Simulation Project

Jim Spickard's University of Redlands Website

In October, 2004, I presented an evaluation of the Stark-Finke-Bainbridge-Iannaccone rational-choice model of sectarian behavior at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. The evaluation was be based on a computer model the aggregate effects of individual religious choices. In the trade, this is known as a "Schelling model" -- based on the demonstration by Thomas Schelling that the aggregate result of individual behavior often fails to match those individuals' intentions.

A revised version of that article appeared in a Festschrift for a Norwegian colleague: “Simulating Sects: A Computer Simulation of the Stark-Finke-Bainbridge-Iannaccone Theory of Re¬ligious Markets.” Pp 131-152 in Religion in Late Modernity: Essays in Honor of Pål Repstad, edited by Inger Furseth and Paul Leer-Salveson. Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press, 2007. As that volume is nearly impossible to obtain in the U.S., I'm posting my conference manuscript here (with color diagrams).

Click HERE to see a copy of the paper

I wrote a computer program that embodies the individual choices that Rodney Stark and his colleagues argue form the basis of religious behavior. You are welcome to download the program by clicking on the following link:

Click HERE to download the software (Windows only -- 326K)

Programmers are welcome to examine the program's source code (Delphi/Pascal):

Click HERE to download the Source Code (58K Zip File)

-- Jim Spickard