Religious revivals create bonding capital at the expense of bridging capital

Evidence

From a civic point of view, a new Great Awakening (if it happened) would not be an unmixed blessing. As we noted in chapters 4 and 22, proselytizing religions are better at creating bonding social capital than bridging social capital, and tolerance of unbelievers is not a virtue notably associated with fundamentalism. In our culture, if not our jurisprudence, a new Great Awakening would raise issues about the constitutional separation of church and state, as illustrated by the controversy surrounding the “charitable choice” provision of welfare reform that provides public funds for religiously linked social services. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 1474

Categorization

• XREF: Extends the bonding-bridging distinction that runs throughout this book; mirrors the finding that evangelical churches buck the general decline.