Formal Church Research Articles

Kerklike tug: Verleentheid of nuwe geleentheid?

Church discipline: embarrassment or a new opportunity? In 2004, 2007 and 2011 the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church decided that the way in which church discipline functions in the church, should be researched and investigated. This article is based on the doctoral study of the co-author, who tragically died of COVID-19 during the pandemic of 2020-2021. She investigated the development of church discipline in the Dutch Reformed Church from 1652 to the present day, to determine why church discipline has become an embarrassment to the church. This article is based on a part of the outcome of her research. The article discusses the purpose, nature of and need for church discipline, and states that the way in which members of the church understand discipline in the church, should change. The authors emphasise that church discipline must be built on the foundation of brotherly love within the framework of tolerant care. This will not only help to change the understanding of informal and formal church discipline but will also challenge the church to create a safe space for confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. By doing so, church discipline as tolerant care will become part of the spiritual journey of members of the church. As such, it will change from being an embarrassment to becoming a huge opportunity for spiritual growth.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article focuses on church discipline as tolerant care. In doing so, church discipline does not only function as part of the study field of Church Polity, but it also incorporates Practical Theology. The most important implication is that discipline is understood as care.

Embodying the Call: ‘Call Narratives’ and the Importance of Encouragement for Progressive Mennonite Pastors

ABSTRACT For the progressive Mennonite pastors I met, the process of becoming a pastor is a lengthy and challenging personal journey of recognizing, accepting, and enacting a call to a pastoral vocation, which occurs in conjunction with institutional requirements. Their stories follow a pattern, which I term a ‘call narrative’, in which a person’s call begins with a presentiment that God is guiding in a particular direction. The potential pastors and church leaders face internal and external resistance to fulfiling the call. Other people, purposefully or unwittingly, affirm the call, until the person feels compelled to accept God’s call to formal church ministry. This article addresses factors that impede people from responding to the call and considers how they overcome resistance by receiving affirmations from individuals and institutions. Throughout each phase of the calling, I explore the element of embodiment as people describe various physical and emotional reactions to the call. The discussion is based on personal interviews and focused group meetings with credentialed Mennonite leaders, and it proceeds in four parts. First, I examine how persons define and acknowledge a call, often with noticeable bodily reactions. Next, I consider personal, social, and institutional factors that hindered individuals from fulfiling that call. Then, I explore how people received affirmations from various sources that enabled them to pursue their calling. The article concludes with a case study of one congregation where pastors and staff responded to the call in different ways based on their interactions with people in the congregation.

Capital-labor substitution in the production of religious goods

This paper provides evidence of capital-labor substitution in the production of religious goods. Using data on church attendance, tithing, and income from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, I show that (A) the labor input to religious production (as measured by attendance at formal church services) declines as income increases, (B) the labor time equivalent of monetary giving increases as income increases, and (C) the increase in the labor time equivalent of monetary giving more than offsets the decline in formal church attendance, such that total household resources allocated to religious production increase with income.

Religious Vitality in Victorian London by William M. Jacob (review)

