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How are the institutional features of religious organizations formed? In seeking to explain religious change and development, an increasing number of sociologists of religion emphasize the importance of organizational features. However, few scholars have examined how these institutional features take shape during the early stages of religious organizations. Given that emerging religions often originate in marginalized contexts with scarce resources and limited support, this paper draws on the theory of interstitial space to analyze how such relatively unstructured and flexible environments—which provide greater freedom and adaptability for agents—affect religious development. The study finds that interstitial space fosters religious innovation and helps shape the institutional features of emerging religions. Furthermore, this paper proposes four explanatory mechanisms to illustrate how the interstitial space in multiple marginalized areas shapes the features of religious organizations. These mechanisms can shed light on the development of various religious sects, including Chan Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism in the early Tang dynasty.

Very few studies explicitly, let alone quantitatively, examine gaps in religious intolerance among individual Muslims based on a liation with major Muslim organizations in Indonesia. Most existing studies either focus on a single organization (non-comparative), are at the organizational policy level (not examining individual attitudes), or use a limited number of samples in their analysis. Against this backdrop, this study compares Indonesian Muslims' levels of religious intolerance based on their a liation with Muslim organizations or traditions: Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah, and other organizations. We utilize a large-scale household survey, the 2014 Indonesia Family Life Survey-5, and run an ordinal logistic regression to identify organizations' rank on the religious intolerance scale. We find that Muslims without any a liation with a Muslim organization (some 18 percent of Indonesian Muslims) are the most tolerant. Against this reference group, we find that NU followers are generally the most tolerant, followed by those a liated with Muhammadiyah, and those a liated with other Muslim organizations. This finding adds a stock of knowledge to our understanding of religion and society, especially regarding interfaith relations in Indonesia and in the Muslim world in general. Methodologically, this study also shows the benefit and feasibility of identifying the dynamic of religious intolerance using a quantitative approach at a micro level.

This article examines the dramatic shift in the political strategy of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, during the 2024 presidential elections. Unlike its historically fragmented stance in previous elections, NU implemented stricter policies and actively mobilized members to support government-endorsed candidates. Notably, this marked the first time since 1998 that NU backed candidates without ties to the organization. This shift followed a leadership overhaul in 2021, which reshaped NU's political approach. The new leadership adopted a pragmatic strategy to maintain NU's influence within President Joko \"Jokowi\" Widodo's administration and secure future benefits under his successor, Prabowo Subianto.

The present research aimed to explore volunteer travelers’ loyalty formation for the non-profit religious organization of volunteer tourism by considering the gender influence. A quantitative process along with a survey method was utilized to attain the research purpose. Our empirical results showed that awareness of the need, performance of the organization, attitude, and the mental well-being were critical contributors to increasing loyalty. Attitude and mental well-being were vital mediators. The performance of the non-profit religious organization included a comparative importance in building loyalty. In addition, gender moderated the effect of awareness of the need and performance of the organization on the travelers’ attitudes toward it. As very little is known about volunteer tourists’ behaviors, the current study satisfactorily provides an apparent comprehension regarding how their loyalty for the non-profit religious organization is generated and what factors drive this loyalty.

The Emancipation of Europe's Muslims traces how governments across Western Europe have responded to the growing presence of Muslim immigrants in their countries over the past fifty years. Drawing on hundreds of in-depth interviews with government officials and religious leaders in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Turkey, Jonathan Laurence challenges the widespread notion that Europe's Muslim minorities represent a threat to liberal democracy.

Building or maintaining institutional trust is of central importance in democratic societies since negative experiences (potentially leading to mistrust) with government or other institutions may have a much more profound effect than positive experiences (potentially maintaining trust). Healthy democracy relies on more than simply trusting the national government of the time, and is mediated through other symbols of institutional power, such as the legal system, banks, the media and religious organisations. This paper focuses on institutional trust-the level and predictors of trust in some of the major institutions in society, namely politics, the media, banks, the legal system and religious organisations. We present analyses from a consolidated dataset containing data from six countries in the Asia Pacific region-Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Cross-sectional surveys were undertaken in each country in 2009-10, with an overall sample of 6331. Analyses of differences in overall levels of institutional trust between countries were undertaken using Chi square analyses. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis was undertaken to identify socio-demographic predictors of trust in each country. Religious institutions, banks and the judicial system had the highest overall trust across all countries (70%, 70% and 67% respectively), followed by newspapers and TV (59% and 58%) and then political leaders (43%). The range of levels of higher trust between countries differed from 43% for banks (range 49% in Australia to 92% in Thailand) to 59% for newspapers (28% in Australia to 87% in Japan). Across all countries, except for Australia, trust in political leaders had the lowest scores, particularly in Japan and South Korea (25% in both countries). In Thailand, people expressed the most trust in religious organisations (94%), banks (92%) and in their judicial/legal system (89%). In Hong Kong, people expressed the highest level of trust in their judicial/legal system (89%), followed by religious organisations (75%) and banks (77%). Australian respondents reported the least amount of trust in TV/media (24%) and press/newspapers (28%). South Korea put the least trust in their political leaders (25%), their legal system (43%) and religious organisations (45%). The key predictors of lower trust in institutions across all countries were males, people under 44 years and people unsatisfied with the health and standard of living. We interpreted our data using Fukuyama's theory of 'high/low trust' societies. The levels of institutional trust in each society did not conform to our hypothesis, with Thailand exhibiting the highest trust (predicted to be medium level), Hong Kong and Japan exhibiting medium trust (predicted to be low and high respectively) and Australia and South Korea exhibiting low trust (predicted to be high and medium respectively). Taiwan was the only country where the actual and predicted trust was the same, namely low trust. Given the fact that these predictors crossed national boundaries and institutional types, further research and policy should focus specifically on improving trust within these groups in order that they can be empowered to play a more central role in democratic vitality.

