Public Religious Practice Research Articles

Institutional Trust, Spirituality, and Religious Practice in the United States

This study explores the relationship between institutional trust and elements of religion in contemporary American society. Using a nationally representative survey, we utilize latent class and regression analyses to assess the contours of these relationships. Our findings reveal a diverse institutional trust profile, with pronounced distrust in democratic institutions, especially Congress, although the group with low institutional trust is the smallest one within the society. While trust in religious institutions, and to an extent broader institutional trust, predict religiosity, this is less so with the case of spirituality. Institutional trust similarly shows modest positive relationships to public religious practice, while a clear negative relationship to private religious practice. Interpreting these findings through the lens of secularization and privatization of religion, we hope to provide a strong empirical contribution to the literature regarding intersections of institutional trust and the evolving religious and spiritual orientations of today’s American landscape.

Personality, Religiosity and Satisfaction with Life in Young Muslim and Christian Women in Pakistan.

This study investigated the relationship between personality traits, religiosity and satisfaction with life in young Muslim and Christian women. The current research involved a convenience sample (N=200; Mage=21.26) that was drawn from Kinnaird College for Women University Lahore, and Youhanabad Town Lahore, Pakistan. The Big Five Inventory, Centrality of Religiosity Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were administered. Results of correlation analysis demonstrated a significant positive relationship between 'conscientiousness' and 'religious ideology' among Muslim women, whereas 'openness' and 'agreeableness' were strongly associated with all the dimensions of religiosity in Christian women. Findings of hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that extraversion and agreeableness significantly predicted life satisfaction among Muslim and Christian participants respectively. Religiosity did not contribute to life satisfaction among both groups. Results of independent sample t-test showed that Christian women reported significantly higher degrees of extraversion and life satisfaction as compared to Muslim women who in contrast reported significantly higher level of agreeableness, neuroticism, and public religious practice. The findings are discussed in the context of gender, religion, culture and mental health.

What’s On Your Mind? Deathscape of Filipino Postmortem Remembrance and Mourning Practices on Facebook

People’s lives have had a major shift since the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic all over the globe. Death and burial practices in the Philippines during the pandemic have been a challenge faced by the bereaved family. Due to the threat of the deadly virus, these public religious practices were posed with serious challenges and necessary restrictions. In previous years, studies that investigate the digital practice of postmortem mourning and grieving are limited (Lagerkvist, 2013; Mukherjee & Williams, 2014; Gamba, 2018). In the Philippines, digital mourning is a relatively new phenomenon and Sapalo (2021) contended that this phenomenon must be paid with keen attention to how it develops over the next months and even years. A total of 50 Facebook posts (n=4,187 words) were gathered from the Facebook timeline of ten (10) deceased Filipinos contracted by the COVID-19 virus and 31 Filipino digital mourners who have shared the said posts were interviewed. Using qualitative research through netnography, the present study examined the language used by Facebook users when mourning with their loved once, including the analysis of their memorial confessions as posted in the timeline of the deceased and its role in the healing process. Using frequency counts, the findings indicated that the dominant language used by users is English. Also, based on the thematic analysis, the participants’ posts disclosed the following confessional status when remembering and mourning in digital spaces: reminiscing memory with the deceased, honoring the dead in positive ways, emotional disclosure, supporting the bereaved family, and prayers for the deceased eternal repose. The participants likewise reported that their memorial posts are intended for significant functions such as diffusion of traditional rituals into virtual space, instill grief solidarity for healing, communal mourning in support to the bereaved and by illuminating the deceased’s legacy.

Participation in Public Religious Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Between Various Limitations and Their Proportionality

The right to manifest religion or belief in community with others is one of the essential components of religious freedom. However, it has been significantly curtailed in many countries owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. This article identifies the scope of the introduced restrictions, their proportionality, and their impact on the functioning of religious communities. Section 1 sets out three different approaches to participation in public religious practices in selected countries with severe (Germany), moderate (Poland), and liberal (Belarus) restrictions. In section 2, an international perspective on access to religious buildings in times of emergency is presented. The conclusions of this research are juxtaposed in section 3 with the jurisprudence of the highest national courts in Germany, the United States, and France, in order to highlight proportional legal solutions for the protection of religious freedom and public health. In the last section, the consequences of the introduced restrictions are analysed from the perspective of religious associations, using the example of Poland. Lastly, predictions concerning future participation in religious services are also made.

