Posted by kelnersj on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 in Articles, Research.

2006. Sociology of Religion 67(4): 507-24. With Benjamin Phillips.

Drawing on data from the NJPS 2000-1, we argue that traditional approaches to the study of religious mobility – both apostasy and switching – are increasingly problematic. Apostasy from ethno-religious communities, in particular, must be refomulated to incorporate an ethnic dimension. Analyses using this revised concept of “ethno-apostasy” lead to results that at times diverge from those of previous research. The findings suggest that the premise that religious switching is a binary change from one mutually incompatible state to another must be reconceptualized to account for declining support in American society for the assumption that a person can hold only one religious afiliation at a time.

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Tags: articles, methodology