Adolescent fertility and religion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 2000: the role of Protestantism

Social transformations in Brazil in recent years have included a substantial increase in adolescent fertility, a dramatic rise in membership of Protestant religious denominations, and an accompanying decline in the number of Catholics. We used the 2000 Brazil Census to examine differentials in fertility and family formation among adolescents living in Rio de Janeiro by the following religious denominations: Catholic; Baptist; other mainline Protestant; Assembly of God Church; Universal Church of the Kingdom of God; other Pentecostal Protestant; and no religion. Results from logistic regression models show that the majority of the Protestants are at a lower risk of adolescent fertility than Catholics, and that among adolescents who have had a child, most Protestants are more likely than Catholics to be in a committed union. Our findings offer some support for the hypothesis that Protestant churches are more effective than the Catholic Church in discouraging premarital sexual relations and childbearing among adolescents.     

Church attendance and childbearing: evidence from a Dutch panel study, 1987-2005

While researchers have often found that Europeans who report faith-based beliefs or practices have larger families than those who do not, there is a lack of evidence on the reasons for these links. This study investigated whether having a first child affects parents' level of church attendance and whether the frequency of church attendance at different times in life predicts a person's (almost) completed fertility. Drawing on five waves of a large-scale Dutch panel survey, the study used data that cover a substantial part of the respondents' reproductive period (1987-2005). In contrast to findings from the USA, the results suggest a one-way influence: having a first child does not predict a change in church attendance, but church attendance is a strong predictor of future childbearing.     

The three R's: Residence,religion, and reproduction

Survey research data collected in Rhode Island over a three year interval are used to test six propositions: 1) Suburbanites have higher family size than central city residents. 2) Any differences in family size between Catholics and non-Catholics are larger in central city than in suburban areas. 3) Within religious categories, suburbanites attend church more regularly. 4) Among Catholics, suburban residence is associated with less frequent Communion reception. 5) Among Catholics, church attendance frequency is positively associated with family size. Among non-Catholics no relationship exists. 6) The frequency with which Catholics receive Communion is more strongly associated positively with family size than is church attendance frequency. Propositions 1, 2 and 5 are rejected. Propositions 4 and 6 are accepted. Proposition 3 is accepted for non-Catholics only.     

Attitudes toward gay,lesbian, and bisexual persons among heterosexual liberal arts college students

This research focuses on attitudes toward homosexuals and homosexuality among 692 heterosexual students at six liberal arts colleges. Attitudes, assessed in a variety of ways, are examined in relation to students' Greek affiliation, sex role attitudes, religion and religiosity, and contact with and knowledge of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Results suggest that attributes predicting acceptance of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons are female sex, liberal sex-role attitudes, lower religiosity as measured both by beliefs and by attendance, membership in more liberal Protestant denominations, attendance at colleges that do not have Greek letter social organizations, and having positive contacts with gay, lesbian, and/or bisexual persons.     

Marital fertility and religion in Spain, 1985 and 1999

Since the transition to democracy in Spain in 1975, both total fertility and rates of church attendance of Catholics have dropped dramatically. In this study the 1985 and 1999 Spanish Fertility Surveys were used to investigate whether the significance of religion for fertility behaviour -- current family size and the spacing of births -- changed between the survey dates. In the 1985 survey, family size was similar for those Catholics who actively participated in religious activities and those who, though nominally Catholic, were not active participants. By 1999, the family size of the latter was lower and comparable to the family size of those without religious affiliation. These findings accord with the declines in both church attendance and fertility in Spain. The small groups of Protestants and Muslims had the highest fertility. Women in inter-faith unions had relatively low fertility.     

Women’s fertility, religion and education in a low-fertility population: Evidence from South Australia

The old issue of religion and fertility is examined in relation to women s level of education. In-depth interviews exploring influences on parity for Adelaide parents in 2003–04 suggest that more frequent attendance at religious services in childhood, and affiliation with particular religious denominations, are related to both higher preferred and higher achieved parity, even for women with university education. For some university-educated women, their religious upbringing appears to play a part in negating the traditional relationship between higher education and lower fertility. Quantitative data on religion, fertility and educational level from the 1996 Census for women aged 40–44 in South Australia show that women with No Religion had lower fertility than those With a religion, while university-educated women in New Protestan-New Christian groups had higher fertility than university-educated women in other denominations. The findings provide an understanding of some social conditions that support higher fertility in a low-fertility population. Future fertility research in developed countries should include consideration of the influence of religious affiliation and religiosity at disaggregated levels of inquiry.     

Religious Involvement,Humility, and Self-Rated Health

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a conceptual model that assesses the following theoretical linkages: (1) people who go to church more often tend to receive more spiritual support from fellow church members (i.e., encouragement to adopt religious teachings and principles); (2) individuals who get more frequent spiritual support are more likely to be humble; and (3) people with greater humility tend to rate their health more favorably. The data come from the third wave of a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults. The data provide support for each of the conceptual linkages identified above.     

