Frequency Of Church Attendance Research Articles

“God is my vaccine”: the role of religion, conspiracy beliefs, and threat perception in relation to COVID-19 vaccination

AbstractReligious and conspiracy beliefs are based on the assumption that a potent force exists which is capable of affecting people’s destinies. According to compensatory control theory, the belief in such a potent external agent may serve to alleviate feelings of uncertainty and help restore a sense of control. This is of particular relevance and importance to attitudes and behaviour of religious individuals towards vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic, where a belief in such a potent external force controlling events and destinies may have lowered the sense of threat posed by Covid-19 and in turn reduced vaccination uptake. To test this, we conducted a cross-sectional study of highly religious adults in Poland (N = 213) and found that the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses taken was negatively predicted by conspiracy beliefs, perceived closeness to God, and frequency of church attendance, and positively predicted by the perceived COVID-19 threat. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that both conspiracy beliefs and perceived closeness to God were related to a decreased perception of the COVID-19 threat, which in turn led to a decreased number of vaccine doses received. Our study offers important insights for public health professionals and identifies further research pathways on conspiracy and religious beliefs in relation to health-related behaviours.

Religious Knowledge: A New Dimensional Approach for Studying Religiosity’s Social Impact in Muslim Societies

Researchers frequently postulate a strong relationship between religiosity and social peace and stability. If one examines the construct of religion in sociological literature (e.g., doctrine, rituals, etc.), it appears that it is so diverse and multifaceted that a single measure of religiosity is inadequate. While quantification of religiosity is possible, social studies rely exclusively on single-item markers of religiousness (e.g., frequency of church attendance). Moreover, two of the dimensions of Glock's (1962) model - religious knowledge and the consequential dimension - have not been examined at all (Filsinger & Wilson, 1986). This paper’s objective is to draw attention to the “religious knowledge” dimension as an influential social factor within society by attempting to construct a peculiar definition to the sociology of Muslim societies. Besides, this paper aims at putting emphasis on the importance and the validity of “religious knowledge” scales and their ability to provide an overview about Muslim individuals’ religiosity.

Acceptance of gay and lesbian people among Polish teachers: the roles of intergroup contact and belief in LGBT conspiracy ideology

ABSTRACT The present research focused on predictors of acceptance of gay and lesbian people among Polish teachers. The relationship between acceptance and intergroup contact was examined through the lens of intergroup contact theory. The secondary goal of this article was to investigate the relationship between gay and lesbian acceptance and endorsement of LGBT-related conspiracy theories. The results (N = 1,638) indicated that intergroup contact and belief in an LGBT conspiracy were the strongest predictors of gay and lesbian acceptance. Moreover, belief in an LGBT conspiracy mediated the relationship between the frequency of church attendance and acceptance of gay and lesbian people. These findings are consistent with the framework of intergroup contact theory.

Role of Church Affiliation and the Sexual Behaviour Choices of Students in Selected Universities in Nairobi County, Kenya

Purpose: The current study sheds light on the role of church affiliation in shaping sexual attitudes and behaviour. Not enough was known about how Christianity can influence the construction of values and beliefs that discourage risky sexual behaviour among adolescents at universities in Kenya. Little was understood on the role of church affiliation explaining variation in adolescent sexuality among Christian communities at universities. Spirituality is an understudied subtype of religiosity yet it may explain patterns of sexual behaviour. Most studies that have examined the relationship between sexual behaviours and religiosity have focused on sexual intercourse. These studies have not examined other sexual behaviour choices, like internet sex.
 Methodology: Using a mixed-methods design, the relationship between church affiliation and sexual behaviour was examined. In quantitative analysis, a stratified probability sample of (n=176 students) who attend regular prayer sessions in three universities: the Kenyatta University (KU) Main Campus, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Karen Campus, and the Daystar University was used. Qualitative interviews were conducted with university administrators, chaplains, and other church workers. Undergirding the study was the social identity theory, which articulates the idea of people seeking to gain membership and acceptance in any social group.
 Findings: The findings suggest church affiliation has a significant effect on sexual attitudes, values, and behaviour. There seems to be an interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity, with frequent church attendance appearing to induce more conservative sexual beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. Church affiliation had a significant effect on sexual behaviour choices, which includes internet sex and cohabitation and extreme sexual activities.

