The Changes of Religion and Sociology

Abstract

The study focuses on the social patterns of the changes of the religion, which is inherited within the family. The relevance and weight of religion-change is very diversified in the history of different countries as the references – selected from the whole world – show. The motives of religion-change toward the dominant religion examined through the lens of the sociology of knowledge. Network sociology helps to understand the motives of religion-change toward minorities. The study shows rational reasons for the choice of the answer „I don’t belong to a denomination” selected by 30% of Hungarian persons who were baptised as Catholic or Calvinist, and selected by 37% of persons who were baptised as Lutheran. The movement toward the religious denominations is more intensive than the „hypothesis of secularisation” would suggest: the 19% of originally unbaptised persons declare themselves a member of one or other denomination. The 1% of people baptised as Catholic moved to another denomination. 4% of people baptised as Calvinist moved to another denomination. 9% of people baptised as Lutheran moved to another denomination. As for the churches which have been chosen by people: the order of churches is very different than the order of churches in baptising. The small churches represent no less than 38% of them, the Catholics are rather underrepresented with 34%, while the Calvinists are quite overrepresented with 24%. The Lutherans are surprisingly underrepresented with 2%.