Religious polarization: contesting religion in secularized Western European countries

In light of recent claims about increasing religious polarization in secularized countries, we study the extent to which the non-religious contest religion in Western European countries and whether and how the Protestant and Catholic heritage of these countries plays a role in this. Analyzing data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP 1998 and 2008) data by means of multilevel analysis, we demonstrate that religious polarization is stronger in the most secularized countries and in countries with a Catholic religious heritage. Moreover, in secular countries, polarization stems from religious fervency, whereas in countries with a Catholic heritage, it stems from anti-religious fervency.     

Alternative death rituals in Switzerland: building a community of shared emotions and practices

New alternative death rituals are gaining significance in Switzerland, like in other contemporary Western societies. This article discusses how celebrants who are independent of any religious community shape alternative funerals and why such rituals may be able to function as a coping resource for a certain kind of participants. I argue that these rituals, co-produced by celebrants and the bereaved and including actively involved participants, can be seen as a re-conquest of ritual agency for lay people. By encouraging physical and mental contact with the deceased, the celebrants try to enable emotional arousal and create a temporary community of shared experiences and emotions and of the living and the dead. Elements of an individually crafted spirituality and a kind of nature religion represent both separation and continuing bonds between the living and the dead. As a consequence, such funerals serve as a resource in the face of death by integrating a singular death with the wider context.     

The naked truth: mindfulness and the purification of religion

To arrive at an understanding of what drives the much debated spiritual turn in Western Europe, we study the spiritual trajectories and identifications of mindfulness practitioners in the formerly predominantly Roman Catholic context of Flanders in Belgium. Fifteen semi-structured interviews addressed their religious and spiritual biographical trajectories as well as the symbolic boundaries they draw with adjacent religious and spiritual groups. We find marked evidence of a process of ‘religious purification’, which unfolds as a critique of the formal and external aspects of both religion (organisations, dogmas, ritual) and spirituality (woolly and frivolous New Age word games). To validate and justify, alternatively, the ‘pure’ and ‘grounded’ spirituality that results, those concerned consistently invoke the authority of science.     

Teaching worldviews through creative drama for religious education in Turkey

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Worldview Approach has been mentioned in the field of religious education and spirituality. This article aims to determine the effects of creative drama on teaching worldviews and religions. The main purpose of Worldview Education is to assist individuals to have a broader and deeper understanding on self-identity, worldviews of others, and on the meaning and purpose of life. It also helps individuals to think on ontological, epistemological and ultimate questions about life, values and beliefs. The spiritual development of individuals has a need for several guidelines from the fields of philosophy, theology, and education. As an educational tool, creative drama increases imagination, creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills and assists students’ personal and emotional development. Combining Worldview Education with creative drama creates a multidimensional educational environment for a meaningful learning on religions, worldviews, and spirituality.     

The effect of perceived stress and specialization on the relationship between perfectionism and burnout in collegiate athletes

Background: Athletic burnout is common when demands of the sport exceed the rewards. Individuals with certain personality dispositions, such as perfectionism, are at increased risk of experiencing perceived stress and subsequent burnout (Fender, L. K. (1989). Athlete burnout: Potential for research and intervention strategies. The Sport Psychologist, 3, 63–71. doi:10.1123/tsp.3.1.63; Gould, D., Tuffey, S., Udry, E., &; Loehr, J. (1996). Burnout in competitive junior tennis players: I. A quantitative psychological assessment. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 322–340. doi:10.1123/tsp.10.4.322; Stoeber, J. (2011). The dual nature of perfectionism in sports: Relationships with emotion, motivation, and performance. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4, 128–145. doi:10.1080/1750984x.2011.604789). Perfectionism has both adaptive and maladaptive dimensions, with the more maladaptive qualities leading to greater perceived stress (Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Psychology, 15, 27–33.; Rice, K. G., &; Van Arsdale, A. C. (2010). Perfectionism, perceived stress, drinking to cope, and alcohol-related problems among college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57, 439–450. doi:10.1037/a0020221).

Objectives: This study examined the influence of perfectionistic strivings and concerns on burnout, and perceived stress as a mediator of this relationship in Division II and III specialized and multiple-sport athletes (N?=?351).

