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CHURCH GROWTH (continued)
ble source o growth than conversion. Inthe end, it not only
takes a village to raise achild, but it also takes many children to
sus-
tain a religion.Journal of Church and State,56:2 - 2014,
pp269-299.3
GANDHI, MAHATMAAs is ofen the case with amous personali-ties,
the many people who still consider Gan-dhi a spiritual inspiration
have little idea ohis actual worldview. Consider this abstractor an
article titled Experiments with Teo-sophical ruth: Gandhi,
Esotericism, andGlobal Religious History by Michael Ber-gunder
(University o Heidelberg): Tere is
strong textual evidence to suggest that M.K.Gandhis notion o
Hinduism, his specific
view o Christianity, and his general beliethat all religions
reer to the same truth wereshaped by esotericism, namely the
Teo-sophical Society and the Esoteric ChristianUnion. Te article
presents the respectivesources, discusses their plausibility, and
putsthese findings into perspective. Tis perspec-tive is provided
by a global history approach,which holds that the religious
concepts in playsince the nineteenth century were already
other conservative denominations ... haveretainedtheir members.
...
For every growing denomination likethe Jehovahs Witnesses, whose
5 percentgrowth rates are attributed to conversion,there are those
expanding religions like theMormons, where the 3-5 percent
annualgrowth rate masks local variation that rangesrom 17 percent
in Latin America to 0.5 per-
cent in Austria or in Utah. ... Fify percent oMormon converts in
the United States and75 percent o oreign converts ail to
attendchurch afer a year. In act, the higher thesegrowth rates, the
lower the subsequent reten-tion o converts. Even more o a concern
orother proselytizing religions, these statisticsare
apositiveoutlier: Mormon converts haverelatively high retention
rates. ...
In short, even though strict religionshave the greatest growth
rates, aspects ostrictness such as proselytizing and conver-sion,
theology, and regulation do not explain
this growth. Te author then launches intoher theory that serving
as good clubs andoffering community support are the realreasons or
their growth.
In her conclusion, the author finds:High growth rates are no
longer inciden-tal, secondary to conversion efforts, nor arethey
simply the result o theological priori-ties. Instead, high ertility
becomes centralto religious expansion and relies on com-munity
support. ...
In many cases, ertility is a more dura-
products o global entangled histories. Fthermore, it is argued
that the impact o estericism on global religious history, rom t
nineteenth century to early twentieth, neeto be investigated
with more academic rigo
Journal of the American Academy of Religi82:2 - 2014,
pp398-426.4
SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Tere Is No God: Atheism in America, David A. Williamson and
George Yancey(Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, hardcover,150
pages)
SOURCES: Periodicals
2 -Journal for the Scientific Study of Reli-gion(Purdue
University),
3 -Journal of Church and State(BaylorUniversity),
4 -Journal of the American Academy ofReligion,
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