developing and archiving international religion data brian j. grim roger finke ([email protected])...
Post on 22-Dec-2015
218 views
TRANSCRIPT
Developing and Archiving International Religion Data
Brian J. GrimRoger Finke
Pennsylvania State UniversityAssociation of Religion Data Archives
Starting in July, also in cooperation with the
Pew Research Center’s
Forum on Religion & Public Life
Washington, DC
Research supported by a grant from the
John Templeton Foundation
Situation
Religion, religiously-related values, and socio-religious conflict are important and growing forces in the world today:
- whether due to the irony of secularization- or due to an increasing supply of religious competition.
Problem
Demographic data on religion around the globe come from a limited number of sources, e.g., - Oxford’s World Christian Encyclopedia- CIA’s World Factbook
Religious values data are limited, e.g.,- World Values Survey- Global Attitudes Project (Pew)
“Solutions”
Collect more religion-specific data, e.g., - Pew’s current 9-country Pentecostalism poll
Centralize data from existing sources, e.g.,- WVS, GAP, WCD, etc. (incl. aggregate database) - Other sources (see handout)
Innovatively generate new data, e.g., coding:- International Religious Freedom (IRF) Reports
… where the law and/or constitution provide for freedom of religion.
… where the state does not defer to religious authorities on life-course issues.
The number of countries =
173
150
… where established or existing religions try to shut out other religions.
… where people are discriminated against based on religious identity or activity.
The number of countries =
98
125
… where a government bureau supervises religious affairs.
… where there is religious violence.
The number of countries =
81
104
… where there are religious tensions reported.
The number of countries =
143
= 73% of countriesWorld
AverageAfrica East Asia Europe/
EurasiaNear East & N Africa
South Asia
Western Hemisph.
73% 72% 74% 77% 95% 88% 53%
Conclusions
Religion can and must be better understood.
A specific focus on empirical socio-religious data is needed.
These data must be archived and made available to multiple audiences:
- researchers - educators - the press - policy-makers