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How faith‐based social service organizations manage secular pressures associated with government funding
Author(s) -
Vanderwoerd James R.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
nonprofit management and leadership
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.844
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1542-7854
pISSN - 1048-6682
DOI - 10.1002/nml.33
Subject(s) - faith , government (linguistics) , religious organization , faith based organizations , sociology , face (sociological concept) , service (business) , public relations , secular education , political science , environmental ethics , law , social science , business , theology , marketing , philosophy , linguistics
This article reports selected findings from a qualitative case study of two faith‐based social serviceorganizations to address two questions: (1) How does government funding influence the religiouscharacteristics of faith‐based social service organizations? (2) How dogovernment‐funded, faith‐based social service organizations manage the tensions arising from bothsecular and religious contexts? The findings suggest that the adaptation of secular institutional practicesis not as inevitable as some have feared. Rather, the two organizations studied showed convincingly that theirfaith traditions and values were alive and widely evident throughout their organizations. Three key strategiesemerged as means for maintaining religiousness in the face of secular pressures: (1) Religiousidentities 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 theirfaith; (3) the religious worldview blurred religious and secular distinctions so that seculartechnologies and practices could comfortably be utilized.