Regular Churchgoers Research Articles

Interest in Health Promotion Among Korean American Seventh-day Adventists Attending a Religious Retreat

Little is known about interest in faith-based health promotion programs among Asian American populations. Among the Christian denominations, the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church is known to place a strong doctrinal emphasis on health. To understand appropriate ways to develop and implement health promotion programs and to conduct research among Korean American SDAs. We collaborated with the North American Division of Korean SDA Churches which sponsors annual week-long religious retreats for their church members. We developed and administered a 10-page questionnaire at their 2009 retreat in order to assess socio-demographic and church characteristics, religiosity, perceived relationship between health and religion, and interest and preferences for church-based health promotion programs. Overall, 223 participants completed our survey (123 in Korean and 100 in English). The sample consisted of regular churchgoers who were involved in a variety of helping activities, and many holding leadership positions in their home churches. The vast majority was interested in receiving health information at church (80%) in the form of seminars, cooking classes and workshops (50-60%). Fewer respondents were interested in support groups (27%). Some interests and preferences differed between English and Korean language groups. Korean American SDA church retreat participants from a large geographic area are very interested in receiving health information and promoting health at their churches and can potentially serve as "agents of influence" in their respective communities.

Religie: hoeksteen of steen des aanstoots?

The Netherlands is a religious tolerant country; the Dutch are not very inclined to pay attention to the belief of politicians, and increasingly they prefer politics and religion to be separated. The picture of the developments in the past decades is mixed: clearly increased doubts about unlimited freedom of religion, a small drop in support for religion as a guide to political action, and a virtually unchanged support for denominational education. These findings suggest a growing awareness of potential negative aspects of religion, a declining role of religion in peoples own lives, and a stable positive attitude towards pluralism. The Netherlands is not a country that is only populated by descendants of Calvin and Voltaire. Among the population there are believers and unbelievers in all shapes and sizes. Between the non church members and church members there are in many points clear differences, but these also exist, outside the churches, between philosophical not interested unbelievers, the adherents of holistic spirituality and solo-religious people, and in church circles between nominal members and regular church goers.

Perspective on contemporary spirituality: implications for religious education in Catholic schools

A number of constructs like secularisation, privatisation of religion etc. have been used to describe the significant change in spirituality of many of the young people in Australian Catholic schools over the last 50 years, from a more traditional religious spirituality to something that is more secular, eclectic and individualistic. To some extent, this change has been acknowledged; but the religion curricula in Catholic schools still give the impression that all of the students are, or should be, regular churchgoers – as if Sunday Mass attendance was to be the end point of their education in spirituality. An interpretation of change in spirituality in terms of change in cultural meanings has been developed for the purpose of understanding contemporary spiritualities in other than a deficit model. Such an interpretation may be more persuasive in getting Catholic education authorities and religious educators firstly to accept, rather than condemn or ignore, the significant change in contemporary spiritualty; and secondly, to take steps to address this change positively and constructively in the Catholic school religion curriculum. This article is concerned with the first step – understanding contemporary spirituality; the second question will be considered in a follow-up article. The framework developed here for interpreting how and why spirituality has changed has relevance to education in spirituality in other contexts.

The Front National and Catholicism: from intégrisme to Joan of Arc and Clovis

AbstractThe relationship between the Front National and religion has never been straightforward. Jean‐Marie Le Pen, the party’s leader, comes from a Catholic background, and many of his policies are rooted in traditional Catholic teaching. The FN’s interpretation of French history is based around religion and its main political icons – Joan of Arc and Clovis, for example – are chosen precisely because of their heroism and Catholic‐ness. In fact, the FN is the latest in a long line of far‐right movements to position themselves close to the Church. But the situation is complicated by the fact that the party is loyal to the Latin Mass and for many years was dominated by an ‘integrist’ or ‘fundamentalist’ faction. Electoral data also suggest that for all its ‘Catholic values’, the FN is not that popular with regular churchgoers. In summary, the FN is an interesting movement with a curious relationship to Catholicism and the Catholic Church.

