n Ondersoek na die godsdienstige topografie van Suid-Afrika : 'n vergelyking van sensus '96 met die van 1911-1991

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In South Africa and the rest of the world research is being conducted on the growth anddecline of the Christian church and specific denominations. Most congregations keeprecord of their membership. These data are very useful. However national census data onreligion, when available, bring a neutral dimension to the statistics. Census data in mostcases provide the only reliable means of establishing religious affiliations of the populationat a certain point in time or over a certain period.Since the 1911 national census respondents are being asked to state their religiousaffiliation. It is essential that the data of these censuses are available in a database. Thisbasic data can then be used to make different combinations and do certain calculations.Different denominations can be combined into families to compare their percentagemarkets hare of the total population and of the Christian church. If all census data are madecompatible with each other it is possible to establish trends over a longer period.When the Census '96 data was made available by Stats SA it was important to prepare thedata so that it could be studied en compared with previous census data. This study attemptsto do this.It seems that the biggest determining factor in the religious topography of South Africa isthe religious shifts that happen amongst the Black population. The biggest percentageChristians belong to the mainline denominations while the Africa Independent Churcheshave the second most.To compare different denominations with one another over a longer period of time is adifficult task. Inconsistencies with which data are treated as well as the political instabilityin South Africa are two important factors that hamper the research. The fact that thequestion regarding religious affiliation was made optional since 1991 complicates the issueeven further. The Christian church in South Africa grew from 1911 to 1980 and then startedto decline. Membership of both the African Independent Churches andPentecostal/Charismatic churches are growing. Since 1991 respondents who indicate thatthey have no religion are growing amongst all population groups.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University