Non-religious Contexts Research Articles

The mouth of God: the impact of religious training on story recall in Tibetan Buddhists

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have indicated that religious systems have a profound impact on individuals’ perceptions, emotions, and cognitive processes. The current research investigates the effects of religious upbringing and training on story recall in Tibetan Buddhists, specifically focusing on the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. Based on the observation that the lineage of the Kagyu emphasizes a continuity of oral instructions passed on from master to student, we predicted that Kagyu monks would demonstrate a higher ability of recalling stories than Nyingma monks, even in a non-religious context. Supporting our theoretical perspective, the results showed that Kagyu monks recalled a significantly greater proportion of a folktale than Nyingma monks under the oral-presentation condition. However, the two groups of participants showed no significant differences in their story-recall performance under the written-presentation condition. These findings are consistent with the core values of the Kagyu tradition that gives central prominence to the oral dissemination of Buddhism teachings. This study presents the first empirical evidence for the notion that religious differences are associated with meaningful variations in narrative and memory skills for stories.

‘Not so much thought out as danced out’: expanding philosophy of religion in the light of Candomblé

AbstractWhen the anthropologist R. R. Marett affirmed that certain forms of religion are ‘not so much thought out as danced out’ (1914, xxxi), he was, in effect, anticipating a criticism that has been levelled at philosophy of religion in recent decades – namely, the criticism that this branch of philosophy has frequently underplayed the extent to which religions often prioritize ritual activities (including dance) over intellectual matters. Taking Marett's observation as a point of departure, this article reflects philosophically on the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candomblé as an exemplary case. Special attention is given to the themes of (a) dance as a mode of ‘gestural language’ (Wafer 1991, 178) and (b) ‘embodied knowledge’ (Daniel 2005). It is argued that these themes supply opportunities to enrich our understanding not only of a significant dimension of religion – that is, the dimension of dance – but also of what communication and knowledge can amount to in both religious and non-religious contexts.

To what extent are sacred language practices ultralingual? The experience of British Muslim children learning Qur’anic Arabic

This article draws on qualitative data from a study of young Muslims learning Qur’anic Arabic in the UK to reveal how they engage in sacred language practices that I choose to call ‘ultralingual’. Such practices inevitably foreground linguistic form and performance over meaning, at least in the referential sense. Observable in many faith contexts, the ability to acquire a certain proficiency in an invariably ancient sacred language and then participate, actively and passively, in a range of ritual acts is demonstrated by millions of children globally. Usually attending supplementary forms of education, such children learn to access the code of their respective faiths (e.g., Qur’anic Arabic for Muslims and Biblical Hebrew for Jews) through, usually, a traditional learning approach based initially on systematic instruction in sound-letter correspondences which eventually develops into secure decoding proficiency. An important characteristic of this language practice is the ambivalent role of referential meaning. Often, performers, whether in recitation or in the words uttered in prayers, have partial or no access to the meaning of the words they utter. This article calls this ‘ultralingualism’, a language phenomenon that occurs also in non-religious contexts such as vocal music and multilingual literacy mediation, but which is particularly apparent in faith practices which centre on an ancient text and its language. The young Muslims in this article, however, do not take part in meaningless activities. Much sacred language practice (and some co-sanctified language practice) happens ultralingually, that is, form is emphasised over referential meaning. Evidence in this article argues that such ultralingual practices are accompanied nevertheless by layers of meaning often unrelated to referential or lexical meaning.

Could Religions Augment Cooperation by Recruiting Hamilton’s Rule through the Use of Fictive Kinship Language?

AbstractSome scholars have raised the potential functional role of fictive kinship for religion, generally. This paper seeks to develop that idea. It is argued in this paper that fictive kinship language in religion (and some other non-religious contexts) recruits traits connected to Hamilton’s rule as it is expressed inHomo sapienspsychology. The effect is that cooperation is augmented within a population that generally shares the same religious worldview. The general position is that if religions are in the business of cooperation and this partially accounts for their evolution and preservation, then it follows that we should take particular note of any significant feature of religions that might lend itself to the cooperation account of religion’s apparent evolutionary success. Fictive kinship is one such feature.