Reviewed by: Religious Vitality in Victorian London by William M. Jacob Mary Heimann Religious Vitality in Victorian London. By William M. Jacob. (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2021. Pp. viii, 348. £75,00. ISBN 978-0-19-289740-4.) Victorian London, like other great cities, has often been presented as a place where religion went to die. Contemporary sermons, pastoral letters, reports, newspaper articles and novels portrayed the capital sensationally, as a sink of immorality, heathenism, infidelity, religious indifference, the modern Babylon. Secularization and urbanization, popular theories of the 1960s which only began to be challenged by scholars in the 1980s, still exercise considerable hold over the popular imagination. In this densely packed survey of religious life in Victorian London, W. M. Jacob argues for the pervasiveness of religiosity—a term which goes well beyond formal church affiliation or attendance—at every level of society. Religious Vitality in Victorian London offers a useful service in bringing together two generations of scholarship on how the Church of England, together with a variety of Nonconformist and Dissenting traditions, fared in the Victorian religious marketplace. Like them, Jacob frames much of the discussion through the prism of social class and gender; the focus on London enables the study meaningfully to incorporate Judaism and Roman Catholicism into his analysis. Jacob's definition of "religion" follows trends in post-1990s scholarship in including nominal, tacit, or implicit faith. The monograph further builds on the work of others in bringing into "religiosity" what Jacob terms "quasi-religious" movements (including even ethical and humanist movements), and "parareligions" (including phrenologists, spiritualists, theosophists, and occultists). By bringing both supernaturalist and secularist organizations under the blanket term "religion," it could be argued that Religious Vitality in Victorian London expands the term "religion" so far as to invalidate comparisons with earlier works about the decline of religion, thereby weakening its revisionist claims. [End Page 417] Religious Vitality in Victorian London concludes that "in the context of the massive social disturbance of migration, urbanization and industrialization religion continued to be a vital core ingredient framing the nature of this great modern metropolis" (p. 308). While this statement might not come as news to specialists in Victorian religion, the message still needs to be heard by non-specialists and students, for whom W. M. Jacob offers a careful, detailed compendium and discussion of religious activity of all sorts which took place in London during the reign of Victoria. Mary Heimann Cardiff University Mary Heimann Cardiff University Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press

Des catholiques au secours des Juifs sous l’Occupation [Catholic Aid to Jews under the Occupation] by Limore Yagil

Reviewed by: Des catholiques au secours des Juifs sous l’Occupation [Catholic Aid to Jews under the Occupation] by Limore Yagil Rebecca Moore Des catholiques au secours des Juifs sous l’Occupation [Catholic Aid to Jews under the Occupation]. By Limore Yagil. (Montrouge: Bayard. 2022. Pp. 359. €21.90. ISBN: 9782750914448). French-Israeli historian Limore Yagil is well-equipped to write about how Catholic Christians under the Occupation helped Jews living in France. The author of at least eight books about World War II, she has examined Christian resistance to Nazism, both Catholic and Protestant, in numerous venues. The present volume concentrates specifically on Catholic efforts undertaken in France. Examinations by other authors have highlighted Protestant endeavors, so Yagil’s focus on Catholic interventions is a welcome addition to the literature about righteous gentiles—those non-Jews who came to the aid of Jews during World War II. Yagil begins by noting the paradox of Jewish survival in France compared to other European nations. Although almost a quarter of the Jews in France—especially foreign-born Jewish refugees—were deported to death camps, an astounding 75 percent survived. This is in contrast to neighboring countries like the Netherlands (with 80 percent deported) and Belgium (with 45 percent deported). Although part of the explanation may lie in France’s topography and politics, a large part of Jewish survival according to the author was due to the efforts of bishops, priests, seminarians, men and women religious, and lay Catholics. An important distinction that Yagil makes throughout the book is between public pronouncements condemning anti-Jewish laws, internment camps, and deportations, and the secret—and more important in her view—actions that occurred in church sanctuaries, behind convent and monastery walls, and with church approval. These covert undertakings required formal church involvement, such as issuing baptismal certificates, work permits, enrollment documents, identity cards, and travel authorizations. While the creation of paperwork may appear trivial, these documents were required for employment, education, travel, and obtaining basic necessities under the Nazi Occupation. Other activities, which frequently required church oversight and funding, included offering housing, providing schooling, hiding refugees, and, on occasion, smuggling Jews out of the country. The heart and soul of the book comprises seven chapters that recount the actions of each and every diocese before and during the war. This is a monumental body of research, which Yagil obtained by scouring diocesan records, ledgers, letters, [End Page 215] speeches, and other documents. She begins in the south of France, on the border with Spain along the Pyrenees. This was the most dangerous location for rescue given the fact that most of the French internment camps were located here, and the Gestapo patrolled the border for those in flight. Networks of clerics, religious, and lay Catholics, working with Jews, Protestants, and Communists, ran large and small operations. She concludes with consideration of the diocese of Paris and dioceses in the west. Yagil discusses the question of conversion, especially of Jewish children, throughout the book and asserts that ecclesiastical leadership strongly condemned conversionary efforts. The historian could find no directive to convert in any of the archives she examined, and takes pains to reiterate the claim that a false baptismal certificate was not considered a conversion. She states that no more than forty or fifty children were converted, out of 10,500 rescued. Like the issue of baptism and conversion, the question of Pope Pius XII’s role during World War II is also addressed. According to Yagil, the pontiff provided financial help and tacit support to the dioceses of France. The pope’s silence, she writes, “hides concretely the many discreet initiatives of rescue and mutual aid” that occurred in Italy, other European countries, and in particular, France (p. 333). The great strength of Des catholiques au secours des Juifs sous l’Occupation, however, is its detailed presentation of the actions of ordinary, and extraordinary, Catholics in every diocese in France. Limore Yagil relates countless stories of heroism, based on meticulous research. One comes away from this book with deep appreciation for the leadership shown at all levels of the Church. It is to be hoped, therefore, that an English translation of this valuable...

