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How faith-based social service organizations manage secular pressures associated with government funding
Abstract
This article reports selected findings from a qualitative case study
of two faith-based social service organizations to address two
questions: (1) How does government funding influence the religious
characteristics of faith-based social service organizations? (2) How
do government-funded, faith-based social service organizations manage
the tensions arising from both secular and religious contexts? The
findings suggest that the adaptation of secular institutional
practices is not as inevitable as some have feared. Rather, the two
organizations studied showed convincingly that their faith traditions
and values were alive and widely evident throughout their
organizations. Three key strategies emerged as means for maintaining
religiousness in the face of secular pressures: (1) Religious
identities were perceived as given rather than chosen, and therefore
were not negotiable; (2) religious values provided strong
justification for seeking relationships with others who do not share
their faith; (3) the religious worldview blurred religious and secular
distinctions so that secular technologies and practices could
comfortably be utilized.
Journal
(2004)
vol14
no3
pages239-262
Categories
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Nonprofit Service Sectors
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Faith/Religious Communities