The spirituality in the views of the Soviet and post-Soviet man. Part 1

The main objectives of this article are to consider the various meanings of the concept of spirituality, religious (Christian) and non-religious. The authors analysed scientific literature, including such authors, who was directly involved in the study of the spirituality of the Soviet person (L. N. Kogan), and many others who devoted themselves to the study of youth in the USSR, including various aspects of its spirituality (V. T. Lisovskii, S. N. Ikonnikova, V. G. Mordkovich, L. Ya. Rubina, M. Kh. Titma, V. I. Chuprov, V. N. Shubkin). As a result of the analysis, a model was developed that makes it possible to talk about the spirituality of the Christian, Marxist, modern new age movement, with the allocation of basic values, the desired ideal, subjects of the process, etc. Correlation with this model should allow us to solve the main goal of the article – to identify how spirituality (in a religious or non-religious context) is understood by the current generation of student youth, what definitions are given to it, and whether there is continuity in this sense with Soviet ideas about spirituality. The authors came to the following conclusion: the meanings of the spirituality of the Soviet period corresponded to the humanism of the Marxist philosophy of «active man», «creator of culture», transforming not only religious tradition, but also various spheres of private life to suit their ideological needs – family and marriage relations, work, leisure, friendship, set the meaning and purpose of the Soviet man.

A mHealth-Supported Volunteer-Assisted Spiritual Well-Being Intervention for Discharged Older Patients: A Tripartite Collaboration

ABSTRACT Spiritual well-being (SWB) is a key construct in a holistic health model. This study applied a theory-driven mobile health-supported volunteer-assisted self-help (mVS) intervention to enhance SWB for discharged older patients through a medical-social-academia tripartite collaboration. This study followed a quasi-experimental design, conducted from 2017 to 2019. Data were collected from pre- and post-intervention assessment and Clinical Management System under the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong. SWB was assessed by the Spirituality Scale for Chinese Elders with seven domains, a validated scale suitable for the non-religious context. A total of 161 discharged older patients were recruited, 101 received the mVS intervention and 60 received standardized usual volunteer visits. mVS intervention was assisted by volunteers supported by a corresponding mobile application Fu Le Man Xin. The final analysis included 137 older patients living in Hong Kong aged 61 to 94 years. Repeated measures ANOVA showed mVS intervention significantly enhanced two domains of SSCE: meaning of life (F(1, 64) = 4.029, p = .049) and relationship with others (F(1, 57) = 6.428, p = .014). This study shows that mVS intervention is a feasible medical-social-academia tripartite collaboration that improves two domains of the SWB of discharged older patients: meaning of life and relationship with others.

The Ghost in the Machine: Brexit, Populism, and the Sacralisation of Politics

ABSTRACT The current global wave of populism has fuelled a surge in scholarly interest but the links between populism and religion remain under-researched and most studies have centred on cases where religion remains socially and politically influential. This paper contributes to developing studies in this area by analysing the use of religious tropes and themes in a comparatively non-religious context, examining the populist discourse that was constructed to promote Britain's withdrawal from the European Union (‘Brexit’). Drawing on neo-Durkheimian ideas about the endurance of the ‘sacred’ in social organisation, it identifies three core themes: (1) a framing of the EU as a ‘folk devil’ and an existential threat to the liberty and prosperity of the British nation, (2) a presentation of Brexit as a source of national rebirth and salvation, underpinned by an exceptionalist view of the British people who were said to possess a unique global destiny, and (3) a sacralisation of ‘the People’ into an homogenous mass whose Will was to be enacted at all costs in the aftermath of the referendum. The study shows how populists are able to draw on a religious repertoire to mobilise voters, even in contexts that are largely non-religious.

Ritualization increases the perceived efficacy of instrumental actions

Across all cultures, people frequently engage in ritualized (non-instrumental) behaviors. How do those causally opaque actions affect perceptions of causal efficacy? Using real-life stimuli extracted from NCAA basketball games, we asked fans, players of the game, and subjects naive to the game to predict the outcome of free throw attempts. We found that the performance of personal pre-shot rituals increased the perception of shot efficacy irrespective of subjects' level of knowledge of and involvement in the game. Those effects became stronger when the score was less favorable for the shooter's team. Our findings suggest that even in non-religious contexts, people make intuitive judgements about ritual efficacy, and that those judgements are sensitive to ecological factors. The implications of those biases extend beyond sports, to various domains of public action, such as religion, courtrooms, college life, and political events.

