 | 1. This is the Niebuhr thesis (1962) for the common development of sects into denominations.
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| 2. Although I have questioned the construction of complex variables in their research, there is less reason to challenge the responses to straightforward questions in Johnson and Tamney's Middletown study. They claim that the item most frequently chosen as "most important" from a list of issues was "inflation," and that those who chose it voted 2 to 1 for Reagan (1982: 128).
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| 3. On recent shifts of power in the SBC, see Ammerman (1985) and
Time
(29 June 1987: 34).
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| 4. Even Hunter (1986:6) cannot find many humanists on any narrow definition. Martin (1981: 234) says: "There can't be many true secular humanists, since only 3 percent of all Americans say that they do not believe in God, and only a tiny fraction of those belong to the American Humanist Association or to other organizations that might qualify as denominations of the 'religion of secular humanism.' "
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| 5. This section (indeed my general sociological perspective) draws heavily on the work of Peter L. Berger and his interpretation of Max Weber and Arnold Gehlen (Berger 1973, 1979, 1980; Berger et al. 1973; and Berger and Luckmann 1973).
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| Abraham, H. J. 1983.
The Judiciary: The Supreme Court in the governmental process
. Boston.
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| Ammerman, N. 1985. "Organizational conflict in a divided denomination."
SBC TODAY
(December): 1214.
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| Berger, P. L. 1973.
The social reality of religion
. Harmondsworth, Middx.
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| . 1979.
Facing up to modernity: Excursions in society, politics and religion
. Harmondsworth, Middx.
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| . 1980.
The heretical imperative: Contemporary possibilities of religious affirmation
. London.
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| Berger, P. L., B. Berger, and H. Keller. 1973.
The homeless mind: Modernization and consciousness
. Harmondsworth, Middx.
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| Berger, P. L., and T. Luckmann. 1973.
The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge
. Harmondsworth, Middx.
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