Inductive and Coinductive Topological Generation with Church's thesis and the Axiom of Choice

In this work we consider an extension MFcind of the Minimalist Foundation MF for predicative constructive mathematics with the addition of inductive and coinductive definitions sufficient to generate Sambin's Positive topologies, namely Martin-L\"of-Sambin formal topologies equipped with a Positivity relation (used to describe pointfree formal closed subsets). In particular the intensional level of MFcind, called mTTcind, is defined by extending with coinductive definitions another theory mTTind extending the intensional level mTT of MF with the sole addition of inductive definitions. In previous work we have shown that mTTind is consistent with Formal Church's Thesis CT and the Axiom of Choice AC via an interpretation in Aczel's CZF+REA. Our aim is to show the expectation that the addition of coinductive definitions to mTTind does not increase its consistency strength by reducing the consistency of mTTcind+CT+AC to the consistency of CZF+REA through various interpretations. We actually reach our goal in two ways. One way consists in first interpreting mTTcind+CT+AC in the theory extending CZF with the Union Regular Extension Axiom, REA_U, a strengthening of REA, and the Axiom of Relativized Dependent Choice, RDC. The theory CZF+REA_U+RDC is then interpreted in MLS*, a version of Martin-L\"of's type theory with Palmgren's superuniverse S. A last step consists in interpreting MLS* back into CZF+REA. The alternative way consists in first interpreting mTTcind+AC+CT directly in a version of Martin-L\"of's type theory with Palmgren's superuniverse extended with CT, which is then interpreted back to CZF+REA. A key benefit of the first way is that the theory CZF+REA_U+RDC also supports the intended set-theoretic interpretation of the extensional level of MFcind. Finally, all the theories considered, except mTTcind+AC+CT, are shown to be of the same proof-theoretic strength.

America's Religious Crossroads: Faith and Community in the Emerging Midwest by Stephen T. Kissel