‘So great a cloud of witnesses’: Shaping Sacred Space in the Victorian Anglo-World

This article explores one of the predominant themes in nineteenth-century stained glass: the urge to assemble collections of individual figures into genealogies of spiritual or institutional descent. Beginning with the importance of saints in ecclesiastical stained glass, it argues that this tradition both diversified in the Victorian religious marketplace but also spilled over into non-religious contexts — civic buildings, libraries, and the like — both in Britain and further afield. The stylistic vocabulary and connotations of the Gothic Revival allowed architects and designers to invest what were often very new settings with a sense of reverence and borrowed antiquity, as well as allowing older institutions to assert their lineage. Individual figures — saints in all but name — were at the very centre of this phenomenon. While in one sense this represents the effective secularization of a sacred form, this article suggests instead that stained glass allowed aspects of the sacred to seep into new settings, sometimes incongruously, but more often in ways that shaped people’s experiences of and emotional reactions to them.

Attitudes of the Nonreligious toward Abortion, Contraceptives, and Homosexuality: Comparing the Far East and Western Europe

Abstract Numerous studies have shown that the number of nonreligious people in the World is increasing and that people without religious affiliation demonstrate more liberal attitudes on controversial issues than affiliated people. Research suggests these differences may arise from the higher education level of the nonreligious and/or cultural context. To further explore the effects of culture on the attitudes of nonreligious, I analyze data from The Global Attitudes Project-Spring (2013). The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com and were collected by Pew Research Center. When the data were analyzed, 6746 of the participants (18.2%) were found to be nonreligious. Three of the countries with the highest rate of nonreligious are from Western Europe (Czechia=69.5%, Britain=44.4%, Germany=35.3%) and three of them are from Far East (China=83.4%, Japan=45.4%, South Korea=42.6%). I compared attitudes of nonreligious from these countries (N=4581) towards abortion, contraception use, and homosexuality. The results indicate that nonreligious people living in the Far East find abortion, contraceptive use, and homosexuality more “morally unacceptable” than Western Europeans. This suggests that attitudes among the nonreligious are not homogenous, and that cultural factors are important variables to consider in future research.

Does religion affect political engagement of the youth at the tertiary level of education? The case of undergraduate students at a South African university

The aim of this study is to examine religion’s effect on the political engagement of the youth using data from a sample of undergraduate students at the North-West University in South Africa. The logit regression model analysis showed that contrary to what the participation literature would expect, socio-economic factors such as parental education, age and gender were not significant predictors of the political engagement of the youth. However, consistent with the study’s conceptualisation of political engagement as a multi-dimensional concept, gender, race, ethnicity and family structure were all significantly predictive of different aspects of political engagement of the youth. Males were more likely than females to engage in politics, while black Africans were politically more active than the white and mixed race South Africans. While both self-rated religiosity and importance of religion in the life of the youth predicted their political engagement, their influences were in opposite directions. Finally, civic skills acquired in non-religious contexts were positively associated with every aspect of political engagement of the youth.

Large-scale cooperation driven by reputation, not fear of divine punishment.

Reputational considerations favour cooperation and thus we expect less cooperation in larger communities where people are less well known to each other. Some argue that institutions are, therefore, necessary to coordinate large-scale cooperation, including moralizing religions that promote cooperation through the fear of divine punishment. Here, we use community size as a proxy for reputational concerns, and test whether people in small, stable communities are more cooperative than people in large, less stable communities in both religious and non-religious contexts. We conducted a donation game on a large naturalistic sample of 501 people in 17 communities, with varying religions or none, ranging from small villages to large cities in northwestern China. We found that more money was donated by those in small, stable communities, where reputation should be more salient. Religious practice was also associated with higher donations, but fear of divine punishment was not. In a second game on the same sample, decisions were private, giving donors the opportunity to cheat. We found that donors to religious institutions were not less likely to cheat, and community size was not important in this game. Results from the donation game suggest donations to both religious and non-religious institutions are being motivated by reputational considerations, and results from both games suggest fear of divine punishment is not important. This chimes with other studies suggesting social benefits rather than fear of punishment may be the more salient motive for cooperative behaviour in real-world settings.

