Religious Schools and Discipline

Recently there has been a growing interest in faith-based schools (see e.g. The Times , No. 67060, 2 December 2001, pp. 1, 4). Politicians have indicated a willingness to support such schools on the assumption that religion may make a positive contribution to schooling. It is not at all self-evident that there is a clear inter-relationship between religion and education on which the assumption can be grounded. In what follows I shall seek to explore one sphere in which religion can have a bearing on schooling, notably on its understanding and practice of discipline. Before the specifically religious impact can be explored, the complex nature of discipline and reward/punishment in school is examined. The philosophy of behaviourism is rejected as inadequate for the processes of education, not least because of the insights of Nietzsche and Plato. The analysis leads to the identification of three very distinct forms of discipline, namely, authoritarian, moral and 'Socratic'. Whilst in practice schools may resort to all three, they would not necessarily do so in a coherent way as the authoritarian and moral forms of discipline are, in important respects, incompatible. The understanding of what religion is, is also shown to be of a varied nature. Differing views and features of religion can serve to reinforce the school as an authoritarian, moral or 'Socratic' community. Whilst the inherent authoritarianism of religion and the ethical dimension of religion are well known, a 'Kierkegaardian' view of religion would have strong affinities with 'Socratic' discipline and help to support the view of the school as a community for all.     

Making Space for a Dialogical Notion of Religious Subjects: A Critical Discussion From the Perspective of Postsecularity and Religious Change in the West

In this article I address some topical themes from the ongoing discussion on contemporary religious change in the West and how it poses conceptual challenges to the study of religion. The academic discussion on religious change is vast and my observations are, of course, by necessity limited to my particular interest and argument in this article. On the one hand, I draw on some of the literature that has evolved within and around the concept of postsecularity and, on the other, on more general literature on contemporary religious change. Based on some selected observations, I underline the need to critically rethink how we conceptualize both religion and religious subjects. In my view, current research fosters a greater attentiveness of complexity with regard to religion, but simultaneously it requires us to take seriously a dialogical notion of religious subjects that provides a conceptual account of a subject constituted by being located within and emerging through ongoing social process. This dialogical notion provides a better tool for how current social and cultural reconfigurations of religion are simultaneously played out as a diversity of identities that challenge received categories, such as the religious and the secular.     

A Theory of Religious Accommodation

abstract    This paper examines the moral case for a right to religious accommodation, which requires that religious conduct be free of any serious burdens placed on it by the state. Two different types of normative argument for this right are outlined and rejected. The first appeals to religion as a 'basic good', and the second to religion as an 'intense preference'. In place of these, I suggest that a third type of argument has greater prospects of success. Religious accommodation is justified on the grounds that religious conduct is a 'derivative good'— that is, it derives its value from its being necessary for something else, namely, the integrity of the religious person.     

Religion,Religious Tradition,and Nationalism: Jewish Revival in Poland and “Religious Heritage” in Québec

This article uses and develops Martin Riesebrodt's distinction between religion and religious tradition to shed light on the making of various articulations of religious identities and political projects. Based on extensive research on the Polish and Québécois cases, I show how social and state actors in these societies reactivate past religious traditions to respond to current social transformations and articulate societal projects and advance political agendas in the present. In both cases, religion and religious tradition are juxtaposed to articulate new national identities or fortify older ones, and to respond more specifically to the challenges posed by “pluralism.” I suggest that sociologists who work at the intersection of religion and politics can contribute to our understanding of the various registers through which religion, religious action, and religious tradition are rendered meaningful to social actors, used for different goals (religious and not) and transformed in the process.     

Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors

An impressive research literature has emerged that identifies linkages between religion and a wide range of attitudes, behaviors, and life events. One of the recurrent themes in this literature is that religion may operate as a force both for reducing antisocial behaviors and for increasing prosocial behaviors. We build upon this research by examining survey data of inmates at a large southeastern prison facility to determine whether religiosity can reduce the odds of frequent inmate arguing and fighting. Overall, our results indicate that religiosity directly reduces the likelihood of arguing and indirectly reduces the likelihood of fighting. We conclude that the efficacy of religiosity and religious programs for individuals in prison rests on whether they can promote basic prosocial behaviors.     

