Faith‐Based Social Service Organizations and Government Funding: Data from a National Survey*

Objective. The objective of the research reported in this article is to test four hypotheses concerning government funding among faith‐based social service coalitions: that it is positively related to size and organizational professionalism; positively related to attitudes toward government funding; positively related to social activism; and negatively related to organizational religiosity. Method. Our method is the application of OLS and probit analysis to data from a national survey of 656 such organizations. Results. Using three measures of government funding and 12 predictor variables, results are mixed in their support of the size and professionalization hypothesis and generally support the remaining hypotheses. These findings are replicated when we compare coalitions that had and had not applied for government funding. Conclusions. Our findings emphasize that greater religious expressiveness dissuades coalitions from both seeking and receiving government funding, but higher levels of social activism expedite both.     

Reinforcing substantive religious inequality: a critical analysis of submissions to the Review of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Australia Inquiry

The parties contributing to the Freedom of Religion and Belief in Australia Inquiry had a strong interest in the role of religion in society. Those making submissions were parochial about the status and importance of their own faith, less positive about religious diversity, more likely to be culturally supremacist, and more likely to independently express anti‐Islamic sentiment than the general population. A large proportion of submissions (40 per cent) included the religio‐centric assertion that Australia is a Christian nation. Alternative voices – that Australia is a multi‐faith country or those that saw Australia as secular – were much less ‘present’ in the submissions. Most submissions argued for the retention of religious exemptions from anti‐discrimination laws and against anti‐religious‐vilification legislation that would protect religious minorities. Christian‐centric voices purposefully undermined movement towards more inclusive social policy and protection of rights. The Christian majority insisted that their position of dominance be affirmed in Australia. The failure of the inquiry to advocate for policy and legislative change to expand religious freedoms (especially to minorities) was a performance of professed ‘state neutrality’ that reproduced substantive inequality. The public submission process was an effective mechanism for reinforcing a privileged relation between the state and Christian organisations, and fails the tests of both fairness and more substantively equality.     

Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations: Their Characteristics and Activities*

Objectives. In this article we examine political advocacy by nonprofit organizations. Relatively little is known about the types of organizations that participate in advocacy, their characteristics, the issues for which they advocate, and the resources they devote to it. This is especially the case for nonprofits that operate at the state or local level. Methods. Using data from a large survey of Indiana nonprofit organizations, we use logistic and multinomial regression to determine which organizational characteristics relate to participation in varying levels of advocacy. Results. We find that the size of the organization, its access to information and communication technology, its charitable status, and, in some cases, the field of activity in which it operates all help predict nonprofit advocacy. The age of the organization, its reliance on government funding (except when substantial), and its proximity to the state's major economic and political center do not generally help differentiate nonprofits that advocate from those that do not. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that most nonprofits are ambivalent about advocacy. Some do no advocacy at all; many participate in some form of it although it does not constitute their primary purpose or mission; and only a small minority devotes considerable resources to it. However, these patterns differ systematically by type of nonprofit.     

微博空间组织间网络结构及其形成机制：以环保NGO为例

本文使用社会网络分析技术探索微博空间中环保非政府组织间关注/认同关系网的结构,并结合组织间网络、社会运动联盟、互联网研究文献以及我国非政府组织管理制度来探究网络结构的形成机制。研究发现,非政府组织间存在紧密的虚拟联系。统计分析显示,组织间虚拟关系受网络自组织机制、组织资源、合适性原则（注册状态）、同质性原则（离线关系、地理位置、关注领域）和微博使用活跃程度等因素的影响。其中,资源发挥“信号”功能,是组织可信赖性的基础,资源未知者不容易被关注/认同。对于资源已知者而言,资源匮乏者更积极利用微博平台。未注册组织主动与其他组织建立关系,注册组织则避免与未注册组织建立关系。具有线下合作关系或处于同一省份的组织之间更可能建立关注和认同关系,但活动领域仅对认同关系具有影响。微博使用活跃程度也对组织间关系具有正向的影响。     

The influence of faith‐based organisations on Australian social policy

This historical overview explores the crucial and changing relationships between faith‐based organisations and governments, not only in the implementation of social services but also in the formation of social policy. Historically Australian governments have left large areas of social provision to the non‐government sector. For example, income support for the unemployed was not taken up by governments until World War II and income support for sole parents remained largely a responsibility for non‐government organisations (NGOs) until the 1970s. Prior to governments taking responsibility for income support, most of these NGOs were religious organisations surviving on donations, philanthropic support and limited government funding. It is argued that the dominant, semi‐public role of religious organisations in service delivery and social policy formation is an important but largely overlooked aspect of the Australian historical experience.     

Experiencing Inequality: Memoirs,Hardship, and Working-Class Roots

Thirty-two literary memoirs constitute the database for this research on how economic deprivation and classism affected the early lives of gifted writers who grew up in poor and working-class families. All the memoirists experienced material deprivation, ranging from severe hunger to insufficient funds for college. Many encountered discrimination based on their lower-class status, attitudinal barriers to intellectual development and upward mobility, and deficits in public school education. Institutional support came from extracurricular activities, public libraries, religious participation, and government funding. The mental health practitioner’s respect is likely to have special potency for clients undermined by past experiences of inequality and classism.     