HURRICANE STRESSORS AND BUFFERS IN RELATION TO DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN PUERTO RICO

Abstract The present study examines the role of religiosity and social support on depressive symptoms and the moderating role of hurricane stress related to friends and family following Hurricane Maria in a sample of Puerto Rican older adults. Data was collected from the Puerto Rican Elder: Health Conditions (PREHCO) study. The present study consists of 613 participants in Wave 3 of the longitudinal study. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Social support was measured using the Lubben Social Support Network scale. Religiosity and hurricane stress related to friends and family were measured using survey items developed by PRECHO investigators. Religion items include church attendance and the helpfulness of religion for health conditions. A linear regression was conducted. Controlling for education and days since the hurricane, church attendance (b=0.642, p<.001), and social support (b=-0.098, p<.001) predicted depressive symptoms. When hurricane stressors related to family and friends were added to the model, church attendance (b=629, p<.001) and social support (b=-0.098, p<.001) remained significant predictors, and hurricane stressors predicted depressive symptoms (b=-0.378, p=.018). Helpfulness of religion was not a significant predictor of hurricane stress. Church attendance and social support are important coping strategies for Puerto Rican older adults. Increased social support and frequent church attendance buffer the development of depressive symptoms even when hurricane-specific stress is present. Future research may examine if church attendance and social support buffer the development of depressive symptoms when other non-social hurricane stressors are present.

Nigerian Christians in Britain: post – migration religious change among the first generation in Edinburgh

ABSTRACT This ethnographic research examined post-migration changes in the religious affiliation and the frequency of church attendance and private praying of sixteen female and fourteen male (N = 30) Nigerian Christians who are long-term residents of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Participants reported changes in their Christian denominational affiliation, their church attendance frequency, and the regularity of their private praying following their residential migration from Nigeria to Britain. Various contextual and individual factors influenced these changes, such as conditions in British society and “work”, which was the most reported cause of a decline in participants’ religious activity. This research suggests that it is more common for first-generation Nigerian Christian immigrants in Britain to experience a decline than an increase in their religious commitment as they live in the UK, which is much less religious than Nigeria. More testing with broad samples is required to evaluate the research findings.

Anti-Corruption Attitudes in Post-Communist Slovakia “Hellfire and Deviance” or Political Socialization?

The literature on corruption-related attitudes tends to focus on developing countries, test rational-choice theories, overlook religious influences, and neglect post-Communist but developed nations such as Slovakia. Academically, this article aims to test the validity of the “Hellfire and Deviance” and political-socialization theories of attitudes toward bribery by performing multivariate, Logistic regression analysis of the Slovak subsample of the 2022 World Values Survey. In particular, this study intends to find out whether: 1. an increase in belief in the afterlife drives opposition to bribery and 2. more frequent church attendance reduces support for bribery. This article finds that tolerance of bribery decreases with belief in the afterlife. Religious attendance also reduces pro-bribery views, but only among elderly Slovaks who grew up under Communism. Affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church or another Christian denomination seems to dampen enthusiasm for corruption indirectly by boosting church attendance and belief in the hereafter. Overall, these results strongly support the first theory and weakly confirm the second. The findings suggest that religion holds promise as a way to combat the scourge of political corruption in post-Communist, democratic Slovakia.

Rethinking Religion and Political Participation: The Case of Voting Among Religiously Unaffiliated Americans

Abstract Is civic disengagement correlated across institutions? One case of this question is a long-observed “secular voting gap” where religiously unaffiliated Americans are less likely to vote than their affiliated counterparts. This work often uses self-reports or exit polls that cannot measure variation within the unaffiliated. Using an improved measure of validated voter turnout in four presidential election years (2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020), I find estimates of the secular voting gap are attenuated by demographic controls. More importantly, the mechanism that explains this finding is that more frequent church attendance associates with a lower probability of turnout among respondents who are unaffiliated, and results vary by voting method. These results support a theory of civic disengagement as a domain-specific process and demonstrate the substantive value of revisiting classic findings about religion and political behavior amid social change.

