Religious Identity and Family Ideologies in the Transition to Adulthood

This article examines how religion shapes family ideologies in young adulthood. Using the 31‐year Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children (N= 909), we find relationships between mother’s religious characteristics when her child was born and the child’s own family ideologies in young adulthood. Further, multiple dimensions of young adults’ religious identities are independently related to their family ideologies, suggesting unique influences of both religious service attendance and the importance of religion. Our results vary across time and family ideologies in interesting patterns, but relationships between religion and attitudes are remarkably consistent. From early in life, mothers’ and children’s religious characteristics shape family ideologies in ways likely to help explain relationships found between religion and family behaviors.     

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Religious Beliefs and Acceptance of One’s Gay or Lesbian Family Member

Research suggests that the coming out process can be stressful not only for individuals disclosing their sexual orientation, but also for the family members who receive the news. While research demonstrates that family acceptance of such disclosures is related to one’s religious beliefs, less is known about how religion influences the process of acceptance. There are theoretical reasons to expect that individuals’ religious beliefs interact with their attitudes regarding acceptance in reciprocal ways. Utilizing data from 14 semistructured interviews with family members of lesbian and gay individuals, we offer a preliminary examination of how the process of acceptance is both influenced by and influences a person’s own religious beliefs. Results suggest that the acceptance process involves a complex interaction between an individual’s general proclivity toward acceptance, the degree to which religion promotes or opposes the acceptance of same-sex relationships, and the level of investment one has in their church.     

From Filial Piety to Religious Piety: Evangelical Christianity Reconstructing Taiwanese Immigrant Families in the United States1

While current scholarship suggests that immigrant religion reproduces ethnic traditions, this article suggests that religion can also challenge and transform ethnic traditions. Like other immigrants from Confucian cultures, Taiwanese immigrants find that their Confucian family traditions are difficult to maintain in the United States. The immigrant church is an important community institution that offers new models of parenting and family life. This article discusses how through the influence of evangelical Christianity, the immigrant church reconstructs Taiwanese immigrant families by (i) shifting the moral vocabulary of the family from one of filial duty to religious discipleship; (ii) democratizing relationships between parents and children; and (iii) consecrating the individuality and autonomy of children. These new models of family life both reproduce and alter Taiwanese traditions in the United States. Religion mediates and shapes immigrant cultural assimilation to the United States.     

‘Religious Parents… Just Want the Best for Their Kids’: Young People’s Perspectives on the Influence of Religious Beliefs on Parenting

Challenging some of the current predominantly negative representations of the effects of religion on young people requires further research into faith and family life, particularly from the perspective of young people themselves. This article presents a preliminary report of a study of 40 young people, mostly Christians and Muslims, aged 13–15 years. Three themes – defining religion, religious parenting and life in a religious family – are illustrated with reference to data collected from discussion groups in six schools and recent research literature. We conclude that religion still provides a positive influence on family life and parenting from the perspective of young people.     

Exploring Transformational Processes and Meaning in LDS Marriages

For decades, research has shown that religion is correlated with several important aspects of marriage. However, most studies have looked only at distal aspects of a couple's religion, such as church attendance or religious salience, and are therefore hard pressed to explain precisely how religion and marriage correlate. This qualitative study examines the connection Mormon (LDS) couples perceive between their religious faith and their marriage and family relationships. For this study we used a subset of a national sample of 445 individuals from across the United States who were interviewed over several years; this subset consisted of 48 individuals (24 couples) living in seven different states (25% of whom are ethnic minorities) that we interviewed. The interviews specifically sought to understand how these couples connected their faith to five transformational constructs: commitment, sacrifice, coping, conflict resolution, and forgiveness. Each couple shared specific beliefs and practices that impacted their approach to these constructs. Analysis was then made identifying patterns and parallels.     