Dynamics of Religiosity Among Russians and Some Methodological Problems of Its Study

Research on the dynamics of Russians’ religiosity shows that there has been a relatively stable or slightly increasing level of participation in religious activities, but also that identifying oneself as Christian Orthodox is more a cultural than a religious phenomenon.     

Identity Change in Northern Ireland: A Longitudinal Study of Students' Transition to University

This two-wave longitudinal study followed a cohort of young people in Northern Ireland (N = 124) to examine how the transition to university impacts on identity change. Drawing on Stryker's (1968, 1987) identity theory, we examined salience, affective and interactional commitment for five identities: family member, friend, student, national and religious identity. The relative salience of national and religious identities did not change over time, but an absolute increase in the salience of religious identity was indicated at Time 2. Regression analysis provided some support for identity theory but suggested a difference between Catholics and Protestants in relation to religious identity. The implications for the identities of young people in Northern Ireland, and, more generally, for identity theory are discussed .     

16至18世纪中国社会下层女性宗教活动探析

16至18世纪中国社会下层女性宗教活动极为活跃。她们参与宗教活动的形式多种多样,并且从中展现了比男性更为突出的实用取向。这与女性的性别角色、社会地位特点,以及中国民间宗教信仰的多样性、综合性特征等多重因素密切相关。女性宗教活动的活跃表明这一时期中国下层女性社会活动空间极大拓展。这既在某种程度上构成了对同一时期宋明理学对女性实行禁锢的冲击,也反映出女性的自我角色认同和社会定位处于调整之中。但女性宗教活动具有浓厚的迷信和蒙昧色彩。     

Religious belief and social policy: Part I

The nature of religious belief is briefly examined and reference is made to specifically Christian religious belief. The practical expression of this is described as four responses under stereotypical allegorical animals. The difficulties of translating religious belief into practice are alluded to and a plea is entered for a fifth response that distils a number of values from a contemplation of society that will be of relevance to it.     

Canadian Non-Profits in Crisis: The Need for Reform

This paper examines recent changes in the relationship between the Canadian state, at both federal and provincial levels, and those non-profit organizations concerned with social welfare. The 1995 federal budget marked a turning point for Canadian non-profit organizations as the federal transfer payments to the provinces were simultaneously restructured and reduced. This, in turn, meant that provincial funds flowing to non-profit organizations would also be cut, or terminated, and restructured as service contracts continued to replace grants. This followed a review of government funding to non-profit agencies initiated the previous year and came on top of a growing critique of non-profits as unaccountable, unrepresentative, professionalized, "special-interest" groups, who used public funds largely to sustain themselves, and pursued causes that should not be subsidized by government. At the same time non-profit organizations were increasingly expected to provide core social welfare services not only on the basis of "more for less" but also through charging for their services and increased corporate and individual fund-raising. All of these events took place in the context of the election to government, in 1993, of the Liberal Party, that had previously been strongly identified with the advance of a Canadian social agenda but now chose to adopt its conservative predecessor’s deficit reduction strategy through public expenditure cuts. For many Canadian commentators, such events have thrown non-profit organizations into crisis and during the past two years there have been attempts to bring together the diverse interests within the sector and build a stronger sense of identity and voice. However, there is also a strong argument to suggest that the vulnerability of such non-profit organizations has resulted, in part, from their over-dependence on government during the previous twenty-five years and the absence of a strong popular base. This paper explores the changing relationships between the Canadian state and non-profit organizations, and highlights what could be very similar dilemmas for their UK counterparts as government increasingly looks to non-profits to fulfil what has during the postwar period been its service-providing role.     

希腊哲学是基督教思想的奠基者

如果没有希腊文化,基督教的产生是不可想像的。基督教思想的产生得益于希腊哲学,基督教思想的系统化,同样是希腊哲学征服基督教世界的结果。因此,我们可以说,基督教思想是穿着宗教外衣的希腊哲学。不过,希腊哲学究竟在哪些方面为基督教做出了贡献,似乎西方哲学并没有明确的定论,本文从四个方面阐述希腊文明与基督教的关系。第一,智者关于好公民的讨论和毕达哥拉斯、苏格拉底、柏拉图对于好人的讨论成为基督教定位人的信仰的重要参数。第二,善的理念为基督教的上帝论提供了道德的形而上学蓝本。第三,毕达哥拉斯和新毕达哥拉斯派以及柏拉图的灵魂不灭与轮回思想,为基督教爱的理论和末世学奠定了理论基础。第四,斯多亚学派的世界主义为上帝面前人人平等拓清了道路。通过对这四个方面的阐述,作者力求表明,希腊哲学是基督教思想的奠基者。     

The Identity of Displaced Christian Karen in the Context of Resettlement

More than 200,000 displaced Karen from Burma have been “warehoused” in displaced persons' camps on the Thai-Burma border for more than 20 years. Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has embarked on the durable solution of resettlement to third countries for these people. In this paper, the experiences and perceptions of resettlement of Christian Karen are explored through the findings from two focus groups with recently arrived refugees, augmented by contextual discussions with Christian Karen community leaders in Australia. Focus group participants displayed a strong and overt sense of identity, both as individual Karen and as part of the Christian Karen community, locally and trans-nationally, indicating that Christian Karen identity remains intact during displacement and strongly influences the resettlement experience for this group.     