Reviewed by: America's Religious Crossroads: Faith and Community in the Emerging Midwest by Stephen T. Kissel Luke Ritter America's Religious Crossroads: Faith and Community in the Emerging Midwest. By Stephen T. Kissel. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2021. 240 pp. $28.00. This clearly written, well-researched book examines the common methods by which various organized religions established viable communities in the Old Northwest from the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to the entrance of Wisconsin as a state in 1848. Entering a distant region, sparsely populated, bereft of civil institutions, and increasingly diverse in terms of ethnicity and religious affiliation, early pioneers often relied on religion to create a shared identity, purpose, and system of trust. Kissel argues that organized religions coalesced "chain migrations" to the Old Northwest into a collective, ecumenical "mosaic" of faith-based communities, and thus accelerated the region's development (2, 8, 147). How exactly did migrants find unity across such vast landscapes in the midst of unprecedented ethnic and religious pluralism? Kissel explains how humble homes served as initial meeting places for religious adherents in the Old Northwest. According to Kissel, "the neutral setting of the home offered a more ecumenical environment for religious worship than was generally possible under the rigid doctrines of formal church congregations." Home meetings also advanced the role of women, youths, and people of color (16). In the Old Northwest, itinerancy was necessary. Various denominations invented ways to minister to pioneers across space, including the Methodist itinerant preachers who adopted circuit-riding, Catholic priests who traveled throughout their vast dioceses to connect with incoming Catholic settlers, and Presbyterian ministers who engaged in mission efforts. Unlike in the East, the Great Awakening in the West also promised fresh opportunities for utopian communities such as the Mormons, Shakers, Quakers, and Rappites. As "the antebellum Northwest became a leading national center of religious literary production and distribution," Kissel writes in chapter two, communities came to rely on a steady stream of Bibles, religious [End Page 63] tracts, devotionals, and sermons to articulate their faith (38). Organizations such as the American Bible Society, Western Book Concern, American Sunday School Union, and a host of newspapers promoted popular literacy through the mass production of religious literature. Even utopian communities encouraged literary production, such as the Church of Latter-Day Saints, which relied on the publication of the Book of Mormon for converts. Sunday Schools in the West, funded by Christian missionary efforts, advanced regional literacy long before common schools were established. Women played a prominent role as teachers. Denominationally backed seminaries and colleges established formal higher education in the West, for both Catholics and Protestants, men and women. Colleges helped to promote and advance newly settled towns. Mission schools geared towards Indian students proved problematic, however, since "Religion and civilization were inseparable in the eyes of antebellum missionaries," Kissel writes (78). Americans constructed "sacred spaces" for public fellowship, such as the church, the revival campground, and the utopian settlement, more rapidly than secular meeting places, thus ensuring religion's influence over the region's civic landscape (82). African Americans and immigrants from Europe likewise insisted on building their own sacred havens of worship as a sign of their belonging and participation in the bourgeoning American civic order. Financial assistance trickled in from the East, but the duty to build such institutions often fell upon lay congregants, volunteers, and donors in the West. Church dedications were often widely celebrated, ecumenical events, since they "marked a religious and civic milestone in the evolution of pioneer communities" (96). Revival campgrounds brought in hundreds of people from afar. Utopian settlements, although more closed to outsiders, integrated church and town governance into a sacred space for those on the inside. At a time when civil courts and police were sporadic, churches arbitrated civil and land disputes. Churches frequently administered justice in full view of entire congregations, even entire towns. Church-based disciplinary procedures likewise managed ministerial misconduct. Finally, in chapter six, Kissel shows how various denominations worked together to improve their towns morally, socially, and economically. Religious organizations became intricately involved in civic service, charitable outreach, commerce, and politics. Kissel's claim that the antebellum...

Instance reducibility and Weihrauch degrees

We identify a notion of reducibility between predicates, called instance reducibility, which commonly appears in reverse constructive mathematics. The notion can be generally used to compare and classify various principles studied in reverse constructive mathematics (formal Church's thesis, Brouwer's Continuity principle and Fan theorem, Excluded middle, Limited principle, Function choice, Markov's principle, etc.). We show that the instance degrees form a frame, i.e., a complete lattice in which finite infima distribute over set-indexed suprema. They turn out to be equivalent to the frame of upper sets of truth values, ordered by the reverse Smyth partial order. We study the overall structure of the lattice: the subobject classifier embeds into the lattice in two different ways, one monotone and the other antimonotone, and the $\lnot\lnot$-dense degrees coincide with those that are reducible to the degree of Excluded middle. We give an explicit formulation of instance degrees in a relative realizability topos, and call these extended Weihrauch degrees, because in Kleene-Vesley realizability the $\lnot\lnot$-dense modest instance degrees correspond precisely to Weihrauch degrees. The extended degrees improve the structure of Weihrauch degrees by equipping them with computable infima and suprema, an implication, the ability to control access to parameters and computation of results, and by generally widening the scope of Weihrauch reducibility.

