Religiosity as a demographic factor - an underestimated connection?

Authors

  • Michael Blume Universität Marburg Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften und Philosophie Institut für Vergleichende Kulturforschung FG Religionswissenschaft
  • Carsten Ramsel
  • Sven Graupner

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2007.11.3624

Abstract


Two topics are currently the subject of separate discussions in science and society: the demographic shift and the “return of the religions.“ This article appeals to data from the ALLBUS 1 survey of 2002 to demonstrate that these two phenomena (as well as a number of other questions) can be explained if the connection between religiosity and birth-behavior is taken into account.

References

i. Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, “Sacred and Secular,“ Cambridge University Press 2004, p. 231.
ii. ibid., p.233 f.
iii. ibid., p.216 f., p.235, p.241.
iv. ibid., p.231
v. ibid., p.70. (Religious participation in educational and social levels), p.232 (fertility rate)
vi. N gives the number of individuals who responded to the question.
vii. See Figures 4 and 5.
viii. Cf. for example Meinhard Miegel in “Epochenwende,” Propyläen, p.183 ff.
ix. Thomas Luckmann, „Die unsichtbare Religion,“ Suhrkamp 2005.
x. Herwig Birg, „Die Weltbevölkerung,“ Beck 2004.
xi. Birg 2004, p.76.
xii. ibid., p.110.
xiii. ibid., p.77.
xiv. The proverbial narrow and broad path, Jesus as the “way, truth, life” in Christianity, the “Thora” as Hebrew
provider of “(existential) direction,” the “Schariat” as Arabic path to the source of water in Islam, the “middle way”
and the “eightfold path” in Buddhismus, the Chinese concept of the “Dao” (way, path), etc.
xv. Birg 2004, p.117.
xvi. When people who are not very or quite religious decide to have children, they have large families more frequently
than people who are not religious, but clearly less frequently than people who arevery religious (Figure 13).
xvii. For a presentation of various explanatory models, see Gottfried Küenzlen, “Die Wiederkehr der Religionen,”
Olzog 2003.
xviii. Alan Wolfe, „The Transformation of American Religion,“ Free Press 2003.

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Published

2015-06-01

How to Cite

Blume, M., Ramsel, C., & Graupner, S. (2015). Religiosity as a demographic factor - an underestimated connection?. Marburg Journal of Religion, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2007.11.3624

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