Religion, social milieu, and the contraceptive revolution

This study examines how the social environment of religious congregations a ffects the spread of contraceptive use in developing contexts, using Mozamb ique as a case study. Analysis of qualitative data collected in urban areas of that country in 1998-99 and of the data from the 1997 Mozambique Demogr aphic and Health Survey suggests that, in urban areas, the environment of m ore socioculturally diverse and inclusive Roman Catholic and mission-based Protestant congregations is more propitious to the spread and legitimizatio n of modern contraception than the milieu of smaller, relatively homogeneou s, independent churches. In rural areas, however sociocultural diversity wi thin and across different religious denominations is minimal, and membershi p in any formal congregation offers an advantage in contraceptive learning.