ABSTRACT Nondenominational congregations have become increasingly prominent in American Christianity. Although often considered Evangelical in theology and practice, recent studies at the individual level suggest that nondenominational may be a religious category distinct from other forms of Christianity. Using pooled data from the National Congregations Study (NCS) ( N = 4054), we test whether nondenominational congregations differ from Evangelicals in composition, worship practices, and theological and political orientations. Results reveal that nondenominational congregations closely resemble Evangelical congregations in political and theological orientation, whereas significant differences remain in worship practice, age composition, racial composition, and whether gay couples are permitted as members. This study extends previous research by providing an organizational analysis of nondenominationalism and highlights the need to reassess the categorization of nondenominational congregations in existing religious classification schemes like RELTRAD.
ABSTRACT This study investigated differences in vigorous physical activity across five major religious affiliations (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism) and examined whether these associations were influenced by national religious contexts. Data from the Global Flourishing Study, including 202,898 participants from 22 countries, were analyzed using multilevel regression models. Among the five religious groups, only Buddhists demonstrated significantly higher levels of vigorous physical activity compared with individuals with no religious affiliation. At the country level, higher proportions of Buddhists and Jews were negatively associated with vigorous physical activity, whereas a higher proportion of Hindus was positively associated with activity levels. An increase in the country‐level prevalence of Christians moderated the association between Christian affiliation and vigorous physical activity, while a higher national prevalence of Jews weakened the positive association between Judaism and vigorous physical activity. Understanding religious and cultural contexts may help inform more tailored public health strategies and interventions aimed at promoting physical activity across diverse populations.
ABSTRACT Religious classifications remain socially meaningful even when people refuse to inhabit the categories they name. This article examines that puzzle through madhehebu , the Swahili term (from Arabic madhhab ) used to name Muslim difference. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork (2022–2026) at Radio Nuur FM—an Islamic station in Tanga, Tanzania, that broadcasts “without regard for madhehebu ”—alongside interviews with station personnel and listeners, I trace how madhehebu circulates through everyday talk, institutional relationships, and ethical reasoning. I argue that madhehebu operates as a lived grammar of difference: a shared, contested, and generative resource through which Muslims recognize, negotiate, refuse, and regulate religious plurality. By shifting attention from what religious categories are to what categorical language does, the article extends lived religion into the study of classification and offers a portable framework for analyzing religious difference across traditions.
The present study examines how religion shapes partnership formation and religious homogamy among Syrian and Afghan male refugees who arrived in Germany during the 2015/16 influx. It provides new insights by focusing on a particularly vulnerable group of refugees who are culturally distant from the host society and comparing them to descendants of immigrants. It extends existing research by examining both marital and nonmarital partnerships and by explicitly analyzing patterns of religious homogamy among Muslim and non-Muslim individuals. Using CILS4EU-DE and PARFORM data, we conduct weighted logistic regression analyses on multiply imputed samples. Results show that Muslim refugees are less likely than immigrant descendants and non-Muslim refugees to engage in nonmarital partnerships. However, if they do, their partners are less likely to share their religion. These findings suggest that (Muslim) refugees are more conservative regarding engagement in nonmarital partnerships compared to immigrant descendants, but less so when it comes to their nonmarital partners' religion and ethnic background.
