Universal features in the growth dynamics of religious activities

Abstract

We quantify and analyze the growth dynamics of a religious group in 140 countries for a 47-year period (1959-2005). We find that (i) the distribution of annual logarithmic growth rates exhibits the same functional form for distinct size scales and (ii) the standard deviation of growth rates scales with size as a power law. Both findings hold for distinct measures of religious activity. These results are in surprising agreement with those found in the study of economic activities and scientific research, suggesting that religious activities are governed by universal growth mechanisms. We also compare the empirical findings on religious activities with the predictions of general models recently proposed in the context of complex organizations. Our findings should provide useful information for a better understanding of the mechanisms governing the growth of religion.