This article assesses the role of children in perpetuating the chain of memory of the faiths in Europe. Drawing on indepth interviews with parents/guardians and fifty-two children on the religious socialization of Roman Catholic, Muslim, and non-religious children in Malta, it argues that Roman Catholic children are now the bearers of âvicarious religionâ of communities that have become âunchurched,â while Muslim children steady the âprecariousâ memory of Islam in Europe. The article explores how children propel adultsâ religious practices, keeping parents and grandparents connected to the faiths, churches, and mosques. Given the moral panic regarding voluntary childlessness as a threat to the perpetuation of the faiths, the vital role children play in the chain of religious memory is acknowledged.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Archdiocese of Malta, âAround 40% Attend Sunday Mass Regularly: 74% Go to Mass at Least Once a Month,â 12 April 2018, https://church.mt/around-40-attend-sunday-mass-regularly.
Bartkowski, John P., âReligious Socialization among American Youth: How Faith Shapes Parents, Children and Adolescents,â in James A. Beckford and Nicholas Jay Demerath (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (Los Angeles: Sage, 2007), 511â525.
Beck, Ulrich, Risk Society: Toward a New Modernity (London: Sage, 1991).
Bengtson, Vern L., Casey E. Copen, Norella M. Putney, and Merrill Silverstein, âA Longitudinal Transmission of Religion,â International Sociology 24/3 (2009), 325â345.
Benveniste Annie, Gabriella Lazarides, and Heini Puurunen, âPopulist Othering and Islamophobia,â in Gabriella Lazarides and Giovanna Campani (eds.), Understanding the Populist Shift: Other in Europe in Crisis (London: Routledge, 2016), 50â69.
Berman, Eli, Laurence R. Iannacone, and Giuseppe Ragusa, âFrom Empty Pews to Empty Cradles: Fertility Decline among European Catholics,â (Working paper 18350) (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007). https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/nbrnberwo/18350.htm.
Bossi, Luca, and Giulia Marroccoli, ââWe are Aloneâ: Intergenerational Religious Transmission and the Effect of Migration in Italy,â Religions 13/293 (2022), 1â15.
Bossi, Luca, Loris Botto, and Roberta Ricucci, âBetween Research and Revival: Emerging Trends among Highly Religious Young Catholics in Italy,â Social Compass e13076 (2023), 1â19. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13076.
Boyatzis, Chris, and Denise Janicki, âParent-Child Communication about Religion: Survey and Diary Data on Unilateral Transmission and Bi-Directional Reciprocity Styles,â Review of Religious Research 44/3 (2003), 252â270.
Boyatzis, Chris, David J. Dollahite, and Loren D. Marks, âThe Family as a Context for Religious and Spiritual Development in Children and Youth,â in Eugene. C. Roehlkepartain, Pamela. E. King, Linda Wagener, and Peter L. Benson (eds.), The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 297â309.
Casanova, José, Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).
Chircop, Louise, âCitizenship, Difference and the Schooling of Muslim Children in Malta,â in André. E. Mazawi and Ronald. G. Sultana (eds.), World Yearbook of Education: Education and the Arab âWorldââPolitical Projects, Struggles and Geometries of Power (Routledge: New York, 2010), 239â257.
Damir, MiloÅ¡, and Dragan GlavaÅ¡, âThe Relationship between Religiosity of Parents and Children in Catholics: The Role of Parents in Adolescent ReligiousPractice,â Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 19/1 (2021), 64â79.
Darmanin, Mary, âThe Material and Symbolic Cultures of the Everyday: Religion in Maltese Primary Schools,â in Emer Smyth, Maureen Lyons, and Merike Darmody (eds.), Religious Education in a Multicultural Europe: Children, Parents and Schools (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 69â101.
Darmanin, Mary, âThe âSmallnessâ of Minimalist Tolerance,â Education Inquiry 4/1 (2013), 669â700.
