Nancy T. Ammerman

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

The author argues that religious pluralism is the normal state of affairs. Religion itself is multi-dimensional, and the several dimensions of religious and spiritual experience can be combined in myriad ways across individual lives. Preliminary findings from new research are presented, detailing modes of spiritual discourse that include mystery, majesty, meaning, moral compassion, and social connection. These dimensions find expression across multiple social institutions. In addition, religion is multi-traditional and organized by plural producers of the goods and services and events that embody and transform religious tradition. Finally, it is argued that religious pluralism must be studied in terms of the structures of power and privilege that allow some religious ideas to be given free voice, but limit the practice of other religious rituals or the gathering of dissident religious communities. Le pluralisme religieux est dans l’ordre des choses. La religion elle-même est multidimensionnelle et ces dimensions de l’expérience religieuse et spirituelle se combinent de multiples façons dans la vie des individus. Les conclusions de nouvelles recherches seront présentées dans un premier temps, détaillant des types de discours spirituels qui comprennent le mystère, la majesté, le sens, la compassion morale et les liens sociaux. Ces dimensions s’expriment au travers de diverses institutions sociales. En outre, la religion se situe au cœur de multiples traditions et s’organise grâce à de nombreux producteurs de biens et services et d’événements qui incarnent et transforment la tradition religieuse. Enfin, il est avancé que le pluralisme religieux doit être étudié en termes de structures de pouvoir et de privilège qui permettent à certaines idées religieuses de s’exprimer librement, mais qui limitent aussi la pratique d’autres rituels religieux ou la formation de communautés religieuses dissidentes.

Southern Baptists and the New Christian Right

The rise of the New Christian Right has raised new questions about the links between religion and politics. This paper looks at one denomination that figured prominently in the conservative resurgence of the 1980s, asking whether within a group whose social identity is generally conservative-the Southern Baptist Convention-there are significant divisions that are both religious and political and how those two are related. It is shown here that fundamentalism in the Southern Baptist Convention is strongly related to education, but it is also located in the structural positions where exposure to the modem world is high. Opposition to the values of modernity, along with religious beliefs, are then shown to influence support for both the denominational and national conservative agendas. Net of these background factors, there is no direct link among SBC clergy between the religious and secular conservative agendas, but among laity a significant effect remains. Among both groups, however, the strongest effects on identification as a conservative Republican come from positions on secular issues, not denominational ones. In general, the two conservative movements¯religious and secular-may be seen as the common result of common social factors. Finally, it is argued that the fundamentalist movement in this denomination has brought to power leaders who make strong connections between their religious and social agendas. As they gradually put those concerns into place within the denominations bureaucracy, the relationship between religious and political conservatism among SBC laity and clergy may grow.

Denominations, Congregations, and Special Purpose Groups

This chapter examines three typical forms of religious organization – congregations, denominations, and religious special purpose groups. Using insights from cultural and ecological theories of organizations, it is argued that religious organizations are always shaped both by their own internal cultural traditions and by the cultural, legal, and other contextual forces of their environments. Internal dynamics include size, resources, race, status, and gender, in addition to the official systems of authority prescribed by religious traditions. All of that exists within a pervasive organizational template that prescribes (through institutional isomorphism) the kinds of activities and functions congregations and denominations are expected to undertake. The external environment includes an organization’s niche in the social and geographic ecology, but it also includes the historical roles and legal regulations that constrain religious organizing. Denominations and religious special purpose groups are institutionalized forms of organization that extend religious work beyond local communities, but they depend on states that are willing to recognize plural and public forms of religious activity. Future research is needed to allow a more thoroughly comparative analysis of the organizational forms of religious life.