Search

This paper uses the occasion of the Secular Coalition for America’s first-ever Congressional briefing as a case study for demonstrating the political advantages a polysemous secular affords secular lobbyists. The briefing, conducted primarily for the benefit of staff members from the U.S. House of Representatives, offers a rare public forum in which the Secular Coalition tried to strike a balance between the two halves of its mission: advocating for non-theists and promoting secular government. In its efforts to fulfill this mission, the Secular Coalition conflates and distinguishes between four distinct meanings of the secular and secularism: the separation of church and state, the secular public sphere, the ideology of nonbelief, and a nascent secular identity. By studying the ongoing efforts of secular activists to redefine the place and meaning of the secular and the religious in American life, this paper contributes to the study of how the secular gets made, who makes it, and why.

Transformations within religious institutions and traditions often occur via conflict and internal social movements. Yet previous research on such phenomena has missed some important sociological insights because it has not incorporated methodological and theoretical resources from other sociological literatures dealing with social movements and organizational change and conflict. This paper presents a comprehensive critical review of extant research on intradenominational conflict and identifies and describes five shortcomings in this literature. As a corrective, we suggest that analysts focus on organizations and conflict events as units of analysis, pay more attention to ideal factors in conflict, examine relationships between internal and external variables, and compare conflicts across organizations and across time. These alternative methodological recommendations are related to three new theoretical directions in other sociological subfields: resource mobilization theory's focus on intermediate levels of social life, the "new institutionalist" emphasis on how organizational actors respond to their environments, and the recent work on the interplay of "schema? and "resources" in social structure. Such new directions address questions that were not accessible via earlier approaches. They also begin to build important bridges between the sociology of religion and other sociological subfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the social scientific study of religion has seen the accumulation of numerous case studies, comparative work involving substantial numbers of cases is rare. In the absence of an accepted agenda for field research, field studies contain information relevant to the study at hand, but do not add systematically to a cumulative database. By contrast, field studies in anthropology may contain idiosyncratic information relevant to the author's interests, but an existing research agenda defines information researchers are expected to include, which has produced an expanding cross-cultural database. In this paper, we propose elements of a research agenda for the study of religious movements, including information related to movements' organizational history and context, mobilization, organization, governance, and outcomes. While this preliminary agenda is subject to refinement by others, it provides a starting point for the accumulation of comparable cases, and a basis for the comparative study of religious movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the uneasy relationship between social movements and major political parties by considering the case of the Christian Right and the Republican Party in the 1994 elections. We look at four states where the movement was active in party politics and where Republican electoral fortunes varied from failure to success. We found that the degree of intraparty division generated by the Christian Right seemed to hurt Republicans at the polls, but the level of movement activity in itself apparently helped the Republicans. Most factors associated with support for the Christian Right did not help account for electoral outcomes across the states. Instead, the accessibility of the political party nomination processes to the movement best accounted for the election results: greater party openness was associated with poor results and more limited access with greater success for the GOP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the concept of identity to the white racialist or separatist movement, typically referred to as the white supremacist movement in many mainstream publications. While similar racial identity and shared perceptions of the meaning of racialism bind the movement together, there are other important concerns that potentially divide the movement but also have served to attract members to it. One of these potentially divisive areas, the differences in religious views, is explored here through an analysis of the white separatist literature and interviews with movement members. Three belief systems of movement members--Christian or Israel Identity, Church of the Creator, and Odinism--are examined. All three contribute to strengthening the racial identity of white racialists, but are at the same time potentially antagonistic to each other. It is suggested that this religious divide will be a key issue in influencing the future development of the movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, fern mists have been questioning patriarchal religions As a result, many find (hems elves ambivalent about their religious and spiritual identities This paper presents a model of identity formation that addresses the processes by which potentially conflicted identities are integrated This model is based on research about how women who identify themselves as both .Jewish and feminist create unconflicted Jewish feminist identities Through a process of sifting through their available options, they have chosen to identify with only those aspects of Judaism and feminism that satisfy their feminist, religious, and perhaps most important/i, their spiritual, needs. Because these needs vary, what it means to be a Jewish feminist is not static Three types of Jewish feminist identity - inclusionist, transformationist. and reinterpretationist - are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the financial activities, ideological foundations and goals of three new religious movements The movements are: 3HO Foundation, Divine Light Mission and Vajradhatu Research methods include participant observation, taped interviews, analysis of movement literature and examinations of group financial records. Results indicate that worldly success has become a religiously significant venture for at least two new religious movements Within these groups there is a high degree of successful entrepreneurial and professional activity There is also organizational and ideological support from the movements' leadership to the membership to become rich. Several interpretations are offered including historical precedent, sect-church transformation, institutionalization, a search for legitimacy and leadership influences Resource mobilization is argued to be the most effective theoretical approach Accordingly, movement direction is determined by rational leadership decisions in a practical attempt to realize projected goals and to promote group maintenance and survival.
