Research On Religion » religious competition

Sarah Dreier on Anglicans, Lutherans, and African Churches

tonygill — Sun, 14 May 2017 08:00:11 +0000

In recent years, movement towards progressive policies and values on gender and sexuality have caused cultural rifts within the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Such tension is most apparent among their affiliated churches in the Global South, most notably Africa, with some African clergy becoming very outspoken against the policies adopted by Anglicans and Lutherans in Europe and the United States. Sarah K. Dreier, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Washington, engages research on transnational organizations to explore how these tensions arose and how they are being managed.

As often is the case, we begin our conversation exploring how our guest came to study her topic of interest. Ms. Dreier talks about the influence her parents had in her intellectual development and how certain mentors at Northwestern University also helped to shape her interests about the world. Sarah took these interests into a professional career working for religious non-governmental organizations, which further piqued her interests in the topic of how transnational groups in the developed North relate to their counterparts in the developing South. Sarah details some of the cultural changes that are manifesting themselves in policy changes within the Anglican Communion and the ELCA with a specific eye towards same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and women’s issues. Such changes have caused rifts within these denominations in Europe and the US, but have really risen concern within many parts of Africa such as Kenya and Tanzania, where Sarah did much of her dissertation fieldwork.

We then shift track a bit to discuss recent scholarship on transnational organizations, with Sarah pointing out that many researchers have not paid much attention, until recently, to how various development efforts by transnational groups headquartered in the OECD nations are received by the recipients of these efforts in the Global South. She regales us with a story wherein she was working with an African official of a Lutheran Church on a malaria initiative when the bishop told Sarah, at the outset of their interview, that he needs the ELCA to back down from their homosexual agenda, revealing that this cultural issue was of a huge importance to him and many others within his church. We explore this tension further and Sarah lays out her reason for why some African churches have been vocally opposed to these cultural issues whereas other ones have not. She explains that African churches that have a relatively stable source of funding outside the transnational network are more capable of raising critical voices as it doesn’t endanger their long-term viability as an organization as much as churches that are more reliant on international funding. Moreover, the presence of religious competition in the form of Pentecostals, evangelicals, and other charismatic religious movements that are growing rapidly in Africa, puts pressure on the African Anglican and Lutheran churches to signal their solidarity with the cultural norms of their home populations (which, by various polls, are overwhelmingly opposed to more progressive views on gender and sexual issues). When some Pentecostal ministers point to the policies of the Church of England and/or the ELCA and tag their local African affiliates as being part of the “gay church,” leaders of these mainline African congregations are compelled to signal their distance from their transnational partners. Many African Anglican and Lutheran members view the progressive doctrines as a “neo-colonial imposition,” an interesting conundrum in that both the Anglican Communion and the ELCA have been very critical of past colonialist practices. Tony then asks why some of these African churches don’t simply “go Pentecostal” and leave their denomination, prompting Sarah to provide an interesting response about the long-term benefits of a mainline denominational affiliation.

We further discuss how religious officials in Europe and the US are trying to do to respond to these concerns. While these officials have tried to note that such progressive policies are really only contained within Europe and the US, Sarah points out that “everything flows across borders,” making the situation rather difficult to manage. Sarah closes with some thoughts about what she has learned throughout her investigation of this topic and notes how culture is very dynamic and constantly shifting. Recorded: May 8, 2017.

Disclosure: Tony is serving as a member of Sarah’s dissertation committee at the UW.

RELATED LINKS

Sarah K. Dreier’s personal website and bio at the Dept. of Political Science, University of Washington.

Lutheran World Federation (mentioned in podcast).

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Rodney Stark on The Triumph of Faith

tonygill — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 10:21:04 +0000

The decline of religion around the world may be greatly exaggerated. This is the assertion made by Dr. Rodney Stark — co-founder and director of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and frequent guest on our program. He backs his claim with extensive survey evidence from a number of polling organizations (namely the Gallup World Poll) and other bits of evidence from scholarly studies. We take a tour de force of religion around the world to see that faith is as strong as ever, even in the United States.

