Major Religious Groups Research Articles

A Topic Modeling Approach Towards Understanding the Discourse between Religion and Videogames on Reddit

Today's videogames are often intertwined with profound religious narratives, content, characters, and artifacts - but how do player communities understand the role of religion in games, and what is the impression of believers on the use, portrayal, and representation of the religion they practice? This paper dives deep into this confluence by rigorously analyzing discussions from religion and videogame subreddits that often depict the most popular communication channel for their communities. Following topic modeling, we cluster posts and comments from the three major religious groups and the most popular related videogame subreddits, bringing forth representative cultural sentiments and patterns of players and religious stakeholders. Through this, we discovered 22 distinct sub-themes, further categorized into the three overarching themes of (a) Blasphemous Elements of Videogames, (b) Religion as a Design Space for Videogames, and (c) Videogames for Religious Education and Community Forming.

Barriers and Facilitators Towards Deceased Organ Donation: A Qualitative Study Among Three Major Religious Groups in Chandigarh, and Chennai, India.

This study aimed to examine the barriers and facilitators of the public toward deceased organ donation in Chandigarh, and Chennai, India, from three major religious groups, Hinduism, Islamism, and Christianity. Twenty-five focus groups were conducted (n = 87) stratified by study region, religion, sex, and age. Data were analysed using framework analysis. The results revealed that individuals were primarily willing to donate their organs. However, their religious views regarding death, after-life beliefs, funeral ritual practices, and lack of knowledge regarding their religion's position toward deceased organ donation created tension and ambiguity in the decision-making. However, younger age groups (18-30years) appeared more open and positive toward deceased organ donation. The conclusion demands a clear need for religious leaders and stakeholders to address theirreligion's stance, which creates tension and ambiguity in any uncertainties surrounding cultural and religious-based views among the Indian population.

Technological Culture and the Challenge of Erosion of Yorùbá Moral Values

The advent and rapid evolution of technology have significantly impacted global cultures, including the culture of Yorùbá people, an ethnic group primarily located in southwestern Nigeria. The Yorùbá people are known for their rich cultural heritage, which includes a strong emphasis on communal living, respect for elders, and a deep sense of spirituality and moral uprightness. However, the pervasive influence of technological advancements, such as the internet, social media, and mobile technologies, has posed a significant challenge to the preservation of these values. Social media platforms, in particular, have played a role in reshaping perceptions of morality, success, and identity, often promoting values that conflict with traditional Yorùbá principles. This paper examines how technological culture contributes to the erosion of Yorùbá moral values, traditionally passed down through generations. A self-structured questionnaire grounded in the Ọmọlúàbí Code of Ethics was used as instrument. One hundred Yorùbá youths in Ede community, Osun State, Nigeria were sampled across the three major religious groups in Nigeria and copies of the questionnaire given to them. The findings reveal a significant relationship between the increasing use of technology and the perceived erosion of Yorùbá moral values. The younger generations, who are more engaged with digital platforms, exhibit a noticeable shift in moral perspectives, often aligning more with globalized digital culture than traditional Yorùbá ethics. Now, while technological culture poses challenges to the preservation of Yorùbá moral values, it also offers opportunities for innovative cultural engagement and education. The study, therefore, recommends a balanced approach, advocating for the integration of traditional values within modern technological frameworks. This study also recommends that film censoring should be taken more seriously by the government in order to disallow contents that seem to downplay good moral values and that broadcasting houses should promote/project indigenous cultural and moral values.

HIJACKING OF STATE POWER ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN INDONESIA

This study aims to reveal the failure of the state to use its authority to ensure the fulfilment of religious freedom for all its citizens maximally and adequately because, in practice, the state sometimes takes refuge behind the slogan of neutrality when it sees the majority group committing violent practices against minority groups. This study uses a discourse analysis method with a phenomenological approach to understanding the meaning of various events and human interactions. Meanwhile, the data was collected through literature study, media study, and observation using content analysis and discourse analysis methods in processing the data. Then this research results in the finding that opening the state accommodation gap to the demands of the majority religious group will provide space for them to take advantage of the similarities in their religious ideology with state actors and then attempt to dictate state policy. The inability of the state to be neutral in solving the problems of its people, at the same time, has given rise to the impression that a handful of certain social classes have controlled the state. Even this research results also show that tendencies of intolerance and discrimination arise in the community.

