Religion And Society:A Functional Analysis To Rural Christianity In The Urbanization Process

Since the late 1990 s, the acceleration of C hina’s urbanization process has made far-reaching impact on rural society, leading to enormous structural changes in rural society. At the same time, C hristianity has experienced rapid development in the vast rural areas, with more and more Chinese peasants entering C hrist Churches. During the urbanization process, what changes in rural society led to the rapid development of rural C hristianity? How did the rapidly developing rural Christianity function in rural society? This article is to answer these questions. This article takes C hurch S in South Shanxi as the case and investigated its organization, religious activities and believers from the perspective of sociology of religion, using the method of participant observation, interview, questionnaire, as well as referring to the local chorographies.Based on the field study of C hurch S, this article constructed a structural- functionalist framework for China’s rural C hristianity. In the process of urbanization, rural society is characterized by organizational atomization, value nihilism, disordered public goods supply,and empty-nest families, resulting in blanks in several function requirements, such as social integration, productive cooperation, living security, cultural entertainment, and social control. When national policy cannot meet these function requirements, the rural society would seek satisfaction spontaneously. Just in such a background did the rural C hristianity get the opportunity to develop rapidly. Through the analysis on the case Church S, we can see that rural C hristianity plays positive func tions in social integration, productive cooperation, living security, cultural entertainment, and social control, within a certain range. It partially fills the function requirements blanks that national policy leaves. Meanwhile, it also has several negative functions: It weakened the authority and cohesion of rural grass-roots organizations further; it is liable to be utilized and penetrated by heresies; it may cause sectarian conflicts and damage the solidarity of rural masses; it may threaten the state power if the weakening of grass-roots organizations and the spreading of rural Christianity continue.Based on the analysis hereinbefore, this article put forward three suggestions: Utilize and guide rural Christianity’s positive functions; limit its negative functions; the government should end its functional absence in rural society as soon as possible.