Surveys by Pew Forum and the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) have indicated religious practice is on the decline in the United States. Tony asks Rod whether he has seen a similar trend in his own research using the Baylor Religion Study. While there has been an increase in the number of individuals who claim “no religious affiliation” or the infamous “nones” discussed by Pew, Prof. Stark notes that this really affects religious affiliation and not necessarily belief. His own examination of “nones” indicates that a substantial number of them still believe in God, pray weekly, and occasionally attend worship services. He also notes that many individuals who proclaim no traditional religious affiliation believe in “non-conventional” forms of the supernatural such as various New Age ideas of spirituality or entities such as elves. Tony points out that even in Iceland where attendance at church services is near the lowest in the Christian world, there is still a strong belief in elves to the point where people will hire clerics to investigate whether such creatures are inhabiting land they plan to build upon. Our conversation at this point also covers some issues with survey methodology and Rod explains the reason he is relying upon the Gallup World Poll for much of his research data.

We then expand our exploration to the rest of the world outside of the US and Europe. Whereas Europe has not seen any significant increase in religious practice or belief recently (outside of Muslim immigrants), the rest of the globe is experiencing a major explosion in religious affiliation, practice, and belief. Rod lists a couple statistics to bolster this point, including 81% of the world population claiming to belong to some organized religious faith, 71% saying that religion is important in their lives, and 51% having participated in some organized form of worship in the past week. Atheism rates remains relatively stagnant with only three countries registering more than 20% of the population as non-believers. Attendance and affiliation remains most flaccid in Europe. This continent registers low among individuals who attend religious services largely because Christianity was never deeply embedded in a number of these countries to begin with (particularly in Northern Europe) and monopolized state churches have little incentive to recruit and serve members, according to Prof. Stark.

Moving from the least religiously active part of the world, we then travel to Africa where religious practice has been growing exponentially. This is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa where there was nary a Christian on the continent in the late 1800s, but a vast majority now proclaim Christianity and attendance rates are the highest in the world. Rod points out that this is not only due to missionary work by Europeans in the early 20th century who introduced the faith, but more importantly is the result of indigenous church growth — i.e., Africans developing and organizing their own Christian denominations. Catholicism also shows strong growth in the region, surprising even the Vatican itself with its strong indigenous roots. We talk briefly about Islam in Northern Africa, and how contact between Muslims and Christians has created unfortunate conflict in some parts of the continent.

Asia is our next region of focus. Having recently co-authored a book with Xiuhua Wang on Christianity in China (see below), Rod explains how this country poses a unique challenge to secularization theory. While China is modernizing rapidly, it is also Christianizing equally fast and despite attempts by the communist regime to suppress or control the growth. Interestingly, the growth in religious practice is coming amongst the most educated and prosperous in Chinese society. While the central regime in China is concerned about this religious growth, many local officials take a hands-off approach to the practice of house churches. Tony speculates that there may be many parallels between what is currently happening in China to what went on in the pre-Constantine Church in the first three centuries. Japan becomes the next topic of conversation. Here, religious practice remains rather low. Rod points out that even with high rates of unbelief, many people still rely upon Shinto priests to bless their autos, homes, and even military equipment (which Tony mentions from a previous podcast with Ron Hassner).

Our last two topics cover Latin America and Islam. In the former, religious practice has increased dramatically despite the notion that Latin Americans have always been (since colonization) firmly Catholic. Prof. Stark tips his hat to Tony’s own research on the region and how Protestant missionaries in the 20th century lit a competitive fire underneath the Catholic Church, which prompted this institution to better serve its parishioner base. We discuss how the Latin American Catholic Church, whereas it used to rely upon imported priests, now sees significant growth in native seminarians and Rod provides an interesting anecdote from his time in California about how competition from Pentecostals motivated a Catholic parish. We touch a bit on Islam noting that while religious practice has been relatively high in North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia, this faith has become “more intensified” in recent decades. The display of religious symbols (e.g., hijab) has become more pronounced, and Rod discusses how Islam provides a great deal of internal religious competition that can give rise to this, particularly in an environment that is showing increased resentment of Western morals.

