and financial support of the church, but also a vital position in accordance with the values and guidelines of the basic religion / denomination / church. Under these circumstances, a partial decrease in trust in the church as a moral authority will also be understandable. What will be manifested is the type of consciousness of the "Soviet human" brought up during the totalitarian-Soviet era. We assume that the transformation of the ideology of militant secularism into a quasi-religion of vulgar utilitarianism can partly explain the current world outlook in Ukraine.
22
Kennedy, James. "Looking Beyond the Church: The Religious Crisis of Dutch Public Life During the 1960s." Journal of Religion in Europe 5, no. 4 (2012): 452–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00504003.
Full textAbstract:
Many parts of Western Europe and North America experienced as Hugh McLeod has noted a ‘religious crisis’ in the 1960s. Yet, this multifaceted ‘religious crisis’ did not affect ‘the church’ alone, as McLeod's work strongly suggests. Politics and civil society also changed substantially. Hit particularly hard by the change in religious sensibilities was the Netherlands, where half the population went to church regularly until the mid-1960s, after which attendance declined rapidly. More than in most other parts of Western Europe, rapid religious change brought about a serious crisis to the institutions of Dutch society. This article seeks to explore the dynamics of traversing the transition from a ‘Christian country’ to a ‘civilised society’ in the course of the Dutch 1960s. In the Netherlands, that transition was relatively rapid and in some respects went further than elsewhere. At the same time, the changes also afforded religious civil society and politics continued opportunities for public presence. In looking at the Netherlands, this contribution hopes to problematize and make new distinctions in McLeod's typification of the 1960s as a decade that hit primarily ‘the churches,’ opening the way to consider the role of other kinds of ‘religious actors’ in this crucial decade, and in its aftermath.
23
Shaver, John H., Eleanor A. Power, Benjamin G. Purzycki, Joseph Watts, Rebecca Sear, Mary K. Shenk, Richard Sosis, and Joseph A. Bulbulia. "Church attendance and alloparenting: an analysis of fertility, social support and child development among English mothers." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375, no. 1805 (June 29, 2020): 20190428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0428.
Full textAbstract:
Many aspects of religious rituals suggest they provide adaptive benefits. Studies across societies consistently find that investments in ritual behaviour return high levels of cooperation. Another line of research finds that alloparental support to mothers increases maternal fertility and improves child outcomes. Although plausible, whether religious cooperation extends to alloparenting and/or affects child development remains unclear. Using 10 years of data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we test the predictions that church attendance is positively associated with social support and fertility ( n = 8207 to n = 8209), and that social support is positively associated with fertility and child development ( n = 1766 to n = 6561). Results show that: (i) relative to not attending, church attendance is positively related to a woman's social network support and aid from co-religionists, (ii) aid from co-religionists is associated with increased family size, while (iii) fertility declines with extra-religious social network support. Moreover, while extra-religious social network support decreased over time, co-religionist aid remained constant. These findings suggest that religious and secular networks differ in their longevity and have divergent influences on a woman's fertility. We find some suggestive evidence that support to mothers and aid from co-religionists is positively associated with a child's cognitive ability at later stages of development. Findings provide mixed support for the premise that ritual, such as church attendance, is part of a strategy that returns high levels of support, fertility and improved child outcomes. Identifying the diversity and scope of cooperative breeding strategies across global religions presents an intriguing new horizon in the evolutionary study of religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.
24
Hays, Judith C., Laura Wood, Karen Steinhauser, Maren K. Olson, Jennifer H. Lindquist, and James A. Tulsky. "Clergy-laity support and patients’ mood during serious illness: A cross-sectional epidemiologic study." Palliative and Supportive Care 9, no. 3 (August 15, 2011): 273–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1478951511000228.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractObjectives:Religious participation is positively associated with mental health, but attendance at worship services declines during serious illness. This study assessed whether home visits by clergy or laity provide benefits to seriously ill patients who may have difficulty attending religious services.Method:A cross-sectional study design nested in an observational epidemiologic cohort study was used. The regionally representative sample of patients had metastatic lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer (n = 70); Class III and IV congestive heart failure (n = 70); or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with hypercapnea (n = 70) and were observed regarding clergy–laity support in their natural environments. Dependent variable: 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression Scale. Independent variable: A one-item question measuring how much helpful support patients received from clergy or other persons from church, temple, synagogue, or mosque. Covariates: demographic, health, social support, religiousness.Results:Depressed mood was negatively associated with clergy–laity support in a non-linear pattern. Depressed mood was also positively associated with functional deficits and a lifetime history of difficulties related to religious involvement.Significance of results:In lieu of worship attendance when people are sick, home visits by members of a patient's religious community may bolster mood by providing continuity of instrumental, emotional, and spiritual support.
