Becoming a Religious None: Irreligious Socialization and Disaffiliation

The rise in the numbers of religious “nones” is an almost universal phenomenon across the Western world. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which religious nones are socialized to adopt a “no religion” position as children, as compared with disaffiliating during their teen or adult years. Related, among those religious nones who come from a religious background, we examine the timing and depth of a person's disaffiliation. This study sheds light on these issues by combining a quantitative analysis of religious nones samples in Alberta, Canada, America, and other international contexts with a qualitative analysis of 30 semistructured interviews with religious nones. Building on a stage of decline framework, we argue that while disaffiliation has been a lead catalyst for the growth among the religious none population—and we offer several observations of what fuels disaffiliation—moving forward we can and should expect irreligious socialization to gradually take the lead in explaining rising religious none figures.     

Reasons for Leaving: Causes and Initial Triggers for Disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism

Investigating both the causes and initial triggers for disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism is an important part of understanding the complex lived experiences of exiters. This study documents an extensive number of causes for leaving Orthodox Judaism, as well as initial triggers, a less-often investigated, yet important component of disaffiliation. Using an online survey, over 700 open-ended responses were collected from 303 participants who self-identified as having grown up practicing Orthodox Judaism but had since stopped practicing. Content analysis was used to organize responses, resulting in distinct categories that fit into two themes: intellectual and social-emotional, the former more often reported by males and the latter by females. The most commonly reported causes and initial triggers, respectively, were issues with the community and lack of belief in Torah and Orthodoxy. Our results give voice to exiters by documenting nuanced accounts of the full disaffiliation journey, beginning with the initial trigger.     

Weekly churchgoing amongst Roman Catholics in Britain: long-term trends and contemporary analysis

Declining communal religious practice in the form of regular churchgoing is a key area in the measurement and study of religious change and secularisation. The general trends in attendance in Britain have been well-researched. However, there has been less consideration of change and continuity in religious practice within different religious traditions. This article provides a detailed assessment of the trends in weekly churchgoing amongst Roman Catholics and then examines the socio-demographic factors associated with regular churchgoing. In long-term perspective, there has been a clear decline in weekly churchgoing amongst Catholics, corroborated by data across several recurrent social surveys. In terms of contemporary churchgoing, weekly attenders are more likely to be older, have higher socio-economic status and have children in the household. But, contrary to the well-established association between women and religiosity, there were no significant differences in weekly attendance between men and women, nor on the basis of ethnic background.     

Losing My Religion as a Natural Experiment: How State Pressure and Taxes Led to Church Disaffiliations between 1940 and 2010 in Germany

The sociological literature has produced a remarkably consistent picture of the quantitative patterns of religious disaffiliations in Western countries. This article argues, and demonstrates, that strong changes in a social context may lead individuals to disaffiliate rapidly, leading to very different aggregate effects from those in the “western model.” We use the unique situation of the separation of Germany from 1949 to 1989 and its subsequent reunification as a “natural experiment” to show just how much the relationships routinely found can be disrupted under changed conditions. The state socialist “treatment” affected religious disaffiliations in East Germany profoundly as it (a) made disaffiliations 10 times more probable in the East than in the West in the 1950s and 1960s, (b) shielded East German church members from factors that led to mass disaffiliations in the West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, (c) reversed the education‐disaffiliation link in the East, thus making disaffiliation more likely among the less educated, and (d) led to an especially strong increase in disaffiliations in the East right after the reunification     

A brilliant jewel: sex,celibacy, and the Roman Catholic Church

As clerical sexual abuse scandals hit the news and the crisis of vocations worsens each year, debate about the merits of mandatory clerical celibacy continues to grow. The fact remains, however, that supposedly celibate priests have been sexually active in significant numbers throughout history and that their sexual activity has barely affected the power of the Church. In this article, I focus on the ‘everyday’ nature of sexual ‘incontinence’ among a group of Northeast Brazilian priests and analyse the relative systematicity with which vow-breaking is accommodated. Such systematicity, I suggest, reveals an ongoing stable-instability at the heart of the Church as an institution; a dynamic which, if better understood, can help to explain the most characteristic (but often overlooked) feature of institutions more generally: their impressive longevity.     