Income Tax Progressivity and Nonreligion in Central and Eastern Europe: A Case of the Czech Republic

Our paper focuses on the tax progressivity and nonreligion in central and eastern Europe using an example of the Czech Republic, one of the most atheistic countries in the world. Religion might imply formal affiliation with a certain confession or active church attendance, but it might also become a determinant of taxation preferences. We employ ordinal regression analyses to study direct and mediation effects of both church affiliation and church attendance on a representative sample from the Czech Republic (n = 1924, 54.8% female, aged 18–95, M ± SD: 52.0 ± 16.9; 19.4% with higher education) controlling for employment status, social class and socio-demographics. The results suggest that neither church affiliation nor church attendance were related to desired income tax progressivity; social class plaid the most important role. The frequency of church attendance was significantly related to the perceived adequacy of taxation of higher incomes, where the more respondents attended the religious services, the more they believed that the taxes on the rich are too high. However, the churches’ ideas to help the needy were manifested in the preferences for international tax progressivity, where the frequent churchgoers were more inclined to the idea that the rich countries should pay additional taxes to help the poor countries. These controversial results may indicate the rivalrous position of the church and the state in the Czech Republic in terms of taxation of the wealthy. We suggest that under the condition of no church tax, the state taxation of the rich may be viewed as diverting funds, which could otherwise be directed to the church. These results might be of some interest to the state, the church and to the academic researchers alike and significantly contribute to the discussion on specific features of nonreligiosity in central and eastern Europe.

Evangelistic belief and behavior among Canadian congregants

With the recent surge of “religious nones” in many Western nations, there is a growing interest among some church attenders to effectively “reach” this demographic. In this article, we build on theories of strictness and social embeddedness to tackle three questions regarding evangelistic belief and behavior in Canadian Catholic, mainline Protestant, and conservative Protestant congregations. First, in what ways are evangelistic beliefs and behaviors similar or dissimilar across theological traditions, notably when comparing stricter and less strict contexts? Second, how are evangelistic behaviors similar or dissimilar based on a person’s frequency of church attendance? Third, what challenges do people confront in their evangelistic efforts? Drawing on survey data with over 9100 Catholic, mainline, and conservative Protestant respondents in over 250 Canadian congregations, this study compares responses across theological sectors, reported levels of importance that church members attach to evangelism, as well as church attendance frequency. Data reveal that those in religious traditions with stricter “insider–outsider” boundaries and who were more socially embedded in their religious groups (i.e., conservative Protestant traditions) were the most likely to embrace evangelistic attitudes and behaviors, in contrast to those in religious groups with less strict boundaries or social embeddedness in their religious group (i.e., United Church of Canada). However, those with the strongest “us–them” boundaries also found those boundaries particularly prohibitive to their evangelistic efforts reflected, in part, in a widespread leaning toward passive versus assertive forms of evangelism.

A Typology of Orthodox Russians: Toward the Operationalization of a Generalized Descriptor of Religiosity

ABSTRACT In the sociology of religion, there are many approaches to measuring religiosity. Most of the methodological literature focuses on operationalizing the concept—determining important aspects of religiosity and selecting the right indicators. At the same time, little attention has been given to the reverse operation—the construction of a common descriptor of religiosity. We consider three approaches to this problem: 1) using individual indicators; 2) constructing a general descriptor of religiosity on the basis of several indicators with the application of summation, averaging, and the principles of the strongest or weakest answer or factor analysis; and 3) constructing a typology based on several descriptors by identifying relatively homogeneous groups of religiosity using cluster analysis or latent class analysis. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed. In the case of multiple social forms of religiosity, the latter approach is most productive. The article presents the typology of Orthodox Russians, built using hierarchical cluster analysis based on data gathered by the Orthodox Monitor all-Russian survey (2011). The typology is based on four indicators: faith in God, frequency of church attendance, frequency of attending religious services, and the frequency of making confession and taking communion. Nine groups were identified using our analysis.