Balancing acts: drag queens, gender and faith

While engaged in research on the same-sex marriage debate in mainline denominations, I interviewed 23 LGBT Christians, four of whom were drag queens. While it is not possible to generalize from such a small sample, the drag queens in this study insist on maintaining their identity as Christians despite the hegemonic discourse that renders faith and LGBT identities mutually exclusive. They developed innovative approaches to reconciling their gender and sexual identities with their spirituality. Their innovations are potentially liberating not just for them personally, but for LGBT people generally because they challenge Christianity's rigid dichotomies of gender and sexuality.     

Taking Up the Cudgels Against Gay Rights? Trends and Trajectories in African Christian Theologies on Homosexuality

Against the background of the HIV epidemic and the intense public controversy on homosexuality in African societies, this article investigates the discourses of academic African Christian theologians on homosexuality. Distinguishing some major strands in African theology, that is, inculturation, liberation, women's and reconstruction theology, the article examines how the central concepts of culture, liberation, justice, and human rights function in these discourses. On the basis of a qualitative analysis of a large number of publications, the article shows that stances of African theologians are varying from silence and rejection to acceptance. Although many African theologians have taken up the cudgels against gay rights, some "dissident voices" break the taboo and develop more inclusive concepts of African identity and African Christianity.     

Religion,social milieu,and the contraceptive revolution

This study examines how the social environment of religious congregations affects the spread of contraceptive use in developing contexts, using Mozambique as a case study. Analysis of qualitative data collected in urban areas of that country in 1998-99 and of the data from the 1997 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey suggests that, in urban areas, the environment of more socioculturally diverse and inclusive Roman Catholic and mission-based Protestant congregations is more propitious to the spread and legitimization of modern contraception than the milieu of smaller, relatively homogeneous, independent churches. In rural areas, however, sociocultural diversity within and across different religious denominations is minimal, and membership in any formal congregation offers an advantage in contraceptive learning.     

Legal Corruption and Dissatisfaction with Democracy in the European Union

We aim to clarify a puzzling paradox: while shares of highly educated and non-religious individuals—who generally hold less prejudice—have increased in the Netherlands, levels of prejudice against ethnic minorities have yet risen over time. To solve the paradox, we use cross-sectional data from 1985 to 2011 in counterfactual analyses. In these analyses we simulate that levels of ethnic prejudice within categories of education, church membership, and church attendance are kept constant at the 1985 level and a new simulated trend in prejudice is estimated for the 1985–2011 period. Our findings show that changing levels of prejudice within categories of education are partly responsible for the trend. We conclude that the increasing share of highly educated individuals has not resulted in a decline of prejudice in the Netherlands over time, because all Dutch have become more prejudiced over the years and in particular the higher educated.     

Religious Attendance,Stress, and Happiness in South Korea: Do Gender and Religious Affiliation Matter?

Is religious attendance positively associated with happiness in South Korea? If yes, can religious attendance buffer against the harmful effect of stress on happiness? Moreover, do gender and religious affiliation modify these associations? This study addresses these questions with data from 2009 Korean General Social Survey which is a nationally representative survey (N = 1,599). Ordinal least square regression analyses reveal that although the effect size is relatively small, religious attendance is associated with a higher level of happiness in South Korea. However, this positive effect holds only for women and only for Protestants. In addition, an interaction effect between religious attendance and stress is observed for women only; the negative association between stress and happiness is weakened among those women who report more frequent church attendance. In this regard, a high level of church attendance buffers against the deleterious effects of stress on happiness for women. I discuss the implications of the findings with regard to theories about religion, mental health, and gender in South Korean context.     

A Gap in the Market

In an era of increasing globalization, women continue to be underrepresented and stereotyped in national, international and global news media. The problem is exacerbated when traditional geographic boundaries are crossed and the media in one country report on issues and events, particularly those that impact women, in another country. The question addressed in this article is how news organizations can best represent women and our diverse lives within this new global context. In an effort to bridge the local-global dichotomy, this article aims to make connections between macro-level theories of cultural globalization and micro-level theories of feminism. Three scenarios of cultural globalization, as proposed by Pieterse (2004), are extended to show their relationship with journalism, feminism, and story stances. The article shows how the clash of civilizations scenario relates to nationalistic news practices, patriarchal representations, and story stances that only include the voices of the dominant group. Similarly, it shows how the scenario of cultural homogenization relates to cultural imperialism, “global feminism,” and a story stance that homogenizes women's lives. Finally, it shows the relationships among cultural hybridization, glocalized journalism, transnational feminisms, and story stances that give voice to underrepresented groups.     

