American and British Clergy Attitudes Towards Marketing Activities: A Comparative Study

Churches, in both the US and the UK, are increasingly seen to be engaging in what have been termed marketing activities. A small of studies have investigated the degree to which clergy in the US view the use of rnarketing techniques as acceptable and appropriate. This article rnakes a contribution to the continuing debate surrounding the use of marketing in a church setting by comparing the extent to which American and British clergy views differ: Results indicate that, in general, British clergy are rnore reluctant to countenance the use of merketing techniques within a church context, although a small number of exceptions emerged. In particular; British clergy appeared to be rnore accepting of changes made to the presentation of church doctrine, given changs in society's views of acceptable behaviour.