A physiological examination of perceived incorporation during trance.

Background: Numerous world cultures believe channeling provides genuine information, and channeling rituals in various forms are regularly conducted in both religious and non-religious contexts. Little is known about the physiological correlates of the subjective experience of channeling. Methods: We conducted a prospective within-subject design study with 13 healthy adult trance channels. Participants alternated between 5-minute blocks of channeling and no-channeling three times while electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and respiration were collected on two separate days. Voice recordings of the same story read in channeling and no-channeling states were also analyzed. Results: The pre-laboratory survey data about demographics, perception of the source, purpose and utility of channeled information reflected previous reports. Most participants were aware of their experience (rather than in a full trance) and had varying levels of perceived incorporation (i.e. control of their body). Voice analysis showed an increase in voice arousal and power (dB/Hz) differences in the 125 Hz bins between 0 and 625 Hz, and 3625 and 3875 Hz when reading during the channeling state versus control. Despite subjective perceptions of distinctly different states, no substantive differences were seen in EEG frequency power, ECG measures, GSR and respiration. Conclusions: Voice parameters were different between channeling and no-channeling states using rigorous controlled methods, but other physiology measure collected were not. Considering the subjective and phenomenological differences observed, future studies should include other measures such as EEG connectivity analyses, fMRI and biomarkers.

A physiological examination of perceived incorporation during trance

Background: Numerous world cultures believe channeling provides genuine information, and channeling rituals in various forms are regularly conducted in both religious and non-religious contexts. Little is known about the physiological correlates of the subjective experience of channeling. Methods: We conducted a prospective within-subject design study with 13 healthy adult trance channels. Participants alternated between 5-minute blocks of channeling and no-channeling three times while electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and respiration were collected on two separate days. Voice recordings of the same story read in channeling and no-channeling states were also analyzed. Results: The pre-laboratory survey data about demographics, perception of the source, purpose and utility of channeled information reflected previous reports. Most participants were aware of their experience (rather than in a full trance) and had varying levels of perceived incorporation (i.e. control of their body). Voice analysis showed an increase in voice arousal and power (dB/Hz) differences in the 125 Hz bins between 0 and 625 Hz, and 3625 and 3875 Hz when reading during the channeling state versus control. Despite subjective perceptions of distinctly different states, no substantive differences were seen in EEG frequency power, ECG measures, GSR and respiration. Conclusions: Voice parameters were different between channeling and no-channeling states using rigorous controlled methods, but other physiology measure collected were not. Considering the subjective and phenomenological differences observed, future studies should include other measures such as EEG connectivity analyses, fMRI and biomarkers.

A physiological examination of perceived incorporation during trance

Background: Numerous world cultures believe channeling provides genuine information, and channeling rituals in various forms are regularly conducted in both religious and non-religious contexts. Little is known about the physiological correlates of the subjective experience of channeling. Methods: We conducted a prospective within-subject design study with 13 healthy adult trance channels. Participants alternated between 5-minute blocks of channeling and no-channeling three times while electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and respiration were collected on two separate days. Voice recordings of the same story read in channeling and no-channeling states were also analyzed. Results: The pre-laboratory survey data about demographics, perception of the source, purpose and utility of channeled information reflected previous reports. Most participants were aware of their experience (rather than in a full trance) and had varying levels of perceived incorporation (i.e. control of their body). Voice analysis showed an increase in voice arousal and power (dB/Hz) differences in the 125 Hz bins between 0 and 625 Hz, and 3625 and 3875 Hz when reading during the channeling state versus control. Despite subjective perceptions of distinctly different states, no substantive differences were seen in EEG frequency power, ECG measures, GSR and respiration. Conclusions: Voice parameters were different between channeling and no-channeling states using rigorous controlled methods, but other physiology measure collected were not. Considering the subjective and phenomenological differences observed, future studies should include other measures such as EEG connectivity analyses, fMRI and biomarkers.

