Identifying the semi-involuntary institution: A clarification

While we welcome the attention devoted to regional variations in African Am erican church participation by Hunt and Hunt (1999), we critique their atte mpt to replicate our recent findings on this issue. We begin by restating k ey elements of the semi-involuntary institution (SI) thesis and briefly sum marizing the empirical evidence bearing on it. We then identify, several em pirical and conceptual problems and limitations of Hunt and Hunt's study We argue that the available evidence tends to support the SI thesis, and we c onclude by emphasizing the links between the SI thesis and more general the oretical developments in the sociology of religion.