Examining the Impact of Religious Initiation Rites on Religiosity and Disaffiliation over Time

Perry, Samuel L.; Longest, Kyle C.

doi:10.1111/jssr.12632

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…This article draws on the assumption that Finnish confirmation training can be viewed as a rite of passage. Similar to Perry and Longest (2019), this study indicates that confirmation training as a rite of passage promotes forming a social identity and an attachment to faith. This study reveals, however, that rites of passage might not only promote attachment to a certain faith but also distancing from one.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Finnish Confirmation Training in Religious Biographies

Toivanen

2023

J. Empir. Theol.

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Several recent studies have examined religious biographies, i.e. individual religious trajectories. However, little research has been conducted on the relevance of single life events in religious biographies, such as religious rites of passage. One such rite of passage, confirmation training, has preserved its popularity in Finland despite declining church membership. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the relevance of Finnish confirmation training in religious biographies. The data comprise 15 multigenerational family interviews (N = 54) conducted in 2019–2022. The study is part of an international research investigating religious transmission over generations. The findings indicate that confirmation training initiates a socialization process in relation to areas of faith, religious community, family heritage and cultural heritage. These relations comprise three types of movement: attachment, distancing, and stability/ irrelevance. The results demonstrate the complexity and uniqueness of religious biographies as individuals create distinctive religious trajectories and transitions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Finnish Confirmation Training in Religious Biographies

Toivanen

2023

J. Empir. Theol.

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“…Affiliation, disaffiliation, and being unaffiliated, it seems, only show a small part of the whole picture: As Nica (2019) as well as Thiessen and Wikins-Laflamme (2017) stress in their studies, special attention should be given to the religious or spiritual identities of those outside an institutionalized framework. The mismatch between affiliation and religious faith can be mirrored by the religiously affiliated that do not see their beliefs affected by the religious institution they belong to, as shown by Perry and Longest's (2019) study.…”

Section: Conclusion and Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Longo & Kim-Spoon, 2014). These considerations are furthermore mirrored in the finding of Perry and Longest (2019) that early religious or non-religious socialization is one of the major factors for religious identities and could be made out by Thiessen and Wilkins-Laflamme (2017) as one of the main drivers of secularization. Taken together, these findings spark new and exciting research questions.…”

Section: Conclusion and Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Taken together, these findings spark new and exciting research questions. For instance, the question emerges how these motivations and effects of deconversion are to be seen in the context of increasing secularization: Following Perry and Longest's (2019) considerations, what will be the role of families and religious communities in a society that is increasingly accepting irreligion? Is there indeed a societal shift towards the acceptance of irreligion, as Fazzino (2014) argues, and what does this mean with regard to biographical changes of those who change their religious or non-religious identities?…”

Section: Conclusion and Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chapter 2: Recent Research on Deconversion

Steppacher¹,

Streib²,

Bullik³

et al. 2021

Deconversion Revisited

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Our book on Deconversion Revisited needs to include a review of extant research with a focus on contributions published after our first book on deconversion (Streib, Hood, Keller, Csöff, Silver, 2009) in which one chapter was also dedicated to the discussion of research before 2009 (for a review of the most recent contributions to deconversion research, see also Streib, 2021). In the last decade, research on religious change and deconversion has increasingly received attention with hundreds of publications that explicitly or implicitly focus on the topic. While explicitly interdisciplinary empirical research on deconversion still remains an exception (Currie, 2016;Gooren, 2016;Rambo & Bauman, 2017), the general appreciation of an interdisciplinary perspective is high. Within this wider context and research activity, our previous book (Streib et al., 2009) has received not only positive and thoughtful reviews (Gooren, 2011;McAdams, 2010;Nica, 2016), but the conceptual considerations about deconversion elaborated in our previous study have been critically discussed or integrated in research projects (see, for example, Fazzino, 2014;Marriott, 2015;Nica, 2019).Compared to the massive research literature on conversion, studies on deconversion are still considerably smaller in number and deconversion research is relatively young: The study of deconversion begins in the 1980s and 1990s. Early studies of deconversion have focused upon defectors from New Religious Movements (NRMs) (Hood, Hill, Spilka, 2018;Streib et al., 2009). Most studies of deconversion have been done by sociologists and psychologists using participant observation or descriptive research strategies. Further, Paloutzian, Rambo, and Richardson's (1999) conclusion about research on conversion appears valid also for research on deconversion before the turn of the century: Most studies are retrospective, cross-sectional, and constitute no systematic program of research. This has changed in the new century and more so in the last decade. Of course, our own research (Streib et al., 2009) has roots in the study of New Religious Movements too but was expanded to include deconversions from all kinds of mainstream religious traditions in the USA and Germany. In the light of this broader conceptual discussion contrasting the term with conversion, deconversion here is understood as a dynamic process that involves movement within the religious field (see Chapter 1 of this volume). Deconversion is a complex and personally consequential process, affecting the individual's morality, belief system, religious experiences, religious 1 Results presented below with reference to GSS and ALLBUS data are our own calculations unless specified otherwise.

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“…This neglect is curious given that pet ownership often corresponds to particular regions (rural) and populations (politically conservative) for whom religion is expected to matter a great deal. Moreover, religious participation often fills significant individual and collective needs for bonding and community (Perry and Longest ; Putnam and Campbell ; Saroglou ), which may also be filled by animal companionship, and thus, the two factors might reasonably be related in meaningful ways. Addressing this gap, the current study draws on representative data from the 2018 General Social Survey, which contained a unique module on pet ownership, to examine how religious characteristics predict the number and type of pets Americans own.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Religion Predicts Pet Ownership in the United States

Perry

Burge

2019

Scientific Study of Religion

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Over 60 percent of Americans have some sort of family pet. Although studies have explored the personality and demographic correlates of pet ownership, none have considered whether religious characteristics may influence not only pet ownership, but the kind of pet Americans own. Drawing on data from the 2018 General Social Survey, we examine the religious antecedents of pet ownership in general as well as owning a cat or a dog, taking into account factors previously associated with owning certain pets (e.g., urban vs. rural residence, political affiliation). Although religious tradition and biblical literalism generally do not predict pet ownership, frequent worship attendees and the most conservative evangelicals report owning fewer pets. Religious characteristics also predict Americans’ ownership of particular pets. Most notably, we find a strong, negative association between worship attendance and cat ownership. We theorize potential mechanisms. On the one hand, certain personality types might simultaneously attract some Americans toward religious participation and away from pets, and cats in particular. Alternatively, to the extent that pet ownership is a partial substitute for human bonding and interaction, Americans more deeply embedded within a religious community may have less need (or time) for pets generally, and specifically more independent “roommate pets,” like cats.

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Examining the Impact of Religious Initiation Rites on Religiosity and Disaffiliation over Time

Cited by 12 publications

References 17 publications

Finnish Confirmation Training in Religious Biographies

Finnish Confirmation Training in Religious Biographies

Chapter 2: Recent Research on Deconversion

How Religion Predicts Pet Ownership in the United States

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