The Practices of Faith: Worship and Writing

What has been characterized as the turn to in literary studies has arisen, I believe, at least in part from a recognition among new historicist and cultural studies critics that producing historicized and culturally astute analyses of literary works requires acknowledging more spheres of meaning than those related to race, class, gender, or economics. Under new historicist principles, now also functions legitimately as a component of individual and social formations, while cultural studies finds material religion a significant part of the production and distribution of cultural meaning. Both fields are also interested in as it relates to issues of power. The literary scholar can welcome and learn much from the work now being published on and literature. At the same time, he or she will find that much of this work does not constitute per se, nor does it intend to. On the contrary, because it takes as just one more category of culture or identity formation and not as a transforming vision or central perspective, it leaves plenty of room for a more specifically literary critique--or, since Christian scholarship itself is difficult to define, for the insights of scholars who, because of their own commitments to the faith, are more likely than critics of other persuasions to approach the evidences of in texts and writers in integral rather than reductionist ways. scholars might contribute to the religion-and-literature dialogue in a number of ways, one of which is by focusing on the practices of faith. My own interests lie in the potential intersections between a person's participation in communal practices and his / her practices of writing. Those who are not regular church-goers (and perhaps some who are) may see the weekly church as a rote exercise, stripped of meaning by endless repetition, rendered boring by habitual practice. But careful attention to the meaning, purpose, and perhaps above all, the variety of practices or liturgies in the church can reveal the deep textures of individuals' differing commitments and, in turn, the intricacies of faith writing that arises out of these commitments. Understanding these intricacies can prevent generalizations about writers that do not do justice to their individualities. It can also reveal the extent to which devotional writings are built on carefully deliberated principles derived from or shaped in response to the beliefs and practices of a faith community. In an age that has largely accepted the idea of as a purely personal matter, such attention to the relationships between the and private dimensions of faith might prove startling. I believe in the possibility of integral connections between communal and personal endeavor outside the liturgical experience not least because the word etymologically and historically implies such a movement or relationship. Liturgy means public worship or public service. From the outset, therefore, it differs from that ascription of worth to God (worth-ship = worship) that is more private in nature. Liturgy by definition is devised for and within a worshipping community. But the public service to which aspires is more than a being open to the public. Rather, as has to do with outward movement, from to world through the work of individuals who participate in the liturgy. As Kevin Irwin explains, every is influenced, in however minimal or maximal a way, by the liturgy such that its effects carry over to how one prays, reflects and acts outside the experience of liturgy (14, 16). Liturgy may thus be defined as any habitual practice that, performed regularly, shapes (intentionally or not) the formation of the heart, and, from there, the further activities and aims of the individual. …

The Rise and Fall of Fuzzy Fidelity in Europe

Two issues have been especially contentious in debates over religious change in Europe: the unity or diversity of the trends observed across the continent, and the significance of the large subpopulation that is neither religious nor completely unreligious. This article addresses these problems. An analysis of the first wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) shows that each generation in every country surveyed is less religious than the last. Although there are some minor differences in the speed of the decline (the most religious countries are changing more quickly than the least religious), the magnitude of the fall in religiosity during the last century has been remarkably constant across the continent. Despite these shifts in the prevalence of conventional Christian belief, practice and self-identification, residual involvement is considerable. Many people are neither regular churchgoers nor self-consciously non-religious. The term ‘fuzzy fidelity’ describes this casual loyalty to tradition. Religion usually plays only a minor role in the lives of such people. Religious change in European countries follows a common trajectory whereby fuzzy fidelity rises and then falls over a very extended period. The starting points are different across the continent, but the forces at work may be much the same.

'Talking About Sexual Orientation, Teaching About Homophobia' Negotiating the Divide between Religious Belief and Tolerance for LGBT Rights in the Classroom

