Fundamentalist Religious Beliefs Research Articles

Is there a right and left when the question is about right and wrong? – The irreducible difference between ethics and politics, religion, and morality

Summary Ethics is not culture bound or culturally relative, or Western. It is not true for some people, but not for others. We may not always know what is best or right, but we can always work to improve our knowledge and raise our standards. In this, ethics is no different from science. Applying this to bioethics leads to important consequences. All ethics, including bioethics, is built on a presumption of universal values. Millennials may worry that what we have now is white men's bioethics. Mill was white; but his ethics do not privilege white men. In fact, the growth in universal and secular ethics has forced us to recognize and address the problems with sexism, racism, and colonialism over the past 150 years. Immoral social practices that were considered acceptable for thousands of years, invisible to those with undeserved power, have become visible. Mill and Kant gave us the tools to discover injustices in the social structures of where we live, or where we worship. That is not to imply bioethics ignores or opposes religion. Bioethics allows everyone to make decisions based on their own personal religious beliefs. That's called “autonomy”, and it respects religious freedom and defends pluralism. Ethics is evidence-based morality. To arrive at an ethical conclusion one must be willing to submit all of one's moral reactions and beliefs to scrutiny and critical thinking, and objective assessment. Ethics requires putting dispassionate reflection above ideology, and its success depends on listening to all sides of a dispute, “right” and “left”, and giving reasons for preferring one solution over others. Fortunately, every religious belief can be mitigated by ethics, so long as we realize that ethics is not merely one additional set of subjective beliefs, but must be rationally and scientifically justified and universal. That is why the arc of history bends towards justice…and away from many fundamentalist religious beliefs. Conservative, racist, and divisive belief systems, and the reactionary political parties and authoritarian leaders who promote them, are unlikely to support ethical responses to social problems or political and economic crises . Nevertheless, it is important to not equate left and right with right and wrong. Philosophers must judge issues based only on the ethical arguments, and let the political ramifications fall where they may.

Dark Religion and Conspiracy Theories

ABSTRACTConspiracy theories have infiltrated increasingly larger areas of cultural and political life. Conspiracism seems to replace or supplement fundamentalist religious beliefs while also supplying material that is, in turn, used for endorsing political and ideological agendas. Similarities between conspiratorial thinking and fundamentalist creed can be explained by examining the dynamics of inferiority of consciousness and the subsequent inflation of the ego by the “contents” of the unconscious. Inadequate and noncredible representations of numinous energies in consciousness unwittingly contribute to the creation of structures with notable mythological parallels. Jung referred to this phenomenon as an “axiom of psychology,” which can explain both the archetypal nature of conspiracism and its resistance to rational correction. Thinking is free from the unconscious influence of the Self only to the extent that it is able to recognize and to relate to numinous contents, on one hand, and to withdraw projections from the object, on the other. A symbolic perspective offers a nondismissive understanding of the reasons for strong adherence to conspiracy theories. Exploring conspiracy theories as symbols rather than rational constructs offers more fruitful solutions to our current social problems.

Is science for atheists? Perceived threat to religious cultural authority explains U.S. Christians' distrust in secularized science.

A history of perceived conflict between religion and science persists in the U.S. "culture wars" that juxtapose religious and secular worldviews. As modern societies grow increasingly secular, religion is often deemed an impediment to science-based policy-making, whereas science is increasingly associated with atheism. In the present research, we addressed how perceived science-atheism associations affect U.S. Christians' attitudes toward science. In study 1, participants' own estimates of atheists' prevalence in science uniquely predicted distrust in science, and study 2 revealed a causal effect of perceived prevalence of atheists on distrust in science. Studies 3-4 (the latter preregistered) manipulated the concept of science-atheism associations more generally, revealing the same effects. These effects were mediated by the belief that scientists are anti-religion, not by moral distrust toward atheists or fundamentalist religious beliefs. Hence, Christians' institutional distrust in secularized science may derive largely from a perceived threat to the cultural status of religion.