Religious authority and the transmission of abstract god concepts

According to the Standard Model account of religion, religious concepts tend to conform to “minimally counterintuitive” schemas. Laypeople may, to varying degrees, verbally endorse the abstract doctrines taught by professional theologians. But, outside the Sunday school exam room, the implicit representations that tend to guide people’s everyday thinking, feeling, and behavior are about minimally counterintuitive entities. According to the Standard Model, these implicit representations are the essential thing to be explained by the cognitive science of religion (CSR). It is argued here that this theoretical orientation of mainstream CSR misses a whole dimension of religiosity—the acceptance of certain religious authorities, that is, the acceptance of other people’s superior expertise. Average believers (especially in doctrinal traditions) tend to accept the authority of religious experts who espouse highly counterintuitive ideas that they (the laypeople) understand in a distorted form, if at all. These highly counterintuitive ideas are culturally successful because laypeople see them as being justified by people they have reason to regard as epistemic authorities. The tendency for people to endorse (without fully understanding) highly counterintuitive religious ideas espoused by intellectuals may explain parallels in the development of separate traditions (e.g., Judaism and Hinduism), as religious philosophers follow parallel lines of reasoning.     

Religious Deprivatisation in Modern Greece

Comparative surveys suggest that generational replacement has negative implications for the future of religion in Europe. Using Greece as a critical case, it is argued here that focusing only on the aggregate levels of personal commitment can lead to such exaggerated pessimism. This note shifts empirical attention to show how religious authority remains relevant in society despite declining trends in individual religiosity. Preliminary findings are based on a multi-dimensional definition of religious change, which includes the scope of church authority in the public sphere. European Values Study (EVS) data from 1999 suggest that societal modernisation is not a uniformly negative influence on religion, at least when the investigation moves beyond levels of individual commitment.     

The Significance of Religion in Lasting Marriages

ABSTRACT

The significance of religion in marriage has been studied in different ways. The research on which this paper is based used in-depth interviews to explore the significance of religion to a culturally diverse sample of husbands and wives who had been married to each other for over 20 years (M = 35.25, SD = 8.25). We asked individual spouses to discuss the importance to unimportance of religion in their marriages and the role that it may have played in their relationships. Both quantitative and qualitative procedures were used. An analysis of demographic and relational factors that may have shaped the importance of religion in recent years is presented. A second level of analysis was then employed to identify themes about the significance of religion in these marriages from the perspectives of each spouse. Three themes were identified: mixed to no significance of religion on marriage, religion as supportive and emerging spirituality.     

The Making of the Reliably Religious Boy

In Men, Religion, and Melancholia: James, Otto, Jung, and Erikson (D. Capps, 1997) and Men and Their Religion: Honor, Hope, and Humor (D. Capps, 2002), I argued that men are no less religious than women, but their religiousness is different from that of women because it has its psychological origins in the emotional separation between a boy and his mother around the ages of three to five. Employing Freud’s “Mourning and Melancholia” (S. Freud, 1917/1963) essay, I suggested that their religiousness is rooted in an ontological state of melancholy (which is different from the psychological state of depression). In Men and Their Religion I identified the religions of honor and of hope as the primary forms of male melancholic religion, and suggested that humor is a third form that may come to one’s assistance when one experiences the limitations of the other two religions. In this article, I focus on my own early adolescent years (age 11–14) and explain how one boy became reliably religious, that is, how he embraced or internalized the religions of honor and of hope. In the companion article, I will explain how these two religions were relativized—and thereby preserved—by the religion of humor.     

Religious Belonging,Religious Agency,and Women's Autonomy in Mozambique

Women's autonomy has frequently been linked with women's opportunities and investments, such as education, employment, and reproductive control. The association between women's autonomy and religion in the developing world, however, has received less attention, and the few existing studies make comparisons across major religious traditions. In this study, we focus on variations in levels of female decision‐making autonomy within a single religious tradition—Christianity. Using unique survey data from a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique, we devise an autonomy scale and apply it to compare women affiliated with different Christian denominations as well as unaffiliated women. In addition to affiliation, we examine the relationship between autonomy and women's religious agency both within and outside their churches. Multivariate analyses show that women belonging to more liberal religious traditions (such as Catholicism and mainline Protestantism) tend to have higher autonomy levels, regardless of other factors. These results are situated within the cross‐national scholarship on religion and women's empowerment and are interpreted in the context of gendered religious dynamics in Mozambique and similar developing settings.     

