wfn.org | UN Specialists Learn Implications of New Faith Study

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For further information, contact:
David Barrett, Director of Public and Institutional Affairs
Hartford Seminary
77 Sherman Street
Hartford CT 06105
Tel: 860-509-9519
Email: dbarrett@hartsem.edu
Web: http://fact.hartsem.edu

	UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., April 13, 2001-Voluntary membership in
religious groups is spreading worldwide, two Hartford Seminary sociologists
told a group of religious leaders accredited to the UN here.

Explaining recent research completed in the United States, Professor David
Roozen said, "There is nothing comparable to our Faith Communities Today
research. Nothing-anywhere in the world."

	"But there are plenty of international implications," the Hartford
Seminary sociologist told the Committee of Religious NGOs (non-governmental
organizations) who represent the interests of Christian, Jewish, Muslim,
Buddhist, Bahai and other religious organizations at the United Nations.
The April 12 meeting was held at the Church Center for the United Nations
across the street from the General Assembly and Secretariat buildings.

	Roozen and Professor Carl Dudley, also of Hartford Seminary, are
co-directors of the Faith Communities Today (FACT) project involving 41 U.S.
faith groups.  The project is coordinated by the Seminary's Hartford
Institute for Religion Research.

	Roozen pointed out that "the kind of congregational life described
in this study is a product of the immigrant nature of American history,
going back to the colonial period.  It is a consequence of the individualism
and volunteerism that allowed for diversity within a common good. The
diversity of Colonial America that originally stimulated the diversity (the
"denominationalism") of American congregational life was primarily racial,
ethnic and socio-economic. And these remain important divisions within faith
communities today.

	"Today this form of American congregational religious organization
is spreading around the world because the voluntary associations the FACT
data describe appear to be a necessary correlate of the corporaete
capitalism that is gaining global prominence," he said.

	Dudley explained that congregational life, with its emphasis on
voluntary membership in a worshipping community, frequently includes
fellowship and educational groups and community service.  "These functions
met the needs of the ethnic communities that settled in the United States
and are seen as values in many countries today."

	He pointed out that "the world had its impact on American life
through those immigrant ethnic communities.  The FACT study shows that such
groups continue to reflect vitality in the religious landscape in the U.S.
today," he said.  The FACT research reveals a surge in the founding of
congregations in the United States by such immigrant groups as Muslims and
Baha'is.

	The research, conducted by the various groups themselves following
agreed upon standards and procedures, also demonstrates that congregations
with a majority of members of a single racial, ethnic or national background
have a significantly higher loyalty to their denominations.  This was found
to be especially true of Black, Latino and white congregations with a strong
national or immigrant nature.

	"It is not surprising," Roozen reported to the NGO Religious
Committee, "that such national or immigrant groups as Jews, Muslims and
Orthodox Christians also reinforce their identities around religious
practices within the home and among kin groups."

	The recently published FACT data, entitled "A Report on Religion in
the United States Today," revealed, however, that the convergence of ethnic
and religious identities can be mixed blessing.  Just over 60 percent of
congregations with a majority of Latino members, for example, and fully half
of majority Black congregations are intentional about using their religious
community as a resource for preserving their racial/ ethnic heritage.  This
can present a barrier to potential new members.

	The study indicates that predominantly white congregations with a
distinct national identity are especially conscious about the need to
increase their diversity.

	Roozen reported that a survey of individual worshippers in about
3000 congregations will be conducted on April 29 in the United States,
England, Australia and New Zealand.  This will be the first effort to
compare findings from several nations.  The research is being administered
from the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, KY.

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