INTRODUCTION--SEXUALITY POLITICS, RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND THE CLASSROOM The question of whether or not people in the LGBT (2) community should be able to enjoy certain fundamental rights taken for granted by most Americans is a contentious issue. While a large number of people agree that same sex sexuality should no longer be criminalized (3) and that gay men and lesbians should be allowed to participate in civil unions, (4) a significant number believe that homosexuality is immoral (5) and that it should be illegal for gay men and lesbians to marry. (6) Greater or lesser tolerance for LGBT rights in the U.S., especially gay marriage, is directly tied to age, religious belief and political affiliation. A 2005 nation-wide survey conducted by the Boston Globe found that people thirty-five years old and younger are more pro-gay in their attitudes than plus sixty-five year olds. (7) The same survey revealed that Republicans, Protestants, regular churchgoers, and Southerners were most likely to oppose gay marriage. It was more likely to be favored by ... Democrats, and people who do not attend worship services or who attend a few times a year. (8) There are many explanations for why some people are against LGBT rights. For instance, some scholars argue that animus against gay men and lesbians, or homophobia, (9) stems from repressed feelings of attraction for people of the same sex, feelings that the holder finds repugnant. This in turn can sometimes cause the holder to lash out at gay men and lesbians. (10) Others contend that homophobia is rooted in sexist attitudes about proper gender roles, with lesbians and gay men being viewed as traitors to nature because of their same sex affiliations. (11) People who hold the kinds of views just explained, often find support for their ideas in interpretations of the teachings of some of the more conservative strains of the world's major religions. For example, in 2003, the same year that the Massachusetts Supreme Court's endorsed the legality of same sex marriage, the Vatican announced that exists solely between a man and woman ... while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. (12) The Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination with 14 million members, (13) has said that Homosexuality is not a 'valid alternative lifestyle.' The Bible condemns it as sin. (14) Furthermore, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest African American Christian denominations, has announced that it considers same sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy contrary to church doctrine. (15) This is not to say that all religious denominations are against LGBT rights. The Unitarian Universalist Association endorses the ordination of openly lesbian, gay and bisexual ministers, (16) as does the United Church of Christ. (17) In an official pronouncement, the latter stated: We recognize the presence of ignorance, fear and hatred in the church and in our culture, and covenant to not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation ..., and we seek to include and support those who, because of this fear and prejudice, find themselves in exile from a spiritual community. (18) It should not be forgotten that America, a majority Christian country, is a land of multiple religions. The following is only an imperfect sampling of the official views on homosexuality held by several non-christian religious groups with sizeable followings in the United States. Reform Judaism, the biggest Jewish denomination in the United States with 1.7 million members, welcomes openly gay rabbis and members and endorses same sex commitment ceremonies. (19) However, such ceremonies are not considered the same as heterosexual marriage ceremonies. (20) On the other hand, the Conservative Judaism movement, which has 1.4 million members in the United States, officially prohibits same sex weddings and openly lesbian or gay rabbis. …

Présentation d’une controverse : les Écritures face à la critique biblique au xixe siècle en Grande-Bretagne

Until the beginning of the 19th century, most of the Catholic, Anglican and Protestant exegetes, theologians and regular churchgoers thought that the Bible was the Word of God, and that God’s truth was present in every word of the Scriptures. Thereafter, biblical studies had to deal with questions that had emerged from the intellectual explosion and scholarly revolution of the previous centuries, and that were still very difficult to handle in their relationship with the Scriptures. The controversy around the authority of the Bible gained ever-increasing momentum as the century unfolded, and was responsible for the division of Bible scholars into two or three major groups whose general conclusions revealed the dynamic element in their studies and interpretation of the Bible. As the positivist and “liberal” critics privileged the use of reason in their approach, it comes as no surprise that the natural or human aspect should be taken into greater consideration by them than by the “orthodox” and “traditionalist” thinkers who privileged the use of faith and took into account the supernatural or divine aspect in their study of the Bible. Although the inerrancy of the Bible sometimes underlies textual, literary or historical discoveries, or matters of inspiration and divine revelation in the Scriptures, this article will identify elements of change and continuity as regards biblical inerrancy.

An investigation of religiosity and the Gastaut–Geschwind syndrome in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

We examined the religious experiences of 28 patients with epilepsy and religiosity, 22 patients with epilepsy and no expressed interest in religion, and 30 volunteer regular churchgoers. We profiled the experiences of the first group, revealing more of their phenomenology, but also their bipolarity, and demonstrated that members of the religious group were significantly more likely to have had past episodes of postictal psychosis, and to have bilateral cerebral dysfunction. We added further data to support the validity of the Bear–Fedio Inventory, and noted that although the experiences of patients with epilepsy are different in content and intensity from the experiences of regular churchgoers, the patients with epilepsy and religiosity conform to those who William James referred to as having, with respect to religion, “an acute fever.”

