Free Exercise
Secularism and American Political Behavior
Geoffrey Layman et al.
Public Opinion Quarterly, Spring 2021, Pages 79-100
Abstract:
The recent growth of the secular population in the United States has implications for American politics. However, our understanding of these implications has been hindered by oversimplified concepts and measures that equate secularism with non-religion. We separate the two concepts, distinguishing "non-religiosity," or the absence of religion, from "secularism," or a positive embrace of secular beliefs and identities. Using original national-sample cross-sectional and panel surveys, we introduce new measures of secularism, evaluate their properties, and assess their connection to political attitudes and behavior. We find a clear distinction between secularism and non-religiosity in the American public and show that secularism is more closely related than non-religiosity to political attitudes, identifications, and engagement. In fact, while secularism is related to changes over time in political orientations, non-religiosity is not.
Secularism and Fertility Worldwide
Landon Schnabel
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, July 2021
Abstract:
This study proposes and explores a new fertility determinant: societal secularism. Using country-level data from multiple sources (n = 181) and multilevel data from 58 countries in the World Values Survey (n = 83,301), the author documents a strong negative relationship between societal secularism and both country-level fertility rates and individual-level fertility behavior. Secularism, even in small amounts, is associated with population stagnation or even decline absent substantial immigration, whereas highly religious countries have higher fertility rates that promote population growth. This country-level pattern is driven by more than aggregate lower fertility of secular individuals. In fact, societal secularism is a better predictor of highly religious individuals' fertility behavior than that of secular individuals, and this pattern is largely a function of cultural values related to gender, reproduction, and autonomy in secular societies. Beyond their importance for the religious composition of the world population, the patterns presented in this study are relevant to key fertility theories and could help account for below-replacement fertility.
A neural circuit for spirituality and religiosity derived from patients with brain lesions
Michael Ferguson et al.
Biological Psychiatry, forthcoming
Methods: In two independent brain lesion datasets (N1=88; N2=105), we apply lesion network mapping to test whether lesion locations associated with spiritual and religious belief map to a specific human brain circuit.
Results: We found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal grey. Intersection of lesion locations with this same circuit aligned with self-reported religiosity in an independent dataset, as well as prior reports of lesions associated with hyper-religiosity. Lesion locations causing delusions and alien limb syndrome also intersected this circuit.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity map to a common brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal grey, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior.
Effect of church attendance during youth on future psychological capital endowments: The US evidence
Madhu Mohanty
Education Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using US data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and following propensity score matching analysis, the study demonstrates that church attendance during youth has significant positive effects on an individual's psychological capital endowments in the form of self-esteem, positive attitude and self-satisfaction during adulthood. Since a higher level of psychological capital is associated with better economic performance, the study further demonstrates that church attendance during earlier years of life affects an individual's future earnings indirectly through its direct effects on his/her psychological capital endowments. The study offers an important policy proposal and recommends further research for its validation.
Understanding the role of religion in shaping cross-national and domestic attitudes and interest in abortion, homosexuality, and pornography using traditional and Google search data
Amy Adamczyk, Yu-Hsuan Liu & Jacqueline Scott
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Over the last 20 years, internet usage has increased substantially, providing an inexpensive source of data that may be less prone to bias and could provide a greater number of meso and macro units. However, validating big data and their usefulness has been challenging. This study uses established sources to validate Google Trends' search interest in the "Bible" across US Designated Market Areas and "Ramadan" across nations, establishing a potential new source of religion data. We then use these measures to show that people from religiously conservative US areas and countries are more likely to disapprove of homosexuality, abortion and pornography. Conversely, Americans from conservative religious areas are also more likely to search for these topics; and cross-national interest in Islam is associated with increased interest in pornography. Our study offers insight into Google Trends' potential for social science research and a roadmap on how to use these data.
Do Cultural Institutions Affect Investor Trust? Evidence from the U.S. Catholic Clergy Abuse Scandal
Quentin Dupont
Georgetown University Working Paper, June 2021
Abstract:
Trust is an essential element of individuals' willingness to engage in economic activity such as investment. Because cultural institutions influence individuals' trust, I examine whether shocks to trust in a prominent cultural institution have crossover effects on households' investment decisions. I employ the U.S. Catholic clergy abuse scandal from 2002 to 2006 as a plausibly exogenous shock to the Catholic Church. Using survey data, I find that Catholic households decrease their equity participation by 3.3% to 5.9% upon revelation of local clergy misconduct in the news, consistent with an economically sizable opportunity cost. Evidence points to the influence of Catholicism on local social norms as the main channel.
"You don't believe in God? You ain't Black": Identifying as atheist elicits identity denial from Black ingroup members
Simon Howard, Kalen Kennedy & Kaylen Vine
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Method: Black/African American adults (n = 343) were randomly assigned to view one of three Black individual's social networking profiles (i.e., a Christian, an atheist, and religion not explicitly mentioned). After, they reported their perceptions of the targets' perceived racial identity and trustworthiness.
Results: Black participants, regardless of how strongly they identified racially, perceived a Black Atheist as less racially identified than a Black Christian or someone whose religious affiliation was unknown. Additionally, a Black atheist was perceived as less trustworthy than a Black Christian.
