In American Evangelicalism, Christian Smith answers the question of what it means to have a “strong” religious faith. Smith claims that strength is conceptualized and measured on the self-definition, values, and purpose of the group in question. He categorizes religious strength into six distinct dimensions, which are adherence to beliefs, salience of faith, robustness of faith, group participation, commitment to mission, and retention and recruitment of members. He states that any American Christian faith tradition is strong when its members “(1) faithfully adhere to essential Christian religious beliefs; (2) consider their faith a highly salient aspect of their lives; (3) reflect great confidence and assurance in their religious beliefs; (4) participate regularly in a variety of church activities and programs; (5) are committed in both belief and action to accomplishing the mission of the church; and (6) sustain high rates of membership retention by maintaining members’ association with the tradition over long periods of time (Smith, 21).” Through his national survey and hundreds of personal interviews with distinct religious groups (Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Mainline, Liberal, and Other) he is able to display the resul
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” Hunter’s findings support my hypothesis because he uncovers that much of the success of Evangelicalism is because “many are less educated…have relatively lower incomes…and reside in rural and small town areas of the South and Midwest, rather than in large urban centers (Smith, 69). 2 on “Salience and Robustness of Faith Commitments,” the evangelicals “stand out as the most religiously vibrant tradition, not simply in its fidelity to orthodox theological beliefs, but also by virtue of the tremendous importance of the religious faith of ordinary evangelicals in their own lives (Smith, 26).
These results complement my hypothesis in away because the south is regarded as more isolated from modernity. Then the question that arises is that “If modernization secularizes and America is among the most modern societies in the world, how is it possible that Evangelicalism (or any successful religious group) survives and even thrives in contemporary America (Smith, 69).
My results for this control variable has shown some change in patterns of association with select religious groups. Smith goes into more detail by conducting surveys that are based on the six dimensions of religious strength, which are recorded on tables 2. The “East Coast” is also limited to a total of 530 cases. ” The answer for this question brings us back to my hypothesis on location. [Using evangelicals as an example, there is a 8.
This pattern is similar to the fundamentalist in which there is a considerable difference in percentages at the lowest level of education.
My third table consists of the second controlled variable of my research.
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