Examining the Connection between Religion and Attitude toward Socio-Economic Human Rights and Attitude toward Euthanasia and Abortion among Romanian Orthodox Adolescents: Contrasting the Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religiosity.

This study examines the complex connection linking religion, social attitudes, and human rights in Romania, drawing on the classic distinction between extrinsic religiosity (as reflected in church attendance) and intrinsic religiosity (as reflected in personal prayer). The hypothesis that these forms of religiosity may function differently in relation to different areas of social attitudes is tested among Romanian Orthodox adolescents (N = 400), drawing on validated measures developed by the International Empirical Research Program Religion and Human Rights 2.0 to assess attitude toward socio-economic human rights and attitude toward euthanasia and abortion. In respect of attitude toward euthanasia and abortion, church attendance and personal prayer work in the same direction and with cumulative effect. Lowest acceptance of euthanasia and abortion is found among young people who attend church and pray. In respect of attitude toward socio-economic human rights, church attendance and personal prayer work in opposite directions. Frequent church attendance (extrinsic religiosity) is associated with lower endorsement of socio-economic human rights. Frequent prayer (intrinsic religiosity) is associated with higher endorsement of socio-economic human rights.

Initial Real Time Coping by African American Christians During the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19).

Seventy-three telephone interviews during the initial COVID-19 shutdown explored coping strategies among African American Christians. Open-ended questions and Likert-type scale items assessed faith, advice given, helpful Scriptures, worship practices, belief in God, and religion and spirituality’s importance. Most participants reported coping well and following governmental guidelines. Frequent church attendance before the shutdown was significantly associated with less worrying and being less anxious. Married individuals also reported less worrying. We discuss limitations, future research, and implications.

Belonging, believing, behaving, and Brexit: Channels of religiosity and religious identity in support for leaving the European Union.

Having an Anglican affiliation is known to be associated with support for leaving the European Union (EU) in Britain. Religiosity, conceived as strength of religious attachment, has received comparatively little treatment. We investigate religiosity via electoral, household, and attitudinal surveys, distinguishing the effects of "behaving" and "believing." The association between religiosity and EU Referendum vote choice and position is identified before and after inclusion of values, attitudinal, and civic engagement measures. Consistent with established findings, in socio-structural models Anglicans are more likely to support Brexit than religious Nones. More frequent church attendance is associated with being more pro-Remain. The Anglican effect is primarily mediated by anti-immigrant attitudes, authoritarianism, and salience of ethnic identity, suggesting a Christian nationalist aspect to Leave support. The attendance effect is mediated by warmer attitudes toward immigrants, and social capital. Notably, those exhibiting stronger orthodox belief tend to feature a stronger attachment to "Leave," with this partly mediated by authoritarianism. To evaluate the net effect of religion on civic life, we should pay more attention to the cultural content of religious beliefs, and how they structure other values and attitudes.

Natural Family Planning and Marital Chastity: The Effects of Periodic Abstinence on Marital Relationships

This study showed that ever-use of natural family planning (NFP) among ever-married women was associated with 58 percent lower odds of divorce than among women who never-used NFP. Ever-use of contraceptive methods was associated with two times the odds of divorce and four times for cohabitation compared to those women who never-used those methods. Use of periodic abstinence with NFP is the practice of marital chastity and is thought to strengthen the marital relationship.

Social networks, attachment and integration: understanding the church attendance of Romanian migrants

ABSTRACT Why do some migrants attend church more than others? This article uses an original survey conducted on first-generation Romanian migrants to identify the determinants of such a behaviour. Our study tests the explanatory power of three categories of determinants: migrants’ social network, their ties with the home country and the integration in the host society. The analysis uses individual-level data from a survey conducted on 1.839 Romanian migrants. We find that the contact with many migrants and high attachment to the home country lead to more frequent church attendance. At the same time, the presence in an organisation and the integration difficulties encountered in the host society steer migrants away from church. These results contribute to a better understanding of the diaspora dynamic in terms of religious behaviour and provide an assessment of how specific cultural manifestations are shaped.