Confidence in Religious Leaders in Korea: A Research Note

Korea may provide an important testing ground for assessing religious growth as a correlate of religious authority. In Korea from 1985 to 1995, all religious groups experienced growth, but from 1995 to 2005 only the Catholic population did so. Favorable images of Korean Catholicism compared to other Korean religions point to one factor that may account for this trend, namely, confidence in religious leaders. Up to now there has been no empirical test measuring confidence in religious leaders among different religious groups in Korea. Using the 2003–2007 Korean General Social Surveys cumulative data, we found a hierarchy of confidence in religious leaders ranging from highest to lowest as follows: Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, no religion. Our finding may suggest the continued vitality of Catholicism in Korea.     

Christian Ethics,Religious Ethics,and Secular Ethics: A Contemporary Reappraisal

In this essay, I argue that Christian ethicists should not think of themselves as religious ethicists. I defend this claim by arguing that the concept of religious ethics, as it has come to be understood as a discipline that is distinct from secular ethics, is incoherent. In part one, I describe the fraught attempts by theologians in the 20th century to identify the distinctiveness of Christian ethics. In part two, I argue that certain accounts of natural law unwittingly reinforce a problematic conception of secular ethics. Part three examines some trends in religious studies and comparative religious ethics to highlight problematic conceptions of religion. Drawing together these strands of inquiry, I contend that that the secular-religious dichotomy in contemporary ethics should be rejected, but by the same token, I suggest that comparative ethics remains a worthwhile enterprise.     

Religious integration in a residential treatment center

Summary After many years of service to the community, the Children's Home of Baltimore recently admitted its first Jewish child. While the basic content of the youngster's feelings and behavior, both prior and subsequent to placement, has been no different from that of a number of other children with similar backgrounds, it has been expressed in a fashion colored by the history of the agency and the child's religion. The psychological phenomena that have been witnessed have been no different from those seen in a host of other children; only the choice of a mode of expression has been altered. Some of this behavior, as well as verbalizations during the treatment sessions, has been characterized by unconscious feelings focused on the issue of religion. On other occasions, the boy has made conscious attempts to use this to his own advantage, to curry favor or to gain privileges denied others.The history of the home, with its beginnings rooted in Christian charitable endeavors, has provided a background against which may be viewed the chameleon-like quality of these psychological processes as they take on the coloration of the environment.     

Religious Appeals and Implicit Attitudes

This article explores the effects of religious appeals by politicians on attitudes and behavior. Although politicians frequently make religious appeals, the effectiveness of these appeals and the mechanisms of persuasion are unknown. This article explores the possibility that religious language can affect political attitudes through implicit processes. Because religious attachments are formed early in the lives of many Americans, religious language may influence citizens without their awareness. Implicit and explicit attitudes are related but distinct constructs, and implicit attitudes may have behavioral implications in the political realm. I test these hypotheses experimentally, relying on a widely used implicit measure, the Implicit Association Test. I find that a Christian religious appeal affects implicit attitudes and political behavior among people who currently or previously identify as Christian. Furthermore, an explicit preference for less religion in politics does not moderate implicit effects.     

Tinkering with Technology and Religion in the Digital Age: The Effects of Internet Use on Religious Belief,Behavior, and Belonging

Internet technology presents a new conceptual reality, one that could potentially challenge religion in subtle but distinct ways. Few sociologists of religion, however, have attempted to evaluate whether using the Internet impacts the way people think about and practice religion. This article elaborates on the concept of “tinkering” discussed by Berger, Berger, and Kellner (1974), Turkle (1997), and Wuthnow (2010) to argue that Internet use affects how people think about and affiliate with religious traditions. Using data from Wave III of the Baylor Religion Survey (2010), I find that Internet use is associated with increases in being religiously unaffiliated and decreases in religious exclusivism. At the same time, I find that television viewing is linked to decreases in religious attendance and other time‐related religious activities, but these outcomes are not impacted by Internet use. To explain these disparate findings, I argue that the Internet is fundamentally different from previous technologies like television and thus impacts religious beliefs and belonging but not time‐related religious activities.     

