Religious Choice Research Articles

An afterlife capital model of religious choice

This paper uses a modified version of the afterlife capital model to study religious choice. It compares a religious monopoly with various duopolies. The duopolies involve both exclusivist and nonexclusivist religions. Contrary to the supply side literature, it finds that religious choice does not necessarily increase religiosity and in some cases decreases it. It also finds that adopting exclusivist doctrines is a dominant strategy for a religion. Possible extensions of the framework to other issues in the economics of religion are also discussed.

Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840–1965: A Social History of Religion in Canada by Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau (review)

Reviewed by: Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840–1965: A Social History of Religion in Canada by Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau Terence J. Fay S.J. Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840–1965: A Social History of Religion in Canada. By Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau. [Themes in Canadian History, 9.] (Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2010. Pp. x, 232. $65.00 clothbound, ISBN 978-0-8020-8949-6; $27.95 paperback, ISBN 978-0-8020-8632-7.) The well-known authors of Canadian religious history, Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau, team up in this volume to assert that the Canadian people from 1840 to 1965 experienced their religion both inside and outside institutional churches. From this central theme they develop the argument that the study of popular religion for the historian is as important as the study of institutional religions. They see popular religion not as the radical religious fringe but as “the beliefs and practices of laypeople” (p. 1) who simply follow the forms of religion that are different from those recommended by clergy. The authors go on to contend that although institutional religion fluctuated during this extended period, popular religion “remained relatively constant between 1840 and the 1970s” and grew in number (p. 4). The authors develop their themes chronologically beginning with the period from 1840 to 1870 when the institutional churches left their otherworldly view of religion behind to move “to more open and anonymous institutions . . . to evangelize Canadian society” (p. 60). Adjusting to expectations of religious people, these religious institutions initially gained congregants by voluntary attendance, but the subsequent period (1880–1910) turned out to [End Page 182] be “one of the most conflictual periods in Canadian religious history” (p. 61). Tensions rose between rural people and urbanists, individuals within sectarian congregations, and males and women’s rights advocates. For many religionists, social service became central to Christian life and replaced the concern for the fatherhood of God. But the most pellucid of their arguments was the authors’ discussion of the Christian missions to the Canadian Northwest. Casting doubt on the historical view of missionaries as “heroic figures” and likewise the revised view of the missionary as an “anti-hero wreaking utter destruction upon non-Christian societies,” the authors choose a third, more complex interpretation of mission work as a “cultural encounter between missionaries and non-Christian peoples” (p. 107). This fresh view contends that “the aboriginal societies were able to select and reinvent the Christian message in order to fashion an indigenized but no less authentic expression of Christianity” (p. 107). In a second assertion about Canadian missions, the authors point out that the different viewpoints among the missionaries, merchants, and government officials in the Northwest were many and that they were far from an oppressive monolith aligned against Indigenous people. Social Christianity emerged among Canadian religions between 1910 and 1940, the authors continue, and demanded that Christian conversions be shared with the community through engagement in social reform. Both men and women’s organizations became part of “a constellation of reform agencies, social policy research, and legislative lobbyists” (p. 142) that helped steer the social policies of the modern Canadian state. The book contends that, during this period, Christian lay leadership drove Canadian social reform. In the 1960s Pierre Berton in The Comfortable Pew is given credit for challenging the Canadian churches to leave their comfort to become critics of the middle class and the social forces that dominate Canadian life. Berton hoped to reinvigorate social concern so that Christians would become “the central animating force for the creation of a truly humanistic culture” (p. 180) that would give leadership to Canadian social reform. A decline began in 1965 for institutional churches, whereas in contrast popular religion grew among Evangelical denominations and Pentecostal groups. The Protestant churches espoused the “freedom of religious choice” that thus decreased church affiliation and could no longer pursue the project of creating a Christian society. Noninstitutional religion continued to attract many believers who followed “a system of private practices and personal values” (p. 199) that remained constant during this period, in contrast to the churches that were in fluctuation. The goal of marriage shifted from procreation and...

