Is Religion Still Relevant in the Private Sphere? The State of Organized Religion in an Australian Rural Community

This article draws on data from a longitudinal rural community study to examine the validity of the arguments of Berger, Luckmann, and others that religion is still relevant in the private, if not the public, sphere. It is shown that support for organized religion has declined dramatically during th...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dempsey, Kenneth (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: [publisher not identified] 1989
In: Sociological analysis
Year: 1989, Volume: 50, Issue: 3, Pages: 247-263
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This article draws on data from a longitudinal rural community study to examine the validity of the arguments of Berger, Luckmann, and others that religion is still relevant in the private, if not the public, sphere. It is shown that support for organized religion has declined dramatically during the 13 years the study has been in progress. Churches and church organizations are among the least important focal points of community and personal identity for churchgoers as well as nonchurchgoers. The clergy have a diminishing role in public life, but insofar as they are utilized on special ritual occasions, it is always to support and never to criticize either community activities or community leaders. Information collected concerning 479 friendships reveals that in less than 5 percent of the relationships is a church or church organization mentioned as a place where friends usually meet, nor are church activities or religious beliefs mentioned as topics of conversation. In this community, churchgoers as well as nonchurchgoers are more likely to use “secular” than “religious” ideas to make sense of their lives and to develop a sense of belonging to “secular” rather than “religious” organizations. The study fails to confirm the claims of Berger, Mol, and Wallace that church oriented religion has the potential for at least partially meeting a wide range of fundamental social-psychological needs.
ISSN:2325-7873
Contains:Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2307/3711561