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Journal Watch: Sociology of Religion
Peter Berger once imagined that the end of the 20th century would witness believers huddled together in small sects as they tried to survive a worldwide secular culture. He's now a critic of the theory that humankind is slowly outgrowing religious faith, but the question persists: Why isn't the world more secular? And why are there still so many Christians?

Sociologists have many answers, as Christian Smith notes in the summer 2007 issue of Sociology of Religion:

The moral and emotional uncertainties of the transition from communist order to now-emerging market societies, for example, might be thought to explain the growth of Christianity in China and Russia. The social dislocation resulting from the mass migration of Latin Americans from rural to urban areas is believed to explain the powerful appeal of Pentecostal faith in that region. The competition and "product" richness of America's de-regulated religious economy are theorized as explaining its high rates of theism and churchgoing.

"Such sociological accounts are valid as far as they go," Smith writes. "They often can illuminate the social processes influencing the extent and shape of religious practices. But in the end, such sociological accounts possess limited abilities to explain the persistence over millennia and into the modern world of religion generally and—for my purposes here—Christianity in particular."

What sociologists sometimes miss, Smith writes, is that there's something in Christianity itself that may explain its persistence.

"[T]he belief content of the Christian faith gives rise to certain practices and experiences—particularly emotional ones—that many people find highly engaging, compelling, persuasive, and convincing," he says. "[T]he very internal logic of doing Christianity persistently produces events, interactions, and feelings in and among people compelling enough to keep the tradition flourishing despite many countervailing forces."

This explanation, he writes, is "entirely compatible with the perspectives of Christian believers and unbelievers alike. [It] is explanatory both if God exists and Christianity is true and if God does not exist and Christianity is not true. In other words, [my] argument itself—although it presents experience from a Christian point of view—does not take a side about the actual validity of Christian truth-claims." I followed up with Smith in a brief interview.

CT: So what does make Christianity work?

Smith: According to my argument in this article, Christianity "works" from a sociological perspective because it is able to successfully address a whole set of basic human needs and desires, particularly offering an emotionally as well as cognitively satisfying experience for ordinary believers. Whether or not various philosophers and scientists raise objections to Christianity, the fact seems to be that in believers' phenomenological experience, there is tremendous power in living in a theistic universe, having a way to deal with moral failure, believing one is loved and cared for by God, having communities of worship and belonging to be a part of, and so on. For many millions of people, that is much more compelling than arguments Freud or Darwin might have made.

CT: You explain the health of Christianity in terms of the questions it answers and the communities it creates and sustains. That explanation belies the usual approaches which emphasize structural factors like religious markets, social dislocations, government arrangements, etc. What are the merits of dealing with the faith on its own terms rather than looking for external forces to explain its fortunes in a society?

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September (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51