Religious Conformity in an Age of Disbelief: Contextual Effects of Time, Denomination, and Family Processes Upon Church Decline and Apostasy

Abstract

Three contexts that affect religious socialization are discussed: denominational structure (church and sect vis-a-vis their environments), time (the religious climates of the 1950s and the present), andfamily processes (gender role and birth order). Data from 3,000 Minnesota youths aged 10-14 show that religious apostasy occurs more in the liberal, mainline Protestant denominations than among conservative bodies (nd that religious conformity is exhibited more by females and firstborn males. The interaction effects among gender, birth order, and denomination in predicting religiosity testify to the importance of considering contextual effects in religious socialization.