Place of worship
Compassionate Conservatives? Evangelicals, Economic Conservatism, and National Identity
Lydia Bean
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, March 2014, Pages 164–186
Abstract:
In the United States, white evangelicals are more economically conservative than other Americans. It is commonly assumed that white evangelicals oppose redistributive social policies because of their individualistic theology. Yet Canadian evangelicals are just as supportive of redistributive social policy as other Canadians, even though they share the same tools of conservative Protestant theology. To solve this puzzle, I use multi-sited ethnography to compare how two evangelical congregations in the United States and Canada talked about poverty and the role of government. In both countries, evangelicals made sense of their religious responsibilities to “the poor” by reference to national identity. Evangelicals used their theological tools differently in the United States and Canada because different visions of national solidarity served as cultural anchors for religious discourse about poverty. To understand the political and civic effects of religion, scholars need to consider the varied ways that religious groups imagine national community within religious practice.
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Electoral turnout in Muslim-majority states: A macro-level panel analysis
Daniel Stockemer & Susan Khazaeli
Politics and Religion, March 2014, Pages 79-99
Abstract:
High voter turnout gives legitimacy to the political system and strengthens the stability of a country. Since voter turnout matters, it is important to determine which factors boost electoral participation. While there is a vast literature on turnout focusing on institutional, socio-economic, and contextual indicators, there appears to be a shortage of scholarship on the relationship between religion and turnout. In our study, we evaluate the impact of the Islamic religion on electoral participation. Drawing on a large dataset that incorporates all legislative elections worldwide from 1970 to 2010 and controlling for compulsory voting, the electoral system type, the decisiveness of the election, the competitiveness of the election, the size of the country, the regime type and development, we find that Muslim-majority countries have lower turnout rates than majority non-Muslim countries. We also find electoral participation to be lower in countries where Islamic tenets are more strongly entrenched in politics.
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Evangelical Ambivalence toward Gays and Lesbians
Lydia Bean & Brandon Martinez
Sociology of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evangelical Protestants are known as vocal opponents of equal rights for gays and lesbians. Yet there is growing ambivalence among evangelicals who oppose homosexuality but support equal rights. The authors extend the concept of ‘structured ambivalence’ to explain why tolerance toward gays and lesbians continues to grow, even within subcultures that promote traditional views of human sexuality. The Evangelical subculture has institutionalized competing scripts and expectations about how to “do” religion with regard to gays and lesbians, which creates structured ambivalence at the overlap of social positions and institutions. Using national survey data, the authors find that 35% of Evangelicals have consistently progressive attitudes toward homosexuality, but are less religiously observant. Conversely, 24% of Evangelicals support gay civil unions, even though they are morally opposed to homosexuality. Yet these Ambivalent Evangelicals exhibit the same levels of religiosity as Gay Rights Opponents. Ambivalent support for gay rights has taken root at the core of Evangelical subculture, not just at the margins.
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Samuel Perry
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, March 2014, Pages 202–218
Abstract:
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.
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Protestantism and Education: Reading (the Bible) and Other Skills
Timo Boppart, Josef Falkinger & Volker Grossmann
Economic Inquiry, April 2014, Pages 874–895
Abstract:
During industrialization, Protestants were more literate than Catholics. This paper investigates whether this fact may be led back to the intrinsic motivation of Protestants to read the bible and to what extent other education motives might have been involved as well. We employ a historical data set from Switzerland which allows us to differentiate between different cognitive skills: reading, numeracy, essay writing, and Swiss history. We develop an estimation strategy to examine whether the impact of religious denomination was particularly large with respect to reading capabilities. We find support for this hypothesis. However, we also find evidence which is consistent with the view that Protestants' education motives went beyond acquiring reading skills.
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‘We Don't Do God’? Religion and Party Choice in Britain
James Tilley
British Journal of Political Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article shows that religion has been consistently important in predicting voters’ party choices in Britain over time. The relationship between religion and party preference is not primarily due to the social make-up of different religious groups, nor to ideological differences between religious groups, whether in terms of social conservatism, economic leftism or national identity. Instead, particular denominations are associated with parties that represented those denominational groups in the early twentieth century when social cleavages were ‘frozen’ within the system. The main mechanism underpinning these divisions is parental transmission of party affiliations within denominations. These findings have important implications for how we understand both the persistence of social cleavages and the precise mechanisms that maintain social cleavages.
