Abstract
Few studies have explored the relationship between participation in public worship and moral thinking and attitudes. This research explores the question, ‘What is the relationship between participation in church worship, social bonding to one’s congregation, and moral attitudes?’ Data on social bonding and moral attitudes were gathered via an online survey of churchgoers (study one) and a comparison of church and Sunday Assembly congregations (study two). Study one also compared churchgoers’ and nonchurchgoers’ concepts of ‘a morally good person.’ The possible role played by different elements of public worship in shaping moral values was assessed by comparing materials used in church services with congregation members’ attitudes to individual moral items (study three), and an experimental study investigating the use of song and spoken word in the transmission of moral information (study four).Participants’ perceptions of the similarity between their own moral beliefs and those of their congregation (perceived moral similarity) positively correlated with felt closeness to one’s congregation. Actual within-congregation similarity of moral importance was not related to perceived moral similarity or connectedness. Felt closeness to one’s congregation and perceived moral similarity were positively associated with overall Quality of Life (QoL). Theological traditions differed in the importance participants gave to some moral items. Hearing moral information in song resulted in lower levels of recall or importance given to relevant moral items compared to spoken word delivery.
These findings indicate that believing one shares the moral values of one’s congregation may contribute to the effects of religion on QoL reported in previous research, and that different theological traditions, including secular, differ in moral values and attitudes. They further suggest that churchgoers may be differently, but not more, moral than non-churchgoers.
| Date of Award | Apr 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Miguel Farias (Supervisor), Valerie van Mulukom (Supervisor) & Jonathan Jong (Supervisor) |