We finish off with some reflections on secularization theory and why this perspective is still so entrenched in the Academy. Prof. Stark shares some comments on political correctness and encourages more honest research amongst intellectuals. Recorded: December 30, 2015.

The Triumph of Faith: Why the World Is More Religious than Ever, by Rodney Stark.

America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists, by Rodney Stark.

The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion, by Rodney Stark.

America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone… Including Atheists, by Rodney Stark (available November 2012).

Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

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Rodney Stark on The Crusades.

Peter Leeson on Witch Trials and Human Sacrifice

tonygill — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 08:00:16 +0000

During the 16th century, Europe experienced a wave of witchcraft trials that has captured our imagination, and much scholarly attention, up until the present era. But the “wave” of witchcraft trials was not geographically uniform. Prof. Peter Leeson, a professor of economics at George Mason University, focuses the lens of rational choice theory to explain the occurrence, duration, and geographic distribution of this seemingly irrational phenomenon. We also save time to explore an even stranger social trend — human sacrifice — using the basic tools of microeconomics. As usual, expect the unexpected for our annual Halloween episode.

Our show starts with Tony trying to unravel the mystery of how an economist ended up studying a topic such as medieval witchcraft trials, let alone human sacrifice. It should be noted that Dr. Leeson has a penchant for using economics to study phenomena that don’t necessarily suggest an economic approach, including pirates, soccer hooligans, Gypsy law, and vermin trials. Pete notes that economics should not be defined topically (e.g., studying banks or fiscal policy), but rather it is an approach to human behavior that has wide applications. We note the work of Nobel Laureate in taking economics out of its traditional boundaries, and Pete explains how he loves to push the envelope even further.

Journeying back in time, Prof. Leeson lays the historical groundwork that led up to the Great Age of Witch Trials in the 16th and early 17th century. Pete explains that the Vatican refused to acknowledge the existence of witches or witchcraft existed between 900 and 1400, and Pope Alexander the IV issued a decree in 1258 forbidding witch trials. It was in the 16th century, though, that we see a sudden shift in Church policy. Then, over the course of a century and a half, there were some 80,000 people tried for witchery. But this temporal variation isn’t the only thing that is puzzling; witch trials were more likely to occur in some areas of Europe (e.g., close to Strausburg) than in other locales (e.g., Spain or Italy). Pete makes a case that such variation is an open invitation for investigation.

We survey some of the pre-existing hypotheses for witch trials, including the “scapegoat theory,” the “legal centralization” thesis, and the “legal torture” hypothesis. None of these explanations, however, can adequately account for both the timing and geographic distribution of witch trials. Pete introduces his explanation based upon the notion of religious competition. Given that religious goods (e.g., promises of salvation) are not observable, any religious organization needs to find tangible means of asserting the credibility of these goods by creating an observable quality dimension. This is all the more important when a church’s market share is being challenged by rival denominations. The rise and location of witchcraft trials follows a remarkably close pattern to the success of Protestant reformers gaining market share starting in the 16th century and in locations where competition between Catholics and Protestants was most fierce. Pete discusses how he tested this thesis statistically and we then expand his findings to other episodes in history such as Stalin’s show trials in the Soviet Union, the McCarthy communist crusade of the 1950s, and the current purge of House Speaker John Boehner. Pete even tells us about one of the more bizarre episodes in Christian history when the corpse of Pope Formosus was put on trial in the 10th century in the infamous Cadaver Synod. (The latter was not a witch trial, but corresponded to intense rivalry over the papal throne.)