In this paper we have demonstrated that a trend exists toward individual worldly success within at least two new religious movements. These two groups, 3HO Foundation and Vajradhatu, have developed an ideological orientation that supports worldly success as a religiously significant venture and thereby sees no contradiction between the spiritual and the earthly realm. The variety and the success of the money-making ventures undertaken by members of these two groups is especially noteworthy considering that the groups themselves only began 14 years ago.
We have argued that the turn to worldly success by the new religious movements did not result from a transition from a sect ideal-type to a church ideal-type nor did it result from institutionalization. Our evidence indicates that the transition was initiated by rational leadership decisions in response to changing social and... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intersects two recent trends in social movement research: rediscovery of the centrality of both ideology and religion to understanding social movements. Using two recent national surveys, we assess the extent to which three religious beliefs and one religiously linked belief are related to ideological support for the animal rights movement in the general public. Among both women and men, the belief that God is in nature and a religiously linked opposition to science facilitate support for animal rights, counter- acting the negative impact of greater church attendance. However, biblical literalism and a "gracious" image of God have little effect on acceptance of animal rights. We conclude by considering implications of these results for subsequent research on religion and ideological support for social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In moving the social movement literature forward, researchers are now examining political discourse and the framing of protest language and symbols as important variables in movement processes. This case study on liberation theology in Peru analyzes how theologians have helped to mobilize Church activists, priests, sisters, and organizational resources to meet the political challenges of the popular sector by advancing liberation theology. More specifically, this paper looks at how Church leaden who are identified with liberation theology helped bridge different protest populations. Using oral histories methodology, I gathered data on liberation theology through field research conducted in Peru from September 1987 to May 1988 and in the summer of 1991. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine masculine and feminine aspects of religion as reflecting system needs. Our theoretical approach is based on Durkheim's insight that religion reflects society's collective consciousness, coupled with the Parsonian conception of system theory. We propose that masculine and feminine elements are expressions of instrumental and expressive system needs. Scanning briefly the histories of Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism, we have attempted to show that there is a correspondence between the gender-roles of deities and the conditions in which these religions have arisen. We have also sought to show that when the socioeconomic conditions of community adherents change, corresponding changes in descriptions of God also occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years a number of sociologists have suggested that some conversions to new religious movements should be understood as active accomplishments and not as passive occurrences. The experience of some converts, it has been proposed, might be profitably treated as acts of creative role-play. This paper develops the notion of distinguishing between active and passive conversions by elaborating a role-theoretical approach to the study of conversions which is grounded in the theoretical identification of free and rational actions. Active conversions are demarcated through reference to the ideal limiting case of rational conversions, based on the principle that rational actions are their own explanation. Under the argument advanced for a broadened conception of rationality, a conversion is deemed more rational the more it is reflectively monitored. The notion of a reflectively monitored conversion is then recast as a reflexive role-enactment, entailing role-person merger, with awareness of the conditions of merger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a set of concepts needed for a theory of religious movements First, the boundaries for such a theory are set by defining religion and then by translating this definition into terms more useful for theorizing. Next, we demonstrate why a faulty understanding of "ideal types" has led to conceptualizations of church and sect that prevent theorizing. We adopt Benton Johnson's solution for defining the underlying church-sect axis. In the remainder of the paper we show that the concepts of church and sect are not adequate to encompass the full range of religious movements. The concept of cult is introduced, clarified, and then delimited to exclude cults that fall short of constituting religious movements. Throughout, we molest a variety of sacred cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been very little social science research on the financing of social movements despite the obviously critical role economic resources play in movement survival and impact This paper offers a major accounting of the economic structure of the Unificationist Movement The primary resource generating and disbursing structures are described and the relationships among them analyzed This analysis suggests that 1) the movement is a minor factor in the religious economy although relatively highly diversified, 