Authors /
Nancy Ammerman
Nancy Ammerman is professor of sociology of religion at Boston University.
Local color: American religion, region by region
As a kid in Missouri, I was a Baptist. In Missouri that meant not only that I belonged to an important church but that I was on the right side of the great eternal divide, ready to defend my salvation against the other contenders around me. When my family moved to Arizona, Baptists were perceived differently: we were the tail end of white evangelizers who hoped to bring faith and education to the Native American and Mexican laborer population. In southern California, our next stop, people thought we were from Texas and thought of us as one more exotic breed on the Pacific shores.
Running on empty: The problem of the mainline
For at least the past generation, mainline Protestants have been worried about declines in membership....
New life for denominationalism: It's no longer taken for granted
On the cusp of the 21st century, a strange thing is happening. Congregations—not all, but a noticeable number—are choosing to highlight their denominational particularities....
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