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Choosing God's People

Philip N. Mulder

in A Controversial Spirit: Evangelical Awakenings in the South

Laity in the audiences and congregations embraced the message of the preachers all too well during the Great Awakenings. Accounts show that men, women, Anglo‐, and African‐Americans accepted not only ... More

Laity in the audiences and congregations embraced the message of the preachers all too well during the Great Awakenings. Accounts show that men, women, Anglo‐, and African‐Americans accepted not only the general need for salvation, but also the denominations’ prescriptions for conversion. True conversion required selecting the particular beliefs of one denomination and specifically rejecting those of the others. The reborn had to turn away from false churches and teachings just as they cast aside their sinfulness. Choice, the celebrated feature of evangelical religion, emboldened laity and helped the democratization of American Christianity, but it also assured that a spirit of distinction would hover over the quarreling faithful of the South. Baptists’ oppositional religion steadily displaced Methodists’ universal faith.Less

Introduction: Religion in America

Uzi Rebhun

in Jews and the American Religious Landscape

The introduction sets the book within the broader context of religion in contemporary America. It discusses the nature of religion; Jews in America; and the Pew survey.

Religion and Freedom of Choice

Paul M. Taylor

in Religion and Human Rights: An Introduction

This chapter examines the relationship between religion and freedom of choice. It first traces the historical developments within the United Nations and some contemporary challenges facing the ... More

This chapter examines the relationship between religion and freedom of choice. It first traces the historical developments within the United Nations and some contemporary challenges facing the freedom of choice in religious matters and outlines the numerous facets of religious choice that are not obvious from the face of those texts. In particular, it considers three distinctive features of the freedom of religion as expressed in Article 18 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It then explores the right to change religion, freedom from coercion in religious choice, manifestation of religious choice and the rights and freedoms of others, and parental choice in children's education. The chapter concludes by discussing the interaction between principles of non-discrimination and religious choice.Less

Belonging

Mary Ellen Konieczny

in The Spirit's Tether: Family, Work, and Religion among American Catholics

Chapter 2, “Belonging,” examines the ongoing process of Catholic identity construction through the personal religious narratives told at Assumption and St. Brigitta in order to show how these ... More

Chapter 2, “Belonging,” examines the ongoing process of Catholic identity construction through the personal religious narratives told at Assumption and St. Brigitta in order to show how these identity boundaries are constructed in ways that result in polarizing tendencies surrounding moral issues related to family life. These discourses are contextualized by a culture of religious choice on the American religious landscape and by the historical Church reforms of Vatican II. They reflect each parish setting's local culture, as well as different patterns of generational difference and relations with parishioners’ families of origin. These narratives both create in-group solidarity and establish their distinctiveness from others, including from other Catholics, especially by each group's distinctive and opposed criticisms of the Catholic Church, which contributes to and supports polarizing tendencies surrounding family-related issues.Less

Navigating the Contemporary Religious Landscape: Discerning Distinctions with a Difference

Mary Johnson, Patricia Wittberg, and Mary L. Gautier

in New Generations of Catholic Sisters: The Challenge of Diversity

The chapter first outlines larger societal changes that impact the likelihood of Catholic women considering a religious vocation. In the present spiritual marketplace, Catholics reflect a larger ... More

The chapter first outlines larger societal changes that impact the likelihood of Catholic women considering a religious vocation. In the present spiritual marketplace, Catholics reflect a larger culture of religious choice, constructing their own religious identity—which may not be compatible with previous models institutes in canon law. Distinctions are drawn amongof vowed religious life. The second section of the chapter summarizes the official categories prescribed for Catholic religious consecrated life, secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life; among contemplative, monastic, and apostolic institutes; and between diocesan and pontifical institutes. Newly forming religious movements are described, as are the two umbrella conferences for Catholic sisterhoods in the United States: the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR).Less

A Room Full of FireFlies

S. Zohreh Kermani

in Pagan Family Values: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism

This chapter delves into some of the debates surrounding the inclusion of children in Pagan rituals and the appropriate level of religious instruction for younger generations. Some Pagan parents ... More