Homo pandemicus – homo solitarius

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to analyze the phenomenon of loneliness that was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As this is a very broad issue, it was just limited locally to the Polish society, and thematically to the religious aspect. Pandemic loneliness was mainly the result of social isolation to contain the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, causing the Covid-19 disease. In terms of religion, loneliness was caused by separation from public religious practices and the feeling of a lack of Providence. This paper presents three faces of religious loneliness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: liturgical loneliness, doctrinal loneliness and loneliness related to the feeling of lack of full religious freedom.

Hierarchy into Heterarchy

Abstract This article addresses the heterarchical dynamism generated by the reorganization of sacred geographies in India and the Arabian Peninsula through contemporary iconographies and religious practices. The cities at the top of the orthodox Islamic/Arab sacred, authoritative hierarchy have lost their status in the current Indian context both concretely and symbolically, and have become equated, embedded, or subordinated to the Indian space. This dynamism is unfolding primarily in Indian vernacular spaces: in the material culture and audiovisual media produced and sold in Islamic bazaars in proximity to Sufi shrines; and in public religious practices that are reshuffling the sacred spaces of both India and the Hijaz, manifesting a polyphonic, at times rhizomatic fabric corresponding to social theorist Kyriakos Kontopoulos’s definition of a heterarchy.

The time–space tactics of Chinese Buddhist and Taoist believers under state–religion tension

This study explores the experience of elderly rural Buddhist and Taoist believers in communist China where the ruling party has maintained decades-long regulatory control over religion. Based on ethnographic observation and oral histories, the analysis begins with how the actors made sense of and coped in their relationship with the state during the fieldwork period (May–June 2020) when state regulations restricted public religious practice because of COVID-19. The analysis then looks back on how practitioners experienced tightening state ideological control from the early 2010s to before COVID-19; further back at the religious revival during the opening and reform (1980s–2010s); and finally, the Cultural Revolution period (1960s–70s) when strict atheistic measures were imposed. Their narratives reveal the practical logic (habitus) which practitioners used to mediate their resistance against and compromise with the authoritarian state. Specifically, four logical modes that involve actors’ different time–space tactics were identified, namely state–religion disengagement, state–religion enhancement, religious (dis)enlightenment, and karma. The implications of these ostensibly conflicting modes of thinking in mediating the actors’ resistance–compliance interface in contemporary China are discussed.

The impact of COVID-19 on church gatherings in the Philippines: a policy analysis

The Philippines is the largest Christian-majority country in Asia. With church gatherings playing a vital role in the nature of Christianity in the Filipino culture, the advent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Philippines posed challenges to public religious practices amid efforts to mitigate COVID-19 community transmission. Various policy pronouncements from both the government-led Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Diseases and the church-led Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) were issued. These guidelines were implemented in order to address the two-pronged problem on healthcare and religious obligations. While these guidelines were initially contributory to the mitigation of disease transmission, varied compliance by Filipinos was observed through the progression of the pandemic. Considering the value that church gatherings and religion play in the lives of the Filipino people, further studies on COVID-19 transmission in the church should be conducted in order to develop more efficient policies and guidelines on the practice of religion, particularly for religious gatherings. Furthermore, a more synergistic state and church cooperation must be encouraged in order to arrive at solutions that will mutually address the concomitant problems of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does the Belief in Biblical Literalism Matter for Mental Health? Assessing Variations by Gender and Dimensions of Religiosity.

Although biblical literalism is one of the most powerful ideological indicators of religiousness in the sociological study of religion, we know very little about its role vis-à-vis mental health. This is a surprising oversight, given the centrality of the Bible to both public and private religious practice in the USA. This study considers whether the belief in biblical literalism is associated with general mental health and anxiety, and whether this relationship is moderated by gender and two dimensions of religiosity: attendance and attachment to God. Data are drawn from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1360). Regression results suggest that stronger beliefs in biblical literalism are associated with better mental health and lower anxiety, but only among women who attend religious services weekly. However, women holding strong literalist views but falling short of weekly attendance norms reported worse mental health. There was no evidence that the relationship between biblical literalism and mental health differed by attachment to God. The implications of these results for the broader study of religion and health are discussed in light of prior research on the "dark side" of religion, recognizing that causal claims cannot be made due to the cross-sectional nature of the data.

