Abstract

This study examines how the religious composition of a local U.S. population shapes an individual’s religious involvement. We reconsider Berger’s plausibility thesis and unpack its theoretical mechanisms by (1) conceptualizing religious diversity from each religious group’s perspective, because a specific local religious environment has different implications depending on one’s religion; (2) decomposing the diversity of the population into the religious outgroup’s share and diversity; and (3) including non-affiliated as part of local religious contexts. Furthermore, we adjust for the detailed categories of religious family in a multilevel framework, which addresses the problem of non-substantive correlation and potential heterogeneity among religious groups. Focusing on Protestants, Catholics, and non-affiliated, the analysis reveals that although religious diversity, especially the share of the religious outgroup, tends to be associated negatively with an individual’s religious involvement, there are important differences in how religious diversity is related to religiosity among different religious groups including Protestants and Catholics.

中文翻译：

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重新考虑宗教多样性：当地宗教背景和个人宗教信仰

摘要

这项研究研究了美国当地居民的宗教构成如何影响个人的宗教参与。我们重新考虑伯杰的合理性论点，并通过以下方式解开其理论机制：（1）从每个宗教团体的角度概念化宗教多样性，因为特定的当地宗教环境因人而异。（2）分解种群的多样性到宗教了团体的份额和多样性；（3）包括非隶属关系作为当地宗教背景的一部分。此外，我们在一个多层次的框架中调整了宗教家庭的详细类别，以解决宗教团体之间的非实质性关联和潜在异质性问题。着眼于新教徒，天主教徒和无关联关系，分析揭示小号，虽然宗教的多样性，特别是宗教类群的份额，往往与个人的宗教参与呈负相关，还有如何宗教的多样性，是关系到重要的区别不同宗教团体（包括新教徒和天主教徒）之间的宗教信仰。