Darmanin, Mary, âToleration of Religious Diversity in a Small Island State,â New Diversities 17/1 (2015), 3â22.
Davie, Grace, Europe: The Exceptional CaseâParameters of Faith in the Modern World (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2002).
Davie, Grace, Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008).
Davie, Grace, Religion in Modern Europe: A Memory Mutates (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Davie, Grace, The Sociology of Religion (Los Angeles: Sage, 2007).
Deguara, Angele, âTill Divorce Do Us Part? The Role of the Church in the Divorce Campaign in Catholic Malta,â unpublished paper presented at the âReligion and (In) Equalities Conference,â BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, University of Chester, UK, 28â30 April 2012.
Dilmaghani, Maryam, âReligiosity, Secularity and Fertility in Canada,â European Journal of Population 35/1 (2019), 403â428.
Discern, Sunday Mass Attendance Census: Preliminary Report, (Floriana: Discern, 2006), https://discern.mt/research/sunday-mass-attendance-census-2005.
Dobbernack, Jan, and Tariq Modood, âIntroduction: The Acceptance of Cultural Diversity in Europe: Theoretical Perspectives and Contemporary Developments,â in Jan Dobbernack and Tariq Modood (eds.), Tolerance, Intolerance and Respect: Hard to Accept? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 1â22.
Dollahite, David C., Alan J. Hawkins, and Sean. E. Brotherson, âFatherwork: A Conceptual Ethic of Fathering as Generative Work,â in Alan J. Hawkins and David C. Dollahite (eds.), Generative Fathering: Beyond Deficit Perspectives (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997), 17â35.
Edgell, Penny, Religion and Family in a Changing Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006).
Frejka, Tomas, and Charles F. Westoff, âReligion, Religiousness and Fertility in the US and in Europe,â European Journal of Population 24/1 (2008), 5â31.
Gallagher, Sally K., âChildren as Religious Resources: The Role of Children in the Social Re-formation of Class, Culture, and Religious Identity,â Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46/2 (2007), 169â183.
Garner, Steve, and Saher Selod, âThe Racialization of Muslims: Empirical Studies of Islamophobia,â Critical Sociology 1/11(2014), 9â19.
Gauci, Jean-Pierre, and Maria Pisani, Racism and Related Discriminatory Practice in Malta (Brussels: European Network Against Racism, 2013), https://integrafoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/enar-malta-maria-pisani.pdf.
Hawkins, Alan J., and David C. Dollahite, âBeyond the Role-Inadequacy Perspective of Fathering,â in Alan J. Hawkins and David C. Dollahite (eds.), Generative Fathering: Beyond Deficit Perspectives (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997), 2â6.
Hervieu-Léger, Danièle, Religion as a Chain of Memory (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006).
JakeliÄ, Slavica, Collectivistic Religions: Religion, Choice, and Identity in Late Modernity (London: Routledge, 2010).
Jensen, Sidsel V., and Lene Kühle, ââSchool Islamâ: Lived Religion in the Context of a Secular Public Institution,â in Nathal M. Dessing, Nadia Jeldtoft, Jørgen S. Nielsen, Linda Woodhead, (eds.), Everyday Lived Islam in Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013), 101â114.
Leming, Laura M., âSociological Explorations: What is Religious Agency?,â The Sociological Quarterly 48 (2007), 73â92.
Maliepaard, Mieke, and Marcel Lubbers, âParent Religious Transmission after Migration. The Case of Dutch Muslims,â Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 39/3 (2013), 425â442.
Martin, David, The Future of Christianity: Reflections on Violence and Democracy, Religion and Secularization (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011).
McGuire, Meredith, âIndividual Sensory Experiences, Socialized Senses, and Everyday Lived Religion in Practice,â Social Compass 63/2 (2016), 152â162.
McGuire, Meredith, Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
McGuire, Meredith, âSacred Place and Sacred Power. Conceptual Boundaries and the Marginalization of Religious Practices,â in Peter Beyer and Lori Beaman (eds.), Religion, Globalization and Culture (Lieden: Brill, 2007), 57â77.