Engaging the Student Voice Within Anglican School Self-Evaluation and Statutory Inspection Within Wales: The Lankshear Student Voice Scales Revised

Drawing on data provided by 4,803 year-four, year-five, and year-six students (between the ages of 8 and 11 years) attending 88 Church in Wales primary schools, this paper discusses the development of eight short scales designed to operationalize themes concerning aspects of the distinctiveness of Anglican church schools and school worship identified by the school inspection process. The eight themes include attitude toward the general character of the school and attitude toward the religious character of the school. The data demonstrated the internal consistency reliability of these eight measures that comprise the Lankshear Student Voice Scales Revised and showed more positive attitudes to be associated with being female, with being younger, and with engaging in personal and public religious practices.

Religiosity from Age 12 to 20: Stability, Change, and Bidirectional Effects of Attendance, Prayer, and Salience

ABSTRACT Religiosity is a protective factor for adolescents, though research has indicated religiosity declines across adolescence. However, little research has examined how various dimensions of religiosity may change across time. With yearly data from a sample of 489 participants, the current study examined rank-order and mean level changes in religiosity from early adolescence (12 years-old) into late adolescence/emerging adulthood (20 years-old). Three dimensions of religiosity were examined, public religious practices (religious service attendance), private religious practices (prayer), and religious salience. Using cross-lagged models, reciprocal relationships between these dimensions were examined. There was significant rank-order stability, though stability was highest for attendance. The mean of all three dimensions decreased over time. The decline for attendance was initially slow though the decline increased through late adolescence. Prayer declined linearly and religious salience declined rapidly during early adolescence with the decline dampening in later adolescence and late adolescence. Each dimension was reciprocally related to the other dimensions, though this relationship differed across time. For instance, in early adolescence, attendance predicted religious salience and in late adolescence, salience predicted attendance. When significant, parent income and education were negatively associated with religiosity.

Negative views of Islam in Switzerland with special regard to religiosity as an explanatory factor

Drawing on such theoretical paradigms as Social Identity Theory, the deprivation hypothesis, and the concept of trust, we sought to investigate how religiosity relates to attitudes towards Islam among the Swiss population. In this quantitative study based on the data of the Swiss Household Panel 2015 (n=10,848) we took into account both public religious practice and personal religiosity. A hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that religiosity influenced attitudes towards Islam, in that affiliation to one of the large churches (Protestant or Catholic), had a weak positive influence, which might in turn reflect a focus within the large churches on religious freedom and inter-religious dialogue. The effect of church attendance in general on attitudes was positive albeit rather weak. In comparison, personal religiosity was important, with people with a high level of personal religiosity being more likely to have a positive attitude towards Islam. One important finding was that religiosity contributed more to explaining variance than did other factors such as social trust, political position or national identity. Other influential factors included political attitude and trust in other people. The study also revealed that those Swiss people for whom national identity was particularly important were more likely to have a negative view of Islam. While belonging to an Evangelical denomination was significant in our regression models, and exerted an even stronger negative impact when variables of religiosity were included, the impact lost its significance in models which included the importance of Swiss identity. We conclude that Evangelicals are more negative towards Islam not because of their religiosity, but because they tend to have a strong national identity.

