‘To Whom Much Has Been Given...’: Religious Capital and Community Voluntarism Among Churchgoing Protestants

Abstract

Research on volunteering behavior has consistently found a positive relationship between religion and volunteering. Using a sample of churchgoing Protestants (N=1,738) from the Religious Identity and Influence Survey we examine the specific influences of religiosity, religious identity, religious socialization, and religious social networks on local volunteer activity in church programs and non-church organizations, as well as general volunteering tendencies. These influences are presented within the theoretical framework of religious capital. Logistic regression techniques were applied to determine the strength of the contribution of these influences while accounting for basic background factors. Findings suggest that churchgoing Protestants are influenced by all measures to some degree, but religiosity (specifically participation in church activities) remains the strongest influence. Significant religious influences overall are most pronounced within the context of church-related volunteering which suggests that churchgoing Protestants exhibit a strong sense of community identity through their local churches. A discussion of these results and their implications for volunteering follows.

Relationship between Religiosity and Citizenship Behaviours in Organizations: Empirical Evidence from Selected Organisations in Lagos State

“…Religiosity is the expression of the value attached to one's faith (Park & Smith, 2000). It is the extent to which an individual is devoted to the principles of his/her religion.…”

From Pews to Participation: The Effect of Congregation Activity and Context on Bridging Civic Engagement

“…Their evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship between these activities and civic engagement and that introducing outside activity attenuates the effect of religious service attendance (Jackson et al 1995;Park and Smith 2002). However, sampling restrictions, methodological shortcomings, and poor measurements of bridging civic engagement limit these studies' conclusions.…”

Impact of Protestant Spirituality and Religious Community on the Well-Being of People in Hong Kong

“…For example, Park and Smith (2000) report the significant effect of participation in church activities on community volunteering; however, Loveland, Sikkink, Myers, and Radcliff (2005) did not find such a relationship. Instead, they purport that private religious practice (private prayer) relates to secular civic involvement, even though they realize the effect of individual prayer on civic participation is further enhanced by belonging to religious groups and the content of prayer is also important.…”

“…Z. Park & Smith, 2000;Patterson, 2004;Schwadel, 2005;Uslaner, 2002;Wuthnow, 1999). Nevertheless, research in this area also recognizes there are qualitative, rather than quantitative differences in the civic or political participations across religious traditions.…”