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Is it Really God's Century? An Evaluation of Religious Support and Discrimination from 1990 to 2008
Jonathan Fox
Politics and Religion, March 2014, Pages 4-27
Abstract:
This study uses data from the Religion and State Round 2 dataset to examine the trends in religious discrimination and religious support between 1990 and 2008, finding a statistically significant increase in both variables. These findings are based on a longer time span and more comprehensive variables than previous studies, remain constant when controlling for world region and majority religion, and predate the events of September 11, 2001. This undermines the aspects of secularization theory which predict a decline in religion's public influence. Furthermore, economic development, one of the processes predicted by secularization theory to decrease religion's public influence, is correlated with increased religious discrimination and support.
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Correlates of Experiences and Perceptions of Anti-Semitism among Jews in the United States
Uzi Rebhun
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper investigates American Jews’ personal experiencing of anti-Semitism and perception of its extent. Analysis of NJPS-2000/1 indicates that lower age, less education, and American nativity increase experiencing of anti-Semitism. Religious identification and attachment to Israel are positively associated with anti-Semitic experience; friendship with other Jews has the opposite effect. Contextual factors are not significant for the experiencing of anti-Semitism but living in a state that leans toward the Democratic Party has a downward effect. Contrary to experience, younger age and higher education are negatively associated with the perception of a high incidence of anti-Semitism. Being a woman, American born, and living in states with high concentrations of Jews positively affect Jews’ perception of anti-Semitism. A paramount determinant of the perception of anti-Semitism is the individual’s belief that he or she has experienced it. The results are discussed in reference to three working hypotheses and in light of existing literature that attempts to help develop this topic into a subfield of social-science research.
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The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran
Sean Young et al.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social networking technologies can influence attitudes, behaviors, and social norms. Research on this topic has been conducted primarily among early adopters of technology and within the United States. However, it is important to evaluate how social media might affect people's behaviors in international settings, especially among countries with longstanding, government recommended, cultural and religious traditions and behaviors, such as Iran. This study seeks to assess whether Iranian women who have been using social networking technologies for a longer time (compared to those who have recently joined) would be less likely to cover themselves with a veil and be more comfortable publicly displaying pictures of this behavior on Facebook. Iranian females (N=253) were selected through snowball sampling from nongovernmental organizations in November 2011 and asked to complete a survey assessing their use of Facebook, concerns about not wearing a veil in Facebook pictures, and their actual likelihood of wearing a veil. Items were combined to measure lack of interest in wearing a veil. Length of time as a Facebook user was significantly associated with not wearing a veil (b=0.16, p<0.01), controlling for age, education, and frequency of using Facebook. Results also revealed a significant relationship such that older people were more likely to adhere to the religious behavior of wearing a veil (b=−0.45, p<0.01). Social networking technologies can affect attitudes and behaviors internationally. We discuss methods of using social media for self-presentation and expression, as well as the difficulties (and importance) of studying use of technologies, such as social media, internationally.
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Kamaldeep Bhui, Nasir Warfa & Edgar Jones
PLoS ONE, March 2014
Background: Doctors, lawyers and criminal justice agencies need methods to assess vulnerability to violent radicalization. In synergy, public health interventions aim to prevent the emergence of risk behaviours as well as prevent and treat new illness events. This paper describes a new method of assessing vulnerability to violent radicalization, and then investigates the role of previously reported causes, including poor self-reported health, anxiety and depression, adverse life events, poverty, and migration and socio-political factors. The aim is to identify foci for preventive intervention.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a representative population sample of men and women aged 18–45, of Muslim heritage and recruited by quota sampling by age, gender, working status, in two English cities. The main outcomes include self-reported health, symptoms of anxiety and depression (common mental disorders), and vulnerability to violent radicalization assessed by sympathies for violent protest and terrorist acts.
Results: 2.4% of people showed some sympathy for violent protest and terrorist acts. Sympathy was more likely to be articulated by the under 20s, those in full time education rather than employment, those born in the UK, those speaking English at home, and high earners (>£75,000 a year). People with poor self-reported health were less likely to show sympathies for violent protest and terrorism. Anxiety and depressive symptoms, adverse life events and socio-political attitudes showed no associations.
Conclusions: Sympathies for violent protest and terrorism were uncommon among men and women, aged 18–45, of Muslim heritage living in two English cities. Youth, wealth, and being in education rather than employment were risk factors.