To believe or not believe…or not decide: A decision-theoretic model of agnosticism

Using decision theory, we construct a stylized theory of agnosticism, defined as choosing not to choose a religion. The theory indicates agnosticism can be supported as a rational choice if (a) adopting agnosticism provides in-life benefits relative to perceived religions, (b) the perceived payoff for agnosticism after death is not too much less than for any perceived religion, (c) no religion has a high perceived likelihood of truth, (d) the probability of death is neither too high nor too low, or (e) it is less costly to switch from agnosticism to a given religion than from one religion to another. Switching costs make the relative attractiveness of agnosticism dependent upon the perceived likelihood of receiving an informative signal about the truth of any perceived religion. Ironically, the lack of information that makes religious choice uncertain and difficult may contribute to decisiveness.

Changing Faith: The Social Costs of Protestant Conversion in Rural Oaxaca

This article discusses conversion to Protestantism in the Zapotec communities of the State of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. Conversion to Protestantism in these predominantly Catholic villages has a rupture effect on converts' relationships with their families as well as the Catholic majority. This transformation can be interpreted as a ‘social cost’, which influences religious choices made by individuals and the sustainability of their new religious affiliations. The cost is generally higher for native villagers than for migrants to the communities. Focusing on the adverse effects of conversion and scrutinising the choices of individuals who do not convert or who return to their previous faith contributes to a more nuanced understanding of religious change. The process is often far more complex and multi-directional at the local level than macro-level trends of rapid Protestant growth suggest.

Religious human capital revisited: Testing the effect of religious human capital on religious participation

The religious economies theory proposes that individuals make religious choices like they make other choices—rationally. This assumption has sparked many theoretical propositions on both the macro- and micro-levels. However, most empirical research has focused on testing the macro-level propositions. This study contributes to addressing this gap by testing the micro-level hypothesis that religious human capital (i.e., religious knowledge and skills) increases religious participation. Previous research typically operationalized religious human capital indirectly through proxy measures, which makes it difficult to separate the effect of religious human capital from the effects of other variables such as religious beliefs, preferences, and religious social capital. As a result, findings from previous studies may support theories other than religious human capital theory. This paper separates different causal effects by using a direct measure of religious human capital (i.e., biblical knowledge), while controlling for other variables deemed important by the literature. Analysis of longitudinal panel studies generally supports the hypothesis.

Mutual fund selection criteria: evidence from Malaysia

PurposeUnder its “Members Investment Scheme” strategic initiative, the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund (EPF) permits its members to invest part of their retirement savings in approved external funds. Given there is an increasing number of unit trust funds available in the market, it is not an easy task for members to make this investment choice decision. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived importance of fund selection criteria within the context of retirement savings in Malaysia. In addition, it also seeks to examine whether there is a relationship between religious affiliation and choice of fund.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire‐survey was carried out among 440 individual EPF members.FindingsThe survey results show that the ranking of mutual fund selection criteria differs between Muslim and non‐Muslim members. Past performance was the most important criterion valued by the non‐Muslim EPF members. In line with conforming to religious belief, the fund's commitment to Islamic principles was the most important criterion considered by Muslim EPF members. Both type of religious group members also considered the overall reputation of the fund as important criterion in selecting a mutual fund.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is subject to the normal limitations associated with survey research.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can help fund management companies to better promote their funds to the right investors.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence regarding mutual fund selection criteria from the perspectives of individual investors.

Laïcité, gender equality and the politics of non-domination

The relationship between constitutional secularism and gender equality acquires peculiar dimensions in the context of the laïcité project in republican France – particularly, in the contemporary conflict between a laïcité interpreted as a politics of emancipatory social transformation, and the more minimalist liberal conception prevailing in French law. The dominant narrative in the republican establishment, shared between left and right, has been that laïcité will lead to gender emancipation not only by dissolving any sectarian dimensions of women’s citizenship – that is, by sustaining a religiously neutral public sphere – but also, by preventing the domination as well as the coercion of religious choice in the intimate and private spheres of family and community. In this narrative, laïcité represents a more ambitious project of gender emancipation than that promised by the liberalisms more redolent of the Anglo-American world. The apogee of this expansionary interpretation of constitutional secularism is expressed in the 2004 prohibition on conspicuous markers of religious affiliation in the public schools, and the recent debate on the ‘full’ Islamic veil. This article considers the relationship of laïcité to gender equality through the lens of the broader theoretical debate surrounding the relationship of political liberalism to the politics of non-domination. The elusive challenge is to craft a constitutional secularism that can sustain a viable politics of non-domination – going beyond the formalist voluntarism redolent of classical liberalisms, offering undominated as well as uncoerced religious choice – yet also avoiding an overzealous emancipatory stance that itself assumes a regulative role for women’s religious choices.