Meer, Nasar, and Tariq Modood, âRefutations of Racism in the âMuslim Question,ââ Patterns of Prejudice 43/3 (2009), 335â354.
Miettinen, Anneli, Anna Rotkirch, Ivett Szalma, Annalisa Donno, and Maria-Letizia Tanturri, âIncreasing Childlessness in Europe: Time Trends and Country Differences,â (Working Paper 5, Philadelphia: The Population Research Institute, 2014), 1â56. https://vaestoliitto-fi-bin.directo.fi/@Bin/ea2c4ea1022f6b64db111d3dcc0e0ad8/1521361493/application/pdf/3746805/Working%20paper%205_Increasing%20Childlessness%20in%20Europe_1.pdf.
Mitchell, Jon P., Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta. (London: Routledge, 2002).
Malta National Statistics Office, Census of Population and Housing 2011: Preliminary Report (Valetta 2012), https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/01_Methodology_and_Research/Census2011_PreliminaryReport.pdf.
Malta National Statistics Office, âNews Release, 122/2021: World Population Day,â 9 July 2021, https://nso.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/News2021_122.pdf
Omran, Abdel Rahim, Family Planning in the Legacy of Islam (London: Routledge, 1992).
Pastoral Research Services, Report on the Sunday Mass Census (Valletta: PRS, 1967).
People for Change Foundation, Ethnic Minorities Beyond Migration: The Case of Malta (Brussels: European Network Against Racism, 2017). http://www.pfcmalta.org/uploads/1/2/1/7/12174934/ethnic_minorities_beyond_migration_-_final.pdf.
Pew Research Center, âThe Changing Global Religious Landscape,â 5 April 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-religious-landscape/.
Saeed, Abdullah, âMuslims in the West and their Attitudes to Full Participation in Western Societies: Some Reflections,â in Geoffrey B. Levey and Tariq Modood (eds.), Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citizenship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 200â215.
Schutz, Alfred, Phenomenology of the Social World (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1972).
Shen, Yuying, âImmigrant Parentsâ Religiosity and the Second-Generation Childrenâs Adaptation,â International Journal of Adolescence and Youth 25/1 (2020), 824â835.
Sherkat, Darren, âReligious Socialization: Sources of Influence and Influence of Agency,â in Michelle Dillon (ed.), Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge Univerisity Press, 2003), 151â163.
Sherwood, Harriet, âChoosing Pets over Babies is âSelfish and Diminishes Usâ, Says Pope,â The Guardian, 5 January 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/05/pope-couples-choose-pets-children-selfish.
Siegers, Pascal, âMapping Religious Orientations across Europe: Church Religiosity, Alternative Spiritualities, and UnbeliefâEvidence from the Fourth Wave of the European Values Study (2008/2009),â paper presented at the ECPR Graduate Conference in Dublin, 1 September 2010.
Smith, Jesse, âTransmission of Faith in Families: The Influence of Religious Ideology,â Sociology of Religion: Quarterly Review 82/3 (2021), 332â356.
Smyth, Emer, Merike Darmody, Maureen Lyons, Kathleen Lynch, Etaione Howlett, âChildrenâs Agency and Religious Identity in Irish Primary Schools,â in Emer Smyth, Maureen Lyons, and Merike Darmody (eds.), Religious Education in a Multicultural Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 101â132.
Smyth, Emer, Merike Darmody, and Maureen Lyons, âIntroduction,â in Emer Smyth, Maureen Lyons, and Merike Darmody (eds.), Religious Education in a Multicultural Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 1â15.
Smyth, Emer, Maureen Lyons, and Merike Darmody (eds.), Religious Education in a Multicultural Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
Spilman, Sarah K., Tricia K. Neppl, M. Brent Donnellan, Thomas. J. Schofield, and Rand D. Conger, âIncorporating Religiosity into a Developmental Model of Positive Family Functioning across Generations,â Developmental Psychology 49/4 (2013), 762â774.
Teipen, Alfons H., âSubmission and Dissent: Some Observations on Childrenâs Rights Within the Islamic Edifice,â in Trygve Wyller and Usha S. Nayar (eds.), The Given Child: The Religionsâ Contribution to Childrenâs Citizenship (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007), 53â70.
Theuma, Nadia, âModernity, Crisis and the Rise of the Charismatic Catholicism in the Maltese Islands,â in Paul Clough and Jon P. Mitchell (eds.), Powers of Good and Evil: Moralities, Commodities and Popular Belief (New York: Berghahn Books, 2001), 135â160.
Thomas, Nigel, âListening to Children,â in Pam Foley, Jeremy Roche, and Stan Tucker (eds.), Children in Society: Contemporary Theory, Policy and Practice (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). 104â111.
Trzebiatowska, Marta, and Steve Bruce, Why Are Women More Religious Than Men? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Van Manen, Max, âPhenomenology in its Original Sense,â Qualitative Health Research 27/6 (2017), 810.
Vella, Matthew, âChurch Census Reveals Around 40 Percent Attend Sunday Mass Regularly,â Malta Today, 12 April 2018. https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/86049/church_census_reveals_around_40_attend_sunday_mass_regularly#.WtmarMiFPIU.
Vermeer, Paul, âThe Impact of Parental Religiosity on Parenting Goals and Parenting Style: A Dutch Perspective,â Journal of Beliefs and Values 32/1 (2011), 9â84.
Vermeer, Paul, âReligion and Family Life: An Overview of Current Research and Suggestions for Future Research,â Religions 5 (2014), 402â421.
Vincent, Giselle, Sarah Dunlo, Kornelia Sammet, and Alexander Yendell, âYoung People and Religion and Spirituality in Europe: A Complex Picture,â in Johanna Wyn and Helen Cahill (eds.), Handbook of Children and Youth Studies (Singapore: Springer, 2015), 889â902.
Willig, Carla, âReflections on the Use of the Phenomenological Method,â Qualitative Research in Psychology 4/3 (2007), 209â225.
Woodhead, Linda, âHow to Study Everyday Islam,â in Nathal M. Dessing, Nadia Jeldtoft, Jørgen S. Nielsen, and Linda Woodhead (eds.), Everyday Lived Islam in Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013), 39â54.
Woolner, Wendy, âMaltese Converts to Islam: Identity Formation and Perception of Self in Relation to Maltese Society and the Community at the Mosque,â BA diss., University of Malta, 2002.
Zammit, Martin R., âMalta,â in Stephanie Műssig, Egdűnas RaÄius, Samim Akgönül, Ahmet AlibaÅ¡iÄ, Jørgen S. Nielsen, and Oliver Charbrodt (eds.), Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Online, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2588-9737_YMEO_COM_012008MLT
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 500 | 108 | 7 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 136 | 4 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 89 | 9 | 0 |
This article assesses the role of children in perpetuating the chain of memory of the faiths in Europe. Drawing on indepth interviews with parents/guardians and fifty-two children on the religious socialization of Roman Catholic, Muslim, and non-religious children in Malta, it argues that Roman Catholic children are now the bearers of âvicarious religionâ of communities that have become âunchurched,â while Muslim children steady the âprecariousâ memory of Islam in Europe. The article explores how children propel adultsâ religious practices, keeping parents and grandparents connected to the faiths, churches, and mosques. Given the moral panic regarding voluntary childlessness as a threat to the perpetuation of the faiths, the vital role children play in the chain of religious memory is acknowledged.
| å ¨é¨æé´ | è¿å»ä¸å¹´ | è¿å»30天 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æè¦æµè§æ¬¡æ° | 500 | 108 | 7 |
| å ¨ææµè§æ¬¡æ° | 136 | 4 | 0 |
| PDFä¸è½½æ¬¡æ° | 89 | 9 | 0 |