Ideological Preferences and Evolution of the Religious Cleavage in Chile, 1998–2014

This article analyses how religious orientations and ideological preferences have coevolved in Chilean society between 1998 and 2014. On the basis of the premise that people experience religion heterogeneously, we develop four hypotheses that describe possible changes in the association between these two variables. Using data from yearly national probability surveys and multinomial regression models, we obtain two general results. First, we observe a general process of political “dealignment,” whereby the proportion of the population, religious and irreligious, that ceases to identify with ideological positions strongly increases. Second, the magnitude of this dealignment is moderated by religious denomination and frequency of church attendance. Irreligious people have ceased to identify with ideological positions at higher rates than Evangelicals and Catholics, whereas frequently attending Catholics have become more reluctant than nonattending Catholics to abandon their traditional right-wing preferences. These results imply that as Catholics have reduced their size in the population, they have also become more politically heterogeneous.

Race, Religion, and Obama in Appalachia*

ObjectiveAppalachia—historically a culturally and politically unique region of the United States—has been effectively ignored by contemporary political scientists. Using a unique measure of Appalachian residence, this article analyzes racial attitudes, religion, and Appalachian opposition to the 2008 presidential candidacy of Barack Obama.MethodsI use regression analysis to assess the extent to which Appalachian residents differ in their levels of perceived racial favoritism, identification as born‐again Christians, and frequency of church attendance, as well as whether these variables can mediate the seeming regional effect of Appalachia in a standard vote choice model.ResultsI first demonstrate higher levels of perceived racial favoritism and, especially, higher levels of a particular type of religiosity in the region. I then assess whether these measures can mediate Appalachian distinctiveness in presidential vote choice. When perceived racial favoritism, church attendance, and born‐again Christian status are controlled for in regression models, Appalachian regional opposition to the 2008 Obama candidacy disappears statistically.ConclusionWhile race and religion both “matter,” I find it is religion that seems to matter more in explaining Appalachian distinctiveness, particularly relative to traditional southern distinctiveness. This provides a new vantage point from which to assess southern politics debates about subregional variation and the relative roles of race and religion, as well as sets the foundation for further analyses of Appalachia and American politics.

Rejecting Darwinian Evolution: The Effects of Education, Church Tradition, and Individual Theological Stance among UK Churchgoers

A sample of 2232 committed churchgoers from a range of churches in the UK completed a questionnaire that included a measure of rejection of Darwinian evolution. Respondents with undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications had slightly lower odds of rejecting evolution than those without degrees, but whether qualifications were in non-biological science, biology or theology made little difference to the likelihood of rejection. Those who attended Anglican or Methodist (AM) churches were much less likely to reject evolution than those who attended Evangelical or Pentecostal (EP) churches, but the effect of education on reducing rejection was similar in both groups. Individual theological conservatism was strongly associated with rejection, but whereas liberals showed declining rejection with increased education, there was no such effect for conservatives. Frequent church attendance and Bible reading both predicted rejection, and the effect of Bible reading was most pronounced among AM churchgoers. Higher education of any kind may reduce the likelihood of rejection of evolution among many UK churchgoers, but theological conservatives from any tradition will tend to maintain their belief that Darwinian evolution does not explain the origin of species whatever their educational experience.

Religion and Body Weight Among African-American Adults Attempting to Lose Weight: An Exploratory Study.

Religion and body weight was explored at two time points among overweight and obese African-American adults. Baseline and follow-up data were collected from 26 adults participating in a weight loss intervention and analyzed using multiple regression analyses of religious measures, body weight, and other variables. Frequent church attendance was significantly associated with greater weight lost from baseline to 16-week follow-up. In this exploratory study, religious interactions and experiences may be involved in shaping body weight among African-Americans attempting to lose weight.