Exploring Gender Socialization on African Political System and Women's Participation

This study explored the role of gender plays and the participation impacts of women on African politics, the religion and socio-cultural factors responsible for the underrepresentation of women through socialization in Africa. Obviously, past research has demonstrated that fundamentalist religious beliefs and affiliations are related to preservationist gender demeanours or attitude. This idea not only impacts gender gaps in political participation in cross-national examinations by belligerence that women's portrayal ought to be measured in an unexpected way or differently. Utilizing Fundamentalism and Modernization Theories, this paper shows that long haul impacts of women's representation are more indispensable than short-term measures in understanding gender gap in a mixture of political exercises. The timeframe since women have accessed the political framework discloses the gender gap to a more noteworthy degree than the presence of women in the governing body and cabinet at one point in time. Findings demonstrate that the suppositions of earlier work on women representation and political conduct or attitude may stretch out beyond Africa it also finds that gender grouping has in many ways impacted the low participation of women in African political system through socialization. At last, this study shows that the kind of political exercises matter and the implementation of policies that encourage give women level play ground to participate in politics while breaking down the impact of gender socialization as of the factors for women's representation in legislative issues crosswise over Africa. A qualitative approach was used in this study alongside with empirical investigation.

Religious Fundamentalism Modulates Neural Responses to Error-Related Words: The Role of Motivation Toward Closure.

Examining the relationship between brain activity and religious fundamentalism, this study explores whether fundamentalist religious beliefs increase responses to error-related words among participants intolerant to uncertainty (i.e., high in the need for closure) in comparison to those who have a high degree of toleration for uncertainty (i.e., those who are low in the need for closure). We examine a negative-going event-related brain potentials occurring 400 ms after stimulus onset (the N400) due to its well-understood association with the reactions to emotional conflict. Religious fundamentalism and tolerance of uncertainty were measured on self-report measures, and electroencephalographic neural reactivity was recorded as participants were performing an emotional Stroop task. In this task, participants read neutral words and words related to uncertainty, errors, and pondering, while being asked to name the color of the ink with which the word is written. The results confirm that among people who are intolerant of uncertainty (i.e., those high in the need for closure), religious fundamentalism is associated with an increased N400 on error-related words compared with people who tolerate uncertainty well (i.e., those low in the need for closure).

Religious Fundamentalism and Radicalization Among Muslim Minority Youth in Europe

Abstract. In Europe there are important concerns about fundamentalist religious beliefs among Muslim youth and “homegrown” radicalization that can lead to violent extremism. For these phenomena, different explanations are given, but there is very little systematic empirical research. Based on the existing conceptual, theoretical, and empirical literature and using a social psychological perspective, the current paper discusses religious fundamentalism and radicalization among Muslim minority youth in Europe. Specifically, feelings of uncertainty, perceived hostility, and perceived injustice are discussed as three important psychological factors involved in radicalization. Furthermore, the critical importance of intra- and intergroup processes and social networks is discussed. The review of the research is concluded by providing some directions and suggestions for future research and for prevention and intervention.

Femicides: a study in Brazilian state capital cities and large municipalities.

This study analyses the relationship between femicides and indicators of socio-economic condition, demography, access to communications, and health situation, in Brazilian state capitals and large-population municipalities. It is an ecological study using the standardized mean coefficient of female mortality due to aggression as a marker for femicide in the years 2007-09 and 2011-13. The Pearson Correlation test was used for the statistical analysis between the outcome and 17 independent variables, and those that were statistically significant (p < 0.05) were introduced into a multivariate linear regression model, using backward elimination. In the first three-year period the average rate of femicide was 4.5 deaths per 100,000 women, and in the second period it was 4.9/100,000. Poverty (β = -0.330; p = 0.006), Pentecostalism (β = 0.237; p = 0.002) and male mortality by aggression (β = 0.841; p = 0.000) were associated with femicides. The negative association between poverty and feminine deaths indicates a paradoxical relationship, in that women who die in the richer regions are mostly poor. A relationship was also found between gender violence, fundamentalist religious beliefs, and urban violence.

The prosperous hardliner: Affluence, fundamentalism, and radicalization in Western European Muslim communities

Current literature finds that radicalization is correlated with both the holding of fundamentalist religious beliefs and low socio-economic status. The authors interrogate these proposed relationships through a survey we commissioned of 1,200 Muslims living in Western Europe. They analyze, inter alia, Islamic religious fundamentalism, and explore its relationship to self-reported affluence. Controlling for demographic variables, they find that, on average, respondents from more prosperous families are more likely to practice Islam in a way closely associated with fundamentalism – they are more conservative regarding gender roles, seek the universal application of Islamic law, and embrace attitudes associated with a more politicized Islam. This relationship is strengthened among respondents who are unattached to the labor market due to unemployment. Additionally, respondents espousing this belief set are more supportive of the use of violence to ‘defend their faith’.

