Understanding the Rise of Born-Again Catholics in the United States: The Role of Educational Attainment

Having a “born-again” experience has historically been a marker of sectarian or evangelical Protestantism. Yet the percentage of American Catholics reporting a born-again experience has nearly doubled in the past few decades - —from 14% in 2004 to 27% in 2016 - —a much faster increase than that of e...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs: Perry, Samuel L. (Auteur) ; Schleifer, Cyrus (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Springer [2018]
Dans: Review of religious research
Année: 2018, Volume: 60, Numéro: 4, Pages: 555-574
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B USA / Catholique / Renaissance / Expérience spirituelle / Mouvement évangélique
Classifications IxTheo:AD Sociologie des religions
CB Spiritualité chrétienne
KBQ Amérique du Nord
KDB Église catholique romaine
KDG Église libre
Sujets non-standardisés:B Evangelical
B Catholicism
B Trends
B Born-again
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:Having a “born-again” experience has historically been a marker of sectarian or evangelical Protestantism. Yet the percentage of American Catholics reporting a born-again experience has nearly doubled in the past few decades - —from 14% in 2004 to 27% in 2016 - —a much faster increase than that of evangelicals or any other religious group. How do we explain the disproportionate rise of born-again Catholics? Drawing on data from the 2004-2016 waves of the General Social Survey, this research note tests four potential mechanisms: (1) evangelicals converting to Catholicism; (2) born-again Catholics immigrating to the US; (3) evangelical-to-Catholic diffusion due to growing conservative-political alliances; and (4) having a born-again experience (both an indicator of sectarian religious piety and loose affiliation with more standard Catholic self-perceptions) is becoming more common among Catholics with less formal education. After testing alternative explanations, we show that reporting a born-again experience has increased almost solely among Catholics without a college degree. This suggests that the born-again experience is increasing primarily among those Catholics who tend to be more marginalized within society at large (potentially making sectarian religious experiences like being “born-again” more attractive) and less versed in more mainstream identity-markers of their own religious tradition.
ISSN:2211-4866
Contient:Enthalten in: Review of religious research
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s13644-018-0351-8