We finish off the last fifteen minutes of the podcast by turning to another seemingly odd topic — the practice of human sacrifice in 19th century Orissa, India that involved the purchase and ritualistic immolation of people. Tony speaks for many when he is amazed that such a horrific act could in any way shape or form be amendable to explanation via rational choice theory, but Pete says not so. He explains how the key to understanding this relates to the social need to secure property rights efficiently. In a rather anarchic environment, it is sometimes necessary to destroy valuable resources in order to signal that other forms of resource re-allocation (e.g., theft or war) are not worth the effort. He uses some contemporary examples related to his apartment complex and 1982 Honda Civic to illustrate his point in a less gruesome manner. But then we talk about how all of this relates back to ritualistic burning of humans back in India during the 1800s.

Our conversation ends with some of Pete’s “Ah ha!” moments in his study of economics. He relays how he has learned to be much less critical of neoclassical economic models over time, particularly when doing applied work. We secure a promise from him to come back at some later date in the future to explain why the Church would put rodents on trial during the medieval era. Recorded: October 1, 2015.

Pete’s personal website (with links to his articles).

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, by Peter T. Leeson.

Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think, by Peter T. Leeson.

“Human Sacrifice,” by Peter T. Leeson in Review of Behavioral Economics.

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Proselytism, Humanitarianism, and Development: A Panel Discussion

tonygill — Sun, 24 May 2015 08:00:56 +0000

Proselytism is as old as religion itself. Nearly all spiritual faiths seek to expand the number of adherents that they have via communicating with people not within their faith tradition. But to what extent is proselytism a “bad thing” for society, perhaps as a form of cultural imperialism? How has religious proselytism impacted socio-economic development over time? How do humanitarian acts factor into proselytism and economic development? Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project (part of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs), leads a conversation among a diverse set of scholars including Robert Woodberry, Michael Barnett, and Rebecca Shah (heard in that order). This is one of several panels presented by the Religious Freedom Project on the topic of proselytism, including one on proselytism and social stability (see below). Recorded: March 4, 2015.

Thomas Farr’s bio at the Religious Freedom Project.

Michael Barnett’s bio at George Washington University.

Rebecca Shah’s bio at the Religious Freedom Project.

Robert Woodberry’s bio at the Religious Freedom Project.

Cornerstone, the official blog of the Religious Freedom Project.

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Matt Boswell on What Pastors Don’t Want to Reveal

tonygill — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 08:00:20 +0000

If there is one person in church on Sunday who seems to “have it altogether,” it is probably the preacher standing up in front of the congregation, right? How easily we forget that clergy are people too and they have many of the same struggles that their congregants do, plus a few that might just be unique to the profession. Pastor Matt Boswell of Redemption Church in scenic Duvall, WA opens up about the challenges he faces being a “man of the cloth.” Our conversation is based upon his enormously successful blog posting entitled “Ten Things Pastors Don’t Want to Reveal.” Throughout our discussion, we reveal them all.

Pastor Matt is not new to the program as we have followed his adventures in previous podcasts in our Redemption Church Series (see below), but he hasn’t been on the show for over a year. The reason for this prolonged absence is that one of his congregants has been M.I.A. for the past year and the show starts with a confessional — Tony admits to not having been in attendance all that often. We discuss this typical challenge for many middle-aged folks and their ministers, and then use this as a platform to discuss what has been happening to this relatively new church over the past year including a few personnel changes, as well as the passing of a cherished member.

We then jump into our discussion of the ten things that worry and bother the clergy, but that the clergy are often afraid to reveal. This list includes:

Pastors take it personally when you leave the church;
They feel pressure to perform week after week;
The clergy struggle to get their worth from ministry;
Ministers regularly think about quitting;
They say they are transparent, but they might actually be opaque;
Pastors measure themselves by the numbers (attendance and finances);
They spend more time discouraged than encouraged;
They worry about what you think;
Clergy struggle with competition and jealousy;
And they often feel like they failed you more than they have helped.