Incomplete Secularization of History: Ethan Kleinberg and Hayden White

Abstract According to the displacement model of secularization, religious-theological concepts, themes, and values have been reinterpreted in non-religious contexts without fully dispensing with the religious content. Secularization is thus incomplete. The incomplete secularization argument can be used as a lens through which to read Ethan Kleinberg’s deconstructive approach to the past. In his narrative, as reconstructed here, deconstruction promises to bring us closer to a secular relationship to the past than the ontological realism Kleinberg says still dominates contemporary historical theory. By contrasting Kleinberg’s analysis with Hayden White’s, whose oeuvre can be read as structured by the idea of incomplete secularization and a wish to liberate history from religious themes in order to enable a direct confrontation with meaninglessness, I argue that Kleinberg’s deconstructive approach does not fulfill its promise. Rather, it opens up a post-secular historiography in which religious themes might find a place at the very heart of historical reasoning.

Does Religion Have Relevance for Individual Tax Behavior in the U.S.? Evidence from Online Search and Chatter Activity

Using individual tax behavior as a research setting, this paper seeks to understand whether and how religion plays a role in people’s information search and dissemination behavior in a non-religious context. Google search data show that the tax season in the U.S. is marked by a notably higher search interest in religious teachings on taxes. However, despite the commonly held view that religion and rationality are often at odds, we also find that people’s online search interest in tax loss strategies (which help minimize taxable income) and tendency to ask “why” questions about taxes are greater in states with higher religiosity. In parallel, users from highly versus less religious states include more interrogatives and less certainty words in their tax-related tweets posted during the 2019 U.S. federal government shutdown. Further, when giving advice about tax preparation software, people living in highly versus less religious states use certainty words less extensively.

Living and Dealing with Food in an Affluent Society—A Case for the Study of Lived (Non)Religion

Significant changes have been taking place in the field of the sociology of religion in the last few decades, which challenge researchers to rethink this scholarly field. This article suggests that a great deal could be learned about the current dilemmas within this field through research that explores the moral underpinnings of everyday food consumption within contemporary society that is characterized by abundance. More specifically, the article proposes that everyday food consumption and everyday ethics provide unique opportunities to transcend and surpass crucial distinctions within social sciences in a way that can feed the sociological imagination in relation to research on lived (non)religion. Drawing on examples from research on food consumption in the nonreligious context and at the individual, discursive and institutional levels, this study shows how the everyday ethics of food consumption can serve as a point of departure for sociological research, which could help researchers to understand the currents of lived religion and nonreligion in a way that evades the idea of religion as a certain set of practices or beliefs, or as a specific religious affiliation. This research would enable the study of issues such as practices, beliefs, meanings and belonging, as well as distancing, withdrawal, and indifference.

The Human Mental Transcending Ability as a Coping and Life-Expanding Resource

ABSTRACTThe aim in this study is to shed light on the human mental ability to transcend the experience of problematic situations and disruptive apprehensions. This might expand the possibility to create new adaptive problem-solving potentialities in actual life situations. Thereby it can potentially have a significant impact on the processes of promoting recovery from mental disorders and mental liberation generally. Transcending spiritual experiences might elicit transformational turning points, which might occur in religious and/or in nonreligious contexts. This is exemplified in the article by cases that are discussed related to relevant theories. The research material was obtained with qualitative research methods.

�Visionaries � psychiatric wards are full of them�: Religious terms in management literature

Contemporary management literature often makes use of strong religious vocabulary. This article will provide a critical analysis of this practice. It especially analyses the usage of three religious terms in management circles: �vision� � a term omnipresent in leadership literature, �metanoic organisations� � a notion found in books about change management, and �evangelists� � a job title mentioned in job advertisements by companies such as Apple and Microsoft. This phenomenon goes hand in hand with the megatrend �workplace spirituality�, which started in the 1990s. In addition, it can be observed that religious vocabulary has found its way into ordinary current management literature, even if this literature does not show any overt link to spirituality. The article lists some negative side effects of this use, such as confusion of terms, manipulation of people and inappropriate pathos.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: It is important for both Theology and Management Theory to be critical of the use of religious terms in non-religious contexts.