Design: Cross-Sectional.

Methods: Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and online measures of perfectionism, stress, and burnout during the latter part of the competitive season.

Results: Results showed a positive, direct effect of perfectionistic concerns on burnout. Stress partially mediated this relationship. Additionally, perfectionistic strivings had a negative direct effect on burnout for specialized athletes.

Conclusion: The relationship between perfectionistic concerns and burnout is partially explained by stress. Multiple sport athletes showed lower levels of stress compared to specialized ones. Finally, perfectionistic strivings are associated with lower levels of burnout for specialized athletes.     

Becoming Eastern Orthodox in diaspora: materializing Orthodox Russia and Holy Rus’

In this article, I draw on interviews and participant observation data from a two-year-long ethnographic study in a Russian Orthodox parish in the United States. I argue that both the Russian Orthodox immigrants and the Protestant converts to Orthodoxy attending this parish may be usefully thought of as diasporic groups. Seeking to construct their particular Orthodox identity, both groups deal with their own physical and symbolic displacements, and attempt to find their place of belonging. I demonstrate how in the process, through reliance on religious narratives, prayer, and Russian Orthodox icons, parishioners construct two overlapping, yet distinctive places of their origin: Holy Rus’ and Orthodox Russia. Finally, attending to how some Orthodox Christians were able to position themselves in two groups simultaneously, I suggest that we think of religious practitioners as able to inhabit two diasporas at once.     

Fifty years of American polarization and the changing roles of faith communities

The 2016 election of Donald Trump as president and the first year of his administration have been accompanied by intensified social and political divides in the United States. A comparison of today's polarization with that during the Vietnam War and civil rights movement of the 1960s suggests strategies for bridging the divides—and in particular for an expanding role by faith communities.     

Religious versus reflective priming and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy

The effect of religious priming has been studied in relation to a number of variables, most extensively with prosocial behavior. The effects of priming on cognitive domains, however, are relatively understudied. The present study examined the effects of religious priming, compared with reflective and neutral priming, on the conjunction fallacy. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 priming conditions. Priming was presented through the scrambled sentence task in which participants were required to rearrange words of a religious (e.g., pray), reflective (e.g., reason), or neutral (e.g., paper) content. The conjunction fallacy was measured by a task containing 1 problem. Results indicated that those undergoing the religious prime were significantly more likely to commit the conjunction fallacy compared with those in the reflective priming group. Situations in which reasoning is integral may benefit from knowing the immediate effects of religious versus reflective stimuli in the environment.     

Are Decisions Made by Group Representatives More Risk Averse? The Effect of Sense of Responsibility

We tested the hypothesis that a sense of responsibility drives group representatives' decisions to be more risk averse compared with decisions made by individuals. The hypothesis was supported when the monetary considerations (i.e., payoff inequality and the magnitude effect) were controlled for in the potential gain domain as well as in the potential loss domain. Evidence showed that this is because the group representatives were concerned about how they would view themselves (e.g., guilt and self‐blame) and also how they would be viewed by others (i.e., to avoid being blamed and looked down upon by others). This study provided new insights into understanding group representatives' decision making under risk. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Religion and politics: examining the impact of faith on political participation

This study examines the relationship between religion and political activity. It theorises religious influences on political activity and tests the impact of various religious factors on political participation in a large cross-national sample (1981–2014). This study integrates longitudinal data from the aggregated World Values Survey with country-level data in the hierarchical multilevel analysis that allows teasing out the individual-level religious influences, including membership in religious organisations, religiosity and self-identification with various religious denominations, and the country-level impacts. The temporal and spatial coverage of the data used in the study includes more than 65% of the world’s population. The seven types of political participation examined in the study include signing petitions, joining in boycotts, participating in demonstrations, taking part in unofficial strikes, occupying buildings and factories, voting and membership in political parties. We find that religion matters but not always in the expected ways. Religiosity, by itself, often serves as a deterrent rather than mobilising force for political engagement, regardless the denominational differences. It is the membership in religious organisations and other voluntary associations of a secular nature that make individuals more likely to engage in political activity.