The Role Networks Play in Religion
https://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume16/Everton.pdf
Religion plays a central role in the lives of many people around the world. While social analysts have acknowledged the existence of networks in religious contexts, they have yet to attribute proper credit to social networks and their effects on the actions of religious peoples. In Networks and Religion:Ties that Bind, Loose, Build Up, and Tear Down, an article published in the Journal of Social Structure, Sean Everton asserts that if people focused on the impact of social networks in religion, they would be able to influence and predict the effectiveness of major religious practices and social movements.
Everton provides numerous statistics, graphs, and examples where social networks have a larger influence on the actions of people than faith itself. For instance, people are more likely to participate in volunteer work if they know other people who are volunteering, instead of volunteering because they believe it is the right thing to do or because their religion asks for it. These social connections are also a major form of religious recruitment and they can boost religious attendance and activity. Unfortunately, these networks are also important in analyzing religious violence. Similar to the balanced graphs show in class, where people in Group X are friends and people in Group Y are all friends but the two groups share a mutual hate for each other, this can represent certain groups of religions and indicate which groups may get along due to a common enemy and which groups may fight.
In conclusion, social networks and an analysis of graphs and statistics are a great tool for studying religion and how it ties into the lives of people and society. A strong connection of people in religious groups can motivate people to participate and a balanced network of positive and negative relationships in a religious context can spark religious violence and bonding over a common enemy.