Review of J. Hoberman and Jeffrey Shandler's Entertaining America: Jews,Movies, and Broadcasting

The impact of increasing religious diversity in U.S. society has taken on added significance in recent years. This study, the first broad-based examination of religion and public relations, explores the nature of religion in the United States, its role in local community relations, and its public relations dimensions. Phone and e-mail interviews, textual analysis of institutional media, and field observations were used to obtain data on religious diversity, place-of-worship activities, and public relations practices. The nature of the communication between select religious institutions and their publics, through different media channels, is also explored. Two case studies that are representative and illustrative are included. From a communication perspective, it is suggested that a key to fostering interreligious dialogue and civil discourse on religion may lie in expanding traditional definitions of diversity to include religion and moving beyond expertise and contractual models of public relations toward a model that is covenantal in nature.     

Religion,Pledging, and the Premarital Sexual Behavior of Married Young Adults

Social scientists know little about the effect of religion and abstinence pledging on premarital sex beyond adolescence. Evidence from a sample of married young adults in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 2,079) reveals that premarital sex is widespread even among religious Americans and abstinence pledgers. Nevertheless, these individuals are much more likely than their counterparts to avoid premarital sex entirely. When they do have premarital sex, pledgers are more likely to restrict the behavior to their future spouse. Though contextual, exposure, and social control effects explain some of the influence of religion and abstinence pledging, religion and abstinence pledging appear to exert robust, direct effects on premarital sexual behavior.     

Religiöse Identität und Wertbindungen von Jugendlichen in Deutschland

In analysing the religiousness of youth positions vary between the hypothesis that religiousness has decreased and the hypothesis that there is a specific youth religion. In this paper it is assumed that the development of religious identities and convictions depends on social contexts and family environments. The paper analyses different religious interpretative patterns adolescents generate in order to position themselves in relation to concepts of life and meaning in societies who are marked by the pluralization of values, the secularization of social relations and the individualization of life styles. Through case studies of youth from West Germany, East Germany and youth from migrant’s milieus—each group of which are brought up religiously in a different environments—it is shown how the religious identities of youth become established under specific social-historical conditions and conditions of socialisation.     

How scientists and engineers use cultural resources to make controversies and selves meaningful

In this essay, I provide an overview of recent sociological studies of science, technology, religion, and spirituality; the ways they contribute to sociological theorizing; and make some recommendations for future research. There are two major themes in these studies. One of them analyzes religious and spiritual discourse as controversy practice, suggesting how religion and spirituality are used as cultural discourses to understand controversy, who the actors are or should be, how to act in a controversy, and how popular discourses inform, and are informed by, science and technology discourses. This theme contributes to theorizing by describing how forms of cultural talk organize understandings of controversies, interactions, and action. The second theme explores scientific and religious identities, and how they are made compatible with each other. This theme points sociological theory toward considering science and religion relations as intertextual relations.     

Religion as Cultural Power: The Role of Religion in Influencing Americans’ Symbolic Boundaries around Gender and Sexuality

In this article, we describe recent research that explores the power of religion to influence understandings of gender and sexuality in the United States. We argue that sociologists of religion should draw from symbolic boundaries theory, a theoretical innovation in the sociology of culture. In particular, we discuss a rich body of research in the sociology of religion to show how Americans use religious tools to draw boundaries around ideal and stigmatized gender norms, family forms and sexual identification. We combine symbolic boundaries literature and this literature to show that religion is a source of cultural power that assigns meaning to, and draws boundaries around, certain cultural categories. We end by describing some productive directions for future research in this area.     

Addressing religious plurality – a teacher perspective on minority religion and secular ethics education

The Finnish education system recognizes religious plurality by offering education in pupils’ own religion or in secular ethics. However, little research has been undertaken on how plurality is addressed in classroom practice. This study investigates how 31 minority religion and secular ethics teachers view the task of supporting and including plurality within their classrooms. The findings of this study show how instruction places high demands on teachers due to religious and cultural diversity, as well as age differences in the classroom. Teachers generally made an effort to take diversity into account by considering the different backgrounds of pupils in instruction and engaging pupils in class. However, teachers frequently took a traditional rather than a modern perspective on plurality in religious instruction by assuming pupils’ religious belonging. Confessional elements such as religious family background and religious practice outside school were also commonly seen as vital. Consequently, teachers had at times difficulties in supporting pupils with plural or little religious affiliation. The findings show a need to strengthen the non-confessional character of Finnish religious education so that both modern and traditional plurality among pupils occupy an equal position in the classroom.     

