Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide

This article examines the effect of church-state relations on rates of Christian population growth or decline worldwide. It makes the paradoxical argument that contexts of both pluralism and persecution do not impede Christian growth rates. In these environments, Christians do not have the luxury of...

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গ্রন্থ-পঞ্জীর বিবরন
প্রধান লেখক: Saiya, Nilay, Manchanda, Stuti
অন্যান্য লেখক: School of Social Sciences
বিন্যাস: Journal Article
ভাষা:English
প্রকাশিত: 2022
বিষয়গুলি:
অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162760
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author Saiya, Nilay
Manchanda, Stuti
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Saiya, Nilay
Manchanda, Stuti
author_sort Saiya, Nilay
collection NTU
description This article examines the effect of church-state relations on rates of Christian population growth or decline worldwide. It makes the paradoxical argument that contexts of both pluralism and persecution do not impede Christian growth rates. In these environments, Christians do not have the luxury of becoming complacent. On one hand, pluralism means that Christianity must actively compete with other faith traditions in order to gain and maintain adherents. On the other hand, persecution can, paradoxically, sometimes strengthen Christianity by deepening attachments to faith and reinforcing solidarity among Christians. Rather, it is a third type of relationship-privilege, or state support for Christianity-that corresponds to the greatest threat to growth in Christianity. Countries where Christianity is privileged by the state encourage apathy and the politicization of religion, resulting in a less dynamic faith and the overall decline of Christian populations. We test these propositions using a cross-national, time-series analysis of a global sample of countries from 2010 to 2020. Our findings provide support for our theory that Christianity suffers in contexts of privilege but not in environments of pluralism or persecution. The finding is robust to a number of model specifications and statistical approaches.
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spelling ntu-10356/1627602022-11-08T05:10:25Z Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide Saiya, Nilay Manchanda, Stuti School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Sociology Religious Growth Religious Decline This article examines the effect of church-state relations on rates of Christian population growth or decline worldwide. It makes the paradoxical argument that contexts of both pluralism and persecution do not impede Christian growth rates. In these environments, Christians do not have the luxury of becoming complacent. On one hand, pluralism means that Christianity must actively compete with other faith traditions in order to gain and maintain adherents. On the other hand, persecution can, paradoxically, sometimes strengthen Christianity by deepening attachments to faith and reinforcing solidarity among Christians. Rather, it is a third type of relationship-privilege, or state support for Christianity-that corresponds to the greatest threat to growth in Christianity. Countries where Christianity is privileged by the state encourage apathy and the politicization of religion, resulting in a less dynamic faith and the overall decline of Christian populations. We test these propositions using a cross-national, time-series analysis of a global sample of countries from 2010 to 2020. Our findings provide support for our theory that Christianity suffers in contexts of privilege but not in environments of pluralism or persecution. The finding is robust to a number of model specifications and statistical approaches. 2022-11-08T05:10:25Z 2022-11-08T05:10:25Z 2022 Journal Article Saiya, N. & Manchanda, S. (2022). Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide. Sociology of Religion, 83(1), 60-78. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srab006 1069-4404 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162760 10.1093/socrel/srab006 2-s2.0-85130497010 1 83 60 78 en Sociology of Religion © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. All rights reserved.
spellingShingle Social sciences::Sociology
Religious Growth
Religious Decline
Saiya, Nilay
Manchanda, Stuti
Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title_full Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title_fullStr Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title_full_unstemmed Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title_short Paradoxes of pluralism, privilege, and persecution: explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
title_sort paradoxes of pluralism privilege and persecution explaining christian growth and decline worldwide
topic Social sciences::Sociology
Religious Growth
Religious Decline
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162760
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AT manchandastuti paradoxesofpluralismprivilegeandpersecutionexplainingchristiangrowthanddeclineworldwide