There are a variety of factors and experiences that motivate or drive people to attend church and/or religious ceremonies. These factors can include religious devotion, obedience to God’s word, to fulfill a sense of community, emotional distress, a source of accountability, family tradition, and spiritual growth and guidance. Religious devotion is an aspect of religion that is vitally important in Christianity. Even so, not all individuals that attend church feel religious fervor towards God out of pure, unadulterated devotion. One such group, are those who are seeking God to improve their current condition or seeking a better afterlife. Deprivation, including emotional distress and negative socioeconomic conditions are said to be a motivating
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The study utilizes existing theory on deprivation, formulated by Glock in 1965. In fact, the results supported the complete opposite of the hypothesis. The data therefore, does not support the fact that people attend church because of psychological, economic, and social suffering or deficiency. The results and data was upheld in another multicultural, independent study done by the Gallop Word Poll, which investigated the religious motivations for conversion to Protestantism in Latin America. The Gallop World Poll conducted a survey using personal interviews with roughly 1,000 respondents from each nation in Latin America, totaling 18 nations and a sample size of 34, 401 respondents (Stark & Smith, 2010). While it was hypothesized that people seek God for answers and direction when in social and material deprivation and despair, the hypothesis was not supported by the data, as with the study done by Hoge and Carroll (1978). In fact the data tremendously rejected the hypothesis, which means that from a multicultural standpoint as well, that material deprivations are not a motivation for people attending church, specifically in the Christian faith (Stark & Smith, …show more content…
Often times, people attend church because those values were instilled in them as children, as their parents took them to church regularly. Inevitably, those values remained with them as adults and they in turn take their children to church, repeating a perpetual cycle of tradition and faith (reference Proverbs 22:6). According to an article written by Ploch and Hastings (1998), a study and an analysis of church attendance was conducted by Bahr (1970) which resulted in the identification of its patterns over the lifespan. He found that family was a huge factor in church attendance, specifically that the family events of marriage and children increase church attendance. Another study conducted by Chaves (1991), which applied data from the General Social Survey, confirmed the findings of Bahr; citing that marriage and childbirth increased church attendance. Further, Stolzenberg, Blair-Loy, and White (1995) conducted a study that produced results that supported that Christian and Jewish young adults showed increased participation in church when, prayer services were included. (Ploch & Hastings, 1998, p. 309). Attending church as a result of family tradition or one’s upbringing can be attributed to religious
The study utilizes existing theory on deprivation, formulated by Glock in 1965. In fact, the results supported the complete opposite of the hypothesis. The data therefore, does not support the fact that people attend church because of psychological, economic, and social suffering or deficiency. The results and data was upheld in another multicultural, independent study done by the Gallop Word Poll, which investigated the religious motivations for conversion to Protestantism in Latin America. The Gallop World Poll conducted a survey using personal interviews with roughly 1,000 respondents from each nation in Latin America, totaling 18 nations and a sample size of 34, 401 respondents (Stark & Smith, 2010). While it was hypothesized that people seek God for answers and direction when in social and material deprivation and despair, the hypothesis was not supported by the data, as with the study done by Hoge and Carroll (1978). In fact the data tremendously rejected the hypothesis, which means that from a multicultural standpoint as well, that material deprivations are not a motivation for people attending church, specifically in the Christian faith (Stark & Smith, …show more content…
Often times, people attend church because those values were instilled in them as children, as their parents took them to church regularly. Inevitably, those values remained with them as adults and they in turn take their children to church, repeating a perpetual cycle of tradition and faith (reference Proverbs 22:6). According to an article written by Ploch and Hastings (1998), a study and an analysis of church attendance was conducted by Bahr (1970) which resulted in the identification of its patterns over the lifespan. He found that family was a huge factor in church attendance, specifically that the family events of marriage and children increase church attendance. Another study conducted by Chaves (1991), which applied data from the General Social Survey, confirmed the findings of Bahr; citing that marriage and childbirth increased church attendance. Further, Stolzenberg, Blair-Loy, and White (1995) conducted a study that produced results that supported that Christian and Jewish young adults showed increased participation in church when, prayer services were included. (Ploch & Hastings, 1998, p. 309). Attending church as a result of family tradition or one’s upbringing can be attributed to religious