Dimensions of belief about miraculous healing

Belief in divine intervention in illness or healing is related to religious belief in general (Furnham, A. (1994). Explaining health and illness: Lay beliefs on the nature of health.Personality and Individual Differences, 17, 455–466; Mansfield, C. J., Mitchell, J., & King, D. E. (2002). The doctor as God's mechanic? Beliefs in the Southeastern United States. Social Science and Medicine, 54, 399–409; Mitchell, J., & Weatherly, D. (2000). Beyond church attendance: Religiosity and mental health among rural older adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 15, 37–54). There has been little investigation of the nature of such belief among committed churchgoers and, in particular, whether or not belief in miraculous healing is a single or multi-dimensional construct. Scales measuring beliefs about miraculous healing were developed using a sample of 404 Anglicans drawn from a variety of traditions within the Church of England. Participants were asked to respond to various hypothetical scenarios such as a claim that prayer healed cancer, a claim of healing by Spiritualists and a failure to cure someone who had been prayed with for healing. Item scores were subject to an exploratory factor analysis to determine if belief about miraculous healing was multi- or uni-dimensional. Belief in miraculous healing showed at least four dimensions: (1) the possibility of such healing today; (2) the exclusivity of Christian faith healing; (3) the sovereignty of God over illness; and (4) the role of humans in the process. Scores on these dimensions were positively correlated with each other and with measures of conservative Christian belief. Beliefs about healing were strongly correlated with charismatic practice and less strongly to age, education, church attendance and church tradition. Beliefs about miraculous healing among regular churchgoers were complex and varied considerably, even within a single Christian denomination. Simple measures of religiosity and belief do not always adequately describe Christian beliefs about divine intervention in healing.

Public tolerance, private pain: Stigma and sexually transmitted infections in the American Deep South

This pilot telephone survey sought to identify social barriers to treating sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in a socially conservative state (Alabama, USA). The sample consisted of 250 household residents aged 19–50 years, mostly African‐American and White, who were drawn from the general population. The participants reported that infected persons, per se, should not be stigmatized. However, almost half of respondents stated that they would seek revenge against a partner who infected them. Feelings of embarrassment negatively affected willingness to seek health care; almost half of the respondents stated that, if infected, they would delay treatment or not seek treatment at all. Differences in responses emerged in relation to ethnicity and religiosity, with African‐Americans and regular churchgoers being more likely than others to say they would delay or refuse treatment because of embarrassment. Gender differences also emerged: respondents reported that women would be more stigmatized than men if they were infected, even though men should be held responsible for spreading STIs. These findings suggest that stigma may be a compelling barrier to STI control in the American Deep South, and that ethnicity, gender and religiosity play an important role in attitudes toward treatment.

"I had a Different Way of Governing": The Living Faith of President Carter

The norm for presidents has been to privatize their faith. While many have been regular churchgoers, affirmed some sort of denominational loyalty, and invoked the blessings and succor of the Divine, past American presidents have followed a long tradition of keeping private faith separate from public performance of duty.1 Not President Carter. Jimmy Carter was rare in the extent he consciously allowed his faith to guide his presidential behavior, set his priorities, and inspire his post-presidential life. He did not separate his faith from politics, he applied it. It is well known that Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth President of the United States, is a man of strong religious faith. During the 1976 campaign, his faith was widely reported by the mainstream press. Candidate Carter rarely missed an opportunity to speak about his faith, what it meant to him, and how it personally changed his life. In fact, Carter, and those who know him best, frequently say that his religion is the key to understanding him as both a man and as a president. What is curious, however, is the general lack of appreciation and exploration of the role of Carter's faith in his role as president and his style of leadership. Some presidential scholars entirely ignore the role of faith in the

Staying Away

One small rural parish invited all resident parishioners to complete a survey regarding their perceptions of their parish church. Responses were received from sixty-seven individuals who did not see themselves as regular churchgoers but nonetheless believed in the Christian God. The data demonstrated that those most likely to increase their level of attendance were the established residents (not newcomers) who had maintained contact with the church through attendance at the major festivals. To increase their level of attendance they would want to be made to feel more welcome and more at home.

