How Religious Groups Promote Forgiving: A National Study

A nationally representative survey was conducted of adult Americans who were currently involved in prayer groups, Bible studies, or other religiously oriented small groups. The purpose of the study was to determine if these respondents had engaged in forgiving behavior as a result of being in their group and, if so, to ascertain which group activities were most likely to facilitate this behavior. Of the 1,379 respondents, 61 percent said their group had helped them to forgive someone, 71 percent said they had experienced healings of relationships as a result of their group, and 43 percent said they had worked on improving a broken relationship in recent months. Group activities generating "social capital" or "cultural capital" were mostly unrelated to these responses, while activities involving "emotional capital" and "spiritual capital" showed strong positive relationships. Further analysis suggests that forgiving behavior is especially facilitated by groups that emphasize prayer, sharing, and learning about forgiveness. The study also suggests that forgiving behavior may have such consequences as encouraging prosocial involvement, helping to overcome addictions,and promoting emotional well-being.     

Participation in Religious Groups as a Function of Group Composition: A Self-Attention Perspective1

A self-attention approach to the effect of the group on the individual is applied to the phenomenon of participation in religious groups. Previous work indicates that group members become more self-attentive, and thus more concerned with matching to standards of appropriate behavior, as the relative size of their subgroup decreases. This suggests that, in the context of religious groups, members of a congregation will be more self-attentive, and thus more likely to participate in the religious group, when there are fewer congregation members relative to the number of ministers. The results of analysis of ten archival records of participation in religious groups support this perspective. The importance of self-attention processes in religious group settings is discussed.     

宗教权威视角下的宗教组织变迁——对湘北某基督教堂的个案研究

大街教堂是地处湘北某地的一个基督教堂。该教堂自1999年成立以来,迅速发展成为当地人数最多、影响最大的基督教堂。但是,大街教堂在当地取得迅速增长的同时,也与其他基督教教堂和宗教管理部门之间发生了诸多复杂的互动现象。本研究在详细阐述大街教堂的发展历程和经验事实的基础之上,尝试从"宗教权威"视角来理解这一宗教变迁,并以"宗教权威的建构与表达"为概念工具来把握个案。最后,本文提出了"宗教权威"的定义,并对其加以了进一步讨论。     

Religious Life-Styles and Mental Health: A Follow-Up Study

This study is part of a longitudinal research project designed to discover more about the relations between religious involvement and mental health. It represents a 3-year follow-up on a group of religious young adults. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and by means of a psychological test battery. The results are discussed.     

Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches

Drawing on interviews with 90 young people who have become Witches, we explore the visual media's influence on identity formation and maintenance. Witchcraft is a late modern religion that is highly individualistic and many young people report they have become a Witch without any interaction with other Witches. The rapid growth of interest in this religion among the young since The Craft was first shown provides an important example of the mass media's role in formation of contemporary religious identity. We argue that representations of Witchcraft in the visual mass media (along with other cultural trends such as environmentalism, feminism, and individualism) and cultural resources such as books, Internet sites, and magazines provide a mediated form of social interaction that sustains the plausibility of Witchcraft as a religion. It also helps the young to develop and legitimate their beliefs and practices and develop their Witchcraft persona.     

Why Virginity Pledges Succeed or Fail: The Moderating Effect of Religious Commitment Versus Religious Participation

Over the past two decades, virginity pledges have proliferated in the US, despite mixed results regarding their effectiveness. Few studies have examined possible mechanisms that may shed light on why pledges work for some individuals but not others. Using a sample of emerging-adults aged 18–24 years old (n = 1,380), we examine the influence of religiosity on pledge signing and adherence, specifically whether the effectiveness of pledges is moderated by religiosity. Findings show that while religious participation is positively associated with signing a pledge, there is a moderating effect of religious commitment. That is, when religious commitment is high, adherence to the pledge is greater. However, for pledge signers with low religious commitment, there are unintended negative consequences with regard to increased participation in risky sexual behaviors, whether compared to other people who signed the pledge who are equally committed to their religion or to individuals who have never taken such a pledge. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

The Association Between Church Attendance and Psychological Health in Northern Ireland: A National Representative Survey Among Adults Allowing for Sex Differences and Denominational Difference

This study extends previous research concerning the association between religion and psychological health in six ways: (1) by focusing clearly on religious attendance (church attendance); (2) by employing a robust measure of psychological distress (GHQ-12); (3) by studying a highly religious culture (Northern Ireland); (4) by taking sex differences into account (male or female); (5) by taking denominational differences into account (Catholic or Protestant); (6) and by obtaining a national representative sample (N = 4,281 adults aged 16 and above). Results from a 2 (sex) by 2 (denomination) ANCOVA demonstrated that Catholics recorded significantly lower levels of psychological health compared to Protestants, and that females showed significantly lower levels of psychological health compared to males. In addition, females reported higher frequency of religious service attendance than males, and Catholics reported higher attendance rates than Protestants. A significant positive association was found between frequency of religious attendance and GHQ-12 scores, and this association was moderated by sex and denomination. In conclusion, the results suggest that there may be sex and denominational differences in further understanding the relationship between frequency of religious attendance and psychological health.     