Validation of the Short Forms of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale in Georgia

This study presents the validation of the short forms of Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS) in Georgia. This country offers a unique Christian orthodox context with a long-lasting religious tradition and strong affiliation to churches. Translated short forms were administered in the years 2012 (CRS-5) and 2018 (CRSi-7). Participants reported on ideological, intellectual, and experiential aspects of their faith and their private and public religious practice in face-to-face interviews. The collected data was subject to reliability analyses. Scale invariance over time was tested with the CRS-5, whereas the CRSi-7 was examined for model goodness, with one factor—Centrality of Religiosity—with a confirmatory factor analysis. Derived statistical coefficients from large stratified random populational samples (2012: N = 2238 and 2018: N = 1906) show good to acceptable Cronbach’s α s ( α = 0.73 and α = 0.67). The composite scores’ means and standard deviations contour norm values for further investigations in social sciences related to religiosity in Georgia. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses show that the Centrality of Religiosity manifests a stable factor, adequately explaining different dimensions of faith life. The high reliability of the CRS-5 over time leads to the conclusion of consistent measurement characteristics and thus, its suitability for longitudinal analysis. The CRSi-7 has a comparable model fit to the CRS-5 providing an alternative for interreligious contexts if needed. Aspects of assessment and analysis are discussed and reasons for the application of the longer version of the CRS are provided in the end.

The Representation of Islam and Muslims in French Print Media Discourse: Le Monde and Le Figaro as Case Studies

France is one of the European countries having large numbers of Muslims. The latter are confronted with the principle of laicité that France adopts. This principle is incompatible with some of Muslims’ rituals and practices since laicité bans public religious practices. Equally important, due to many attacks that have hit France, and which are allegedly attributed to Muslims, this minority suffers vilification and discrimination. However, Muslims should be treated and reported fairly in France as the Article One of the French Constitution declares that “it [France] shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race, or religion”. This signifies that French institutions, especially the media, should apply the article above and try to present a fair image of its citizens including Muslims. Media, in this regard, are at play in their representation of this minority of French citizens. Nevertheless, most Western media rely on the Orientalist views to report Muslims and Islam (Edward Said, Orientalism, New York: Vintage, 1977). In this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be used to examine the representation of Muslims in the two French newspapers, which are Le Figaro and Le Monde.

The Religiosity of Academic Scientists in the United Kingdom: Assessing the Role of Discipline and Department Status

AbstractStudies examining the religiosity of academic scientists have often focused on comparisons with the general population, overlooking dynamics that could lead to religiosity differences within the scientist population. Expanding this literature, we present data from a survey of religiosity among scientists in the United Kingdom. We compare biologists and physicists employed at elite and nonelite departments, as past research has suggested that disciplinary and status divisions could be salient in understanding differences in scientists’ religiosity. We find that biologists in the United Kingdom are more likely than physicists to say they never attend religious services. Similarly, U.K. scientists in elite departments are more likely than those in nonelite departments to say they never attend religious services. We do not find significant differences between disciplines or status types for more private measures of religion. We argue that these patterns could result from perceived conflicts between public religious practice and meeting professional norms.

The Turkish Media Structure in Judicial and Political Context: An Illustration of Values and Status Negotiation

Turkey has been undergoing a transition in governance over decades, most recently in the sociopolitical transformation from Kemalist laicism to Islamic-dominated politics. The shifts have been uneven, with government frequently overtaken by military control, and then returned to some form of democratic functioning, with associated changes in the laws reflecting greater or lesser tolerance for multi-party politics, public religious practice, and EU-inspired civic liberties. Throughout, the experience has engaged a tension between Western influences and Islamic norms as interpreted through processes of modernization and economic liberalization. The media’s role as a conveyor of cultural imaginaries and national identities has led it to play an important part in this trajectory. Yet, although its autonomy has varied depending on those in power—at times being a tool entirely controlled by government, at others operating with few fetters—the laws and regulations surrounding the media have varied much less, suggesting the legal structure defining Turkish media reflects in general terms the public’s view of its position and role in society. This is despite the fact that the media laws in Turkey have not been holistically forged, nor rigorously updated to accommodate technological change. What is suggested here is that the media’s status as a strategic circulator of ideas within social relations and as an ideological bellwether of public values, has been translated into the legal corpus, creating a uniquely Turkish interpretation of the media’s agency, and instrumentality, which we suggest is made comprehensible through Values and Status Negotiation Theory (VSN).