2) the economic structure is consistent with the characteristics of a world transforming movement, and 3) the Unificationist Movement is most unusual in its creation of a corporate conglomerate to underwrite its theological agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bromley and Breschel's (1992) study of mass and elite attitudes constitutes one of the few attempts to analyze public tolerance of new religious movements (NRMs). I expand upon that study by applying multivariate analysis to its data and by considering differences in levels of NRM tolerance among elite sub-groups. I find that, while social and demographic variables are quite limited in predictive power, education is the most significant predictor of mass NRM tolerance. Significant relationships between NRM tolerance and education, age, income, and religious variables noted by Bromley and Breschel withstand multivariate analysis. As for intraelite differences, academics are the subgroup most tolerant of NRMs, while Christian clergy prove least tolerant. Finally, influences on NRM tolerance appear similar to those associated with civil tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among modern Western religions, Mormon belief is quite distinctive in its inclusion of a Heavenly Mother figure among its divine personages This paper examines some of the historical and theological background of the Mormon "Mother in Heaven." We assess different explanations accounting for this belief and show its logical consistency with other aspects of Mormon doctrine Further, we look at the politics associated with the Mother In Heaven belief which bear on feminist issues among Mormons. In recent times we find that the existence of a divine female has become a rallying symbol for some Mormon feminists within an incipient "grass roots" movement aimed at acquiring greater power and equality within the church. We note how this belief in a female deity has primarily functioned in conservative ways to sustain certain institutional ends rather than feminist concerns. Considering the prospects for change in Mormonism's position on the role of women, we conclude that the presence of a goddess in the pantheon is no guarantee of sexual equality in the real world.
We would like to summarize by pointing out a range of functions fulfilled by the Mother in Heaven belief within Mormonism (Merton, 1967). First, the theological function of the belief can be seen in the fact that Heavenly Mother provides a completeness, or rounding out, of divine personages. This completeness is not of a mystical or metaphysical kind; it represents, instead, complementary sexuality which is necessary in the Mormon view for spiritual birth to occur. The need for complementary sexuality derives from the Mormons' anthropomorphic conceptions of God. Just as male mortals need females to provide tabernacles for waiting spirits, so Heavenly Father, being of "body, parts, and passions," requires a Mother for spirit procreation.
From a social-psychological perspective we can note the functions served by Heavenly Mother for various groups of Mormons at different times in LDS church history.... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a number of conceptual and methodological ambiguities in the empirical study of culture change as exemplified ha Robert Wuthnow's The Consciousness Reformation Difficulties arise from the failure to distinguish between collective and individual-level manifestation of culture, and from the tendency to ignore the variable role of interacting collectivities for the development of symbol systems and their ability to affect behavior. An attempt is made to clarify ambiguities and replicate Wuthnow's findings using data from a sample of individuals who were members of communes inspired by social movements of the late 1960s. Participants in communal movements were overwhelmingly young and adhered to "non-traditional" worldviews, indicating a possible cultural shift. However, affiliation with a specific ideological group had greater influence on activism than cognitive framework as such The importance of self-conscious ideological communities for the process of cultural change is discussed.
An attempt was made to address a number of ambiguities in Wuthnow's work and responses to it, ambiguities which illustrate recurrent confusions in the study of cultural resolve ambiguities in the conduct and interpretation of research which draws on opposing epistemological traditions in the study of culture and belief.
With regard to substantive findings, using a different data base and different indicators, the present research has replicated the major findings of Wuthnow's study. "Modern" worldviews, especially mystical/experiential understandings of reality, were found among sizeable proportions of young participants in social experiments of the 1960s era in a pattern that indicates a possible generational effect. Patterns of worldview and experimentation among communitarians are consistent with the thesis that the concentration of protest and movement activity during the historical period under study was nurtured by some deeper cultural shift in... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What circumstances permit churches to organize for innovative social changer A recent example of a clergy-led social movement following an industrial crisis in Youngstown, Ohio is examined utilizing a resource mobilization perspective In this case the local community was mobilized against a predatory conglomerate, using resources from the federal government, the churches and Washington-based economic planners The movement was able effectively to neutralize possible sources of opposition within the community and within the constituent church organizations.
