Journal•ISSN: 1353-7903
Journal of Contemporary Religion
Taylor & Francis
About: Journal of Contemporary Religion is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Christianity. It has an ISSN identifier of 1353-7903. Over the lifetime, 1166 publications have been published receiving 12119 citations.
Topics: Politics, Christianity, Faith, Buddhism, Religiosity
Papers published on a yearly basis
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TL;DR: This paper examined perceived discrimination faced by religious "nones" and found that the strongest predictor of such discrimination was not theological atheism or agnosticism but self-identifying as an atheist or agnostic when asked what one's religion is.
Abstract: The present study examines perceived discrimination faced by religious ‘nones’. After distinguishing between atheists, agnostics, and ‘nones’ who are deists or theists, we use nationally representative data from the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) to study the contexts in which these various types of religious ‘nones’ have reported experiencing discrimination. The strongest predictor of such discrimination was not theological atheism or agnosticism but self-identifying as an atheist or agnostic when asked what one's religion is. Context-specific predictors of discrimination are age, region of the country, rural versus urban location, parents’ religious identifications, educational attainment, ethnicity and race. Results are consistent with the view that people who hold more pronounced views are more likely to report discrimination.
160 citations
TL;DR: The New Age Movement can be seen as one response to the decline of traditional religion in the West as discussed by the authors, and it conforms to the spiritual pluralism that Bryan Wilson understood as a consequence of secularization.
Abstract: The New Age Movement can be seen as one response to the decline of traditional religion in the West. It conforms to the spiritual pluralism that Bryan Wilson understands as a consequence of secularization. From a New Age perspective, the world's various spiritual traditions are now public property and no longer the private preserve of the parochial groups or religious elites that they once were. Since in this open availability process, the sacred becomes commodified, the general argument allows that it can be bought and sold and thus consumed according to basic free-market principles. The paper explores both the New Age rationale for spiritual commercialization and some of the clashes this engenders with the traditions from which it appropriates.
153 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that New Age spirituality is substantially less unambiguously individualistic and more socially and publicly significant than today's sociological consensus acknowledges, and propose a radical socologisation of New Age research to document how the doctrinal ideal of self-spirituality is socially constructed, transmitted, and reinforced and critically to deconstruct rather than re...
Abstract: This article argues that New Age spirituality is substantially less unambiguously individualistic and more socially and publicly significant than today's sociological consensus acknowledges. Firstly, an uncontested doctrine of self-spirituality, characterised by sacralisation of the self and demonisation of social institutions, provides the spiritual milieu with ideological coherence and paradoxically accounts for its overwhelming diversity. Secondly, participants undergo a process of socialisation, gradually adopting this doctrine of self-spirituality and eventually reinforcing it by means of standardised legitimations. Thirdly, spirituality has entered the public sphere of work, aiming at a reduction of employees’ alienation to increase both their happiness and organisational effectiveness. A radical ‘sociologisation’ of New Age research is called for to document how the doctrinal ideal of self-spirituality is socially constructed, transmitted, and reinforced and critically to deconstruct rather than re...
149 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue for using non-religion as the master concept for this new field of study, demoting "atheism" from its illogically central role in the current discussion, untangling "secularism" and "secularity" from both these concepts.
Abstract: The recognition of non-religion as a significant social, cultural, and psychological phenomenon represents a sea change—or revolution—in social scientific thinking about religion and modernity. The speedy expansion of the field has, however, left its terminology lagging behind, with most scholars drawing on concepts familiar to the disciplinary or other cultural settings within which they work. The result is a terminology that is used inconsistently, imprecisely, and often illogically. This research note aims to draw attention to this situation and to suggest a working terminology. Focusing on core terms, I argue for: using ‘non-religion’ as the master concept for this new field of study, demoting ‘atheism’ from its illogically central role in the current discussion, untangling ‘secularism’ and ‘secularity’ from both these concepts. This will allow social scientists to be more precise in how they use the four concepts and better equip them for analysing the relationship between them.
138 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a general theory of why religious movements succeed or fail to explain why the Jehovah's Witnesses are the most rapidly growing religious movement in the western world.
Abstract: This paper applies a general theory of why religious movements succeed or fail to explain why the Jehovah's Witnesses are the most rapidly growing religious movement in the western world. In addition to qualitative assessments of Witness doctrines, organisational structures, internal networks, and socialisation, we utilise quantitative data from a variety of sources to assess such things as the impact of failed prophesies, how “strictness”; eliminates free‐riders and strengthens congregations, the demographic make‐up of the Witness “labor force”;, and the effects of continuity with local religious cultures on success.
125 citations