Suchergebnisse

AbstractReliable data on Protestant and Catholic membership in 18 Latin American nations show that Protestants have recruited a larger percentage of the population in many nations than previously estimated. Analysis of these data shows that, as predicted by the theory of religious economies, the Catholic Church has been invigorated by the Protestant challenge: Catholic mass attendance has risen to unprecedented levels, and is highest in nations where Protestants have made the greatest gains.

While the availability of Internet data on religious organizations has increased exponentially the use of such resources remains limited. The authors make use of a new research method involving weblink analysis to study nondenominational churches which are difficult to examine using conventional research techniques. One reason for this is the perception that independent churches lack the coherency of denominational populations, which creates methodological and theoretical challenges. The authors explore this assumption by examining the social and symbolic networks of a sample of independent congregations. Using the outgoing links from congregational websites, the authors find that there is more overlap than one might expect. This simultaneously enhances our understanding of this particular religious group as well as demonstrating the usefulness of such a research methodology.