New Evidence on Religious Pluralism, Urbanism, and Religious Participation

In a recent issue of ASR, Finke and Stark (1988) reported results that contradict long-standing views on the relationship between religious pluralism, urbanism, and religious participation. They argue that religious pluralism and urbanism are positively related to religious participation. The present paper disputes the generality of Finke and Stark's findings with both methodological criticisms and new data. With regard to pluralism, although the traditional views are supported, a new theoretical interpretation is introduced and empirically supported: religious pluralism appears to have differential effects on religious participation, depending on the religious makeup of the religious community along a liberal-to-conservative continuum. Finally, the best evidence suggests that there probably is not an important rural-urban difference in the rate of church adherents today.