Religious doubt,financial strain,and depressive symptoms among older Mexican Americans

A number of studies suggest that various positive aspects of religion help older people cope more effectively with stress. However, the literature further indicates that religion may have negative as well as positive influences in the stress process. This suggests that instead of enhancing coping efforts, religion may also exacerbate the effects of stress. The purpose of this study was to see if one negative aspect of religion (i.e., religious doubt) exacerbates the effects of financial strain on depressive symptoms among older Mexican Americans. A nationwide survey of 1005 older Mexican Americans was conducted. The findings suggest that the effects of financial strain on depressive symptoms are stronger for older Mexican Americans who have more doubts about religion. This study aims to contribute to the literature by assessing the negative aspects of religion with data provided by an ethnic group that has been largely overlooked in the literature.     

Religion in the Israeli Parliament: a typology

Because religion has been a constant source of social divisions and political conflicts, the role of Judaism in Israel is very often studied through the prism of a rigid religious–secular cleavage.Without denying the contentious character of religion in the political and social arenas, I suggest in this study that a closer look at the usages of religion in Israeli politics offers a more nuanced picture of the role of Judaism in Israel. In order to uphold this thesis, I identify the main usages of Judaism in the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) and scrutinise the extent to which these different mobilisations overlap or crosscut the secular–religious cleavage. This analysis leads to a typology of three usages of religion: religion as a source of authority, religion as a marker of identity and nation, and religion as a source of values. On this basis, I demonstrate that the role of religion in Israel and especially in the Israeli Parliament cannot be reduced to the divide between religious and secular groups. If in its first usage, the religious–secular cleavage indeed predominates, the use of religion as an identity marker does not necessarily lead to a conflict with secular members, while in its final form, religion is mobilised as a resource by members of both groups.     

Public Reason, Religious Restraint and Respect

In recent years liberals have had much to say about the kinds of reasons that citizens should offer one another when they engage in public political debates about existing or proposed laws. One of the more notable claims that has been made by a number of prominent liberals is that citizens should not rely on religious reasons alone when persuading one another to support or oppose a given law or policy. Unsurprisingly, this claim is rejected by many religious citizens, including those who are also committed to liberalism. In this paper I revisit that debate and ask whether liberal citizens have a moral obligation not to explain their support for existing or proposed laws on the basis of religious reasons alone. I suggest that for most (ordinary) citizens no such obligation exists and that individuals are entitled to explain their support for a specific law and to persuade others of the merits of that law on the basis of religious reasons alone (though there may be sound prudential reasons for not doing so). My argument is grounded in the claim that in most instances advocating laws on the basis of religious reasons alone is consistent with treating citizens with equal respect. However, I acknowledge an exception to that claim is to be found when using religious reasons to justify a law also implies that the state endorses those reasons. For this reason I argue that there is a moral obligation for some (publicly influential) citizens, and especially those who hold public office, to refrain from explaining their support for existing or proposed laws on the basis of religious reasons. I conclude by suggesting that this understanding of the role of religion in public political discourse and the obligations of liberal citizens is a better reflection of our experience of liberal citizenship than that given in some well-known accounts of liberalism.     

"Killing the Messenger": Religious Black Gay Men's Neutralization of Anti-Gay Religious Messages

I use cognitive dissonance theory as a framework to examine coping strategies used by men endeavoring to maintain a coherent sense of themselves as gay Christians. Using interviews with black gay Christian men, I uncover a strategy used to maintain that identity in the face of stigmatizing religious rhetoric. While these men have managed to reconcile their religious and sexual identities, sermons delivered by church leaders disrupt that reconciliation, causing them to have to neutralize these anxiety-inducing attitudes. This study shows that they focus accusations of illegitimacy on the speaker rather than the doctrine by denigrating the speakers' knowledge, morality, focus, and motivations. In this way, they neutralize the sting of churches' negative messages by neutralizing the moral authority of the churches' messengers. These findings offer new insight into how parishioners persist in religious communities in which their sexual behaviors or identities are condemned.