Foreword (Rodney Stark) I The Economics of Religion 1 Conversion to Latin American Protestantism and the Case for Religious Motivation (Rodney Stark and Buster G. Smith) 2 Religious Competition and Revival in Italy: Exploring European Exceptionalism (Massimo Introvigne and Rodney Stark) 3 Religious Monopolies, Religious Pluralism, and Secularization: The Relationship between Religious Pluralism and Religious Participation in Sweden (Eva M. Hamberg) 4 Folk Temples and the Chinese Religious Economy (Graeme Lang, Selina Ching Chan, and Lars Ragvald) 5 The Effect of Religious Affiliation and Religious Markets on Islamophobia in Four European Nations (Linda A. Lockett and Ted G. Jelen) II Religion and Tension 6 Retention Strategies and Religious Success: A Regional Comparison of American Jews (Michael K. Abel) 7 Explaining Atheism: Testing the Secondary Compensator Model and Proposing an Alternative (Laura A. Hunter) 8 Consensus and Conflict: Abortion, Mainline Protestants, and Religious Restructuring Since 1960 (Sabrina Danielsen) 9 Whom Do People Dislike More: Atheists or Cultists? (Ryan T. Cragun, Patrick Henry, Casey P. Homan, and Joseph Hammer) III The Persistence of Religion 10 Neighbors in the Pews: Social Status Diversity in Religious Congregations (Philip Schwadel) 11 Estimating the Global Muslim Population: Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population (Brian J. Grim and Becky Hsu) 12 The Collapse of Secular Social Capital and Religious Revival in Rural China: An Empirical Study (Xiuhua Wang) 13 Family Networks and the Growth of The Church of Almighty God (Massimo Introvigne) 14 Heads Down, Hearts Up: How Ukrainian Baptists Make Meaning from Their Memories of Soviet State-Sanctioned Religious Persecution (Gregory S. Morrow and Mary E. Grigsby)
Though many scholars and commentators have predicted the death of religion, the world is more religious today than ever before. And yet, despite the persistence of religion, it remains a woefully understudied phenomenon. With Objective Religion, Baylor University Press and Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion have combined forces to gather select articles from the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion that not only highlight the journal’s wide-ranging and diverse scope, but also advance the field through a careful arrangement of topics with ongoing relevance, all treated with scientific objectivity and the respect warranted by matters of faith. This multivolume project seeks to advance our understanding of religion and spirituality in general as well as particular religious beliefs and practices. The volume thereby serves as a catalyst for future studies of religion from diverse disciplines and fields of inquiry including sociology, psychology, political science, demography, economics, philosophy, ethics, history, medicine, population health, epidemiology, and theology. The articles in this volume, Competition, Tension, and Perseverance, document the pervasiveness of religion and demonstrate the complex ways faith, spirituality, and religious matters are consequential for individuals as well as societies across the world. Together these essays demonstrate the resilience of religion.
Byron R. Johnson Is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and the founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion.