Identity management by multiple identification – religious leaders and EU integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT This research examines the identity management strategies among Bosnian religious leaders belonging to the three major religious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), namely the Islamic Community, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. The research is based on 31 semi-structured interviews conducted with religious leaders from the aforementioned groups. It specifically focuses on how religious leaders manage negative in-group identities in the context of the country’s EU integration process. Identity management strategies described in the previous literature cannot explain how the respondents in the post-conflict environment of B&H deal with negative in-group perceptions. Instead, this research identifies a new strategy: multiple identification, i.e. identifying not only with the in-group but also with an out-group, thereby paving the way for a novel approach to identity management through multiple group affiliations, emphasizing shared values. With the help of thematic analysis, the article demonstrates how multiple identification with both the in-group and the perceived European society as an out-group evolves in this empirical case.

Government Religious Discrimination, Support of Religion, and Muslim Minority-Related Societal Violence in Western Democracies

Does government-based religious discrimination against religious minorities and government support of majority religion affect religiously motivated societal violence between minorities and majority religious groups in Western democracies? Analyzing Muslim minorities, this study tries to answer the question by looking specifically at the religious violence perpetrated by and against these minorities in the West. Using a novel cross-national time-series data on 25 Western countries disaggregated by victim and perpetrator groups, this paper finds that while discrimination contributes to a country encountering religiously driven societal violence perpetrated by both Muslim and majority religious groups, government support for majority religion seems to pose no security threat. Furthermore, a case study analysis of the UK employing the synthetic control method corroborates the results of the cross-country analysis. The findings have important policy implications for counter-strategies against both Islamic and right-wing violent extremism in the West.

Violent Conflict and Hostility Towards Ethnoreligious Outgroups in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of exposure to violent conflict on hostility towards ethnic and religious outgroups among Nigeria’s population and among its two major religious groups (i.e., Christians and Muslims). Violent conflict had a robust positive effect on outgroup hostility among the Nigerian population and among Christians. A plausible mechanism behind this finding is that the threat posed by violent conflict strengthens ingroup cohesion, erodes trust in outgroup members, and makes intergroup boundaries salient. This is especially so when the opposite party to the conflict constitutes a distinct cultural outgroup. The main conflict affecting Christians involves nomadic pastoralists of Fulani ethnicity, who are Muslims. Among Muslims, violent conflict rather had a weak positive effect on outgroup hostility that was not robust to alternative operationalizations of outgroup hostility. The null effect might be because the main conflict affecting Muslims—the Boko Haram insurgency—does not involve Christians. A significant number of Muslims are also affected by conflicts involving nomadic Fulani pastoralists.

Religious Affiliation and the Elective Abortion Attitudinal Variations Among Young Adults

This study aims to determine if there is a significant difference in attitudes toward elective abortion as a social taboo among young adults when considering their religious affiliation and their extent of religious adherence by drawing from the Social Learning Theory and the Moral Communities Hypothesis. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing the diverse attitudes toward elective abortion among individuals within the predominantly Catholic Philippines. A self-administered online survey questionnaire was utilized in this study. A non-probability convenience sampling method was employed ensuring the major religious groups are represented. To examine whether an attitudinal variation exists when considering religious affiliation and the extent of religious adherence among the sample population of sixty (n = 60), a chi-square (χ²) test of independence was employed. The same was done considering the classificatory variables of sex and marital status. The results showed that attitudes toward elective abortion varied significantly among respondents when considering their religious affiliations (p = < .001), and when dichotomized into Catholic and non-Catholic groups, proportions still varied significantly (p = < .001), with most of the Catholic respondents exhibited a pro-choice attitude. Conversely, most of the non-Catholic respondents exhibited a pro-life attitude. Likewise, attitudes toward elective abortion varied significantly among respondents when considering their extent of religious adherence (p = < .001). Understanding this diversity is crucial for evidence-based policy recommendations and interventions related to bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive rights, as well as for promoting transparency and well-informed discussion on taboos such as abortion.

