A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS CITIES

Research Project

Project/Area Number	12610186
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	社会学(含社会福祉関係)
Research Institution	OSAKA CITY UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	TANI Tomio Osaka City University, Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (30135040)
Project Period (FY)	2000 – 2001
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2001)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000) Fiscal Year 2001: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000) Fiscal Year 2000: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Keywords	religious city / social contribution / community welfare / 聖なるもの / 都市 / 宗教
Research Abstract	This research intended to explain social functions of religious groups in "religious cities". "Religious city" means that it holds the headquarters of the religious group which have many believers not only nationwide, but also worldwide. This research intended to explain social roles of religious groups to both social structure of the city and citizen's social life, standing on religious integration-conflict function theory. My fields are Tnri-kyo and Tenri City in Nara Prefecture, PL (Perfect Liberty) -kyo and Tondabayashi City in Osaka Prefecture, Omoto and Ayabe City in Kyoto Prefecture, Sukyo-Mahikari and Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture, Konko-kyo and Konko Town in Okayama Prefecture, and Sekai-Mahikari-Bunmei-Kyodan and Shuzenji Town in Shizuoka Prefecture. The Result is that All religions made efforts for social contributions more or less. Especially from Tenri-kyo in Tenri City and PL-kyo in Tondabayashi City, I could get important findings. I could get important findings about participation process of religious groups to city politics, patterns of connection with city government, religious ideal and social action about community contribution, welfare action of religious organization, and social contribution through religious companies.