A PREDICATIVE VARIANT OF HYLAND’S EFFECTIVE TOPOS

AbstractHere, we present a category ${\mathbf {pEff}}$ which can be considered a predicative variant of Hyland's Effective Topos ${{\mathbf {Eff} }}$ for the following reasons. First, its construction is carried in Feferman’s predicative theory of non-iterative fixpoints ${{\widehat {ID_1}}}$ . Second, ${\mathbf {pEff}}$ is a list-arithmetic locally cartesian closed pretopos with a full subcategory ${{\mathbf {pEff}_{set}}}$ of small objects having the same categorical structure which is preserved by the embedding in ${\mathbf {pEff}}$ ; furthermore subobjects in ${{\mathbf {pEff}_{set}}}$ are classified by a non-small object in ${\mathbf {pEff}}$ . Third ${\mathbf {pEff}}$ happens to coincide with the exact completion of the lex category defined as a predicative rendering in ${{\widehat {ID_1}}}$ of the subcategory of ${{\mathbf {Eff} }}$ of recursive functions and it validates the Formal Church’s thesis. Hence pEff turns out to be itself a predicative rendering of a full subcategory of ${{\mathbf {Eff} }}$ .

Some Ordinary Theology of Assisted Dying

This paper applies a small-scale research model to elicit the ordinary theology of a group of practising Christians within a local congregation on the issue of assisted dying (AD). Valid and informative data is produced which questions whether formal church opposition to AD is as clear, and as widely held among practicing Christians, as currently assumed.

Consistency of the intensional level of the Minimalist Foundation with Church’s thesis and axiom of choice

Consistency with the formal Church’s thesis, for short CT, and the axiom of choice, for short AC, was one of the requirements asked to be satisfied by the intensional level of a two-level foundation for constructive mathematics as proposed by Maietti and Sambin (in Crosilla, Schuster (eds) From sets and types to topology and analysis: practicable foundations for constructive mathematics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005). Here we show that this is the case for the intensional level of the two-level Minimalist Foundation, for short MF, completed in 2009 by the second author. The intensional level of MF consists of an intensional type theory a la Martin-Lof, called mTT. The consistency of mTT with CT and AC is obtained by showing the consistency with the formal Church’s thesis of a fragment of intensional Martin-Lof’s type theory, called $$\mathbf{MLtt}_1$$ , where mTT can be easily interpreted. Then to show the consistency of $$\mathbf{MLtt}_1$$ with CT we interpret it within Feferman’s predicative theory of non-iterative fixpoints $$\widehat{ID_1}$$ by extending the well known Kleene’s realizability semantics of intuitionistic arithmetics so that CT is trivially validated. More in detail the fragment $$\mathbf{MLtt}_1$$ we interpret consists of first order intensional Martin-Lof’s type theory with one universe and with explicit substitution rules in place of usual equality rules preserving type constructors (hence without the so called $$\xi $$ -rule which is not valid in our realizability semantics). A key difficulty encountered in our interpretation was to use the right interpretation of lambda abstraction in the applicative structure of natural numbers in order to model all the equality rules of $$\mathbf{MLtt}_1$$ correctly. In particular the universe of $$\mathbf{MLtt}_1$$ is modelled by means of $$\widehat{ID_1}$$ -fixpoints following a technique due first to Aczel and used by Feferman and Beeson.

Metamathematical Properties of a Constructive Multi-typed Theory

This paper describes an axiomatic theory BT, which is a suitable formal theory for developing constructive mathematics, due to its expressive language with countable number of set types and its constructive properties such as the existence and disjunction properties, and consistency with the formal Church thesis. BT has a predicative comprehension axiom and usual combinatorial operations. BT has intuitionistic logic and is consistent with classical logic. BT is mutually interpretable with a so called theory of arithmetical truth PATr and with a second-order arithmetic SA that contains infinitely many sorts of sets of natural numbers. We compare BT with some standard second-order arithmetics and investigate the proof-theoretical strengths of fragments of BT, PATr and SA.

