RT Article
T1 The Zeal of the Convert Revisited
JF Journal for the scientific study of religion
VO 60
IS 1
SP 5
OP 26
A1 Beider, Nadia 1983-
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1751686000
AB Social scientists have long been interested in the effects of conversion on religiosity. Drawing on data from the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey, I revisit the zeal of the convert thesis by comparing the religiosity of both converts and cradle members within the main American religious traditions. My findings reveal that converts are not more zealous than lifelong members, in fact, converts tend to have lower levels of religious commitment. Switchers raised in strict denominations do exhibit greater zeal than cradle members. The discussion argues that people create new, hybrid forms of religious engagement based on elements from both their current and childhood religious identities. Conversion is less a sudden rupture involving dramatic, wholesale change; rather, it is a process in which some prior religious norms are retained alongside new ones.
K1 Conversion
K1 denominational switching
K1 identity change
K1 Religiosity
K1 religious switching
DO 10.1111/jssr.12698