How Does Religion Influence Marriage? Christian,Jewish, Mormon,and Muslim Perspectives

Abstract

Seventy-six highly religious Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim married mothers and fathers were interviewed regarding how and why three dimensions of religion (i.e., faith community, religious practices, and spiritual beliefs) influence marriage in both beneficial and challenging ways. Through qualitative data analysis the author identified eight emergent themes that link religion and marriage: (1) the influence of clergy, (2) the mixed blessing of faith community service and involvement, (3) the importance of prayer, (4) the connecting influence of family ritual, (5) practicing marital fidelity, (6) pro-marriage/anti-divorce beliefs, (7) homogamy of religious beliefs, and (8) faith in God as a marital support. Qualitative data are presented in connection with each theme, and clinical implications are offered.     

Investigating Differences in How the News Media Views Homosexuality Across Nations: An Analysis of the United States,South Africa,and Uganda

While there is a wealth of information about the extent to which people across the world disapprove of homosexuality, we know a lot less about the lenses through which they view same‐sex relations. The aim of this study is to understand better how homosexuality is framed in the public press, and how religion and economic development may combine to shape this discourse. Through an analysis of almost 400 newspaper articles, this study compares how homosexuality is framed in Uganda, South Africa, and the United States. Because these nations have high levels of religious belief, but differ in their level of economic development and democracy, we can assess how these factors interact to shape portrayals. Drawing on work from cultural sociology and the sociology of religion, this study shows that the United States is much more likely than Uganda to frame homosexuality as a civil rights issue and use entertainers as claimsmakers. Conversely, articles from Uganda are more likely than those from the United States or South Africa to frame homosexuality as a religious issue and draw on religious claimsmakers. Likewise, Uganda is much more likely than South Africa to discuss homosexuality in the context of Western influences.     

Intersectional Identities: Influences of Religion,Race, and Gender on the Intimate Relationships of Single Singaporean Malay-Muslim Women

Studies on rising singlehood in Asia have largely focused on the economic dimension. This article widens that lens by examining how religious beliefs influence single Singaporean women’s views toward marriage. Applying the intersectional paradigm expands our understanding of how religion maintains or challenges cultural norms as well as gendered and racial meanings. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 27 unmarried Malay-Muslim Singaporean women, it argues that instead of conceptualizing religion as a barrier that hinders the formation of intimate relationships, we can better understand its role in terms of how single Malay-Muslim women appropriate it to negotiate cultural constraints that limit their ability to tie the knot. The research bears important implications on how cultural and religious forces affect marriage patterns in multicultural and multireligious societies.     

MORAL COMMUNITIES AND ADOLESCENT DELINQUENCY:

This study bridges the sociological subdisciplines of religion and criminology and examines whether religious characteristics of groups and social contexts might profitably augment social disorganization theory, providing a morally and socially organizing force in a community. Building on the "moral communities" thesis of Rodney Stark (1996), I test whether religion, when understood as a group property, is linked significantly with lower delinquency among individuals in schools and counties where select religious characteristics are high. Moreover, I also examine whether—as Stark suggests—the efficacy of individual religious traits is heightened in social environments where religiousness is more pronounced. Employing multilevel regression models, I test several hypotheses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. While individual religious effects remain strongest, conservative Protestant homogeneity in both countries and schools corresponds with lower theft and minor delinquency counts. Additionaly, such religious homogeneity interacts with individual-level measures of conservative Protestantism, further reducing incidence (especially of theft). I explore the mechanisms by which communities' religious characteristics likely influence individual behavior and conclude that religion is a neglected yet potentially important cultural aspect of social organization in communities.     