从基要主义到恐怖主义全球化时代的宗教政治

1970年代以来全球宗教复兴和宗教政治的发展,是全球化背景下社会运动的一种形式和表现。宗教基要主义和恐怖主义作为一种宗教运动,反映了对主导性的全球化意识形态的反抗,以及对全球化方案的替代性选择。这可以被界定为一种文化政治或认同政治。政治伊斯兰作为当今最突出的宗教基要主义和恐怖主义,一方面反映了全球社会运动和宗教运动的一般特征;另一方面则也是美国霸权和意识形态人为制造的结果。针对亨廷顿的文明冲突论,本文作者认为,当今的宗教与政治冲突更多地是反映了一种不同基要主义之间的冲突,而非不同文明之间的冲突。     

New languages for labour and capital: The transformation of discourse in the early years of the Industrial Revolution

This article examines what may be the earliest post-classical letter from a European person of colour. From a black Christian to a community of unidentified religious women, it deals with an episode of racial abuse before providing a defence of blackness. This article stresses the rarity of any text dealing with early modern racialism. Moreover, differences between peoples are historiographically ascribed to religious and not so-called ethnic reasons, i.e. Christian/non-Christian rather than black/white, with some authors even asserting that racialism was the product of the subsequent and capitalistic exploitation of slave labour. Challenging both these views, this text indicates that racialism based on colour pre-dates the industrialized slave-trade. The letter is further analysed to see if it is an obviously literary or fictive text and whether it was possible for people of colour in early modern Spain to be formally educated to the extent that they could compose this letter. It is documented that Golden Age Spain was home to many people of colour, often but not always manumitted slaves or their descendants, who easily achieved the required degree of education.     

The impact of declining resources and purchase of service contracting on private, nonprofit agencies

The increasingly precarious and vulnerable position of the private, nonprofit social service agency in an environment of government contracting and declining funding has been the subject of a number of articles over the past few years. Nonprofit agencies have been characterized as being controlled by powerful government agencies that dictate the terms and conditions of contracts, the types of services to be provided, the methods of delivery, and the price to be paid for services. One would expect to find nonprofits anxious to terminate their relationships with various units of government, and return to a more independent status. That is not happening. If anything, purchase of service contracting (POSC) with nonprofit agencies is increasing. This national study of nonprofit agencies explores the impact of declining funding from all sources (including POSC), and seeks to determine its impact on clients, staff, and organization.     

The restructuring of WA human services and its implications for the not‐for‐profit sector

Western Australia provides an interesting case study of the outsourcing of human services to the not‐for‐profit (NfP) sector. This article presents and discusses some of the key themes that emerged from a recently completed research project examining one large NfP in Western Australia. Key themes included the recruitment and retention of staff linked to pay and changing funding arrangements, and the sector becoming increasingly corporatised in outlook and goal orientaiton. Despite evidence that the shifting policy and funding environment within the NfP sector has had some negative consequences, the research findings highlight a degree of agency within which organisations can resist or counterbalance these changes. Efforts to avoid this trend, however, are reliant upon a number of factors; for example, a strong commitment to vision and mission supported by skilled leadership and adequate resourcing. Significantly, these factors are unlikely to be readily available, particularly for smaller NfPs. This discrepancy in organisational capacity is set to become more conspicuous with the potential introduction of ‘Big Society’ policies derived from the United Kingdom, and funding cuts proposed by the Coalition government.     

Liquid advocacy: Social welfare advocacy in neoliberal times

This article examines current inconsistent trends in social welfare advocacy literature. Some studies show evidence of widespread engagement in advocacy by nonprofit organisations, while other studies conversely offer evidence of limited advocacy activities. Another controversial aspect stems from the question whether governmental funding undermines the extent to which nonprofits engage in advocacy. We argue that these findings reflect the contradictory impact of neoliberal governance on social welfare advocacy. The article highlights and discusses three interrelated components of neoliberalism and their impact on current social welfare advocacy: marketisation, precariousness and commodification. Neoliberalism has propelled a model of market-driven civil society that has remade the practice of social welfare advocacy in contradictory ways. With its complex rationales, neoliberalism has simultaneously undermined the ability of nonprofits to engage in advocacy but in a paradoxical way has also created conditions that induce these organisations to practice advocacy. Implications for practice and research on social welfare advocacy are discussed.