In this sense the movement failed, but the question posed in this paper is: How did such an organization arise and manage to sustain community support for such an unconventional end over an extended period of time? A related question might be phrased: Under what conditions do churches take an active part in promoting social change?
As much as any single factor, the Ecumenical Coalition is a legacy of the radicalism of the sixties. Without seasoned social activists in the church hierarchy who had prior personal contacts with each other and with experts outside the churches, it is unlikely that anything more than pious handwringing would have resulted from the mill shutdown.
At the same time, the issue around which the Coalition was formed seems particularly contemporary. The goal of the movement was defined in relatively pragmatic terms as a threat to the local community by outside forces. In this context "Save Our Valley" became a potent slogan.
Economic crises similar to Youngstown's are likely to recur periodically. Does this mean that the churches will attempt to play an active role in promoting economic change? They might, especially if other groups are not willing to take the initiative; in Youngstown, as the Steelworkers Union becomes more involved, the churches withdraw.
Finally, economic enterprises of the sort described here depend heavily upon support for a variety of Federal... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists often assume that individuals and societies orient themselves with respect to overarching symbolic frames of reference, sometimes called "meaning systems" But until the recent publication of Robert Wuthnow's analysis of San Francisco area survey data, evidence in favor of this key theoretical proposition has been lacking This paper respects both a new network survey of 1439 respondents and the original data in search of the four competing meaning systems reported by Wuthnow. We find strong evidence demonstrating that traditional religion remains an influential meaning system, producing conventional attitudes and preventing experimentation with radical Lifestyles and occult practices But the three alleged secular meaning systems failed to emerge, even in the original data. These findings undercut the assumption that most persons possess meaning systems, and they support our view that a meaning system is easiest to sustain if it is based on supernatural beliefs and promulgated by formal church organizations and religious social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests several models of the diffusion of a religious movement over time and space The Holiness movement was chosen as a case study because of its consistent presence on the American religious scene. I developed an index of movement strength using data on the establishment and operation of Holiness oriented periodicals and schools The index was then mapped for subsequent time periods in order to trace the movement's diffusion in time and space The questions of how and why the movement spread were then analyzed. Several geographically descriptive models of diffusion were surveyed, with a directional sector model receiving the greatest support Several explanatory variables were also surveyed, with population migration, reaction to national crises, and reaction to contemporary related movements receiving support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of the topic of sectarianism suggests the benefit of greater interchange between sociological subdisciplines. Delineating two "traditions" of sect analysis, largely ignored by sociologists of religion, this paper notes their emphasis on "non-religious" and particularly political sectarianism. The utility of these "underground" traditions for sociologists of religion is indicated, as is the contribution which the "mainstream" study of sects may make to the study of social movements. Location of the sect in a broader context is seen as relevant to an understanding of the complex relationship between the religious and the secular, and as crucial to a full historical and comparative understanding of the phenomenon itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Have rumors of the demise of liberation theology been greatly exaggerated? There is a prevailing belief among scholars and other observers that the Latin American Catholic Church has withdrawn from the preferential option for the poor, which had encouraged a combination of faith and activism for social justice. This article challenges that belief by means of qualitative data gathered during 8 months in Brazil that provide evidence of close connections between the Pastoral of the Street, a church program that mobilizes homeless people, and the National Movement of the Street Population (MNPR). The principal data came from 42 interviews with homeless or formerly homeless people, movement leaders, and religious sisters and lay workers in the pastoral program. Participant observation and documentary research supplemented the interviews. The findings demonstrate that the Pastoral of the Street helped to create the MNPR and continues to provide it with material and ideological support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers studying the small yet significant number (8–10 percent) of U.S. multiracial/ethnic congregations have argued that formal organizational commitment, the development of inclusive worship styles, and the formation of small racially/ethnically mixed groups appear to be significant factors in constructing and maintaining congregational diversity. Drawing from four years of field studies in a racially and ethnically diverse congregation of the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), I address a process about which we know relatively little: the construction and maintenance of multiracial/ethnic networks in high-boundary religious movements. I demonstrate how this type of group is particularly able to present a valuable and rising commodity in our U.S. religious economy, what I have named intimate diversity—the enactment and/or narration of close and caring relationships among a racially and ethnically diverse membership. My comparative analysis here of the ICOC, the People's Temple, and contemporary U.S. Bahá'í communities suggests that membership in such groups offers members greater exposure and involvement with people from different backgrounds, but the terms of involvement in the organization seriously limit and define the manner in which individuals can experience diversity. Furthermore, group commitment to present a face of intimate diversity and strict mechanisms of social control hinder the abilities of the leadership and members to clearly recognize contradictions in group racial/ethnic ideologies and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of religion to civic engagement in Canada and the U.S. Religion is the source of much civic engagement. The great theorist of American civic engagement, Alexis de Tocqueville, saw religious values as the reason people could put self-interest aside in favor of communitarian sentiments that lead people to get involved in their communities. Clergy mobilize people into political and social action. Active membership in a church or a synagogue lets people develop and practice skills that easily translate into civic engagement. Religion may mobilize people to take part in their communities, but perhaps only among their own kind.