Commerciality Defeats Exempt Coffee Shop, Even a Religious One

A nonprofit corporation was formed for the following purposes: (1) proclaiming earnestly the gospel message and urging its personal acceptance; (2) promoting prayer, Bible study, missions, fellowship, and evangelism; (3) providing a forum in which the gospel can be discussed with nonbelievers outside of a formal church setting; and (4) generously extending the grace of God by giving away all profits (other than those retained for capital expenditures) to community ministries; other local, national, or international nonprofit organizations; or those in financial need.

The Radical Right and Religious Discourse. The Golden Dawn, the Lega Nord and the Sweden Democrats Compared

The paper investigates whether there is a link between the main radical right-wing parties in Greece, Italy and Sweden and the pre-dominant church institutions within these countries. The focus lies on the interaction between the party’s ideology and the church‘s political discourse. We distinguish between the ‘internal supply side’ (the party’s discourse on the religious agenda), the ‘external supply side’ (the Church’s current discourse), and the ‘demand side’ (the Church’s traditional discourse). The research aim is to determine whether religious voters (who are formal church members, who believe and who practice regularly) might constitute a potential electorate for radical right-wing parties. This assumption builds on the ‘pathological normalcy’ thesis that radical right-wing parties promote an extreme version of the mainstream values in society (Mudde 2010). The method for elaborating the official church and party documents is based on the theorization of the so-called Essex school of dis- course analysis. The findings of the paper are that the religious electorate is a potential pool for the radical right party family to the extent that the internal supply side and the external supply side overlap. This applies to the largest extent in Greece, to a medium extent in Italy and to a low extent in Sweden.

Spiritual Currency in Northeast Brazil

Spiritual Currency in Northeast Brazil

Interpretation of constructive multi-typed theory in the theory of arithmetical truth

This paper considers an axiomatic theory BT, which can be used to formalise constructive mathematics. BT has an intuitionistic logic, combinatorial operations and sets of many types. BT has such constructive features as a predicative comprehension axiom and consistency with the formal Church thesis but BT is also consistent with classical logic. In addition to the properties of BT studied before, in this paper we study the proof-theoretical strength of BT and its fragments by constructing an interpretation of BT in a so called theory of arithmetical truth PATr, which is obtained from the Peano arithmetic PA by adding infinitely many truth predicates.

The Secular Spectacle: Performing Religion in a Southern Town by Chad E. Seales (review)

Reviewed by: The Secular Spectacle: Performing Religion in a Southern Town by Chad E. Seales James F. Garneau The Secular Spectacle: Performing Religion in a Southern Town. By Chad E. Seales. ( New York: Oxford University Press. 2013. Pp. xiv, 238. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-19-986028-9.) Briefly stated, this is a book about religion, civic and social power, and culture in the American South, as experienced in the relatively small North Carolina town [End Page 682] of Siler City, from the latter 1800s through the beginning of the twenty-first century. Utilizing various concepts of “secularization” as defined by several contemporary sociologists, Seales explores the transformation of religious, civic, and community life, with special attention to race relations, in Siler City throughout the period indicated. In particular, he studies and describes the changing status of African Americans and immigrant Latinos in relation to a once-dominant white Protestant political and cultural landscape. By 2000, he reports, Latinos—mostly Mexican immigrants—constituted 40 percent of the population of Siler City. Employing “thick description,” Seales both provides many examples of the theories provided and often raises interesting questions about the relation of religion, race, and culture. Chad Seales is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Texas at Austin. This volume apparently began as his PhD dissertation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is not situated far from the locus of this study. There are sixty-one pages of detailed endnotes and a helpful index. There are also several helpful photos interspersed throughout the text. Sadly, there are no maps to assist the reader and only one chart, whereas more might have been useful. Because of its heavy reliance on and description of sociological theories, this book might best be considered for graduate students rather than a general readership. This reviewer would have appreciated more theological depth in what is in the main an interesting analysis. More attention might also have been given to the (contrasting?) meanings of Catholic practices both from the perspective of formal church doctrine and through the perspective of the immigrants of Siler City. More analysis might also have been paid to the question of the various places of origin of these same immigrants and the differences in customs, beliefs, and rituals that might have resulted because of that variety. Finally, there is not enough historical analysis or comparison with other Southern towns or regions, even within North Carolina. But future studies might address these issues. This book provides a good starting place from which to consider these questions. Searles contends that a previously dominant liberal white Protestantism actively participated in the secularization of public life in the course of the civil rights movements of the mid- and late-twentieth century, and also in response to the significant immigration of Latino Catholics. Seales holds that the religious-secular transitions studied in this book are best understood in terms of “spatial relationship” rather than in terms of a continuum. Thus, while public life and space in Siler City were progressively “secularized” in response to changing demographics and other societal factors, “religious feeling was portable” (p. 15) and could be taken anywhere into the world. In the end, he concludes, “Southern secularism” (p. 144), at least for the dominant white Protestant community, protects and preserves the most sacred values. [End Page 683] James F. Garneau Mount Olive, NC Copyright © 2015 The Catholic University of America Press

