Deck 5: News Flash: Gods Not Dead and Neither Is the Goddess

Question 1

Supply-side theories of religion argue that when governments limit free competition among religious groups

A)religious groups provide worse service to their members.
B)religious groups will stage a revolt against the government.
C)religious groups can better supply their members with services.
D)religious groups will be able to enforce their rules on the government.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Christian Smith argues that even in the face of a secularizing,religiously-diverse society,strong and even unusual religious faiths and beliefs can be maintained and thrive due to all of the following except

A)religion providing a strong group context to confirm that its beliefs make sense.
B)religion reinforcing a sense of belonging to the religious subculture.
C)religious believers interacting with others like themselves.
D)religious leaders accepting all other religious groups.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Dobbelaere argues that the process of secularization refers to the way religion becomes increasingly removed from the other institutions in society into its own separate religious arena.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Which of the following is the only European nation projected to maintain the largest Christian population between now and 2050?

A)Italy
B)Great Britain
C)France
D)Germany

Question 5

Recent studies of religious affiliation in the United States show that more people claim to belong to a specific faith group than ever before.

Question 6

Chaves argues that the decline in religious power and influence takes place at all of the following levels except at the

A)societal level.
B)cultural level.
C)individual level.
D)organizational level.

Question 7

Max Weber argued that one distinguishing feature of the modern world is that the magic and mystery of the world once provided by religion has been replaced with the ideals of scientific rationality and efficiency.In making this claim,he is arguing that the world has become

A)capitalistic.
B)disenchanted.
C)bureaucratic.
D)logical.

Question 8

Compared to most European nations,the United States has the highest percentage of citizens who say they belong to some religious group.

Question 9

When a person of faith says they completely uphold their faith's teachings but in reality follow some but disregard others,contemporary secularization theorists would say that we are seeing _______________-level secularization in action.

A)societal
B)organizational
C)individual
D)local
E)none of the above

Question 10

What percent of Americans have left the religious tradition in which they were raised as children and joined a different group at some point in their lives?

A)28%
B)35%
C)42%
D)53%

Question 11

According to Chaves and Yamane,that religious regulations and beliefs increasingly can only be enforced among members of a specific religious group rather than in society as a whole illustrates which of the following?

A)religious vitality
B)moral relativism
C)declining scope of religious authority
D)believing without belonging

Question 12

Secularization theory

A)explains the rise in global religious vitality over the last two decades.
B)links the impact of religious organizations on secular organizations over time.
C)links declines in religion with the rationality,bureaucracy,and impersonality of modern society.
D)has been proven by sociologists to be completely false.

Question 13

Demerath and Williams coined the term ____________________ to describe the political efforts and occasional political victories of religious groups that are attempting to combat the forces of secularization in society.

A)desecularization
B)culture wars
C)sacralization
D)worship wars

Question 14

Market-based theories of religious vitality that focus on supply and demand and religious competition are referred to as

A)resacralization theories.
B)consumer-based theories.
C)rational choice theories.
D)pluralistic theories.

Question 15

There is almost universal agreement among sociologists of religion today that market models of religious vitality are correct.

Question 16

Max Weber,along with many other early social theorists,believed that as the forces of modernization increased,then religion's influence and power had to decrease.

Question 17

Sociologists who challenge secularization theory do so because

A)there is a great deal of data showing widespread commitments to religious beliefs and practices.
B)there is no evidence that U.S.society is more secular than in the past.
C)these scholars are also religious believers.
D)None of the above is correct.

Question 18

Market models of religious vitality argue that

A)the less people feel that they are required to do or believe things to be a member of a religion,the higher their participation will be.
B)the more people invest time and energy in their faith,the more committed they will be.
C)the more people are free to believe what they want,the higher their religious participation will be.
D)the less competition in the religious market,the higher the level of religious participation will be.