Differences In Religious Beliefs Research Articles

Ideology and Recruitment in Religious Groups

It has become a well-documented finding that social ties are a primary and possibly even an indispensable avenue of recruiting for most religious sects. What has not been clear in the literature is the nature of these social ties and whether they differ for various kinds of groups as well as individuals within those groups. An assumption in the Lofland-Stark model (1965) and in Snow, et al.'s, work (Snow, Zurcher and Ekland-Olson, 1980) is that these social networks are characterized by effective relationships of some duration. Our data show that for some groups close friendship ties are a means of recruiting while for others an acquaintance-type encounter is a major recruiting device. Moreover, our data suggest that these differences are accounted for, in part, by differences in religious beliefs among religious groups.

Differences in style of pastoral counseling as a function of religious beliefs and attitudes toward human nature.

A model for considering differences in styles of pastoral care is herein proposed. Whether these styles are a function of personality, situational, group, or longevity issues, is questioned. Two investigations are reported. The first studied the extent to which pastoral style could be identified across pastoral tasks. A group of persons who sought pastoral counsel could not identify pastors who counseled frequently. The second studied the extent to which more effective pastoral counseling was related to attitudes toward human nature and religious beliefs. The data suggest that effective pastoral counseling is not related to differences in religious beliefs but is a junction of an optimistic view of human nature. Previous counseling training is likewise a determinant. Discusses these results in light of methodological and theoretical considerations. Suggests that current theological positions need to be systematically related to styles of pastoral care.

The Rural Church and Rural Religion: Analysis of Data from Children and Youth

The heyday of studies of the rural church was the 1920s-1940s. Even then researchers noted that structural rather than ecological characteristics were especially im portant in understanding it. A more recent focus has been on rural-urban differences in religiosity. Research done in the 1960s and 1970s indicated differences only on the ideological (belief) dimension. Data from two 1975 studies—one involv ing children in Minnesota and the other adolescents in a national sample—are reported, showing continuing rural- urban-metropolitan differences in religious belief. There are higher rates of fundamentalism for Protestants in the first two residential categories. For the first sample, the relationship between SES and fundamentalism virtually disappears in the rural area. The importance of residential (and church) propinquity of social classes is suggested as an important intervening variable, and this brings the focus full circle in terms of ecological versus structural and organizational characteristics. Finally, the future of the rural (small) church is discussed. Negative effects of inflation and the overall de cline in national church membership and participation and the positive effect of church decentralization as they impinge upon the rural church are discussed.

The Relationship of Religious Practices and Beliefs to Schism

The recent schism of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America provided a test situation for determining the causes of schism from field data. There were no differences in religious beliefs and practice between the two groups. However, differences between the feuding factions are evident in recency of migration, educational achievement, mobility in the U.S., and political party affiliation. Therefore, this schism appears to be a reflection of antagonisms of non-religious origin although expressed in religious division.

The Trend in Interfaith Marriages

Several recent authors have advanced the thesis that religious segregation is increasing in American society, at least to the extent that religious identification and religious communal ties are replacing ethnic identification and ethnic ties as a basis of societal organization. Whether or not this proposition is valid depends in part on whether religious segregation is defined in terms of cultural or social differentiation. Differences in cultural patterns, beliefs or values are eliminated or reduced through the process of acculturation, while social differentiation, or the presence of separate systems of interaction, is reduced by increased social integration. These two types of differentiation are partially but not completely independent. With reference to religion, the question is whether distinctive religious beliefs and norms may be maintained under conditions of social integration, or, on the other hand, whether differences in religious beliefs, values and practices may be eliminated through acculturation when social differentiation is maintained. Perhaps the best indicator of the extent and trend of religious differentiation is the rate of interfaith marriage.

A Letter of Clemenceau to His Wife by Balloon

Georges Clemenceau wrote the following letter to his wife during the siege of Paris in 1870-71, when he was the Mayor of Montmartre and she was living in a small town in western France. In showing his tenderness for his wife and infant daughter it reveals a gentle side of Clemenceau's character neglected by his biographers. The letter was carried out of Paris on the balloon General Chanzy, which departed from the Gare du Nord in the early hours of December 20, 1870. It came to earth in enemy territory, near Rothenburg, Bavaria, and the letter was never delivered. Eventually it fell into the hands of a stamp collector, M. Wesmann, and in 1933 he presented it to Michel Clemenceau, the son of its author.2 Clemenceau wrote the letter in good English, which he had perfected during his years of residence in the United States after the American Civil War. It was here, too, that he met the young lady to whom the letter was addressed-Mary Plummer Clemenceau. She was a student at Miss Aitken's Academy in Stamford, Connecticut, when he taught French and riding there. Differences in religious beliefs were at first an obstacle to their marriage, and he returned to France without her, but in June 1869 he came back, and the couple were married in a civil ceremony in New York. The marriage lasted for seven years, and three children were born of the unionone son, Michel, and two daughters,3 the elder of whom is the 'little Maddie of this letter.

Age Differences in Religious Beliefs and Problems during Adolescence

Age Differences in Religious Beliefs and Problems during Adolescence