Helen Rose Ebaugh

Transformations in new immigrant religions and their global implications

Immigrant religious communities in the United States are undergoing profound transformations. Three processes of change occurring in new immigrant religions are described and analyzed: (1) adopting the congregational form in organizational structure and ritual, (2) returning to theological foundations, and (3) reaching beyond traditional ethnic and religious boundaries to include other peoples. These changes support the new paradigm in the sociology of religion that refutes secularization theories: Internal and external religious pluralism, instead of leading to the decline of religion, encourages institutional and theological transformations that energize and revitalize religions. Moreover, these changes are not merely attributable to Americanization. Rather, these changes have transnational implications for global religious systems-implications that are facilitated by the material and organizational resources that new U.S. immigrants possess.

Fictive Kin as Social Capital in New Immigrant Communities

Fictive kin, defined as family-type relationships, based not on blood or marriage but rather on religious rituals or close friendship ties, constitutes a type of social capital that many immigrant groups bring with them and that facilitates their incorporation into the host society. We describe three types of fictive kin systems in different immigrant populations and argue that their functions are similar across various ethnic groups and types of fictive kin relationships. Fictive kin systems expand the network of individuals who provide social and economic capital for one another and thereby constitute a resource to immigrants as they confront problems of settlement and incorporation. While anthropologists have long noted systems of fictive kin in premodern and modernizing societies, sociologists have paid little attention to fictive kin networks. We argue, however, that systems of fictive kin constitute an important part of the social networks that draw immigrants to a particular locale and provide them with the material and social support that enables them to become incorporated into a new and often hostile society. Data are derived from interviews with informants from various immigrant groups in Houston, Texas, and from a Yoruba community in Brooklyn, New York.

Where's the Religion? Distinguishing Faith‐Based from Secular Social Service Agencies

The charitable choice provision and President Bushs proposed Faith-Based and Community Initiative have spurred debates regarding government support of faith-based social service programs and their effectiveness. To address the issue of relative effectiveness, the logically prior question of what constitutes a faith-based agency and how they differ from secular providers must be answered. Utilizing data from a mailed survey, this study compares the organizational characteristics of faith-based and secular agencies that provide services to the homeless in Houston, Texas. Results indicate that the two agency types vary significantly across several dimensions including funding sources and preferences, decision-making tools, organizational culture, practices, leadership, and staffing characteristics. In addition, survey data and content analysis of mission statements reveal that 80 percent of faith-based agencies use religious imagery in some form of their “public face” to communicate their religiousness.

Structural Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations

In this paper we show that immigrant religious institutions tend to assume many elements of a congregational structure and a community center model of functioning, characteristics usually not found in their countries of origin. Based on data from the Religion, Ethnicity, New Imnigrants Research (RENIR) project in Houston, Texas, we found, however, that the two dimensions are distinct and largely unrelated to one another. Whule each serves as a vehicle to engender high levels of member commitment to the religious institution and serves to meet both religious and material needs of the immigrants, congregations vary in the degree to which they develop the two major elements of

Funding Good Works: Funding Sources of Faith-Based Social Service Coalitions:

Data from the first national study of faith-based social service coalitions ( n = 656) are used to achieve three goals. First, the authors describe their myriad funding sources. Second, they discuss their attitudes toward three major ones: government, foundations, and congregations. Third, they analyze organizational characteristics that correlate with funding sources. Given a paucity of empirical literature on faith-based agencies, the authors depend heavily on that pertaining to secular nonprofits to identify 13 predictor variables that might be related to two funding measures (logged dollars and budget percentage) for each of the four most important funding sources: government, foundations, religious organizations, and individual donors. Predictor variables fall into three clusters: attitudes toward funding source, organizational religiosity, and organizational structural features and activities. The complex findings indicate that dollar amounts and budget percentages are associated with predictor variables in different ways, depending on the source of funds.

Out of the cloister : a study of organizational dilemmas

A former nun examines how contact with the larger society has affected American religious orders, with particular focus on the relationship between organizational change and membership loss.

Where's the Faith in Faith-based Organizations? Measures and Correlates of Religiosity in Faith-based Social Service Coalitions

Organizational religiosity is analyzed with data from a national survey of faith-based social service coalitions (N = 656). Twenty-one items related to religious practices within these organizations result in three distinct factors: service religiosity, staff religiosity and organizational religiosity scales. Self-defined faith-based coalitions vary widely on all three. OLS analysis regressing 12 coalition attributes on the three scales demonstrates that the religiosity measures often relate to the predictor variables in different ways, although in two cases there is consistency. Government funding is inversely related to all three religiosity measures, and evangelism as a coalition goal is positively related to all three.

The future of religious orders in the United States : transformation and commitment

Figures and Tables Foreword by David C. McClelland Acknowledgments Introduction and Purpose Dynamics of Transformation Master Images and Dilemmas: The Visioning Groups Leadership Attitude and Behavioral Measures of Membership: A National Survey of Members of Religious Orders Role Clarity among Members of Religious Orders The Motivation of People Who Care Bridging the Gap Appendix A: Population Statistics, 1962-1992 Appendix B: Components and Elements Used in Visioning Groups Appendix C: Competencies of Leaders of Religious Orders Appendix D: The National Survey Appendix E: Responses to the National Survey Appendix F: The National Survey: Factors and Items References Index

The Social Ecology of Residential Pattern and Memberships In Immigrant Churches

In this paper, we utilize GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping data to locate eleven immigrant congregations and the residential addresses of their members in Houston, Texas. Combining this information with ethnographic data allows us to understand how ecological variables impact organizationalcharacteristics of religious institutions. Specifically, we combine GIS and ethnographic data on immigrant congregations in Houston, Texas, to analyze characteristics that make them more parish or niche-like in structure. We demonstrate that the combination of GIS techniques and standard field methods yields the greatest potential to provide a comprehensive understanding of what congregations mean to their members.

The Growth and Decline of Catholic Religious Orders of Women Worldwide: The Impact of Women's Opportunity Structures

While membership in Catholic religious orders of women in the United States is declining, demographic data on religious orders worlwide show that growth and decline patterns vary significantly by continent. The data presented in this research note demonstrate a positive relationship between female opportunity in society and the decline of female religious orders, thereby supporting the argument that religious orders serve as avenues of social mobility for women. Since orders are growing in those nations with the smallest percentage of Catholics in the population, as well as with the smallest proportion of religious women, this paper concludes that the prognosis for the future of religious orders is not optimistic