Navigating religious diversity: exploring young people’s lived religious citizenship in Indonesia

Against the backdrop of several concerning reports which have noted growing socio-religious conservatism and intolerance amongst Indonesia youth, this study examined how school-aged Indonesian young people navigate encounters with religious difference in their everyday lives. Recognising the significance of religious and citizenship education curricula, the research included classroom observations and interviews with 20 religiously-diverse Indonesian young people in three purposively selected high schools in Jakarta. The paper reveals that participants in all three schools agreed that religious studies and their personal religious frameworks were central to their approaches toward religious tolerance. However, their lived everyday experiences of rubbing shoulders with religious ‘others’, expanded upon and critiqued the narrowness and rigidity of these frameworks and showed greater religious inclusivity. Through this analysis the paper integrates prior work on ‘lived religion’ and ‘lived citizenship’ to fuse a ‘lived religious citizenship’ concept, arguing that this adds depth to both fields by recognising that religion cannot be separated from the experience of being a citizen. A focus on lived religious citizenship provides a deeper account of individual identity and highlights the importance of qualitative studies focused on the living out of religion and citizenship.     

Family Relationships and Religious Identities of GLBQ Christians

ABSTRACT

Nonheterosexual individuals are half as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to report a religious identity. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer (GLBQ) emerging adults who maintain a religious identity and affiliation throughout their adolescent and young adult years challenge dominant narratives of sexuality and religion (Pew, 2012, 2013). This study contextualizes these demographic findings and considers their impact on family life and sexual identity. The authors present data from 11 qualitative interviews with GLBQ individuals between the ages of 20 and 25. Results are presented in a model describing how participants constructed a GLBQ Christian identity, and how they perceive the acceptance of their identities in both their families and church communities.     

Growing Up in a Diverse Society: Adolescents’ Interest in Parental Religious Socialization Messages

Because Western societies are becoming increasingly religiously diverse, the sociocultural context in which young adolescents currently grow up differs from that of their parents. This raises the question to what extent adolescents are interested in communicating with their parents about religion. In a cross-sectional study of 498 Belgian adolescents ages 12–18-years (mean age = 14.94, SD = 1.34), we examined how adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion was related to the link between parental religious socialization messages and adolescent religious out-group attitudes. Testing two models, we aimed to understand whether (a) adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion mediated the link between parental religious socialization and adolescent religious out-group attitudes or (b) parental religious socialization mediated the link between adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion and adolescent religious out-group attitudes. Results revealed a dynamic interplay between study variables, and highlighted the importance of considering adolescent interest in communicating with parents about religion.     

RELIGION AND INTERGENERATIONAL ASSISTANCE: Distinct Differences by Adult Children's Gender and Parent's Marital Status

Using data from a national and intergenerational survey in 1997, this study examines the link between religion and intergenerational assistance between parents and adult children. Two possibilities are tested. First, religion and assistance are positively associated because religion promotes general prosocial and helping beliefs and behaviors. Second, assistance is greater between parents and adult children who are religiously congruent because strong intergenerational relations are based on parent-child consensus on values and beliefs. The hypotheses are tested separately for continuously married and divorced parents, and interaction models are estimated to determine if the effect of religion varies between adult daughters and sons. Findings support the second argument—religious congruence is more important than individual religiosity in influencing intergenerational assistance. The link between religion and assistance is positive among continuously married parents and adult children, but religion has a mostly negative effect among divorced parents and adult children. Assistance is especially low when either the divorced parent or adult child or both are evangelical Protestants. The disparity in the findings may highlight the different religious and family philosophies of conservative versus mainline religions.     

Religious Culture and Political Action

Recent work by political sociologists and social movement theorists extend our understanding of how religious institutions contribute to expanding democracy, but nearly all analyze religious institutions as institutions; few focus directly on what religion qua religion might contribute. This article strives to illuminate the impact of religious culture per se, extending recent work on religion and democratic life by a small group of social movement scholars trained also in the sociology of religion. In examining religion's democratic impact, an explicitly cultural analysis inspired by the new approach to political culture developed by historical sociologists and cultural analysts of democracy is used to show the power of this approach and to provide a fuller theoretical account of how cultural dynamics shape political outcomes. The article examines religious institutions as generators of religious culture, presents a theoretical model of how religious cultural elements are incorporated into social movements and so shape their internal political cultures, and discusses how this in turn shapes their impact in the public realm. This model is then applied to a key site of democratic struggle: four efforts to promote social justice among low-income urban residents of the United States, including the most widespread such effort—faith-based community organizing.