This chapter delves into some of the debates surrounding the inclusion of children in Pagan rituals and the appropriate level of religious instruction for younger generations. Some Pagan parents respond to the religion's tendency toward the exclusion of children by developing innovative ways to include children in religious ritual and daily practice. The chapter claims that rituals involving Pagan children can challenge scholars and practitioners to rethink understandings of what constitutes religious ritual. Rituals such as blessings and coming-of-age rites are intended to welcome infants and teenagers into Paganism, yet, they are still contested within the religion. The importance of religious choice for Pagan children is a core value within the religion and is one of the few principles that receives nearly unanimous support from adult Pagans.Less

Who Went Where and Why

David V. Barrett

in The Fragmentation of a Sect: Schism in the Worldwide Church of God

The final substantive chapter uses the results of a questionnaire to explore what ministers and members said about why they made the choices they did. Analysis of both past experience and a ... More

The final substantive chapter uses the results of a questionnaire to explore what ministers and members said about why they made the choices they did. Analysis of both past experience and a hypothetical scenario in the context of rational choice theory revealed that Rodney Stark and Roger Finke’s concepts of social capital and religious capital provide an insufficient explanation of reaffiliation between Churches. The author introduced a third factor, moral capital (in this case past experience of leadership), and found that this, equally with religious capital (commitment to doctrines), far outweighed social capital (e.g. family and friends) in their effect on reaffiliation. This extension of rational choice theory in a detailed case study is a significant development in the analysis and understanding of religious choice.Less

The Right to Religious and Moral Freedom

Michael J. Perry

in Religion and Human Rights: An Introduction

This chapter examines the right to religious and moral freedom, first by considering the provisions set forth in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In particular, ... More

This chapter examines the right to religious and moral freedom, first by considering the provisions set forth in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In particular, it discusses the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as well as freedom from coercion in religious choice. It also explores the limitations of freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs and the liberty of parents or legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions. Finally, it analyzes government interests that are not legitimate under the right religious and moral freedom.Less

The Right to Education

Sandra Fredman

in Comparative Human Rights Law

Education is a multiplier right. Without education, other rights cannot be fully enjoyed. Education is also an accelerator right: it equips people to enter the labour force and participate in public ... More

Education is a multiplier right. Without education, other rights cannot be fully enjoyed. Education is also an accelerator right: it equips people to enter the labour force and participate in public life. However, education is not only an instrumental right. It should primarily be regarded as an intrinsic right, valuable in its own terms. Section II considers how the freedom, social, and equality components of the right are reflected in different human rights instruments, contrasting these to education in the Sustainable Development Goals. Section III considers the meaning of ‘free and compulsory’ education and particularly the paradoxical nature of a compulsory right. Section IV examines the complex contestations between the freedom and equality dimensions of the right, especially in the context of parental choice as to the religious, moral, or political nature of the right to education. Section V is concerned with the extent to which a human rights approach to education can be used to achieve quality education.Less

The Baptism of a Cheyenne Girl

Ann Braude

in The Study of Children in Religions: A Methods Handbook

This chapter makes a child-centered reading of the adult-authored historical texts about “Minnie,” a Cheyenne girl who was kidnapped at the 1864 Sand Creek massacre. It explores narratives written ... More

This chapter makes a child-centered reading of the adult-authored historical texts about “Minnie,” a Cheyenne girl who was kidnapped at the 1864 Sand Creek massacre. It explores narratives written about historical children across their lifetimes, reading through adult political posturing about what is in the best interest of the child to access some elements of the child's own interests. The historical record does not reveal why Minnie made the religious choices she did, but it does reveal that she made choices. Her conversion to Christianity should not be seen as a rejection of her past, but rather as engagement of the best opportunity at hand for her spiritual and personal development. Minnie's adaptability and emotional accessibility were among her most important survival tools, allowing her to bond with new sets of adults on whom her future depended. Her religious choices were deeply embedded in these contexts, but they remained hers.Less

What Now?

John G. Stackhouse

in Can I Believe?: An Invitation to the Hesitant

This chapter offers a brief challenge to the reader to undertake due diligence and to come to a prompt decision in the matter of religious choice. One must do one’s homework, yes, but without undue ... More

This chapter offers a brief challenge to the reader to undertake due diligence and to come to a prompt decision in the matter of religious choice. One must do one’s homework, yes, but without undue delay. For why not enjoy a better life as soon as one can?Less