The establishment of the United Church of Christ in Japan (nihon kirisuto kyōdan 日本基督教団) marked the culmination of the Church Union Movement in Imperial Japan. Although the Church Union Movement can be traced back to the Meiji era, no significant breakthroughs were made until 1939 due to the refusal of some denominations. In this article, I aim to clarify the process and causes behind the formation of the united church, while also attempting to understand the interaction pattern between the State and Christianity under an increasing wartime totalitarian regime. In April 1939, the Diet passed the Religious Organizations Law (syūkyō dantai hō 宗教団体法), a bill aimed at strengthening state control over religions, which required Christian denominations to establish religious organizations. With the war intensifying Japan’s antagonism toward Western countries, Christianity as a foreign religion faced progressive attacks from the nationalist sects. Some denominations, like the Salvation Army, were accused of espionage due to their international connections and were monitored by gendarmerie (kenpeitai 憲兵隊). Facing harsh pressure, Christians sought to project a patriotic image, ultimately leading to the formation of the United Church as a survival strategy amidst a hostile social-political environment.

This study illuminates the size, scope, and impact of U.S. faith-based nonprofits in the international affairs sector. Through analysis of IRS microdata, we estimate the prevalence, total revenue, and direct charitable giving to Organizations with Religious Expression (OREs) within the International Affairs subsector (n = 262). Our study provides new language to categorize religiously identified organizations and seeks to demonstrate the distinctive identities and activities of OREs in contrast to organizations with no known religious expression. We find that OREs constitute more than half of the organizations in the sector and estimate that between a third and almost half of all donations to the international affairs subsector go to OREs. In contrast to organizations with no known religious expression, OREs also receive a much greater share of annual revenue from direct support.

This study explores the use of social media by indigenous religious organizations in Indonesia to preserve cultural identity and teachings amidst the challenges of the digital era. Focusing on two contrasting cases—Paguyuban Budaya Bangsa (PBB) in Central Java and Lalang Rondor Malesung (Laroma) in North Sulawesi—the research examines how each organization approaches digital adaptation within its social and cultural context. PBB, with its conservative stance, prioritizes traditional methods of knowledge transmission and maintains a cautious approach to digital media, while Laroma embraces social media to engage youth and promote cultural heritage to a global audience. The study identifies three key factors in the digital preservation of indigenous cultures: digital preservation strategies, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and youth participation in cultural preservation. Findings reveal that while both organizations face challenges in balancing digital engagement with cultural authenticity, Laroma’s proactive use of digital platforms, particularly through youth-driven initiatives, offers a model for broader cultural dissemination and preservation. In contrast, PBB's selective approach underscores the importance of safeguarding sacred knowledge and ensures that digital platforms do not undermine cultural values. The research contributes to intercultural communication and media studies by highlighting the complex interplay between tradition and digital innovation, offering insights into how marginalized communities can navigate the digital landscape to preserve their cultural heritage. The study advocates for context-sensitive strategies that integrate both traditional authority and youth-led digital initiatives to effectively preserve cultural heritage in a rapidly changing world.

Religious affiliation as a determinant of demographic behavior is receiving renewed attention in demography. Interest in the role of cultural factors in affecting fertility and a specific concern with the role of Islam in many developing countries have helped re-invigorate research on the role of religion. This article reviews theoretical and empirical work on that relationship, with special attention to a number of cases in which religion has been identified as an important determinant of fertility patterns. The article concludes that religion plays an influential role when three conditions are satisfied: first, the religion articulates behavioral norms with a bearing on fertility behavior; second, the religion holds the means to communicate these values and promote compliance; and, third, religion forms a central component of the social identity of its followers.