Development of a brief measure of attitudes towards polyamory

Due to its increasing popularity as a relationship style, empirical research on polyamory and its practitioners has flourished over the past decade. More recently, researchers are beginning to explore others’ attitudes towards polyamory. To support future work in this area, we created a 7-item measure of attitudes towards polyamory and validated it in three samples. Sample 1 used 100 US adults to create the initial version of the Attitudes Towards Polyamory (ATP) Scale. In Sample 2, the responses of 134 US college students were used to revise the scale and to obtain evidence for construct validity and test–retest reliability. Sample 3 employed 196 US adults to confirm the factor structure of the scale and to further establish convergent and divergent validity. As expected, participants who held more traditional beliefs (such as favourable attitudes towards monogamy, politically conservative beliefs and fundamentalist religious beliefs) were more likely to have negative attitudes towards polyamory, whereas participants exhibiting thrill-seeking attitudes and behaviours were more likely to have positive attitudes towards polyamory. Our results indicate that the ATP Scale is a brief, reliable and valid measure that can be used in future research to assess people’s attitudes towards the polyamorous relationship orientation.

Disentangling Science &amp; Ideology

May’s editorial, titled “The Intrusion of Fundamentalist Religion into Biology Education,” touched on many important issues for biology educators that deserve more attention. In many ways I agree with the conclusion that “we all must be on guard for the erosion of science and intrusion of religion into education,” although this blanket statement requires more clarification. Censorship and manipulation of facts to fit religious dogma definitely erode science and education, but the discussion of ideological viewpoints (political, social, religious, economic, etc.) is a vital component of a well-rounded education that fosters critical thinking. It is also important to note that the inappropriate intrusion of ideological dogma is not limited to fundamentalist religious beliefs. For example, many prominent atheists are as guilty as religious fundamentalists in pushing their ideologies into science and education. Ideology and science are inappropriately intertwined in the United States mainly, I would argue, because most citizens lack a basic understanding of the nature of science (i.e., …

The Intrusion of Fundamentalist Religion into Biology Education

> One great thing about evolution is that it happens whether you like it or not. I have been very concerned for some time about the intrusion of fundamentalist religious beliefs into biology education at all levels. The most notorious infraction has been in the science-based teaching of evolution. I would like to share some of my experiences with this issue. Flashback to the 1980s . In the late 1980s, Joe McInerney, then director of the BSCS, asked me (as a coauthor of the BSCS Green Version, 1987, 1992) to accompany him to Austin, Texas, to testify to the Texas Legislative Subcommittee on Education for the textbook’s position on teaching evolution to high school students. We were each allowed to speak for about a minute and took the standard science-based position on the evolutionary timeline and the importance of teaching evolution as a major conceptual theme in biology. Abruptly, another person asked to be recognized. The presider, evidently recognizing that person, said, “Yes, Mr. Gabler.” It was the infamous Melvin Gabler, sitting with his wife, Norma (both now deceased). They had for years been very vocal critics of modern science and of anything else they believed to be “anti-Christian,” such as evolutionary biology, secularism, sex education, critics of slavery, and gay rights, and had been quite influential in Texas far-right politics. He stood up with a book in his hand and, raising the book into the air, shouted “All our children need to learn in school is in this here book!” The presider said “Thank you, Mr. Gabler. We are now …

Exclusion, intergroup hostility, and religious fundamentalism

The goal of the present study was to examine whether exclusion leads to increased intergroup hostility and stronger fundamentalist religious beliefs. Using Cyberball, we examined how adolescents from different ethnic groups in the Netherlands (of Moroccan, Turkish, and Dutch descent with either Muslim, Christian, or secular beliefs) responded to being included or excluded by ethnic in- and outgroup members. We expected that exclusion by ethnic outgroup members would represent a categorization threat and would result in greater hostility. We hypothesized that exclusion by ethnic ingroup members would represent an acceptance threat and would result in responses that reduce uncertainty and increase one's chances of being accepted by others (e.g., a stronger endorsement of fundamentalist religious beliefs). The results revealed that among all ethnic groups, exclusion by ethnic outgroup members led to more hostility toward the co-players and the co-players' ethnic group than exclusion by ethnic ingroup members. This was mediated by the extent to which people attributed their exclusion to the racist attitudes of their co-players. Among Muslims and Christians, exclusion by ethnic ingroup members led to more support for fundamentalist beliefs. We discuss the theoretical extension that these results provide, and practical issues raised regarding the consequences that may occur through the marginalization of religious and ethnic groups.