Challenging the Black Church Narrative: Race,Class, and Homosexual Attitudes

In recent years, scholars have pointed to the Black church as the driving force behind Blacks’ more conservative lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) attitudes. Although evidence suggests a robust association between religiosity and LGBT attitudes, contemporary scholarship has not examined the role of class or the extent to which religiosity actually explains these trends. Using the 2004–2014 waves of the General Social Survey, we find that class moderates in the effect of race on negative LGBT attitudes, resulting in a noticeably larger gap between middle-class Blacks and Whites than in the top or the bottom of the class distribution. Although religiosity and moralization explain a portion of racial differences in homosexual attitudes across class groups, we find that neither fully accounts for the more conservative attitudes of the Black middle class. We conclude by discussing the shortcomings of these narratives for understanding Blacks’ more conservative LGBT attitudes.     

"Two men under one cloak"---the Sages permit it: homosexual marriage in Judaism

This article examines halakhic (Jewish legal) passages that relate to homosexuality and marriage between two males. The article sets forth the respective positions of contemporary Jewish denominations in regard to homosexual marriage. Homosexual marriage is a case of first impression in Judaism and requires new decisions and new marriage contracts. The principal thesis of the article is that contemporary Judaism can accommodate philosophically--but also legally--a halakhic framework of thinking, same-sex marriage between men. Judaism does not have to opt for the perspectives of Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, which have, to a major extent, freed themselves from the traditions and rituals of Jewish law. After examining marriage contracts in Rabbinic literature, specific examples are presented of how homosexual marriage between two males may be implemented.     

Denial of equal civil rights for lesbian and gay men in The Netherlands,1980-1993

In six national samples (a total of 11,863 respondents) of the Dutch population, aged 16 and over, the denial of equal rights (in housing, inheriting, and adoption) for lesbians and gay men decreased from 1980 and 1985, and remained stable between 1985 and 1993. The denial of equal rights for lesbians and gay men was subscribed to more strongly by social categories that have been exposed to traditional socializing agents and socializing circumstances in which traditional norms prevailed:members of denominations, people who frequently attend church, and older cohorts, especially the ones born before 1948, as well as by those who have presumably not dissociated themselves from these traditional norms, i.e., the lower educated.     

Religiously unaffiliated Canadians: Sex,age, and regional variations

Canada has been viewed traditionally as a preponderantly Christian country, with persons who are not affiliated with religion perceived as a deviant minority. Lack of affiliation with organized religion may be operationalized in a number of ways. In Canada in 1985, of all persons over the age of 15, about one in ten reported no religion. An additional 20% may be considered to be unaffiliated, in that they report they never attend church; and an additional 10% report that they go to church less than once a year. Depending upon the indicator used, therefore, nearly one in four Canadians may be considered to be religiously unaffiliated.Data from the 1985 General Social Survey (N=11110) are analyzed by sex, age and region. Being unaffiliated with organized religion is consistently more common among men than among women. The highest proportions of unaffiliated persons occur within the 25–34 year age group, with the lowest generally occuring in the 55–64 age group. The Atlantic provinces contain the lowest proportions of unaffiliated persons. Proportions increase westward to reach a high in British Columbia, where the percentage of non-affiliates is about twice the national average. Implications of the incidence of religious non-affiliation are discussed with reference to future research.     

Anti-Gay Sentiment Among Adolescents in Belgium and Canada: A Comparative Investigation into the Role of Gender and Religion

Previous research has indicated that opposition toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trangender (LGBT) rights remains prevalent among Western populations. In this article, we investigate the determinants of anti-gay attitudes among adolescents in two liberal democracies, Belgium (n = 6,330) and Canada (n = 3,334). The analysis indicates that hostile feelings toward LGBT rights are particularly widespread among boys, while the effects of socioeconomic status and parental education remain limited. Various religious denominations proved to have a strong and significant negative impact on tolerance, with especially high scores for Islam. Religious practice, too, contributes to a negative attitude toward LGBT rights. The consequences of these findings with regard to tolerance for gay rights among Islamic youth in Western democracies are discussed.     

Competing Claims: Religious Affiliation and African Americans’ Intolerance of Homosexuals

Literature on religion and political intolerance indicates competing expectations about how Black Protestant church affiliation affects African Americans’ attitudes about civil liberties. On the one hand, Black Protestant theology emphasizes personal freedom and social justice, factors generally linked to more tolerant attitudes. On the other hand, Black Protestants tend to be conservative on family and social issues, factors often linked to intolerance of gays and lesbians. Data from the General Social Survey are used to examine the influence of religious group identification, as well as other relevant aspects of religiosity, on political intolerance among African Americans. Results indicate that although other aspects of religion (beliefs and behaviors) help explain variation in political intolerance, Black Protestant church affiliation has no relationship with attitudes about the civil liberties of homosexuals. However, additional tests show that Black Protestant church affiliation significantly predicts intolerance of other target groups (atheists and racists).