Middle-class modernities and the reproduction of sectarian identity among Puṣṭimārg Vaiṣṇavas in the Bombay Presidency

The rise of Puṣṭimārg Vaiṣṇavism in parts of western India through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be attributed to its patronage by the region’s wealthy Gujarati merchant communities (the Vāṇiyās). Patterns of religious giving became significant mechanisms for the production and preservation of mercantile honour and prestige or ābrū. This article is concerned with how the maintenance of such status as well as the reproduction of sectarian identity among Vāṇiyā members of the Puṣṭimārg community were informed by, participated in, and evolved alongside the modern notion of class in the Bombay Presidency. I discuss the degree to which Puṣṭimārgī lay members engaged with forms of colonial modernity, such as English education, print culture and, especially, social and religious reform. I argue how despite being the focus of reformist critique, members of the Puṣṭimārg community actually became important players in the articulation of middle-class morality in western India. Puṣṭimārg leaders, theologians, as well as lay practitioners sought to amend aspects of Puṣṭimārg theology and liturgy to make the tradition more palatable to emerging middle-class sensibilities. In the process of negotiating modern morality, moreover, the divergent camps of educated middle-class reformers and upper-class Puṣṭimārg Vāṇiyā patrons all seemed to agree with regard to what formed respectable behaviour leading to the acquisition of ābrū, especially with regard to Puṣṭimārg women and their public religious practices.

Religious Practices and Self-Care in Iranian Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between religious practices and self-care of patients with type 2 diabetes. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 154 diabetic patients who were referred to two general teaching hospitals in Qom City (Iran). Data were collected using demographic questionnaire, private and public religious practices, and summary of diabetes self-care activities questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and statistical tests including independent t test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Significant positive correlations were observed between religious practices and self-care activities in diabetic patients (p<0.05). Significant positive correlations were also found between some religious practices and self-care activities subscales (p<0.05). Healthcare providers should be aware of the role that religion plays in the lives of diabetic patients and be able to take religious factors into account when developing care plans. Doing so will enhance a more patient-centered approach and thereby support patients in their role as self-care decision-makers.

Religious Well-Being and Suicide Ideation in Veterans – An Exploratory Study

Religious well-being is a multi-faceted construct posited as a protective factor against suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This cross-sectional, exploratory study used religious practice data collected from n = 5378 U.S. military veterans to create composite measures of private and public religious practice. These composite measures were subsequently used to determine the probability of being identified with a history of suicide ideation. Data analysis was conducted using logistic regression. Veterans with a history of suicide ideation made up 10.2 % (n = 549) of the sample. Such veterans had significantly lower mean public and private religiosity scores compared to those without ideation. Differences between these two composite measures of religiosity were associated with a higher probability of being identified with a history of suicide ideation. The present study adds to the extant literature by presenting a framework for interpreting religious well-being in the context of religious practice. Quantitative differences in engagement between private and public practices may be indicative of a decreased sense of religious well-being, conferring less protection against suicidal behavior. Language: en

Declines in American Adults’ Religious Participation and Beliefs, 1972-2014

Previous research found declines in Americans’ religious affiliation but few changes in religious beliefs and practices. By 2014, however, markedly fewer Americans participated in religious activities or embraced religious beliefs, with especially striking declines between 2006 and 2014 and among 18- to 29-year-olds in data from the nationally representative General Social Survey ( N = 58,893, 1972-2014). In recent years, fewer Americans prayed, believed in God, took the Bible literally, attended religious services, identified as religious, affiliated with a religion, or had confidence in religious institutions. Only slightly more identified as spiritual since 1998, and then only those above age 30. Nearly a third of Millennials were secular not merely in religious affiliation but also in belief in God, religiosity, and religious service attendance, many more than Boomers and Generation X’ers at the same age. Eight times more 18- to 29-year-olds never prayed in 2014 versus the early 1980s. However, Americans have become slightly more likely to believe in an afterlife. In hierarchical linear modeling analyses, the decline in religious commitment was primarily due to time period rather than generation/birth cohort, with the decline in public religious practice larger ( d = −.50) and beginning sooner (early 1990s) than the smaller ( d = −.18) decline in private religious practice and belief (primarily after 2006). Differences in religious commitment due to gender, race, education, and region grew larger, suggesting a more religiously polarized nation.