A Post-Secular Approach to Managing Diversity in Liberal Democracies: Exploring the Interplay of Human Rights, Religious Identity, and Inclusive Governance in Western Societies

This article delves into the pressing challenges confronting liberal democracies in Western Europe as they grapple with managing religious diversity, with a specific focus on Muslim minorities. Historically, the secularization paradigm has been at the forefront of managing such diversity; however, its intrinsic limitations become increasingly evident in the context of super-diversity, underscoring the need for a paradigmatic shift toward post-secularization. Central to this discourse are the nuanced concepts of “culturalization of religion” and “religionization of culture”, which illuminate the disparities in treatment between majority and minority religious groups. The article identifies three endogenous limitations intrinsic to liberal democracies: the contested nature of state neutrality vis-à-vis religion and belief, the implementation of this principle through non-neutral judicial tools, and the historically and culturally laden context within which the principle of neutrality is enacted. Drawing on the seminal contributions of Jürgen Habermas to post-secularization theory, the article posits that fostering genuine inclusivity and pluralism in managing religious diversity necessitates a departure from the rigid division between the religious and the secular. Instead, it calls for an acknowledgment of the dialogical relationship between the religious and secular dimensions as they manifest in the public sphere by religious minorities.

Pluralisme Agama Dalam Masyarakat Masa Kini: Pentingnya Pemahaman Dan Kesadaran Untuk Membangun Kehidupan Yang Harmonis

Today's society is a technology-based society. The rise of technology-based progress brings many challenges in the life of today's society, one of which is the undoubted religious pluralism. Pluralist life is now a real reality and religious pluralism is also part of that real reality. Religious pluralism is a necessity that cannot be avoided. The development of technology in today's society allows every religion to meet each other at any time and at any time so that the spirit of religious pluralism becomes increasingly important because various religions and beliefs today coexist in one community. The main problem that will be discussed in the article is that the reality of religious diversity often causes conflict and intolerance between religious groups. The majority religious group that exclusively claims to be the most correct and does not want to accept the truth of other religions, then does not accept religious pluralism is a necessity. In fact, the conflicts that occur are not only from exclusive adherents (religious exclusivism) who claim their religion is absolutely right and other religions are wrong. There are also some political elites under the guise of religion who trigger inter-religious conflicts. This article specifically explores and highlights the importance in today's society of developing a better understanding and awareness of the reality of religious diversity, in order to build a peaceful and prosperous life that promotes the values of tolerance, peace and harmony. Religious pluralism as a bridge of understanding and awareness of religious pluralism, if built on the basis of universal principles, such as inclusivism, compassion, and dialogue.

A Mixed-Methods Study on Religiosity, Pandemic Beliefs, and Psychological Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

This paper examines the association between religious identity, religiosity (internal vs external), and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from two cross-sectional surveys were used to test these associations among Malaysians from the three major religious groups—Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists—as well as mixed qualitative coding on illness beliefs and helpful resources. During the pandemic, higher religiosity was associated with less perceived stress, external religiosity was negatively associated with stress, and internal religiosity was positively associated with life satisfaction among young adults. Thematic coding also confirmed a variety of illness beliefs and helpful resources relevant to social and religious norms. Different pathways of religious coping were utilized during the pandemic.

Exploring issues of online hate speech against minority religious groups in Bangladesh

Purpose Online hate speech (OHS) is becoming a serious problem worldwide including in Bangladesh. This study aims to understand the nature of OHS against religious groups and explore its impact on their social life and mental health. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was followed and 11 in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with the selected OHS victims. This study conducted a semi-structural interview using Google Form following the design questionnaire for selecting IDIs participants. Findings This study found that religious minorities experience online hatred through online media by the major religious group in Bangladesh. Natures of OHS are commenting on social media posts, sharing hateful memes and sending private messages using slang language targeting religious identity, religious food habits and ethnic identities. Victims were offended, abused and bullied by unknown persons, their university friends and colleagues. Victims of OHS did not take any action against it due to fear of insecurity. Victims of OHS felt low-minded, helpless and anxious after the experience of OHS; they felt more insecure and vulnerable socially and mentally. Originality/value The findings of this study suggest that policymakers identify the nature of OHS and take proper steps for reducing the frequency of OHS in Bangladesh. To combat the OHS, authorities have to make legal enforcement equal for everyone.