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Benjamin Taylor, Sarah Allen Gershon & Adrian Pantoja
Politics and Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
In recent decades, Evangelical churches in the United States have expanded their outreach to Latino immigrants, seeking to incorporate these new Americans into their churches. We investigate the implications of this movement by examining the impact of church affiliation on Latino immigrants’ conceptions of what it means to be “fully American.” Relying on the 2006 Latino National Survey, we find that church affiliation significantly impacts immigrants’ beliefs about what it means to “be American” in the eyes of other Americans and the likelihood of identifying themselves as “American.” Specifically, Protestant Latinos (be they mainline or Evangelical) are more likely than Catholic Latinos (the majority of Latinos) to identify as American and to believe that Americans think being a Christian is a defining feature of American identity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.
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Of Religion and Redemption: Evidence from Default on Islamic Loans
Lieven Baele, Moazzam Farooq & Steven Ongena
Journal of Banking & Finance, forthcoming
Abstract:
We compare default rates on conventional and Islamic loans using a comprehensive monthly dataset from Pakistan that follows more than 150,000 loans over the period 2006:04 to 2008:12. We find robust evidence that the default rate on Islamic loans is less than half the default rate on conventional loans. Islamic loans are less likely to default during Ramadan and in big cities if the share of votes to religious-political parties increases, suggesting that religion – either through individual piousness or network effects – may play a role in determining loan default.
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Generating Trust in Congregations: Engagement, Exchange, and Social Networks
Jeffrey Seymour et al.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, March 2014, Pages 130–144
Abstract:
The relationship between religion and trust is complex and there is little consensus on why, in general, religious people appear to be more trusting than their unaffiliated peers. Most research on religion and trust focuses on differences between traditions and denominations, which offers rather limited insight into the genesis of trust for religious persons. In this study, we draw on recent theoretical developments in social psychology to explore how specific patterns of social interactions within congregations enhance within-congregation trust among members to the benefit of both churches and individuals. Using survey data from the Portraits of American Life Study, we find that the positive relationship between religiosity and trust is driven less by religious beliefs or practices and more by particular characteristics of micro-level processes that occur in churches (e.g., closeness of relationships to religious leaders, density of congregational ties, and both giving and receiving aid from other congregation members). In light of research on social learning and trust, we also discuss the potential benefits of this particularized trust for individuals’ levels of generalized trust.
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Conservative Christianity, Partnership, Hormones, and Sex in Late Life
Aniruddha Das & Stephanie Nairn
Archives of Sexual Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using nationally representative data from the 2005–2006 U.S. National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, this study queried relationship, sexual, and sex hormone patterns among married evangelical women and men aged 57–85, relative to those in other religions. Results suggested that despite potentially more unequal gender roles, evangelical older women may have better marital quality, perhaps due to the recent transformation of their male counterparts into authoritative, yet-supportive, “soft patriarchs.” Correspondingly, these women, especially those with greater subjective religiosity or more support from a spouse, reported consistently better sexual outcomes than their counterparts in other religions. In addition, they also had lower estradiol, whether due to psychobiological effects of their better relationships or self-selection of those with differential hormone levels into particular partnership patterns. While older men in these communities also experienced more satisfactory marriages, and had lower androgens (testosterone, DHEA), their relational assets were less uniformly matched by better sexual outcomes, perhaps reflecting a gender disparity in the linkage between these factors.
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Thomas Jefferson Versus the Historians: Christianity, Atheistic Morality, and the Afterlife
Arthur Scherr
Church History, March 2014, Pages 60-109
Abstract:
For many years, the Religious Right has argued that Thomas Jefferson's “wall of separation” metaphor, expounded in his address to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, did not reflect his true views on cooperation between Church and State; and that he was actually a devout Christian who embraced a symbiotic relationship between them. Recent scholarship, concurring with these views, contends that Jefferson's thoughts and actions, both in political office and as a private individual, reflected his desire for government participation in religious ceremonies and his sincere dedication to the Christian faith. This article refutes such arguments. It compares Jefferson's ideas with John Adams's more orthodox opinions, particularly in their attitudes toward the connection between atheism and personal morality. The article notes that Jefferson, while endorsing Jesus' ethical teachings, also embraced philosophical materialism. He probably did not believe in an afterlife. Jefferson's most thoroughgoing rejection of organized Christianity occurred in old age, when his fading hopes for religious reform latched onto Unitarianism.