Growth of religion discussed at lecture
The lecture is the first installment in what will be an annual series.
Published April 15, 2008
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Princeton sociology professor Robert Wuthnow speaks on 'The Global Reach of American Christianity' to a large crowd of students and faculty Monday in Stotler Lounge. Wuthnow addressed different issues, including the effects American missionaries have in the world, the decline in Christian followers in the United States and Europe and the increase in the number of Christians in the rest of the world.
Christianity is spreading throughout the world, and according to a Princeton University sociology professor who appeared at MU on Monday, the United States could be the chief supporter.
Robert Wuthnow, chairman of Princeton University’s sociology department, gave his lecture, “The Global Reach of American Christianity” in Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union, an event sponsored by the MU Department of Religious Studies.
In the lecture, Wuthnow said Christian churches in the U.S. have increased their presence in developing nations in recent years, thus increasing the number of Christian churches worldwide. The churches have increased their presence, Wuthnow said, through augmentation of international ministries.
“The global outreach of churches in the U.S. is at an all-time high,” Wuthnow said.
Wuthnow said the U.S. is one of the most religious countries in the world.
“Religion has always been and still is a very important part of American culture,” Wuthnow said. “What we are seeing now is more efforts to extend American religion to other countries.”
Religious Studies professor Philip Clart said the department invited Wuthnow to speak as the first installment in an annual lecture series on religion. He said the department chose Wuthnow because he can connect with audiences that do not have an extensive knowledge of sociology or religion, and said he is “America’s premier sociologist of religion.”
“The role of religion is increasing, not decreasing,” Clart said. “People need to be in tune with that.”
Graduate student Angela Bell, who said she is a student of history with an emphasis on religion, said she enjoyed Wuthnow’s emphasis on globalization and how it is spreading religion from the U.S. to other countries.
“It was nice to look at religion in an intellectual way,” Bell said.
Bell said because Wuthnow is a sociologist, the nature of his work relies heavily on empirical data.
“I liked the fact he had statistic after statistic after statistic,” Bell said. “It’s something our students tend not to do.”
Wuthnow’s emphasis on numbers in his lecture, some audience members said, made the material he presented difficult to understand.
Senior Nicki North, who attended the event to earn extra credit for a religious studies course, said she hoped the event would be more about issues regarding religion, but she said the lecture instead focused more on data about the growth of Christianity.