25
GILLEARD, CHRIS. "Old age in the Dark Ages: the status of old age during the early Middle Ages." Ageing and Society 29, no. 7 (September 18, 2009): 1065–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x09008630.
Full textAbstract:
ABSTRACTThis paper reviews the position of old age in the societies of post-Roman Europe, from the fifth to the 10th centuries. Drawing on both primary and secondary literary and material sources of the period, I suggest that living beyond the age of 60 years was an uncommon experience throughout the early Middle Ages. Not only was achieving old age a minority experience, it seems to have been particularly concentrated among the senior clergy. This, together with the growing importance of the Christian Church as the institution that stabilised post-Roman society, the decline of urban living and its attendant culture of leisure and literacy, and the transformation of kinship into a symbolic ‘family under God’ contributed to a more favourable status for old age, or at least one that was particularly favourable for older men. This was based not so much upon the accumulation with age of wealth and privilege, but upon the moral worth of old age as a stage of life. The early Middle Ages, the so-called ‘Dark Ages’, was in this respect a relatively distinctive period in the history of old age. With all around instability and the future uncertain and often threatening, survival into old age was a rare but frequently revered attainment.
26
Ejobowah, John Boye. "Sharia and the Press in Nigeria." American Journal of Islam and Society 19, no. 2 (April 1, 2002): 121–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v19i2.1947.
Full textAbstract:
Over the decades, Nigerian political elites have devised various constitutionaland administrative arrangements to cope with the country's complexethnic and religious pluralism. Yet, peace and stability have been elusive,as the country continues to experience severe religious and communal conflicts.These are reflected in the highly polemical book in which AdoKurawatries to trace the origin and nature of what he calls the hostility ofwestern Christian representatives towards Islam.In the book, Ado-Karuwa attempts to argue that the secular publicspace is too inflected with Christian values to make a claim to neutrality,and he uses Nigeria as a case study. He begins by noting that historically,Islam in Europe was tolerant and accommodative of the Christian religion,but this was not reciprocated when the Crusades were launched and"Muslims ... received the worst treatment imaginable." According to him,the failure of the armed campaign prompted Christian clerics to embark onan intellectual attack that entailed the negative representation of Islam inscholarly writings. What emerged, according to him, was a body of knowledgethat explained the superiority of the West over the Islamic world.Contemporary global dominance by the West has also opened the door foracademic institutions in Europe and America to strangulate Islam under theguise of promoting universal science.Ado-Karuwa relates the above to Nigeria by noting that, within thecountry, both Christian intellectuals and some British-trained Muslims actas agents of the West by promoting a secularism that marginalizes Islam.After a lengthy polemic about orientalism, colonialism, and Americanimperialism, the author returns to the issue of secularism, which he discussesgenerally without relating it concretely to Nigeria. He does not showhow secularism in Nigeria marginalizes Islam; neither does he make effortsto show that secularism is tainted by Christian doctrines, in the mannerdone by Louis Dumont. Instead, he undermines his project by arguing thatChristianity declined in Europe after secularism was enthroned by theReformation and the Renaissance, and that in Sweden attendance in theLutheran Church is only 5 percent. If it is true, as he argues, that the ...
27
Van der Merwe, Michelle C., Anské F. Grobler, Arien Strasheim, and Lizré Orton. "Getting young adults back to church: A marketing approach." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 69, no. 2 (January 15, 2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v69i2.1326.
Full textAbstract:
Worldwide, church membership is decreasing. A decline in the number of young adults that attend church services is also evident. The purpose of the research was to determine whether the application of a well-established body of knowledge of marketing theories and principles could be used by churches to encourage young adults to return to the church. The application of services marketing to the church as a non-profit organisation is discussed by focussing on non-physical and physical atmospheric cues in the church’s servicescape that could enhance church attendance. A quantitative approach was used by testing the opinions of 200 church service attendees of different denominations. The findings indicated that certain elements in the servicescape of a church may be useful in attracting young adults. It was found that music is a strong determinant of whether young adults attend church services, followed by layout and design of the church and then by the signs and symbols used in the church. Females reported significantly higher levels of positive perceptions concerning the layout and design. Although the research showed that some marketing elements, such as a positive servicescape, could improve church attendance, other personal elements such as forming personal relationships with fellow Christians and God need to be further explored.