Although certainly a bummer of a list, and probably not the best topics for dinner conversation, Matt keeps it light by discussing how he copes with all of these different challenges. The conversation remains upbeat with Tony comparing the pastorate to his own teaching profession at times, and making the occasional odd reference to characters in Winnie the Pooh. Recorded: April 23, 2014.

“Ten Things Pastors Don’t Want to Reveal” on Pastor Matt TV.

Match Coffee (the site of this podcast).

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Mike McBride on the Economics of Religious Leadership

tonygill — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 08:00:24 +0000

Why is religious leadership important? What function does religious leadership play? And what is with all those public rituals? We explore these questions with Prof. Mike McBride — associate professor of economics at UC-Irvine — who recently turned his scholarly attention to understanding the economic logic of authority and leadership. Be forewarned, though, this is not your typical “Ten Habits of Effective Leadership” type discussion. Instead, Prof. McBride trains the analytical tools of game theory and microeconomics to show how leadership is essential in coordinating social behavior.

We begin our discussion with a brief summary of what “economics” really is. While most folks think it is all about “money” or “international trade,” Mike points out that economics is really the study of choice under scarcity or, alternatively, the study of how humans make trade-offs. Given that we all face scarcity — be it in resources or time — the application of economics to the study of religion is perfectly natural. Clergy members, as well as the laity, have to make decisions about how to use their time to further a variety of goals. With that said, Mike points out that few (if any) economists of religion have paid attention to the important role leadership plays in guiding the resource decisions of an organization.

Our discussion of leadership begins with a basic definition of authority, which is the socially-recognized right to direct/coordinate action. Leadership is the personification of that authority. We then examine a critical function of leadership, which is to coordinate the actions and expectations of followers (congregants) so as to achieve some goal. We discuss the economic concept of a “coordination game” and Mike presents it in a manner that everybody (or at least Tony) can understand, which is to compare the functions of a religious leader to a coach on a football team. Without an agreed-upon focal point for decision-making — i.e., a leader, coach, pastor — chaos would reign regarding what actions should be undertaken. We also discuss another type of game — the prisoners’ dilemma — wherein individuals know what needs to be done but have an individual incentive not to participate. We all know that the sanctuary needs to be cleaned after services, but if everybody leaves that chore to somebody else, then the sanctuary never gets cleaned. Once again, leaders are central in crafting shared expectations about who needs to do what in order to get that room cleaned!

Prof. McBride then touches upon three different mechanisms by which leaders help coordinate group activity — promoting other-regarding behavior; screeing out free-riders; and creating shared expectations via repeated behavioral patterns. The first function includes selecting and propagating a set of norms and values that allow individuals to know what behavior is expeted of them relative to the group. The second function, one that has been studied extenstively by economists of religion, revolves around the selection of certain “sacrifices” or “stigmas” that weed out “free-riders” from the group. We talk about how proscriptions on certain behaviors (drinking) or prescriptions for wearing certain clothes (e.g., Amish dress) reduces the likelihood of individuals joining the religious group merely for the benefits of membership while avoiding any cost (e.g., tithing, volunteering). Finally, we look at the importance of repeated interactions with other people, a process that helps turn a “prisoners’ dilemma” game into an easier-solved coordination game. Here leaders are important fulcrums for facilitating these interactions.