What rural churches say to non-churchgoers

This paper revisits data published in Francis and Martineau's (2001) study, Rural Visitors: a parish workbook in order to examine what rural churches say to those visitors who are not themselves regular churchgoers. The main finding concerns the extent to which nonchurchgoers find in these buildings the opportunity for payer. The main challenge concerns how these buildings can be kept open and properly resourced to help in the visitors' spiritual quest.

Do Villages Remain Christian Communities?

A house-to-house survey of a rural English community of around 400 people resulted in 100 completed questionnaires. Respondents were asked to rate a series of questions on a five-point scale to indicate whether they saw themselves as Christians, whether they considered themselves regular churchgoers, and other related indices of religiosity. The results show the sample to be more Christian than the national average in respect of both avowed belief and church attendance. This would seem to confirm that Christianity remains strongest in the countryside and that the community model of the church survives in rural areas. This in turn raises questions about the style of ministry most appropriate for rural parishes in England and Wales.

“Heathens and Infidels”? African Christianization and Anglicanism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1700–1750

In early 1710, a small group of parishioners approached Francis Le Jau, the Anglican missionary to St. James Parish in South Carolina. He recognized them all as regular churchgoers, and he was pleased when they asked him to admit them to Holy Communion. Yet he hesitated, because the men admitted that, having been “born and baptized among the Portuguese,” they were Roman Catholics. Le Jau was always cautious in such cases, he assured church authorities in London. He told the men that he would need them first to renounce “the errors of the Popish Church” before he would allow them the sacrament. He then suggested that they give the matter some thought over the next few months.

The "Southern Accent"

Linguists insist that the speech of different parts of the South and different kinds of southerners differs from the generic speech of the Midwest in different ways. There are, in other words, many different accents, and most southerners are attuned at least to the differences between up-country and low-country and between black and white. But outsiders like the folks who make television programs tend to ignore these distinctions, as do many southerners, perhaps especially when they're outside of the South. And it is possible to classify people as having strong or weak regional accents, even if their are different. Relying on that fact, we have asked interviewers for the Southern Focus Poll, conducted since 1993 by the Odum Institute at the University of North Carolina, to rate the accents of respondents as strong, detectable, or none. Although these student interviewers are not trained linguists, their crude ratings have turned out to be excellent predictors of a great many things. People rated as having strong are reliably more southern in everything from their religious beliefs to their dietary preferences. This should not be surprising: the same circumstances that instill regional speechways should be more likely to produce typically regional attitudes, values, and behaviors as well. What are those circumstances? Among residents of the South, that is, what sorts of people have identifiably accents? The table on the next page indicates that roughly a third of our respondents fall into each of the three categories. But strong are more common in the Deep South states (SC, GA, AL, MS, LA) than in the peripheral South. They are also more common among natives than among migrants (although migrants who have been in the South more than ten years are likely to have picked up at least a detectable accent, and one out of five has acquired a strong one). There are no appreciable differences by race or gender, but there is a discernable age gradient: although most younger respondents have at least a detectable accent, they are somewhat less likely than older ones to do so. Related to this, perhaps, is that Democrats and regular churchgoers are slightly more likely to speak with an accent than Republicans and the unchurched. PERCENT WITH STRONG ACCENT VS. NONE. (The remaining percentage rated detectable.) Strong None Southern total 30 36 Deep South 40 22 Peripheral South 26 42 Lived in South 10 years or less 6 78 Lived in South more than 10 years 18 47 Lived in South entire life 44 20 Residence at age 16 in the South 37 25 Residence at age 16 in Border States 22 52 Residence at age 16 in the Non-South 4 74 Considers self southerner 41 20 Does not consider self southerner 6 70 Metropolitan residence 23 44 Nonmetropolitan residence 42 22 White 32 32 Black 26 31 Other 13 74 Male 32 38 Female 28 34 18-24 years old 22 42 25-44 years old 27 41 45-64 years old 34 31 65 years old or older 37 27 11th grade or less education 53 20 High school graduate 37 27 Some college 29 37 College graduate 19 48 Income less than $20,000 36 32 $20,000-$39,999 32 34 $40,000-$59,999 30 36 Income greater than $60,000 21 43 Republican 27 37 Democrat 34 32 Independent 24 40 Other Political Affiliation 29 39 Never attends church 26 45 Attends church less than once a week 30 36 Attends church once a week 30 36 Attends church more than once a week 33 31 [Source: Interviewer ratings, avg. …

