Who are these Buddhists and How Many of Them are There? Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Counting Immigrant Buddhists: A Danish Case Study

Religious demography is generally a challenging endeavor and counting and defining religions and religious identities in an Asian context is notoriously difficult. Buddhists in both Asia and the West have a long tradition of gray-zone religiosity, which means that membership and mono-identity is less common than syncretic engagement and hybrid identity. The immigrant Buddhists in the West are generally far more numerous than the convert and new age Buddhists. Their numbers are, however, extremely difficult to ascertain. This article discusses the methodological and theoretical problems in quantifying immigrant religion and the challenges of operationalizing such constraints into concrete methods. The empirical data derive from the author’s engagement in research on Buddhism in Denmark, in which traditions from both Theravada and Mahayana groups are represented. While concrete figures are suggested, it is also concluded that further empirical research as well as comparison with more contexts are necessary for the continued refinement of usable methods in counting immigrant religion.     

Suffering for others as religious meaning-making: varieties,prerequisites, and functions in the coping process of a sample of practising Christians living with cancer

The coping method suffering for others as religious meaning-making (SORM) is analysed regarding its varieties, prerequisites, and functions in a group (n?=?10) of practising Christians living with cancer. In-depth interviews are featured in this qualitative, longitudinal study of the interdependence of religiosity and coping. A common feature of the analysed narratives is the idea that the informant's suffering would have – or at least had the potential to have – a positive effect on other individuals. This idea is identified as the “coping tool” of the coping method. Three different variants of SORM are identified, with a variety of prerequisites. The function in all cases is to conserve the significant object sense of meaning and, in some cases: survival. A case study is presented that shows how the coping method can be maintained over time by changing the coping tools of the method when they lose their efficacy in the coping process.     

Religiousness,religious coping methods,and cognitive test anxiety among African-American college students

This study explored the roles of religiousness and religious coping methods in predicting cognitive test anxiety. A convenience sample of 121 African-American students (97 females and 24 males) ranging in age from 18 to 39 (M_age?=?20.16), attending a historically Black university completed an online questionnaire assessing demographic information, religiousness, religious coping methods, and cognitive test anxiety. Results showed that negative religious coping methods were significant factors in predicting cognitive test anxiety. These relationships may be pertinent for understanding salient factors that influence cognitive test anxiety in African-American college students.     

Religious perceptions of alcohol consumption and drinking behaviours among religious and non-religious groups

Evidence indicates that religious involvement is associated with lower levels of alcohol consumption. However, mechanisms underlying the specific effects of religion on alcohol behaviours are still not entirely clear. This study examined potential differences in religious perceptions of alcohol consumption (RePAC) among Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and non-religious individuals, and between Catholic and Baptist Christian denominations. We also assessed whether these perceptions were associated with quantity and frequency of drinking. Participants (N?=?495; 79% female) aged 18 and above completed self-report measures of alcohol consumption and religious perceptions of alcohol use. Findings indicated that non-religious individuals and Buddhists reported higher RePAC scores (i.e., more favourable attitudes toward alcohol use), followed by Christians and then Muslims. Drinking quantity was more strongly associated with RePAC for Buddhists and Christians than the same association for non-religious participants. These results provide preliminary evidence linking religious perceptions of alcohol to drinking behaviours across religious affiliations.     

Religious conversion among high security hospital patients: a qualitative analysis of patients’ accounts and experiences on changing faith

Research has shown the importance of religion in recovery from mental illness. Previous studies have investigated why individuals change faith during custody in prison, but there has been no research to date on religious conversion in forensic-psychiatric hospitals. The aim of this study was to understand the experience of religious conversion among patients detained in a UK secure hospital. Thirteen patients who had converted their religion were interviewed and the resultant data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three superordinate themes (“reasons for changing faith”, “benefits of having a new faith” and “difficulties with practising a faith”), incorporating eight subordinate themes, emerged. Understanding patients’ reasons for religious conversion is important for the treatment and support not merely of these individuals, but more broadly with patients in forensic-psychiatric care.     