The Roman Catholic Church of Norway and migration challenges

Ever since its re-establishment in Norway in 1843, the Roman Catholic Church has grown steadily. On 1 January 2017, the church had a total membership of approximately 150,000. The reason for the latest, and certainly largest, wave of Catholic migrants to settle in Norway is labour migration resulting from the eastward expansion of the EU in 2004, when Poland and Lithuania joined. About half the Catholic population of Norway originates from these two countries. This article focuses on the following research question: How does the Roman Catholic Church in Norway, represented by sisters in religious communities, priests and ecclesiastical employees, respond to the large influx of Catholic migrants to Norway? The study is based on a qualitative survey consisting of semi-structured interviews with 10 informants, all religious sisters, priests or ecclesiastical employees. Although some informants admit that the strong growth resulting from migration has posed problems, such as tendencies to form ‘parallel congregations’ based on ethnic origin, most expressed a positive view of this influx of migrants and of the future of the Catholic Church in Norway.     

Examining the Impact of Religious Initiation Rites on Religiosity and Disaffiliation over Time

Early religion scholars stressed the importance of institutionalized “rites of passage” to integrate and reinvigorate groups themselves. Surprisingly, little work, however, has explored the efficacy of such rites for the religious lives of individuals. Although research has examined the transformative role of semi‐institutionalized rites like short‐term mission trips and pilgrimages, we shift the focus to consider the potential influence of more fundamental initiation rites such as baptism, first communion, and bar/bat mitzvahs. Utilizing surveys 1 and 4 of the National Study of Youth and Religion and focusing on overall religiosity and disaffiliation as the outcomes, we examine whether experiencing a religious rite of passage during or before one's teenage years predicts the religious outcomes of young adults. We find no difference in religiosity over time between persons who experienced a religious rite passage and those who did not. However, those who underwent a religious rite of passage were 30 percent less likely to disaffiliate between data collection points. Tests for interactions show that the influence of such initiation rites does not vary across religious traditions. Findings suggest the experience of baptism, bar/bat mitzvah, confirmation, or other rites of passage matter primarily as durable markers of social identity, binding adherents to their faith community, if only nominally.     

Church Attendance and Religious Change in Italy, 1968–2010: A Multilevel Analysis of Pooled Datasets

The debate over religious change in Italy is far from having reached unanimous conclusions: some scholars point to an unbroken trend toward a decrease of religiosity, while others highlight the signs of a religious revival, especially in younger generations. Besides difficulties with definitions, different conclusions are also due to a lack of information over a sufficiently long period of time. This problem is tackled here by developing a pooled analysis of repeated cross‐section surveys that span over four decades. Using six different studies, the article analyzes the secularization trend in Italy on the basis of church attendance that, despite well‐founded criticism, continues to be a crucial indicator of this phenomenon. The results, estimated using multilevel models, show that the trend of attendance at Mass in Italy has decreased since the 1960s until today, despite a period of stability at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The overall trend looks like a “recumbent S” trend (decrease up to the 1970s, stability in the 1980s, decrease afterwards). Thus, the claims of a religious revival in Italy are not supported by our results.     

Learning the Church: ecclesiological thought and ecclesial practice

This article illustrates how the ecclesiological ideas developed by Professor Daniel Hardy (1930–2007) have been received and used in the life of the Church of England's Diocese of Coventry. It highlights the importance of theological engagement for those in a position of oversight and leadership in the Church, and goes on to connect Hardy's language of intensity and extensity with the story, structure and ethos of Coventry Cathedral in general, and with the iconic Stalingrad Madonna in particular, illustrating the rich synthesis that can be achieved between systematic ecclesiology and the central ethos of a church. The article goes on to argue that certain practices in the Church of England in general, and Coventry Diocese in particular, resonate well with Hardy's idea of ‘socio-poiesis’. These include the nurture of virtuous ecclesial practice and use of measurement in parish life (notably through ‘Natural Church Development)’, the new form taken by ecumenism in British cities and the role of the Bishop within it, as well as the embeddedness of the Church of England in many of the nation's schools. In relating Hardy's key themes to these concrete practices, this article challenges the stale division between Church and Academy, advocating fruitful and animating dialogue between the two as the best response to the challenges faced by each today.     

