Attribution of Religious Commitment: Differences Between the Religious and the Nonreligious

Abstract

Investigators of linguistic devices such as minimal responses have assumed their function, neglecting to examine the matter empirically. This study introduces a technique enabling the identification of the function of such responses. With stereophonic recordings of conversation between two people, it was possible to delete minimal responses from an original recording. Eighty British students heard either an original recording or an edited version in which minimal responses had been deleted and were asked to make judgments about various aspects of the interaction. Results indicate minimal responses served to denote agreement and to suggest a context of informality.     

Assessing Religious Faith in Medical Patients: Cross-Validation of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire

Growing attention has focused on the relationship between religiosity and health outcomes. However, research has been constrained by the limited availability of measures suitable for use with medical patients. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) in two well-defined samples of medical patients, representing a range of illness severity: 1) 175 women seen at a gynecology clinic; and 2) 104 cancer patients treated at a bone marrow transplantation program. Evidence for convergent validity was demonstrated by moderately high correlations with other measures of religious involvement. Divergent validity was demonstrated by small associations with social desirability. The measure was not strongly associated with demographic background or medical variables. Modest correlations with conceptually-related measures commonly used in health research (e.g., social support, optimism, existential meaning, purpose in life) further supported the divergent validity of the instrument. Results suggest that this may be a useful, concise measure for assessing religious involvement in medical patients.     

Adolescent Identity Formation: Religious Exploration and Commitment

Two studies investigated links between adolescents' attempts to deal with religious issues, in particular, religious doubt and identity development. Identity status was measured by the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989; Adams, Shea, & Fitch, 1979), which is based on crisis-exploration and commitment. Study 1 involved 132 university students, and Study 2 included 937 senior high school students. Identity achievement scores were linked to seeking out both belief-confirming consultation (BCC) and belief-threatening consultation (BTC) for religious doubts. Moratorium scores were modestly related to more religious doubting and lack of religious commitment, and also with avoidance of BCC. More foreclosed people were more religiously committed and less doubtful of religious teachings. Doubt consultation for the foreclosed tended to involve belief-confirming sources and avoidance of belief-threatening resources. More diffused individuals tended to experience more religious doubts, be religiously uncommitted, disagree with religious teachings, and avoid both BCC and BTC. Also, identity achievement was positively related to healthy personal adjustment, whereas diffusion was negatively related to healthy personal adjustment. Discussion focuses on the ways in which the concurrent and longitudinal patterns of identity-religion links in these studies support the conceptualization of identity formation and the role that religion plays in the identity process.     

Locke and Leibniz on Religious Faith

In the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke maintains that ‘Reason must be our last Judge and Guide in every Thing,’ including matters of religious faith, and this commitment to the primacy of reason is not abandoned in his later religious writings. This essay argues that with regard to the relation between reason and religious faith, Locke is primarily concerned not with evidence, but with consistency, meaning, and how human beings ought to respond to their inclinations, including their inclinations to believe. Leibniz, on the other hand, stakes out an alternative conception of the relationship between faith and reason that assigns to faith the role of a primary truth. For Leibniz, some religious propositions can be believed immediately and without an additional examination and evaluation by reason. The essay maintains that the differences between the two regarding faith and reason are tied to a broader disagreement about how much of the human understanding is due, in Locke's words, to ‘Labour, Attention and Industry’.     

彝族“伙头制”与宗教信仰——以云南省永仁县中和乡直苴村调查为中心

本文以云南直苴村为个案,通过田野调查,从彝族村落组织伙头制的组织形式、伙头主持的原始宗教祭祀活动等为切入点,探讨彝族村寨组织(伙头制)与宗教信仰在彝族社会生活中的作用.直苴村彝族正是通过伙头制与伙头主持祭祀的神灵一起来对村落日常社会生活进行规范,从而达到禳灾祈福、护佑村落、和谐生活的目的.同时把祖先有关的神话故事传说粘连在宗教祭祀仪式中,在伙头担任者与伙头主持祭祀的神灵的禁忌中,凝聚对其祖先的历史记忆和族群认同.     