How Faith Based Organizations’ Doctrines Regarding Sexuality Affect Their Participation in the Public Health Response to HIV in the Eastern Caribbean

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are influential in the Eastern Caribbean. To understand their role in HIV-related health programs, we conducted a cross-section of surveys and interviews with representatives from FBOs in four countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and Grenadines. We examined HIV-related and sexual health activities, capacity to provide programs, and attitudinal influences, such as stigma. We found that although some FBOs are engaged in sexual health and HIV-related work, many are limited by formal church doctrines and parishioner perceptions about HIV. HIV prevention messages, for example, were centered on abstinence and monogamy. Promoting condom use was considered incompatible with church doctrine. HIV-related stigma and discrimination were considerable, primarily because attitudes toward men who have sex with men and sex workers were conditioned by views that these people engaged in “sinful” activities that should be renounced. Nevertheless, FBO leaders were motivated by compassion and wanted to provide care and psychosocial and spiritual support to HIV-infected people, and were willing to be part of the public health response to HIV, within the limits of their doctrines. FBOs may serve an important role in de-stigmatizing HIV among parishioners, emphasizing compassion and reframing HIV as a chronic health condition. However, for many sexuality-related issues and interventions, collaborations with outside organizations may be required.

Church Involvement, Spiritual Growth, Meaning in Life, and Health

The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between involvement in three aspects of congregational life and spiritual growth. In addition, an effort is made to see if spiritual growth may, in turn, affect health. A latent variable model was developed to test the following hypotheses: (1) individuals who attend worship services more often, attend Bible study and prayer group meetings more frequently, and individuals who receive more spiritual support from fellow church members will be more likely to report they have experienced spiritual growth; (2) people who experience more spiritual growth will be more likely to derive a deeper sense of meaning in life; and (3) individuals who have developed a deeper sense of meaning in life will enjoy better health. Data from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey suggests that spiritual support has the stronger relationship with spiritual growth than either worship service attendance or involvement in formal church groups. The findings further reveal that greater spiritual growth is associated with a deeper sense of meaning in life and meaning, in turn, is associated with better health.

Religion, Sexual Orientation and the Equality Act 2010: Gay Bishops in the Church of England Negotiating Rights Against Discrimination

A sophisticated understanding of human rights must look at ways in which conflicts between competing rights are negotiated. This article undertakes a case study of the interrelationship of rights related to religion and sexuality in societies, in the context of inequality between heterosexual and homosexual persons. It analyses recent Church of England guidance on appointing bishops in relation to the Equality Act 2010 and its religious exemptions to non-discrimination provisions. I investigate whether formal Church teaching and the guidance owe more to heteronormativity than the purely scriptural mandate that is claimed. I argue that the Equality Act’s preference for religion rights over sexuality rights in the discrimination exemptions for organised religions, and the Act’s understanding of what counts as a religious conviction, are better understood as a de-prioritisation of sexuality rights that reflects the prevailing structural inequalities of heteronormative secular and religious social worlds.