Robert D. Woodberry

The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy

This article demonstrates historically and statistically that conversionary Protestants (CPs) heavily influenced the rise and spread of stable democracy around the world. It argues that CPs were a crucial catalyst initiating the development and spread of religious liberty, mass education, mass printing, newspapers, voluntary organizations, and colonial reforms, thereby creating the conditions that made stable democracy more likely. Statistically, the historic prevalence of Protestant missionaries explains about half the variation in democracy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania and removes the impact of most variables that dominate current statistical research about democracy. The association between Protestant missions and democracy is consistent in different continents and subsamples, and it is robust to more than 50 controls and to instrumental variable analyses.

The Pioneering Protestants

Abstract:According to cross-national research, Protestantism has significantly contributed to global democratization. While Protestantism does not inevitably cause democratization, it often generates social dynamics that favor it. Some of the most important of these are: 1) the rise of religious pluralism; 2) the development of democratic theory and practice; 3) the development of civil society; 4) the spread of mass education; 5) printing and the origins of a public sphere; 6) the reduction of corruption; and 7) economic development. The article explores how Protestant groups, including Protestant missionaries, have promoted these dynamics in the past. It also argues that contemporary Protestant movements—particularly Pentecostalism—are continuing to do so in the present, though with less dramatic results.

RECLAIMING THE M-WORD: THE LEGACY OF MISSIONS IN NONWESTERN SOCIETIES

Abstract Although missionaries are popularly associated with colonialism and blamed for antagonizing indigenous cultures, religious freedom and missionary activity have historically been synergistic. In addition, the effects of missionaries from the past twocenturies are still measurable in education, lower infant mortality, democracy, abolition of slavery, and social reform. Competition from diverse organizations that sprang up under conditions of religious freedom led to other positive social and legal developments.

World Religion Database: Impressive—But Improvable

January 2010 T World Religion Database (WRD) is part of a most impressive data-collection project, requiring an extraordinary number of hours to create. The WRD can and will be improved over time, but we can only thank the editors now for their extremely valuable service, including their work of overseeing hundreds of people behind the scenes gathering the data. Although based on the World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE, 1982; 2d ed., 2001), WRD goes beyond it in several important ways. First, for those interested in statistical research, WRD data are downloadable as Excel® files. Second, for many countries in the data set, WRD lists censuses and surveys that give alternate estimates of religious distribution. This is extremely helpful, since it allows scholars to compare WRD estimates with those of others and to evaluate the quality of data used to estimate religious distribution in particular countries. Third, WRD provides data on more countries, regions, and time periods than does any other source. Fourth, WRD provides incredibly detailed data. Previous versions had data at the national level, but WRD presents it World Religion Database: Impressive—but Improvable