Faith-Based Discrimination and Violent Religious Hostilities: A Global Analysis

Several studies have found restrictions on minority faith-based communities to be related to the onset of violent religious hostilities. Absent from this work, though, is a consideration of the fact that minority religious discrimination can take different forms, and, consequently, may encourage violence in different ways. This paper seeks to fill this void by examining different forms of minority religious restrictions and their relationship to religious violence. Specifically, we analyze the comparative strength of three basic types of religious discrimination—restrictions on minority religious practices, restrictions on minority religious institutions, and restrictions on conversion and proselytizing—on violence carried out by both religious majority groups and religious minority groups. Interestingly, our analysis shows all three forms of restrictions encourage violence from religious majorities, but not from minorities. We supplement the statistical analysis with a case study of faith-based discrimination and violent religious hostilities in India.

Should I stay or should I go? The effect of London’s terrorist attack on the educational choices of Muslims

This paper evaluates how the July 2005 London terrorist attacks affected Muslim teenagers’ education plans and decisions. The attacks triggered a violent backslash against the Muslim community, which could have affected their incentives to continue in full-time education. I examine panel data on educational attitudes from the “Next Steps” Survey in England and use the month the survey was administered to divide individuals into treatment and control groups. I find that the attacks negatively affected the education plans of Muslims, but not those of any other major religious group. The probability of planning to continue in non-compulsory full-time education decreased by around 4.4% points for Muslims after the attacks. This corresponds to a 69% increase in individuals who were not sure whether to continue or drop out of full-time education. However, this change in plans appears to be a temporary reaction, since it did not affect students’ actual decisions two years later.

MENANAMKAN SIKAP DALAM TOLERANSI BERAGAMA PADA SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR MELALUI PEMBELAJARAN IPS (MULTICULTURAL BASED)

ABSTRACT
 Religious differences that often occur among elementary school children trigger conflicts between majority and minority religious groups. The emergence of these conflicts shows the low attitude of religious tolerance in elementary school students. This research aims to instill an attitude of religious tolerance through multicultural-based social studies learning, where multiculturalism teaches students to always appreciate differences. This article uses a type of literature study method or literature review on the cultivation of tolerance in elementary school students through learning social studies (ips). The steps in the literature study are (1) choosing a topic; (2) determining the focus of information; (3) formulating the focus of research; (4) collecting data sources; (5) preparing data presentation (6) compiling a report. The method/technique of data collection in this article uses the documentation method, meaning that researchers look for data relevant to the topic by using reading materials such as books, articles and journals. The results showed that multicultural-based social studies learning has a great influence on the cultivation of religious tolerance attitudes in elementary school students.

Matrimonial Practices among Muslims of Pokhara

Study of religious minorities keeps greater importance in a country like Nepal, where Hindus constitute the majority of the population. Marriage is a normal societal phenomenon and common in Nepali society. Muslims marriage is curious and not common to the majority religious group of Nepal. Marriage is a contract between bride and groom for the purposes of legal intercourse, child propagation, and the social contract between husband and wife. Muslims perform their marital rituals according to Sariat. The marriage of Muslims is directed by the faith itself, according to the Holy Quran. Muslim marriage has long been curious to non-Muslims because of its uniqueness. As a result, an attempt has been made to address this issue. This article is based on qualitative research and aims to outline the critical measures to be taken throughout marriage. To generalize the subject, an observation approach, in[1]depth interviews and library research are being used. As responders for the goal of gathering knowledge, Muslim scholars, masjid Committee Members, Moulana and elderly people from Miya Patan of Pokhara who have witnessed such rites were chosen. Because they desired anonymity, the responders are referred to as Res. 1. , Res.2., Res.3, Res.4 and so on. This research looks on Muslim marriage, a unique and traditional marital practice in Nepal. It makes an attempt to address the general situation of Muslim marital practice in Miya Patan of Pokhara. In Nepal, particularly in Pokhara, people have forgotten the value of marriage in the name of modernization. Muslims of Pokhara have protected the society's social standards and cultural values of marriage which should be learn from them.