Religious diversity in science: Stereotypical and counter-stereotypical social identities
Carissa Sharp et al.
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research shows that scientists tend to be less religious than the general population, and scientists' religious affiliation and participation have declined over time (Ecklund & Park, 2009; Ecklund et al., 2008). Given the demographic differences between scientists and the general population, it was predicted that scientists who are religious would be regarded as having a counter-stereotypical combination of social identities. However, across five studies, we found that people's own religious identities played a moderating role in the perception of a religious scientist. Although atheist participants perceived religious scientists as being more counter-stereotypical than atheist scientists, the same was not consistently found for nonreligious (but not atheist) or religious participants. These findings have important implications for debates around the underrepresentation of religious individuals in science. As religious individuals do not perceive these two identities to be incompatible, it may be stereotypes that others have about religious individuals and the culture of science more generally, rather than self-stereotypes, that are hurdles for religious individuals choosing a scientific career. Future research should take these findings into account and explore other potential barriers that lead to the underrepresentation of religious individuals within STEM fields.
The Dreyfus Affair's Forgotten Hero: Bernard Lazare and the First Modern Fight against Antisemitism
Lauren Gottlieb Lockshin
Jewish History, July 2021, Pages 305-330
Abstract:
The historiography of the Dreyfus Affair has often neglected the crucial role played by Bernard Lazare as the first defender of the wrongly accused French army captain Alfred Dreyfus. Lazare authored three brochures, including the very first published work arguing Dreyfus's defense, and pursued numerous lines of inquiry and advocacy to keep the Dreyfus case alive in the public sphere. In stark contrast to other Dreyfusards who preferred to consider the case as essentially an "error" of the judicial system, Lazare insisted that there was a potent antisemitism operating beneath the surface of the political stage. It was Lazare who made the "Affair" known to the world as an antisemitic plot. He confronted the leading antisemitic figures of his time, including Édouard Drumont, and solicited the support of charismatic celebrities such as Émile Zola. Lazare also crafted the language of "J'accuse" which moved a nation and became a celebrated page of history, though he was never credited for it. Instead, Lazare became a target for the resentments of both his Christian and Jewish contemporaries and died an untimely death as a pariah. This article aims to restore Lazare's place at the center of the Dreyfus Affair narrative.
They're (not) playing our song: (Ir)religious identity moderates the effects of listening to religious music on memory, self-esteem, and mood
Renate Ysseldyk et al.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research suggests that listening to music can enhance memory and well-being. However, what is often missing from this analysis is consideration of the social dimensions of music-for example, its capacity to affirm or threaten listeners' social identities. This study examined whether (ir)religious music that was potentially identity-affirming or identity-threatening (Christian hymns, Buddhist chants, classical, or no music) would affect Christians' and Atheists' (N = 267) well-being and memory performance while listening. Analyses revealed significant interactions between (ir)religious group and music type on memory, self-esteem, and mood. Listening to music that potentially threatened one's religious identity appeared to undermine both performance self-esteem and actual memory performance, while increasing feelings of hostility. This pattern was found for Christians (vs. Atheists) who listened to Buddhist chants. Conversely, Atheists' performance self-esteem (and to some degree their memory performance) was lowest, and their hostility highest, when they listened to Christian hymns. In this way, listening to music that potentially threatened one's religious group identity (or lack thereof) appeared to be detrimental for memory, self-esteem, and mood. These results bridge research on the psychology of religion, music psychology, and social identity theorizing by demonstrating that the effects of music on memory and well-being may reflect important (even sacred) social identities, with potential implications for individual well-being and intergroup relations.
Is There a Bidirectional Causal Relationship Between Religiosity and Volunteering?
Joonmo Son & John Wilson
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Most studies of the effect of religiosity on volunteering overlook or fail to deal adequately with the possibility that there is reverse causal relation, from volunteering to religiosity, which should be taken into account. Using four waves of the Americans' Changing Lives study, we estimate a reciprocal relationship between church attendance and religious and secular volunteering, using dynamic panel models with fixed effects using structural equation modeling and measuring both lagged and proximate effects. Religious service attendance increases future religious volunteering via its proximate effect on religious volunteering while religious volunteering has cross-lagged and proximate effects on both religious service attendance and secular volunteering. On the other hand, there are neither cross-lagged nor proximate effects between church going and secular volunteering. Religious and secular types of volunteering are reciprocally related, suggesting religious people are drawn into secular work not only directly, but also via their volunteer work for religious organizations.
Religion without doctrine or clergy: The case of Ancient Greece
George Tridimas
Journal of Institutional Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers of religious goods. Doctrinal reasons relate to worshiping a multitude of powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence of a founder of religion and of a scripture; lack of religious doctrine and of a code of moral behaviour and piety manifested as mass participation in rituals. These factors denied religious suppliers the opportunity to form a monopoly acting as an autonomous intermediary between humans and gods. Political reasons relate to the supremacy of the demos which watchfully guarded its decision-making powers and prevented other actors like a priestly interest group to challenge its authority.