Article Abstracts
vol. 50, no. 1

H. PAUL DOUGLAS LECTURE
THE FOUR M’s OF RELIGION: MAGIC, MEMBERSHIP, MORALITY AND MYSTICISM
RANDALL COLLINS
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

The various aspects of religion can be grouped under four types. I have given them names which start with M:  Magic, Membership, Morality, and Mysticism. This is not just an exercise in mnemonics. Distinguishing among the four M’s helps clarify some of our controversies in sociology of religion. Towards the end, I will focus on the varieties of religious morality and mysticism, and suggest that they help explain the politics of the modern world, and especially its social movements both liberalizing and authoritarian.

DOES BELONGING ACCOMPANY BELIEVING?
CORRELATIONS AND TRENDS IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA BETWEEN 1981 AND 2000

OLAV AARTS
ARIANA NEED
MANFRED TE GROTENHUIS
NAN DIRK DE GRAAF
RADBOUD UNIVERSITY, NIJMENGEN

Using the European and World Value Surveys from 1981, 1990, and 2000, this paper examines trends in Christian beliefs, church attendance, and the relationship between believing and belonging. It further looks at the influence of religious pluralism on this relationship in Western Europe and North America. The main finding of this study is that in most countries there is no growing gap between Christian believing and Christian belonging. Indeed, the relationship between believing and belonging at the individual level has remained practically unchanged in the Western world over the past two decades. The slight weakening in the relation between believing and belonging measured for some countries stems from the fact that in those countries both believing and belonging declined, but the decline in belonging was stronger. Moreover, a higher degree of religious pluralism does not result in a stronger association between believing and belonging, as would be expected from supply-side theory.

SERBIAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUNESS: AN EMPIRICAL AND COMPARATIVE PORTRAIT*

SERGEJ FLERE
RUDI KLANJŠEK
UNIVERSITY OF MARIBOR, SLOVENIA

Serbian Orthodoxy is studied empirically by using different measures of religiousness. After an initial placement of Serbian religiousness in the context of World Values Survey data, a sample of south Serbian university students is compared to student samples from three religions: Bosnian Muslims and Slovenian Catholics. Using World Values Survey (WVS) measures, results indicate that the Serbian Orthodox prove to be more religious than irreligious; when using our own survey data and more complex measures, the Serbian Orthodox prove to be more religious than Slovenian Catholics, but less religious than Bosnian Muslims, although Serbian Orthodox affiliates do surpass the normative means on certain items. Mysticism, religious experience, and civil religion are not outstanding, in contrast to what might have been expected from the literature. The Serbian Orthodox exhibit a high level of extrinsic psychological religiousness and guilt religiousness, both of which show a significant positive correlation with trait anxiety.

WHEN THE FINAL BELL TOLLS: PATTERNS OF CHURCH CLOSINGS IN TWO PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS

KEVIN D. DOUGHERTY
JARED MAIER
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

BRIAN VANDER LUGT
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

While growth in congregations and denominations generates much research, few studies speak to the other side of religious organization performance: decline and death. This study steps into this gap to consider rates and reasons for closings among America’s most pervasive form of voluntary association. Drawing on prior studies of organizational mortality outside religion, we examine congregational closure as a function of organizational age. Longitudinal data from more than 15,000 congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and Church of the Nazarene enable tests of age-liabilities. Congregations from these denominations experience lower rates of mortality than other types of formal organizations, but they are not immune from challenges to survival at founding and after 40-50 years in existence. Minimum resources necessary for congregational survival and implications for denominational growth and decline are discussed in conclusion.

AND WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR? EXPLAINING DENOMINATIONAL DEIFFERENCES IN CHARITABLE GIVING AND VOLUNTEERING IN THE NETHERLANDS*

RENÉ BEKKERS
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY

THEO SCHUYT
FREE UNIVERISTY

We study differences in contributions of time and money to churches and non-religious nonprofit organizations between members of different religious denominations in the Netherlands. We hypothesize that contributions to religious organizations are based on involvement in the religious community, while contributions to non-religious organizations are more likely to be rooted in prosocial values such as altruism, equality, and responsibility for the common good, which are socialized in religious traditions. Data from the first wave of the Giving in the Netherlands Panel Survey (n=1,964) support the hypotheses. We find higher levels of volunteerism and generosity among members of Protestant churches than among Catholics and the non-religious. Higher contributions to church among members of Protestant churches are mostly due to higher levels of church attendance and social pressure to contribute. In contrast, higher contributions to non-religious organizations by members of Protestant churches, especially charitable donations, are mostly due to prosocial values.

VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT AND ACTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF MALE AND FEMALE UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS*

DON THOMPSON
CINDY MILLER-PERRIN
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

The current study examined 158 university faculty members’ discernment and living out of vocation using both quantitative and qualitative data assessing concepts of vocation definition, personal experiences of discerning vocation, personal bridges, and barriers experienced while pursuing one’s vocation, as well as differences in living out one’s vocation that are experienced by men versus women. The implications of this research are discussed in terms of enhancing faculty members’ abilities to integrate their faith and vocation with their ongoing work as teachers, writers, and academic leaders.

FAITH AND HAPPINESS*

RODNEY STARK
JARED MAIER
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Twenty-four years of the General Social Surveys are analyzed to test eight hypotheses derived from the scattered literature on religion and happiness. The hypothesis that religiousness is positively related to happiness is supported, as is the hypothesis that the religious effect is primarily “social.” Five other hypotheses are rejected and a sixth one partly so.