汪洋出席宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会

新华社北京1月27日电中共中央政治局常委、全国政协主席汪洋27日在京出席全国性宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会并讲话。他首先代表中共中央和习近平总书记,向全国宗教界人士和广大信教群众致以新春祝福。他强调,宗教团体是党和政府团结联系宗教界人士和信教群众的桥梁纽带,要认真学习全国宗教工作会议精神,全面贯彻新时代党的宗教工作理论和方针政策,切实加强自身建设,把广大信教群众团结在党和政府周围,为奋进新征程、实现中国梦凝聚正能量。     

汪洋出席宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会

新华社北京2月7日电中共中央政治局常委、全国政协主席汪洋7日在京出席全国性宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会。汪洋首先代表中共中央和习近平总书记,向全国宗教界人士和广大信教群众致以新春祝福。汪洋充分肯定各宗教团体2020年所做工作,对2021年工作提出殷切希望。他强调,各宗教团体要深入学习领会中共十九届五中全会精神,自觉在党和国家事业发展大局中思考和谋划工作,团结信教群众为十四五时期我国发展开好局、起好步贡献力量。     

汪洋出席宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会

新华社北京1月27日电中共中央政治局常委、全国政协主席汪洋27日在京出席全国性宗教团体负责人迎春座谈会并讲话。他首先代表中共中央和习近平总书记,向全国宗教界人士和广大信教群众致以新春祝福。他强调,宗教团体是党和政府团结联系宗教界人士和信教群众的桥梁纽带,要认真学习全国宗教工作会议精神,全面贯彻新时代党的宗教工作理论和方针政策,切实加强自身建设,把广大信教群众团结在党和政府周围,为奋进新征程、实现中国梦凝聚正能量。     

The Association between Religious Discrimination and Health: Disaggregating by Types of Discrimination Experiences,Religious Tradition,and Forms of Health

Research finds that experiences of religious discrimination are often associated with poorer health outcomes. However, there remain important questions to consider gaps, including whether religious discrimination has similar health impacts on religious minority groups and religious majority groups, whether religious discrimination is equally harmful for both mental and physical health, and whether specific types of discrimination have different impacts on health. Using survey data from a probability sample of U.S. adults and measures representing a variety of discrimination experience types, our analyses suggest that religious discrimination is indeed harmful for health, but that experiences of religious discrimination do not universally affect mental and physical health in the same ways. Rather than significant differences in the health impacts of religious discrimination across different religious groups, we find more variation in the health impacts of different types of experiences with discrimination. Further, we find that mental health is negatively impacted by a wider range of experiences with religious discrimination than physical health. These findings are in line with social psychological research on the differential health impacts of discrimination, and they highlight the importance of context in studies of the health effects of religious discrimination.     

Satisfaction and Stressors in a Religious Minority: A National Study of Orthodox Jewish Marriage

The paucity of mental health studies with Orthodox Jews makes culturally competent counseling care unlikely. In this large‐scale investigation of marriage among Orthodox Jews, most respondents reported satisfaction with marriage and spouse, although satisfaction was highest among recently married couples. The most significant stressors were finances, communication, physical intimacy/sexuality, time pressures, and in‐law conflicts. Counseling interventions are discussed. La escasez de estudios sobre salud mental en poblaciones de judíos ortodoxos limita la posibilidad de ofrecer un cuidado de consejería culturalmente competente. En esta investigación a gran escala sobre el matrimonio entre judíos ortodoxos, la mayoría de los participantes indicaron satisfacción con su matrimonio y esposo/a, aunque la satisfacción fue mayor entre las parejas recién casadas. Los elementos estresantes más significativos fueron las finanzas, la comunicación, el contacto íntimo/sexualidad, la falta de tiempo, y los conflictos con la familia política. Se discuten intervenciones para la consejería.     

Religiosity and Religious Participation in the Later Years:

This paper provides a brief overview of the relevant literature dealing w~thre ligiosity in the later years. In this study, reli iosity is reflected by participation in various religious activities suck as prayer, church membership/attendance, Bible and religious reading. Social erontolo ists have observed that individuals become more invoP ved .In re figiou s activities (is., increased religiosity) as they age. In a later section, this paper examines the si nifi cance of religous participation and the spir~tuanl eeds of the el&rlyI However, there is a paucity of literature dealing with the spiritual needs of the elderly and other related areas of interest, such as church attendance and religious beliefs. Issues dealin with religiosity and the spiritual needs of the elderly are examinefin the present study and remain unresolved.     

Cultural and Religious Variation in Attitudes to Young People Consenting to Health Interventions

There is a limited amount of empirical data available regarding the cultural and religious variation in perceptions about the age when young people should be regarded as competent to make decisions in health settings. A public survey of 400 adults from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds was conducted in the UK and Spain. Attitudes were assessed using case vignettes. It was found that high religious practice was associated with recommending a higher age of consent for medical interventions. White British adults were more likely than Spanish adults to agree that younger adolescents should be allowed to consent to medical interventions. The study suggests that there is social, cultural and religious variation in adults’ attitudes regarding the age when youngsters should consent to health interventions.

     

Social Justice and Religious Participation: A Qualitative Investigation of Christian Perspectives

This investigation examines how self-identified Christians in the Midwest U.S. understand and work for social justice, with a focus on their process of social justice development and the role of religious congregations in promoting social justice. Using a grounded theory analysis of 15 in-depth interviews, results indicated multiple understandings of social justice such as meeting basic needs, fixing social structures and systems to create equal distributions of resources, promoting human rights and dignity, and as a religious responsibility. Participants also described a process of social justice development facilitated by exposure to injustice, mentors, educating others, and the importance of finding a social justice community. Distinct personal barriers to social justice engagement were identified such as resources and negative emotions, whereas congregational leadership was important for congregational involvement. General frustration with congregations was expressed regarding low social justice engagement; however, participants balanced this frustration with hope for the positive potential of congregations to promote social justice. Together these findings show multifaceted understandings of social justice and a dynamic process of social justice development for these self-identified Christians. Implications for future research and partnership with religious individuals and congregations also are discussed.