The Association for the Sociology of Religion will meet August 10-12, 2007, in New York City. The theme is Intersections: History Meets the Sociology of Religion ... Again. The session proposal deadline is 15 January; papers, 15 February. ASR membership is required for program participation. Contact Program Chair Peter Kivisto at ASR2006@augustana.edu. The call for papers is also on the ASR Website: www.sociologyofreligion.com.

The ASA Sociology of Religion Section also meets in New York, NY at this time, as does the Society for the Study of Social Problems. For up-to-date information on these organizations’ activities, consult their respective sites: 
www.asanet.org/section34/index.html and http://www.sssp1.org .

There will be an inaugural conference for the Centre for the Study of Sport and Spirituality at York St John College, York, England in August 28-31, 2007. Contact: sportspirituality@yorksj.ac.uk.

The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) will hold their 2007 from November 15-17 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, GA.

This year’s theme is “The Global Pursuit of Social Justice: Challenges to Nonprofits & Civil Society.” The field of nonprofit research and voluntary action is both inspired and challenged by diverse worldviews of “social justice.” ARNOVA’s conference theme for 2007 is designed to explore this changing terrain of social justice and its relevance to modern societal challenges in an international as well as local and national framework. What are the roles and responsibilities of the nonprofit sector – or civil society more broadly – in this changing landscape? The conference will examine three key sub-themes:

• Social Justice in a Globalizing World: How do the challenges of striving for social justice change in a world increasingly characterized by global flows of capital, growing disparities between the rich and the poor, and a decline in the welfare state?
• Social Justice & Philanthropy: What are the connections between the work and purposes of philanthropy and the achievement of social justice?
• Social Justice & Religion: What are the connections between religion and social justice in a world where faith-based groups play significant roles not only in social services, but also in political action?

Visit their website for more information.

Call for Papers: New Directions in the Sociology of Religion

Social Forces seeks papers for a special section on “New Directions in the Sociology of Religion,” planned for the March, 2008 issue. Original papers demonstrating promising new avenues of inquiry in the sociological study of religion are invited for review.

Two primary lines of research have been emphasized in the past two decades: 1.) assessing the fate of religion in modernity and postmodernity (secularization theory, rational choice, supply side, the pluralism-adherence debate, strictness, subcultural identity theory, the new spirituality, etc.); and 2.) identifying statistically significant independent variables associated with various outcomes (e.g., parenting, voting, health behaviors, delinquency, social movement mobilization, sexual behaviors, etc.) that demonstrate religion’s continued importance in shaping cognitions and behaviors. This call for papers seeks to move beyond these well-established research programs to open up new and important directions of inquiry for the field. Papers submitted for this special section must be theoretically creative and empirically grounded – neither pure theory papers nor empirical analyses lacking theoretical frameworks that suggest broader research programs will be considered. Areas of interest may include, but are not limited to: deepening our understanding of the role of religion (and secularity) in promoting social conflict, violence, reconciliation and peace between groups in pluralistic situations; critical realist (as opposed to positivist empiricist and postmodern constructionist) approaches to studying religion; the contours of social life in a possible “post-secular” era; the nature and interaction of underlying causal mechanisms of religion in forming social life across different domains; mapping the field of relations among moral ontologies (including religiously-grounded ontologies) in particular cultures, and examining their social consequences; and developing our knowledge of embodiment and emotions as they operate in religion.

The special section will be edited by Christian Smith, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame. Papers will be reviewed by the special section editor, the Social Forces Editor, and will be peer reviewed by at least one blind reviewer.

The deadline for submitting papers is Oct. 1, 2007. Manuscripts should be limited to 5,000-9,000 words, including references and endnotes, and should be e-mailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to Social_Forces@unc.edu. Any tables or figures must be editable in Microsoft Word or Excel. Do not use any automatic formatting feature. It is essential that you note that the submission is for the special section on sociology of religion. Submission fees for this section are waived. General submission guidelines may be found online at http://socialforces.unc.edu.

The International Sociological Association Research Committee on Sociology of Religion and the Philippine Association for the Sociology of Religion Mid-term conference Religion and the Formation of New Publics, University of Santo Tomas, Manilla, Philippines, January 23-26, 2008. Submissions are due by July 21, 2007. Visit their web site for more information.

The Center for the Studies of New Religions will hold their 2008 International Conference April 16-19. The Conference is titled Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and ‘the New Spirituality' at the London School of Economics, London. Visit their web site for more information.