Effective Support for Lesbians in Rural Communities: The Role of Psychotherapy

Most research involving lesbians has been conducted using urban or suburban samples. However, the challenges lesbians face in their rural communities differ from those encountered by lesbians in urban areas. Lesbians in rural areas face potential isolation due to the lack of a visible gay community, an overall lack of services and resources, and an often heightened experience of stigma. Rural areas tend to have a more conservative political climate with an emphasis on fundamentalist religious beliefs. Due to such strong heteronormist pressures, lesbians who decide to come out to their rural communities often face justifiable fears surrounding possible discrimination from employers, religious organizations, schools, and even their friends and family members. Therapists who work with lesbians in rural areas should be prepared to help their clients face and successfully deal with many unique challenges.

Christian Fundamentalism and Anti-Oppressive Social Work Pedagogy

Christian fundamentalist religious beliefs, expressed by social work students, present a challenge to the social work educator. In this paper we explore the tensions between Fundamentalism, diverse sexual orientation and gender expression and social work pedagogy. Particularly, we focus on how an anti-oppressive pedagogical approach, while important to providing educational equality for students with diverse gender expressions and sexual orientations, has some limitations when working with students with Fundamentalist beliefs. We wonder whether there is a reasonable limit on inclusivity. The prospect of negotiating fundamentalism raises questions that require a critical reflection on our own belief systems, a rethinking of social work anti-oppressive values and ethics, and a consideration of our role as educators within the academy

The association of racial attitudes and spiritual beliefs in post-apartheid South Africa

Previous research has investigated the complex association between religious beliefs and racism. Many studies have found that fundamentalist religious beliefs are positively associated with racial prejudice among European and European American populations. However, few studies have examined whether this association is found in other cultures or whether the association also characterizes spiritual beliefs. Data from 493 South African university students from three racial backgrounds revealed significant differences among the groups. A positive association between fundamentalism and racial prejudice was found among participants, but general spiritual beliefs were negatively associated with racist attitudes. The results emphasize the need to address contextual factors that influence the association between religious beliefs and racism within a given culture.

Context Matters: Effects of the Proportion of Fundamentalists on Gender Attitudes

Previous research has shown that fundamentalist religious beliefs and affiliations are associated with conservative gender attitudes. This study expands upon previous research by examining both the individual and contextual effects of conservative Protestantism on gender attitudes. Multilevel analysis of data from the General Social Surveys (1985–96) reveals a significant relationship between the proportion of fundamentalists in a state and conservative gender attitudes of white individuals within that state even after controlling for the individuals' own religious affiliation, beliefs, and practices.

