Religious Market Share and Mormon Church Activity

Abstract

A of relihous activity based on principles of economics has generated cansiderable controversy in the sociology of relig;ion. This posits that religious pluralism increases rates of teligious activity by promoting competition between churches. This paper tests supplySside theory with data describing US MoFmons. Results uncover pattems in Momwn church activity that refute the theory. The paper outlines several charactenstics of Momlonism that explain its deviance frorn the theorized outcome, and suggests a scope conditionfor theory. Secularization theses assert that churches are most robust in places where they enjoy a religious monopolyX In such places, church authority is uncontested, and hence levels of religious activity are presumed high. Secularization theses further assert that religious pluralism weakens religious activity, since competing claims to exclusive truth undermine church authority (see Berger 1967). However, a growing literature in the sociology of religion questions the validity of these assertions. Specifically, critics point to persistent, vigorous religious activity in the United States as evidence against secularization (Warner 1993). Based on this discrepancy, some scholars promote a model of religious activity using principles of economics. This supply-side theory>' reverses the logic of secularization, holding that it is religious pluralism not monopoly that generates religious activity (Stark and lannaccone 1994). This is a departure from bedrock assumptions in the sociology of religion, and considerable debate surrounds the (Yamane 1997; lannaccone 1995a, 1995b; Chaves 1995; Demarath 1995). This paper outlines and tests its claims with data describing US Mormons. The ramification of Mormon church activity for is widely acknowledged (see Finke 1997: 57; Wamer 1993: