May 2, 2018 / C H Thompson

Religious market theory

Stark and Bainbridge say that religion is attractive as it provides us with compensators,
which is when real rewards are unobtainable, religion compensates by promising supernatural rewards
They put forward the cycle of religious decline, which is revival and renewal
There is a perpetual cycle throughout history with some religions declining and others growing
According to Stark and Bainbridge, churches operate like companies selling goods in a market
While some sociologists see competition between religions as undermining religion,
religious market theorists would argue that this competition leads to improvements of the religious goods on offer.
Churches will make their ‘products’ more attractive

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