Spreading the faith or sharing the faith? Contrasting conversion opinions and evangelistic behavior among religious young people in the United States

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Long, Adam Layton
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology

Abstract

This paper contrasts correlates of conversion opinions and evangelistic behavior of religious young people in the United States by comparing two random effects longitudinal logistic regression models based on three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion. By distinguishing a) the belief that it is okay to convert others to one's own religion from b) sharing one's faith with people of other faiths, this project demonstrates that proselytizing and evangelism are distinct though overlapping social phenomena. Interpreting odds ratios from models including both internal and external factors highlights the differing effects of control variables and measures of religious content, conduct, and centrality. Interpreting this evidence prompts a theoretical discussion of how greater religious pluralization may lead to more unsettled lives, which may produce increasing evangelism.

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