This study examines the recent rash of official reports done by governmental agencies in Western Europe to guide policy development in those societies. Particular attention is given to reports in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and Italy, and to the changes in such reports that have occurred, perhaps because of the influence of scholarly critiques offered for some of the earlier reports. The reports are divided into "Type I" and "Type II" reports, with the former being thorough-going in their anti-cult orientation, and the latter reports being more moderate in tone, with some attention paid to scholarship on new religions. However, the major thesis of the study is supported, as an examination of both types of reports reveals that they incorporate "brainwashing" and "mind control" imagery imported from the United States, even though such theories have been largely discounted within the United States. Use of such theories leads directly to some questionable policy recommendations, as demonstrated in the reports. Reasons for the spread of "brainwashing" ideas to Europe are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comments on different routes that the social scientific study of religion has taken during the 20th century. The author says that by the late 1940s, when the SSSR and the RRA were being planned, religion was no longer at the center of social scientific scholarship in the leading industrial democracies. The overriding concern with the Great Depression, fascism, industrial efficiency, the rising power of the Soviet bloc, colonialism, and the reconstruction of post-war societies in Europe left relatively little space for the scientific study of religion. The founders of the Committee for the Scientific Study of Religion in 1949, seeking to keep faith and social science separate for research purposes, were content to play in tune and in time with other social scientific specialists in the sense that studies of religion fitted into the framework of theoretical and conceptual ideas that were in widespread use by social scientists. Thus, the attempt to delineate the distinctiveness of "industrial society" took account of such things as the differentiation of social institutions, the growth of professions, and the changing shape of social class formations.

This article presents a study which verified the significance of social psychology based on the religious-based efforts of a metropolitan organization called Tying Nashville Together. This analysis proceeds by introducing new urban sociology and its relevance for this topic. Second, it analyzes the debate between resource mobilization theory and new social movement theory. In each of these cases, identity comes to the fore as an important variable. Finally, it draws implications from these sociological discussions for assessing the tensions in Metro Nashville between professional organizers, community leaders, and various congregations. This view maintains that comprehensive research demands a balanced approach between economic analyses and hermeneutical perspective on identity politics so to sufficiently grasp interfaith initiatives within religious associations.

Since January 20, 1994, the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, a church located near the Pearson International Airport, has become the center of a global revival. Although similar revival fires are under- way at other centers (in various parts of North America as well as on other continents), TACF is an important institutional source for the dissemination of the experience, ideology, and structural form of this religious social movement. Using a Weberian theoretical framework based on Thomas O'Dea's "institutional dilemmas," this descriptive account of the "Toronto Blessing" provides a first-hand portrayal of the process through which charisma becomes routinized. Each of O'Dea's five dilemmas is discussed, noting the balance between charismatic manifestations and institutional features set into place by TACF leadership. The dynamic interplay between charisma and institutions is illustrated through teachings, testimonies, and observations made during 22 months of field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the contemporary women's movement in the United States, there has been a virtual explosion of research on women and social institutions. Much of the early work focused more on the law, work, family, education, politics, and the media than on religion. Conducting research in the social sciences can be compared to the process of creating a mosaic wherein small pieces of variously colored material are interlaid to form pictures or patterns. Forms, shapes, and colors all come together in the creation of this art form. Like most art, one must stand back and concentrate on all of these elements, including the way the pieces are spaced, in order to appreciate and interpret it. The research process can also be described as a kind of mosaic creation, because it involves the effort to find the missing pieces of data and then to analyze them in order to find the emerging patterns or underlying forms. Like literary and musical works, the interpretation of art pieces vary according to one's background and a host of other factors.