What should religious education in Germany be about and how does religiosity fit into this picture? An empirical study of pre-service religious education teachers’ beliefs on the aims of RE

In secularising Germany the aim of religious education (RE) is under discussion. The churches opt for denominational education familiarising the students with their own religious tradition. Humanists claim an ethical education, giving students objective information about different religions. Which perspective do students who will become RE teachers take in this discussion? Does their religiosity affect this perspective? All over Germany 1828 first-year students (with an average age of 21; 81% females; 72% Catholic and 28% Protestant) completed a relevant questionnaire. The respondents favour a RE which offers objective information. Most of them are pluralist thinkers in religious terms and show a moderate religious practice. The more relativist the students are thinking in religious terms, the more they tend to favour objective information. These findings challenge the churches’ perspective on RE, because even future RE teachers do not agree with the churches’ ideal on RE. A reformulation of this approach on cognitive level will be discussed.     

Hoping for a Godly (White) Family: How Desire for Religious Heritage Affects Whites’ Attitudes Toward Interracial Marriage

This study examines how a desire to pass on religious heritage shapes whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage for their children. Utilizing national survey data (Baylor Religion Survey 2007), I estimate ordered logit regression models to examine the extent to which whites’ desire to have their children and children's spouses share their religion affects attitudes toward their hypothetical daughters marrying blacks, Latinos, or Asians, net of other factors. Analyses reveal that whites who consider it more important that their children and children's spouses share their religion are less comfortable with their daughters marrying blacks, Latinos, or Asians. These effects are robust to the inclusion of measures for religiosity, political ideology, intimate interracial experiences, and other sociodemographic correlates. These findings suggest that, for whites, religious heritage has a clear ethno‐racial component. The greater their desire for descendants to share the same religious views, the more whites would prefer that these descendants themselves be white, indicating that, for many white Americans, religious heritage is equated with whiteness. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for research on religion and interracial families.     

Religion: Not declining but changing. What do the population censuses and surveys say about religion in Estonia?

Abstract

This paper investigates religious affiliation in Estonia, considered to be one of the most secularized countries in the world and in which less than one third of the population affiliates with a religion on population censuses. Firstly, the article scrutinizes these data methodologically, comparing census results with findings from other survey and opinion polls. It finds that census data correlate with those from face-to-face surveys, while postal surveys tend to show considerably higher rates of religiosity and affiliation. Secondly, the article considers the findings themselves. According to census data, 29 percent of the population remained religiously affiliated between 2000 and 2011. However, the census also captures interesting changes over that period that illuminate the situation further. Significantly, Estonia is the first European country in which the traditional majority church has been usurped by a denomination associated with the largest ethnic minority group and which makes a strong connection between cultural and national identities. The article places this finding in the context of Central and Eastern European census data to argue that religious affiliation tends to remain high in societies where religious and national or ethnic identities have close ties, whereas traditional denominations have been declining in societies where these kinds of connections are weak. This factor helps explain variation between experiences of religious change in post-Socialist contexts.     

Seven things to consider when measuring religious identity

Measuring religious identity is complex. The author offers seven suggestions for those who wish to describe and understand religious identity using survey data:

• (1)?Definitions and measures of religious identity shape knowledge about religious groups;

• (2)?Variation in question wording leads to variation in responses;

• (3)?Comparing results across surveys provides valuable perspective;

• (4)?Incentives shape how respondents report their religious identity;

• (5)?Religious identity may be liminal;

• (6)?Salient identity categories are often unmeasured; and

• (7)?Religious identity and religious practice may not seem congruent.

This essay includes many examples to illustrate these measurement suggestions.     

METAPHYSICS MATTERS: METAPHYSICS AND SOTERIOLOGY IN JEROME STONE'S AND DONALD CROSBY'S VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS NATURALISM

Religious naturalism is distinct from supernatural religion largely because of metaphysical minimalism. Certain varieties of religious naturalism are more minimalist than others, however, and some even eschew metaphysics altogether. But is anything lost in that process? To determine metaphysics’ degree of relevance to religious function, I compare the soteriology of the “ontologically reticent” Minimalist Vision of Jerome Stone to that of the ontologically rich Religion of Nature of Donald Crosby. I demonstrate that for these varieties of religious naturalism: (1) metaphysics influences soteriology; (2) metaphysical minimalism limits soteriological potential; and (3) metaphysics enhances soteriological potential. These conclusions lead me to assert the relevance of metaphysics to religious function, specifically for these varieties of religious naturalism, as well as to urge investigation into religious experience and quality as they may relate to metaphysics.