From Personal to Professional Values: Conversations about Conflicts

Americans are generally less than satisfied with the atmosphere of daily life. They bemoan lack of civility, failure to respect others, refusal to accept responsibility, and threats to their personal safety. They deal with these dissatisfactions in various ways: dream of a return to a past that never was; seek a better life through adherence to xenophobic beliefs; escape into the fantasy world of fundamentalist religious beliefs or of the pabulum of the media and hucksters of technology. Finally, those who are financially able seclude themselves in communities that Bellah and his colleagues (Bellah, Madsen, sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985) called life style enclaves. American society has consistently called for education, particularly public education, to I shoulder the burden of developing a better society. In his later years, Thomas Jefferson believed that the amelioration of man's condition on earth through education is the highest and noblest activity; to this end, he devoted much of his remaining life (Schachner, 1951). Yet, no institution in American society has endured closer scrutiny over time than the public school (Mathews, 1996). The nation is once again frequently holding schools and teachers accountable for many of society's ills. To counter attacks on their efforts, educators must explore values at the heart of conflicts between their ideals and society's assessment of the profession of teaching. Ironically, many educators have attempted to be value neutral--an oxymoronic phrase. Attempts to remain value neutral denigrate the profession. When educators submerge values in the hidden curriculum, they neglect their moral imperatives to serve students, transform schools, and improve society, thus achieving the vision of America's founders (Schachner, 1951). One of us, while working with policymakers at the state level, is pressing for structural change in K-12 education; the other prepares teachers who will serve students in these restructured schools. In this article, we discuss only the challenges to teacher educators, although we recognize that K-12 education must change if there is to be a place for the type of teacher we wish to help develop. We first provide a historical perspective on the roles of educators in American society and suggest that a synthesis 5f these roles is essential. We then argue that teacher educators must create places set apart for guiding the professional development of students. We provide insights and examples for engaging prospective teachers in dialogues about values, their identities, and conflicts. Finally, we challenge teacher educators to participate in efforts to move the profession forward by addressing the moral imperatives. Changing Roles of Educators in Society In the past, Americans used various means to promote ideas about the role of education in society. Jonathan Edwards used the sermon to emphasize the values-based responsibility of the individual (McMichael 1989). Thomas Jefferson, writing a philosophy for a new kind of government, promoted the role of education in creating a public that expressed its values through its institutions (Schachner, 1951). Thomas Paine, through political discourse, worked to persuade those engaged in public life that the value of courage lay at the heart of any effort to build a more just society (McMichael, 1989, p. 423). Catherine Beecher viewed the role of the teacher as essential in achieving the vision fashioned by the Nation's founders (Burstyn, 1974). Valiance (1983) points out that prior to the 1830s, schools were the means of creating a national and uniform culture. Educators were to inculcate standards of public morality because families and the church were no longer meeting their responsibilities of educating children. Later in the 19th century, the common school movement brought a concern for individual children and a commitment to the idea that free public education was the solution for the moral decay overtaking society. …

PROTESTANT FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE RETRIBUTIVE DOCTRINE OF PUNISHMENT*

In Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that public opinion, including the public's presumed desire for retribution, can be a legitimate basis for penal policy. Subsequently, the retributive doctrine has guided sentencing reform across the nation. But variation among the public in support for retribution as the goal of punishment and the effects of religion in shaping public sentiments about punishment have received little attention from researchers. Drawing from recent work on attribution theory and religion, this paper proposes and reports evidence that public support for the retributive doctrine is closely linked to affiliation with fundamentalist Protestant denominations and fundamentalist religious beliefs. The normative implications of such a connection are addressed.

Boundary Maintenance, Social-Political Views, and Presidential Preference among High and Low Fundamentalists

Scientific claims to a positive relationship between religious fundamentalism and conservative social and political beliefs are argued to be generally unwarranted on both conceptual and empirical grounds. A conceptualization of fundamentalism in terms of Biblical commitment largely uninformed by modem critical Biblical scholarship leads to identification of conditions under which fundamentalist religious beliefs ought to be differentially associated with other social and political beliefs generally identified as conservative. A sample of high and low fundamentalists were compared in terms of identified boundary maintenance beliefs on which high fundamentalists and low fundamentalists predictably differed. However, on a variety of other social and political views, not identified as boundary maintenance beliefs, high and low fundamentalists did not differ. High fundamentalists were more likely to select as a presidential candidate the person seen as most near their own religious beliefs even though religious beliefs per se do not significantly predict presidential preference.

Do Parents Know Their Children? The Ability of Mothers and Fathers to Gauge the Attitudes of Their Young Adult Children

Analysis of the responses of 280 triads consisting of a mother, a father, and a young adult child showed that both mothers and fathers had limited ability to gauge the attitudes of their children. Parents made the best guesses on Fundamentalist Religious Beliefs and Sexual Permissiveness. Mothers were slightly more accurate attributors than fathers of the opinions of their daughters, and neither parent did much better than the other in estimating the opinions of their sons. Except for Fundamentalist Religious Beliefs and Sexual Permissiveness, parents did not even agree between themselves about their child's opinions. Openness of communication about controversial issues while growing up and current parental happiness with the relationship were not connected to accuracy of parental perception. The implications of these findings for influence and emotional closeness between parents and youth during the launching stage are discussed.