信仰与暴力——关于宗教恐怖主义的一般理论

2001年的"91·1"事件之后,宗教成为了所谓"第四波恐怖主义浪潮"的主要动力。宗教与恐怖主义之间的联系是内在的,这既体现于漫长的历史河流中,又可以从宗教体系本身找到根源。宗教恐怖主义的核心概念包括"宇宙战争"、"表演性暴力"等。宗教与恐怖主义的联系,主要因于其认同和意识形态功能。在恐怖主义的框架中,宗教主要表现为一种政治意识形态。而且,由于其超自然的联系,宗教比一般的世俗意识形态更具煽动性,也更具影响力。宗教恐怖主义的本质则在于政治暴力或暴力政治的概念。     

Sexuality and Religious Commitment in the United States: An Empirical Examination

I provide an empirical assessment of the religious commitments of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in the United States. I compare the religiosity of gay men and lesbians and bisexuals to each other and to male and female heterosexuals, while controlling for a host of sociodemographic factors that may contribute to differences across the gender/sexuality groups. To accomplish this, I examine data from the 1991–2000 General Social Surveys (GSS). During this period, the GSS asked respondents for the sex of their sex partners over the last five years. The GSS finds that 4.3 percent of men and 3.1 percent of women report same-sex sexual partners in the five years preceding the interview—this is a larger proportion than members of "other" races, Episcopalians, or Jews. I find that gay men have high rates of religious participation, while lesbians and bisexuals have significantly lower rates of participation. Nonheterosexuals are more likely to become apostates when compared to female heterosexuals, but no more so than are heterosexual men. My findings are at odds with religious pundits who suggest that alternative sexuality mixes with religion more often for females than for males. The results are in concert with contemporary theories regarding the formation of religious preferences, and risk preferences and religiosity.     

Religious and Gender Prototypes

Heterogeneous groups of subjects using free responses and ratings of gender- based traits show that the religious and non-religious prototypes are gender typed, since people assign feminine traits to a religious person and masculine traits to a non-religious person. Not only are women more religious than men, but these prototypes make it easier for women to be religious than it is for men.     

论信、信念、信仰、宗教信仰的特征及意义

“信”植根于人性之中并且是人之生存、思考和行动的基础。研究信、信念、信仰、宗教信仰的含义、特点及其相互关系具有重要的理论意义和现实意义。信仰作为一种具有超越性的人生终极价值,在很大程度上是和宗教观念联系在一起的。宗教信仰具有个体性、选择性、神圣性等特征。信仰(包括宗教信仰)对人生的重大影响主要表现在:为人生提供终极的基础;为人们提供价值体系中的“应当的应当”;对道德进行聚合和圣化;给人生带来无限的希望;使人生获得真正的自由。     

泰山娘娘与女性宗教信仰

泰山娘娘信仰的核心问题是女性问题。妇女是泰山娘娘信众中的"主力军",在泰山娘娘信仰的传播和兴盛中发挥着重要作用。同时,泰山娘娘信仰也极大地满足了广大女性的宗教信仰的心理需要。     

The Commitment Process in a Religious Commune: The Shakers

Focusing on the Shakers and using census data, this paper quantitatively examines influences on religious commitment and the way these influences differed between new and veteran members. Whereas personal characteristics (age, sex, nativity, and occupation) were the primary sources of influence on the commitment of veteran members, new recruits were also influenced by interpersonal and organizational factors (kinship ties, social bonds, and membership in leading groups). The differential effect of influences on commitment illustrates the nature of the commitment process in a religious commune.     

Implications of Religious Identity Salience,Religious Involvement,and Religious Commitment on Aggression

Social identity can affect perceptions of external threats and the type of response elicited to those threats. Religion is a social identity with eternal group membership and revered beliefs and values; thus, religious identity salience, religious commitment, and religious involvement may have implications for aggressive responses to perceived threats to a person’s religious identity. In a sample of 176 Christians, Muslims, and Jews, we investigated whether people respond aggressively to collective threat as a function of religious identity salience, religious commitment, and religious involvement. Religious commitment was positively related to anger only when religious identity was salient. Religious involvement was negatively related to anger and hostility only when religious identity was salient. Religious identity salience appears to act as a moderator by either enhancing perceptions of threat or by activating internal religious beliefs and values.     

Transitional Faith: A Developmental Step Toward Religious Maturity

Nonjudgmental exploration of religious concerns may be a vital component of psychotherapy with religiously oriented clients. This article summarizes a recent stage model of psycho-religious functioning that was developed to help psychotherapists work with religious material in clinical practice. Following this introduction a case study is presented that illustrates my clinical work with a young woman in the transitional stage of development. The presentation depicts the entanglement of her spiritual struggles with her emotional and interpersonal conflicts. Because transitional faith is a pivotal point in the developmental spectrum, counselors and therapists working with clients in this stage can play a key role in promoting clients' spiritual development.     

Fields of Faith: Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-First Century

Books reviewed:
David F. Ford, Ben Quash and Janet Martin Soskice, eds., Fields of Faith: Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-First Century. Reviewed by Gavin D'Costa University of Bristol