Pluralist Theory and Church Policy Positions on Racial and Sexual Equality

Berk, Marc L.

doi:10.2307/3709976

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Marc Berk's data collected in 1973-74 on sixty-two denominations revealed that the opinions and attitudes of clergy and denominational leadership on issues pertaining to racial and sexual equality did not represent those of the rank and file-75 percent of all church bodies had official positions on racial equality that were "liberal" or "activist" and 50 percent had the same positions on sexual equality. 13 Reporting on national surveys of clergy and laity conducted between 1976 and 1978 by the Lutheran Church in America (a denomination with a conservative and quietistic heritage), Timothy Lull pointed out a "lack of grass-roots enthusiasm for the implementation of the [denominational] goals." 14 On every major social issue of the day, ministers were more likely to take a liberal position than were the general laity.…”

Section: North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Elites in Advanced Industrial Society

Hunter

1987

Comp Stud Soc Hist

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In primitive and nonindustrialized societies the typical (and in many cases, the exclusive) tasks of religious elites have revolved chiefly around the creation, modification, and maintenance of the symbolic universe of society. Such work invariably implied privilege and various kinds and degrees of political power. But with the expansion of the modern world order, the situation of religious elites has altered dramatically. For one, religious-knowledge workers make up a very small percentage of the ranks of a much larger knowledge sector. For example, while the percentage of religious-knowledge workers (including clergy) relative to the entire economically active population in the United States has remained relatively constant since 1870, the percentage of religious workers to the knowledge workers has declined by one half in the period between 1950 and 1970—a period of dramatic growth of the knowledge sector (see Table 1). By 1970, the percentage of religious-knowledge workers to knowledge workers generally had shrunk to one sixth of its proportionate size a century earlier. Between 1970 and 1984, this proportion has leveled off somewhat. In Western Europe and Japan the same patterns have become firmly established as well.

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Section: North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%