Health Disparities between Religious Majority and Minority: A Cross-National Analysis

Background Scholars have found that as a multi-facet phenomenon, religion has a complicated relationship with people's health well-being. However, current research on health and religion has left a vacuum in understanding why we observe widespread health disparities between the majority and minority religious groups. Purpose The present study is aimed at two purposes. First, we conduct a cross-national comprehensive examination of the relationship between religious minority/majority status and self-rated health. Second, we investigate the moderating potential of political contexts on the relationship in question. Methods Drawing from the 2010–2014 wave of World Values Survey, we construct an analytic sample containing about 70,000 individual cases nested within 51 countries, and apply multilevel modeling to account for the hierarchical data structure. Results We first find that religious minorities are less likely to report good/very good health status relative to members of majority group. However, we note that the religious minority health disadvantage is driven by a few country outliers. After exclusion of any of these country outliers from the analysis, there is no significant health difference between majority and minority groups. Moreover, we find that political contexts moderate the health effect of being a religious minority. In countries with low levels of democracy or heavy religious restriction on minority groups, people of minority groups are less likely to report good/very good health compared with those belonging to majority group. By contrast, in societies with high levels of democracy or low levels of religious restriction, the health dispartities between religious majority and minority groups become non-significant. A series of sensitivity analysis, including using multiple-imputation sample and different ways of coding key variables, provides credibility to the results. Conclusions and Implications This study's findings suggest that religious minorities experience health disadvantage, only when minority groups are denied of political and religious freedom. Compared with past works that mostly focused on a single or a few societies, this study provides large-scale, cross-national evidence for the issue of religious minority health. This study also adds to our understanding of how political context shapes the health impacts of religion.

Reservation in India: Social Justice or Political Agenda?

With more than 3000 castes and all the major religious groups of the world, India is certainly a personification of religious and cultural diversity. The Constitution makers were very well aware of the fact that this diversity entails a form of segmental equality owing to which the idea of compensatory discrimination was included in the constitution. Therefore, through Article 16(4) and 46, reservation in matters of public education and employment were provided for the upliftment of the backward and deprived classes, namely the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). However, politicians have increasingly used this instrument of social justice to divide groups for “vote bank” politics. The routine extension of the reservation quotas through amendments and the inclusion of new groups like Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) represents the increasing politicization of caste in politics at the cost of social justice.
 The motive of this paper is to question whether reservation has become a political agenda rather than an instrument of social justice as well as to give an insight on how the policy has been misused for political gains. With an amalgamation of facts and unique analysis, it also sheds light on the attempts of privileged groups like the Jats in Haryana to demand reservation thereby showcasing how the true meaning of reservation has been eroded in India political scenario.

Historical Analysis of Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria, 1990-2013

Conflict is as old as human race. Since the creation of the country called Nigeria, there has been debate on the issue of peaceful coexistence among the different ethnic groups and between the two major religious groups, Christians and Muslims. This paper explored ethnic conflicts in Nigeria. There are many research work has been carried upon on the issue of Ethnic conflicts in Nigeria but the implications of these on the girl-child is limited. It is on this premise that this research is based. Ethnic issues are the bane of the different conflicts in Nigeria. It is against this background that this study intends to undertake a critical investigation of the ethnic conflict. The significance of this study therefore cannot be overemphasized because there cannot be development if there is no peace. However, the entrenchment of the democratic rule in 1999 brought a ray of hope for the citizens. Sadly, democracy has failed to completely unite the people of Nigeria; this is evident in the scores of ethnic conflicts in different parts of the nation.

The role of religiosity in product and technology acceptance: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccines

Previous research on religion and economic phenomena has suggested that religious attitudes are related to risk aversion. Moreover, risk attitudes play a significant role in the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations. However, the role of religiosity in technology-related phenomena is still relatively unexplored. The present study fills this gap and investigates the impact of religiosity on the acceptance of innovative technologies and products in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we frame COVID-19 vaccines as new products based on innovative production technologies and show that their acceptance by the general public is negatively associated with country-level religiosity. Furthermore, we investigate the role of religious leaders in endorsing COVID-19 vaccines to their followers. Our hypotheses are empirically tested on 1179 weekly observations of vaccination rates in 22 European countries characterised by different levels of religiosity. The results suggest that religiosity is negatively associated with vaccine rates after controlling for country-level social and economic factors. Conversely, the countries where Roman Catholics are the majority religious group display a positive association between religiosity and vaccine rates, highlighting the role of leaders in endorsing the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.