The Networking of Differences That Makes a Difference: Theology and the Unity of the Church

Abstract : What does the church mean when it confesses through the Creeds its oneness? My aim is to reflect on how and why theology needs to bring to the fore a hidden dimension in the discourse on the unity of the church, that is, its tendency to fall into a “solid” and “totalizing” disciplinary technology, i.e., an ideology. I will approach the theme following these basic theological pointers: (a) a biblical primary symbol as it emerges to unveil a new existence and practice—Paul's metaphor of the body in 1 Corinthians 12; (b) a secondary symbol through which the church understood itself to be lodged—the trinitarian understanding of being as a communicative relationship; (c) the regulative principle of law and promise as guiding a discursive practice that supports different levels of decentering and centering that signals a breakthrough of the eschaton—Luther's understanding of law and gospel. These overlapping theological dimensions allow a different metaphorization of the oneness and unity of the church.     

Hymns and Hymn‐Singing as an Indicator of the Situation of the Church

Abstract : This article investigates the hymnals of four Lutheran churches in Germany, North America, Sweden and Denmark in order to identify the connection between ecclesiastic and theological development during the 20^th century, as well as the editorial process used in creating the hymnals of the period. The hymnals reflect a significant development from a traditional non‐ritualistic to an Anglican‐inspired ritualistic conception of the Sunday service as a side‐effect of the transition of the typical Lutheran churches from majority to minority churches.     

The Catholic Church and the crisis: the case of Portugal

This article investigates the role of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal in the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis. Through a focus on the case of Lisbon, we explore how the crisis resulted in increased collaboration between religious organizations and the public administration. The crisis in fact changed the opportunity structure of the Portuguese Catholic world, which has reacted basically in three different ways. Firstly, the Episcopal Conference has pointed out the relevance of subsidiarity in the welfare field—and, more broadly, as a principle of societal organization—in the attempt to re-negotiate its role and relevance within Portuguese society, drawing on the activity and the reputation of the Catholic organizations. Secondly, Caritas and the National Commission of Justice and Peace have been quite vocal in denouncing the shortcomings of the Government and the effects of the austerity measures, calling for equality and justice and putting pressure on the Episcopal Conference as well as the central government. Thirdly, local organizations—including religious organizations, such as Caritas—have been gaining a new important role in the coordination and provision of welfare services, as the crisis accelerated the trends towards subsidiarity and governance.     

Social Affiliation from Religious Disaffiliation: Evidence of Selective Mixing Among Youth with No Religious Preference During the Transition to College

The number of individuals claiming a nonreligious identity in the United States is on the rise, with one‐fourth of the overall U.S. public failing to identify with any of the major religious traditions. In this article, we examine whether religious disaffiliation structures social network formation in a social context in which religious identification (and religiosity) is a salient cultural marker. We take advantage of unique data on the personal networks of youth transitioning into a college where religion is a culturally salient facet of everyday life. We hypothesize that, if there is nonreligious homophily, it may result from an attraction of the disaffiliated to each other or from a repulsion away from the religiously affiliated. Results of exponential random graph models suggest that both mechanisms may be at play. We find that religious “Nones” and affiliated non‐Catholics are disproportionately more likely to form and maintain relationships with one another and are relatively less likely to form and maintain relationships with members of their respective religious out‐groups. We close by outlining the implications of our findings and delineating promising avenues for future research.     

Resisting the therapeutic reduction: on the significance of sin.

Sin-talk, though politically incorrect, is indispensable. Placing human life under the "hermeneutic of sin" means acknowledging that one ought to aim flawlessly at God, and that one can fail in this endeavor. None of this can be appreciated within the contemporary post-Christian, mindset, which has attempted to reduce religion to morality and culture. In such a secular context, the guilt-feelings connected with the recognition of sin are considered to be harmful; the eternal benefit of a repentance is disregarded. Nevertheless, spirituality appears to have therapeutic benefits. Therefore attempts are made to re-locate within healthcare a religion shorn of its transcendent claims, so as then to harvest the benefits of a spirituality "saved from sin". This reduction of religiosity to its therapeutic function is nourished by a post-modern constructivist construal of religion. This article critically examines the dis-ingenuity marring such recasting, as well as the incoherence of related attempts to reduce transcendence to solidarity, and to re-shape the significance of religious rituals.     