“Why are missionary periodicals [not] so boring?” The Missionary Periodicals Database Project

Missionary periodicals are like librarians. They have an image problem. People think they are boring. Like librarians, they spent a lot of time agonising over their image. Their editorials were full of complaints that even regular church and chapel goers are ill-informed and indifferent to foreign missions and regard missionary magazines as uninteresting. They were constantly exhorting their readers to go out and sign up more subscribers. If the missionary magazines had a problem in their own time, it was a long time before scholars took them seriously as source material. Scholars tended to think of them, if they thought of them at all, covered in a pietistic haze, of interest only to committed missionary antiquarians. All this is changing. I do not have to convince readers of ARD that librarians are not boring; I hope to convince you that missionary periodicals are not boring either.

The Religious Cleavage and the Media in Canada

AbstractThis article offers an improved understanding of the often-neglected religious cleavage in Canada. Using data from the 1988 Canadian Election Study, the authors examine the questions of voting intentions, opinion on abortion, support for unions and support for military spending. This article first shows that Roman Catholics have different opinions on these questions than Protestants, but that these differences disappear as Catholics' exposure to the news media increases. The authors also demonstrate that the more religious the Catholics, the more resistant they are to media messages. The largest differences between Catholics and Protestants are thus found between regular churchgoers with low media exposure, while the smallest differences are found between heavily exposed non-practisers.

A Double-wide What?

South Polls A Double-wide What? BY JOHN SHELTON REED For her novel Devil's Dream, Lee Smith wrote the great country-music lyric, "On a double bed in a double-wide with a double shot of gin, / I'm a single gal in a one-horse town sleeping alone again." When she sent her manuscript to her New York publisher, Smith reports, it came back with the copyeditor's marginal query, "A double-wide what?" It's a safe bet that a southerner wouldn't have to ask. More than half of the South's new housing stock is now made up of mobile homes, single- and, yes, double-wide, and most southerners have at least a second-hand acquaintance with this unpretentious ifimage-challenged form ofshelter. In fact, according to a Southern Focus Poll of 801 residents ofsouthern states and 481 residents ofthe non-South conducted in the fall of 1995, two out of every five residents of the South have lived in a trailer-house at one time or another. Other Americans are only about halfas likely to have done so (only in the mountain states does the frequency approach southern levels). In the South, having lived in a mobile home is less common among migrants to the region, city folk, blacks, those with high levels of education and income, those over 65, and regular churchgoers. Native southerners, residents of rural areas and small towns, whites, those under 6 5 , those with low levels of education and income, and infrequent churchgoers are more likely to have done so—in fact, most nonmetropolitan southerners and most of those with less than a highschool education have. Outside the South the correlates ofmobile-home living are roughly similar, although the relationship to income and education is less strong and nonsouthern women are particularly likely to deny ever having lived in a trailer. 112 "Have you ever lived In a mobile home or trailer?" (percent replying "yes"): South Non-South Total3923 Region Deep South43 Peripheral South38 New England14 Middle Adantic18 East Central22 West Central27 Mountain States41 Pacific Coast23 Lived in South less than 10 years32 more than 10 years40 all my life42 Considers self southerner41 Does not33 Residence metropolitan3220 nonmetropolitan5242 Race white4124 black3314 other3622 Sex male3829 female4019 Age 18-243411 25-444331 45-644324 65 + 208 Education 1 lth grade or less5123 high school graduate4529 some college4023 college graduate2419 South Polls 1 1 3 Income less than $20,0004420 $20,000-39,9994730 $40,000-59,9993731 $60,000 + 2313 Church attendance never4826 less than weekly4427 once a week3417 more than once a week3421 The Southern Focus Poll is a semiannual telephone survey conducted by the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3 355. Data can be obtained for further analysis from the Institute. I 14 iOHN SHELTON REED ...