Prof. McBride’s analysis leads to three interesting implications that are discussed in relation to various religious denominations including Catholics, the Amish and Latter Day Saints (Mormons). First, we discover the underlying importance of ritualistic behavior, particularly when it comes to selecting leadership. Rituals represent more than just rote memorization or action, but rather provide a public venue for individuals to reassure one another that they know who is in charge. Second, Mike divorces the notion that leadership is always linked to hierarchy. While titular heads of hierarchical organization (e.g., the pope) are important, authoritative leadership frequently emerges among the grassroots of an organization. Mike offers up the Mormon church as an example of an entity that does have a hierarchical structure of leadership at the top of the organization, but that also provides numerous ways for leadership to emerge at the local (congregational) level. Finally, we talk about how the deterioration of national religious leadership may be promoting secularization in society. While previous economists of religion have argued that religious competition begets a vibrant spiritual life within a society, Mike also argues that it leads to pluralism which may have the effect of eroding the coordinating power of religious leadership. We close with some of Mike’s thoughts on how his findings help us understand the issue of leadership writ large. Recorded: July 22, 2013.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. McBride’s website at UC-Irvine.

The Religious Marketplace, a blog by Mike McBride.

Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge, by Michael Chwe (as mentioned in the podcast.)

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Matt Boswell on Starting a New Church (Really Fast!)

tonygill — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:49 +0000

What would you do if you thought you had about 80 people willing to attend church services but you had no meeting place, no money, no legal status, and no name? Do you think you could pull everything together in a week’s time? That is what Matt Boswell and a small team of individuals did with Redemption Church (the eventual name) in Duvall, WA. In fact, they went from 0 (money and members) to 562 attendees in just six days. No name, no money, no organization…no worries! We talk with Matt about all the organizational details that went in to this endeavor, highlighting what challenges face any start-up religious organization, but putting it into a super-charged dash to get things up and running before any momentum was lost. Matt goes into detail about the first hour of planning on a Monday morning, showing how this small group meeting in Lisa Bailey’s living room had to figure out: 1) structure; 2) mission; and 3) marketing. The structural logistics included getting a tax identification code and insurance so that they could secure a meeting space for the coming Sunday. We talk about the importance of a building, and with only a few vague ideas about where to meet Matt goes through the process of securing the local high school auditorium and additional rooms for the kid’s ministry. Obtaining insurance became critical because without insurance they could not easily rent a space. Determing on a name that reflected the mission of the church is also discussed, and Matt covers how important a name is to the identity of the church. We talk about why “Redemption” was chosen and why a more “churchy” name (as compared to more secular alternatives) might have an impact on how the congregants view themselves and who would attend services. The idea of missional identity is also discussed as Matt shares why he sees it as important that the church be in the community and not separate from it, a somewhat easy task during the first week since they didn’t have office space and resorted to coffee houses and pubs to conduct meetings. And meeting spaces are not the only thing that is important, but it became imperative to get lots of other “stuff” — e.g., Communion plates, audio equipment, toys and crayons for the kids’ ministry, and coffee pots. It is revealed that several individuals, businesses, and other churches rally to the assistance of this wayward congregation prompting some insights into the nature of religious competion — meaning not just a zero-sum game for parishioners, but a positive-sum game of people helping and learning from others. We then cover the issue of how to get the word about that there is a new church in town and where it would be meeting. We discuss whether “marketing” is an appropriate term to be used with religious organizations and determine that it is. Matt shares how they leveraged social media like Facebook as well as “being in the community” to inform people about the endeavor. And we find out that it does work as 562 people showed up for the first Sunday of the church’s existence, far exceeding expectations. Other great stories are told about popcorn buckets, electrical outlets, and what happens when you are a half-hour before services start and somebody realizes there is no grape juice for the Communion. We speculate a bit about the future and promise to check in at a later date to see if the success continues. Few sociologists get to see the very beginning of a new church, and this podcast allows you to peek in on the frenetic process. A rare treat, indeed! Recorded: October 4, 2011 (only 8 days after the first organizational meeting and two days after the first service, so the memories are still fresh).

Disclaimer: This is the congregation that the host of Research on Religion currently attends (though he had no influence on any of the decisions discussed in the podcast).

Special thanks to Match Coffee & Wine in Duvall, WA for hosting the interview.

RELATED LINKS

Redemption Church (Duvall, WA) official website.

Redemption Church on Facebook.

Duvall, WA.

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