The Role of the Black Church in HIV Prevention: Exploring Barriers and Best Practices

Black people have the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the USA, and they are less likely to access quality physical and mental healthcare. To address these disparities as outlined in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, there is a need for culturally congruent, innovative approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention. The first multi‐denominational national study of Black faith leaders was conducted utilizing focus groups that were held in 11 US cities. The 265 participants were faith leaders who reported involvement in such prevention practices as sponsoring HIV/AIDS workshops, integrating HIV/AIDS messaging in the worship service, hosting HIV/AIDS screenings, distributing written materials about HIV/AIDS through the bulletin or flyers, pastoral counselling, advocating for policies that provide quality healthcare to the community and disseminating HIV/AIDS prevention messages through new media such as the Church website. These findings, including attention to barriers to engagement, provide insight into innovative practices that can be integrated into faith‐based HIV/AIDS prevention programming. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pope Benedict XVI and the Church in China

ABSTRACT

Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to the Church in China in 2007 emphasises the importance of papal authority, the relationship between local and universal churches, and the appointment of bishops. This article highlights Pope Benedict’s centrist ecclesiology, which had been normative for the Catholic Church since he was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1981 to 2005). In spite of his conservative stance regarding church doctrine, he was open to dialogue with the Chinese authorities. He understood the complexities of the Chinese Church, the hardship and predicament faced by the faithful.     

The symbolic reach of the Catholic Church: liturgy-based language among atheists and Catholics in Poland

The power of the Catholic Church in Poland can be seen throughout modern Polish history. It can also be observed in the influence of the Catholic clergy on political and social life in Poland. But how far-reaching is this power? Does it only concern the Catholic majority in Polish society or does it extend also to the atheist minority? In this article, we address this question through a study of the linguistic habitus of two groups (Polish Catholics and Polish atheists), specifically an analysis of conceptual metaphors in a corpus compiled from web forums. We examine the frequencies of three metaphors concerning love, death and sin previously identified in Catholic transition rituals, such as baptisms or weddings. The results show no quantitative differences in the usage of these metaphors and instead significant qualitative similarities in the language form of the metaphors. The findings thus suggest the ability of the Catholic Church to influence the ways of speaking and possibly also of thinking and acting among both Catholics and atheists in Poland.     

Clerical child sex abuse: the response of the Roman Catholic Church

The response of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) to the clergy child sex abuse crisis is examined in the context of six cases in an Irish archdiocese. The RCC was not proactive in engaging with complainants and did not accept organizational responsibility for its personnel. Its statements on the crisis were abstract and sometimes transcendent in tone and its attempts to account for its inaction used apologia rather than apology. The Church's reliance on apologia is similar to that found in secular bureaucracies that believe themselves to be ‘client‐independent’. It is argued the Church needs to implement a ‘client complaint’ procedure similar to that found in ‘client‐dependent’ commercial enterprises and that it must also reconnect with its own core values. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing peer and parental influence on the religious attitudes and attendance of young churchgoers: exploring the Australian National Church Life Survey

Drawing on data from the 2011 Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS), this study was designed to assess peer and parental influence on frequency of church attendance, attitude toward church, and attitude toward Christianity among a sample of 6256 young churchgoers between the ages of eight and 14 years, attending a range of denominations, including Catholic, Anglican, Uniting, Pentecostal, and other Protestant Churches. The data indicated the power of parental example on frequency of church attendance. Frequent attendance among young churchgoers occurred when both parents attend as well. Parental influence worked differently on shaping attitude toward church. The most positive attitude was found among young churchgoers who had the opportunity to talk about God with their parents and who did not feel that their parents made them go to church. Young churchgoers responded to parental encouragement better than to parental pressure. Although peer influence within the church did not make much contribution to frequency of attendance, it made a contribution to shaping positive attitude toward church.