Another limitation is that we were restricted to a twenty-year time frame
for the analysis. While significant changes in the social and economic fabric
of our society occurred over this time period, a trend comparison with other
time periods (e.g., the 1950s and 1960s) would provide more depth to the
analysis. A related limitation is that surveys of this type cannot measure his-
toric events and their impact on psychological trauma, economic conditions,
and religiosity.
We hope to initiate a dialogue to bridge the gap between critical theory
and positivistic social sciences. One of the problems involved in doing so is
how to take a dialectical theory and test it. In dialectical relationships, there
are “feedback loops” and these feedback loops need to be operationalized.
Such analyses would require various nonrecursive models to estimate recip-
rocal effects. We invite others to test the hypothesis of a critical theory of reli-
gion with survey research and data analysis.
352 • David Gay, Warren S. Goldstein, and Anna Campbell Buck