▪ Abstract  The sociology of religion is experiencing a period of substantial organizational and intellectual growth. Recent theoretical and empirical papers on the sociology of religion appearing in top journals in sociology have generated both interest and controversy. We begin with a selective overview of research on religious beliefs and commitments. Second, we investigate the influence of religion on politics, the family, health and well-being, and on free space and social capital. Finally, we review rational choice theories in the sociology of religion and the controversies surrounding applications of these perspectives.

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Recent research on the connection between religion and environmental concern and activism has led to divergent conclusions, with some studies finding a negative effect of religious factors, and others finding no influence or a positive effect. Using a conceptual apparatus of structuration theory, we explain how these divergent findings might be reconciled. We examine data from the 1993 General Social Survey to elaborate how religious affiliation, participation, and beliefs influence environmental concern and private and political environmental activism. Estimates from structural equation models are presented to show the sometimes competing direct and indirect effects of religious affiliation, participation, and beliefs on environmental concern and private and political environmental action.

Objective. We examine racial differences in support for same‐sex marriage, and test whether the emerging black‐white gap is a function of religiosity. We explore how religious factors play a crucial role in racial differences, and how secular factors have varying effects on attitudes for whites and African Americans. Methods. Using data from the General Social Surveys, we estimate ordinal logistic regression models and stacked structural equation models. Results. We show that the racial divide is a function of African Americans' ties to sectarian Protestant religious denominations and high rates of church attendance. We also show racial differences in the influence of education and political values on opposition to same sex marriage. Conclusions. Religious factors are a source of racial differences in support for same‐sex marriage, and secular influences play less of a role in structuring African Americans' beliefs about same‐sex marriage.

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