Objective Religion: Freedom, Politics, Secularization

by Byron R. Johnson (Editor)

Overview

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. These volumes thereby serve 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,  Freedom, Politics, Secularization, use rigorous methodologies to scrutinize profoundly important topics that are so often misunderstood. In this way Objective Religion helps us rethink the conventional beliefs and stereotypes that occupy so much of popular discourse on religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481319614
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2024
Pages:	532
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.24(d)

About the Author

Byron R. Johnson is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and the founding director of the Institute for Studies of Religion.

Table of Contents

Foreword - Philip Jenkins
Introduction

Part One: Religious Freedom
1. International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion
Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke
2. Strict but Not (Gender) Conservative: Refining the Strict Church Thesis in Light of Brazilian Pentecostalism
Kevin Neuhouser
3. New Data and Measures on Societal Discrimination and Religious Minorities
Jonathan Fox, Roger Finke, and Dane R. Mataicf
4. Deregulation and Demographic Change: A Key to Understanding Whether Religious Plurality Leads to Strife
Brian J. Grim, Vegard Skirbekk, and Jesus Crespo Cuaresma
5. Consumer Expenditures and the Faith Factor
Vince E. Showers, Linda S. Showers, James E. Cox, Jr., Jeri M. Beggs, and Hulda G. Black
6. Is Religious Freedom Good for Business?: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis
Brian J. Grim, Greg Clark, and Robert Edward Snyder

Part Two: Religion and Politics
7. Catholic Young Adults’ Attitudes Toward the Church’s Pro-Life Teachings: A Bellwether for the Church’s Political Strategy?
Tia Noelle Pratt
8. Same-Sex Sexuality, Marriage, and the Seminary Professor: Catholic, Evangelical, and Mainline Protestant
Robert J. Priest
9. Christian Theology and Attitudes Toward Political and Religious Ideological Groups
George Yancey, Marie A. Eisenstein, and Ryan P. Burge
10. Are Religion and Environmentalism Complements or Substitutes?: A Club-Based Approach
Feler Bose and Timothy M. Komarek
11. Divided by Age?: Generational Shifts in White Evangelical Christians’ Attitudes Toward Racial Diversity
Darin M. Mather

Part Three: Religion, Technology, and Secularization
12. Religious Apps for Smartphones and Tablets: Transforming Religious Authority and the Nature of Religion
Cortney Hughes Rinker, Jesse Roof, Emily Harvey, Elyse Bailey, and Hannah Embler
13. Introducing Jesus’s Social Network: Support, Conflict, and Compassion
Jennifer M. McClure
14. Fear of Love Online: The Effect of Religious Salience on the Early Adoption of Online Dating (2000–2005)
Benjamin Thomas Gurrentz
15. Human Development and the Demography of Secularization in Global Perspective
Eric Kaufmann
16. Are Religious "Nones" Really Not Religious?
Jeff Levin, Matt Bradshaw, and Byron R. Johnson
About the Contributors

What People are Saying About This

Jon Clifton

In this groundbreaking collection, renowned scholars embark on an unparalleled exploration of the profound questions at the core of spirituality. Each thought-provoking article underscores the vital role of religious institutions in guiding us through life's most critical choices. Addressing questions such as, 'How will I act?’, 'What will I do and refrain from doing?', and 'How will I navigate my brief existence on Earth?' these experts deliver remarkable insights through exceptional writing and profound thinking. Delve into the depths of spirituality with this extraordinary and transformative work.

Pete Peterson

While it has become conventional wisdom to note that 'politics is downstream from culture,' the influence on both by religion has received relatively little attention from the social sciences... until now. In this remarkably wide-ranging and readable compendium of research studies, Byron Johnson has provided a primer on the best quantitative analysis on the impact of religion on society in America and around the world. In reading this creatively assembled book naturally one will be prompted to consider further topics to research.  Objective Religion, then, not only sets a foundation to better understand current social science research on religion, it also builds a launchpad for future study.