The present investigation explores the influence of feminism/religiosity on attitudes toward suicide among national samples of 4,946 women and 4,475 men. Two models are tested. First, religiosity should have an impact on suicide ideology through lowering feminism. Second, feminism should have a positive impact on suicide ideology through lowering religiosity. A LISREL analysis finds support for both models, but the greatest support is found for the first. The impact of religion and feminism on suicide ideology are independent of standard sociodemographic predictors of pro-suicide ideology, including age, socioeconomic class, political liberalism, education, and race. The model explains 31% and 26% of the variance for females and males, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a survey of activists (N = 4,995) from several large religious interest groups, we analyze the impact of theological orientations on attitudes toward the environment. We find that doctrinal fundamentalism, carefully defined, is a powerful predictor of environmental preferences. We also discover that views on environmental policy are part of much more comprehensive religious and political world-views among these religious activists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of research into alternative women's roles in eight new religious movements, this study addresses conflicting views concerning the relationship between gender role ambiguities and women's participation in the sexual innovations developing in NRMs, summed up as the "empowerment" versus the "neopatriarchy" school of thought. A close study of the literature and histories of these groups suggests that they are more varied, flexible, and experimental in their patterns of sexuality than previous studies would indicate; and that, for the majority of members, involvement is a transitory phenomenon, providing them with opportunities for participating in laboratories of sexual experimentation. Adopting a "gendered" approach to the issue of "cult conversion," this study argues that contemporary women find protective, supportive microsocieties in NRMs, which enable them to try out a spectrum of clearly defined roles that prepare them to choose a more personally gratifying adult mode when they eventually defect. By temporarily inhabiting the stylized feminine roles in NRMs and submitting to their leaders' erotic/ascetic ordeals,. members appear to undergo a self-imposed psychological metamorphosis, or cocoon work," which in many ways resembles the ritual process found in feminine rites of passage in traditional societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents arguments claiming that the periodical "Soldier of Fortune" can be read as an apocalyptic text which expresses a postmodern and secular form of the millennial myth. it is reported that the U.S.-led battle against so-called tyranny, or dictatorship, raged on at the 15th Anniversary Soldier of Fortune Convention and Exposition held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September, 1990. The magazine and the subculture it represents is a postmodern expression of millenmalism which has surfaced in the U.S. in the final decades of the twentieth century. In the pages of the magazine, international conflict and the practice of survivalism are secular metaphors for the American millennial myth. Such metaphors, supposedly, allow subscribers to read into the confusing and rapidly changing events of the day their own often marginal social status and position. The millennial myth, reportedly, has been derived from ancient Hebrew and Christian apocalyptic literature concerning the ultimate destiny of the world and the cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom.

It is gratifying to be asked to reflect on the contributions of Roland Robertson and at the same time a rather complex challenge. In this year of America's Quincentennial, it might be appropriate to designate Robertson as a peripatetic sociological explorer, who like Columbus, Byrd, Lindbergh, and others, has enjoyed setting sail in uncharted territory. It might also be opportune to assert that sociology is now ready to accept the possibility that the globalization theme could be a new sociological continent, and that consequently both globality and Roland Robertson are "coming of age." The article first discusses an intellectual context in which to situate Robertson's current emphasis. Second, although it considers a sympathetic fellow traveller, it is also incumbent to raise some questions about that which is the object of treat search. When Robertson came on the scene, sociology had entered a state, its recent hegemonic conceptual framework of structural-functional analysis now rejected or trivialized by a new generation of sociologists as a conservative ideology incapable of dealing with conflict, which was seen as the main vehicle of social change.

The author speculates on differences in parochialism in the social scientific study of religion. He comments on a study published in the journal "The American Sociologist" concerning institutional parochialism and parochial concerns that scholars studying the sociology of religion had. He comments on the parochialism of content for the journal "Mobilization: An International Journal" and "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion" (JSSR) and suggests JSSR may appear more parochial because the content in "Mobilization" due to the social movement scholars that publish htere study religion in the global south and have personal connections to those topics.