Exploring the trajectory of personal,moral and spiritual values of 16- to 18-year-old students taking religious studies at A level in the UK

This study set out to explore the trajectory of personal, moral and spiritual values of students taking Religious Studies at A level in the UK. A sample of 150 students completed a battery of measures at the beginning of their period of A level study and again at the end. The data found no difference over this period of time in personal values (purpose in life, self-esteem, and empathy) in some moral values (concerning anti-social behaviour and concerning substance use) and in levels of religious exclusivism or frequency of private prayer. The areas in which significant differences were observed were concerned with attitude toward sex and relationships, religious pluralism, belief in life after death, and mystical orientation. Between the ages of 16 and 18 years, following two years’ engagement with Religious Studies at A level, the participants became more liberal in their approach toward sex and relationships, less convinced about the truth claims of religious pluralism, less likely to adhere to traditional Christian teaching on life after death, and less open to mystical experience. They are also less certain of ever having had a religious experience, and less frequent in their practice of religious attendance.     

A multiple case study of teachers referring to their own religious beliefs in mathematics teaching

There is a need to integrate religious education and spiritual education across school curriculum. This paper reports one of the few empirical studies on bridging the intention-practice gap in classrooms. Six school teachers deliberately designed and implemented mathematics lessons which referred to their own religious beliefs in teaching. It unfolds teachers’ intention to enact their religious beliefs in mathematics classroom teaching. Different modes were identified. Implications to religious education in schools are offered.     

Religion as a source of variation in the experience of positive and negative emotions

In a series of three studies, we examined the ways in which religion informs the individual experience and valuation of emotions. In Study 1, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish participants (N = 7231) in 49 nations reported the frequency with which they experienced nine discrete emotions. Results indicate group level differences in the frequency with which different emotions are experienced. Study 2 examined whether the patterns of emotional experiences found in Study 1 replicated in the valuation of those emotions by the adherents of those different religious traditions. Study 3 experimentally manipulated the salience of religious identity to examine the effect of religion on the current experience of emotions. Across the studies, findings provide evidence that religion (e.g., Christianity, Buddhism, etc) is related to the experience of, and beliefs about, emotional states. Implications for the study of happiness and positive psychology are discussed in light of the findings.     

Religiosity and Spirituality: A Psychometric Evaluation of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire

The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) was administered to 124 undergraduate college students attending a private Catholic university and the result was compared to measures of spirituality, religious behavior, religious coping, and affect. The present study found that the SCSORF was strongly related to spirituality, in particular, seeking support from one's spirituality. However, the SCSORF was not correlated with an openness to new spiritual experiences. The SCSORF was also related to religious behavior and religious coping. The SCSORF was not related to affect, indicating that scores on the SCSORF were not affect-dependent. Results from this study provide additional evidence that the SCSORF is a reliable and valid measure of religious faith.     

How Science Is a Resource and a Challenge for Religion: Perspective of a Theologian

Religion is characterized by the attempt to create a worldview, which is in effect the effort of worldbuilding. By this I mean that religion aims to focus on all of the elements that make up a person's world or a community's world and put those elements together in a manner that actually constructs a total picture that gives meaning and coherence to life. In this activity of worldbuilding, science and religion meet each other at the deepest level. Science makes a fundamental contribution to this worldbuilding effort and also poses a challenge. There are good grounds for this twofold role of science: (1) scientific knowledge is basic to any worldview in our time, and (2) science and its related technology engender new and often confusing experiences that require inclusion in any worldbuilding.
The challenge of science is that its contribution does not easily accommodate worldbuilding because of the factors of chance, indeterminacy, blind evolution, and heat death that are ascertained through scientific knowledge. Science is a resource for us in that the features of its knowledge can lend actuality and credibility to worldbuilding.
Religion needs science for its worldbuilding if its interpretations are to be credible and possess vivid actuality. Science needs religion because, unless its knowledge is incorporated into meaningful worldbuilding, science forfeits its standing as a humanistic enterprise and instead may count as an antihuman methodology and body of knowledge.     

Religious Faith and Substance Problems in Undergraduate College Students: A Replication

The present study examined the relations between religious faith and alcohol and drug problems in undergraduate college students at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire—Short Form and the Alcohol Problems and Drug Problems scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory were given to 303 undergraduate students. Findings indicated that religious faith was inversely associated with drug and alcohol problems in both males and females. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Strength of Religious Faith: A Comparison of Intercollegiate Athletes and Non-Athletes

This pilot study explored the strength of religious faith in a sample of intercollegiate athletes and non-athletes. Participants were 226 undergraduate students (57 athletes) at the University of Florida who were enrolled in undergraduate courses. Strength of religious beliefs were assessed with the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith—Short Form. Findings indicate that athletes reported higher levels of religious faith than non-athletes. Implications of these findings on future research and applied sport practice are discussed.     

Why philosophy and history matter: A conversation with Ann Taves

The article picks up some ideas that Ann Taves presents in her book Religious Experience Reconsidered, and looks at possible conversations that are not fleshed out in detail in Taves’ book. In particular, it is argued that the disciplinary confrontation with philosophy and with historiography is of crucial importance if the disciplines of cognitive science and psychology of religion want to become in the future what they pretend to be now—a serious alternative and complement to the study of religion as we know it from other contexts, such as cultural studies and historiography.     

Debunking Arguments and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Do the cognitive origins of our theistic beliefs debunk them or explain them away? This paper develops an empirically motivated debunking argument and defends it against objections. First, we introduce the empirical and epistemological background. Second, we develop and defend the main argument, the debunking argument from false god beliefs. Third, we characterize and evaluate the most prominent religious debunking argument to date: the debunking argument from insensitivity. It is found that insensitivity-based arguments are problematic, which makes them less promising than the debunking argument from false god beliefs.     

SOBIG: A Symposium on Belief in God

The following is a fictional account of a symposium on the age-old topic of belief in God. Organized by faculty members at a religion-based academy called the “Immutable Creeds University” (ICU), the goal of the Symposium was to generate candid discussion on two major questions of interest to both traditional theology and the contemporary cognitive sciences: (1) Why do people believe in God? and (2) Is that belief justified? Responses to these questions were posed and discussed by representatives of: (a) Pre-scientific creedal Christianity, (b) Scientifically informed Christian theology, and (c) Comprehensive naturalism. These three points of view also represent the succession of stages experienced by the author in his personal (and occasionally turbulent) worldview journey. For this reason, some readers may wish to read the author's closing remarks first.     

Sleep Quality and the Stress‐Buffering Role of Religious Involvement: A Mediated Moderation Analysis

Although several studies have documented an inverse association between stressful events and sleep quality, much less is known about the factors that might moderate or buffer against the adverse effects of psychosocial stress on sleep. Building on previous research, we employ national cross‐sectional survey data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey (n= 1,410) to test whether the association between recent stressful events and sleep quality varies according to several dimensions of religious involvement. We also formally assess whether any attenuation of the association between stressful events and sleep quality is at least partially mediated or explained by lower levels of depressive symptoms (mediated moderation). Our moderation analyses indicate that the inverse association between stressful events and sleep quality is in fact attenuated by religious cognitions (secure attachment to God and assurance of salvation), but not religious attendance or private religiousness. We also observe direct evidence of mediated moderation through depressive symptoms for both religious cognitions. Taken together, our results demonstrate that religious cognitions may buffer against stress‐related sleep disturbance by helping people avoid symptoms of depression.     

Assessing Belief in the 10 Commandments: The Multidimensional 10 Commandments Questionnaire

Instruments designed to assess various aspects of religion are widespread, but few have been constructed to assess specific religious values and beliefs. The purpose of the present research was to address this limitation by providing preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the Multidimensional 10 Commandments Questionnaire (M10CQ), a self-report instrument that measures belief in the 10 Commandments. Data from three separate samples provided evidence supporting the reliability (i.e., internal consistency) of the M10CQ subscales. Other results indicated that women endorsed many of the 10 Commandments more strongly than men, and that various Commandments predicted people’s mental health (less hostility), their parenting style (more authoritarian and authoritative parenting), and their interpersonal attachments (a more trusting bond with others). The findings reported in this research help to identify the ways in which religious values and beliefs are integrated with multiple aspects of people’s lives. The discussion highlights the usefulness of the Multidimensional 10 Commandments Questionnaire (M10CQ) for studying religious beliefs and values.

Dancing faith: contemporary Christian dance in Norway

ABSTRACT

Although dance is a common religious expression, its place in the Christian tradition has been contested. In modern Protestant Norway, dance has mostly been considered irrelevant to church life or even sinful. In recent decades, however, dance has become increasingly common in Norwegian churches. The present analysis of empirical data on dance in Christian settings in contemporary Norway is based on participant observation and interviews. While younger dancers (born after 1990) consider it natural to dance in church, and are usually welcome to do so, older participants have met significant resistance. When dancing, dancers find personal meaning (wellbeing, processing emotions and life events), social meaning (communication, belonging), and religious meaning (contact with God, prayer, growth). Dance emerges as a part of lived religion that clearly highlights how bodies matter, and how spiritualities are gendered, in this contribution to understanding the embodied dimensions of religion.     

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Francis Burnout Inventory: preliminary psychometric support to a replicable two factor model of the Italian version

ABSTRACT

This study set out to examine the properties of the revised version of the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) among Catholic priests and religious sisters in Italy. The psychometric properties of the FBI were examined in two phases. Phase 1 demonstrated the instrument's factorial validity and internal consistency of two derived dimensions (the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry and the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale), with a sample of Catholic priests and religious sisters coming from Lazio, a region around Rome in Italy (N?=?156). In Phase 2, the FBI dimensionality was cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis with Catholic priests and religious sisters coming from all over Italy (N?=?287). Alpha and stability coefficients computed with this sample provided further evidence for the FBI's reliability. Implications for work-related health are included.     

Acceptance of Evolution and Support for Teaching Creationism in Public Schools: The Conditional Impact of Educational Attainment

Public acceptance of evolution remains low in the United States relative to other Western countries. Although advocates for the scientific community often highlight the need for improved education to change public opinion, analyses of data from a national sample of American adults indicate that the effects of educational attainment on attitudes toward evolution and creationism are uneven and contingent upon religious identity. Consequently, higher education will only shift public attitudes toward evolution and away from support for teaching creationism in public schools for those who take non‐“literalist” interpretive stances on the Bible, or to the extent that it leads to fewer people with literalist religious identities.     

Religion and social action in a city of posts

This article explores the ramifications of religious engagement in social action initiatives in ethnically and religiously plural urban environments in the UK. In particular, it explores this engagement through a series of inter-related analytical frames, which explain the trajectory and political significance of religiously inflected social action in different ways, before examining specific initiatives in localised context. Behind this approach is the recognition of the need to situate religion in complex contexts, resisting its cross-cultural and trans-historical claims, and of the ways in which religion is deployed as a specific mode of both domination and resistance. The author argues that the pluralism of the contemporary city has critical implications for understanding contemporary religion and social action, both in terms of the range of organisations involved and in terms of the negotiation of difference which is an everyday facet of multicultural urban living. The spaces of engagement opened up by these contemporary contexts allow for the development of new ways of conceptualising religion and new potentialities for the role of religion in the developing politics of living in the city.     

重释“宗教”:史密斯对于宗教概念的消解

史密斯质疑宗教概念的普遍有效性,从词源学和观念史角度对宗教的含义及其变迁作了历史考察,指出它不过是西方近代文明的一个产物,并不适合解释其他文明的生活传统,主张用信仰和累积的传统两个独立的概念取而代之。依据这一概念框架来解释儒家传统会消除一些困难。     

A constructive Christian theology for the pluralistic world: Author's introduction of the project and a response to reviewers

The author of the five-volume a Christian theology for the pluralistic world (Eerdmans, 2013–2017), Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, introduces the nature, distinctive features, and methodology of the project and also responds to the reviewers whose reviews have been included in this issue.