Bleeding in a Jehovah’s Witness patient undergoing a redo aortic valve replacement controlled with cryoprecipitate and a prothrombin complex concentrate

This is a case report involving a middle-aged Jehovah's Witness patient who underwent a redo aortic valve replacement, coronary artery bypass graft, and Maze procedure facilitated by cardiopulmonary bypass. The consent process included a discussion of the management of bleeding and hemostasis in the perioperative period in the context of the patients' religious choice and the possible consequences of avoiding transfusion in massive bleeding. The medical team agreed to abide by the patient's wishes with respect to the blood and blood products deemed unacceptable by the patient irrespective of the consequences. The consent included a discussion of manufactured hemostatic agents that are designated by the Hospital Liaison Committee Network for Jehovah's Witnesses as subject to personal decision. There was also a discussion of recombinant agents available, all of which are acceptable to Jehovah's Witness patients. The patient accepted the use of cryoprecipitate, prothrombin complex concentrate, and recombinant factor VIIa. After separation from cardiopulmonary bypass and protamine administration, blood loss was 350mL over a ten-minute period. The international normalized ratio (INR) was 3.5 at that time. Cryoprecipitate 15 U, 1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin 16 U, and a prothrombin complex concentrate, Octaplex®, 60mL were administered. Blood loss improved significantly. The INR in the cardiac surgical intensive care unit was 1.3. The sample was taken approximately one hour following the administration of the hemostatic agents. The patient's chest was closed, and chest tube drainage was 310mL over the next 12 hr. This is a novel case involving the use of prothrombin complex concentrate in the setting of a Jehovah's Witness patient undergoing a complex operative procedure.

A economia da religião e seus fundamentos: teste de um modelo de escolha religiosa

O objetivo deste trabalho é expor, com base na literatura de Economia da Religião, a premissa de racionalidade humana relacionada ao comportamento religioso. Serão abordados conceitos e definições da Economia da Religião, o objeto de interesse dessa disciplina, isto é, as questões com as quais se preocupa, além de discutir-se, sucintamente, a origem e a evolução da Economia da Religião. Discutem-se dois dos fundamentos teóricos da Economia da Religião: a Escolha Racional e a Teoria do Consumidor aplicada à religião. Como contribuição empírica, realizou-se um teste de um modelo de escolha religiosa empregando a técnica de Análise de Discriminante. Por último, serão discutidas as vantagens, objeções e críticas relativas à Teoria da Escolha Racional Religiosa.

Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family

Through in-depth interviews with scientists at elite academic institutions—those particularly likely to have no firm belief in God—we provide insight into the motives scientists who are not religious have for joining a religious group and the struggle faced by these individuals in reconciling personal beliefs with what they consider the best interests of their families. Narratives stress the use of resources from identities as scientists to provide their children with religious choices consistent with science and in negotiating spousal influence and a desire for community. Findings expand the religious socialization and identities literatures by widening the range of understanding of the strategies parents utilize to interface with religious communities as well as lead to more nuanced public understanding of how atheist and agnostic scientists relate to religious communities.

Can liberal perfectionism justify religious toleration? Wall on promoting and respecting

Toleration is perhaps the core commitment of liberalism, but this seemingly simple feature of liberal societies creates tension for liberal perfectionists, who are committed to justifying religious toleration primarily in terms of the goods and flourishing it promotes. Perfectionists, so it seems, should recommend restricting harmful religious practices when feasible. If such restrictions would promote liberal perfectionist values like autonomy, it is unclear how the perfectionist can object. A contemporary liberal perfectionist, Steven Wall, has advanced defense of religious toleration that grounds perfectionist toleration in an innovative account of reasons of respect. He thus defends perfectionist toleration on two grounds: (i) the appropriate manner of responding to perfectionist goods like autonomy and membership is to respect the religious choices of others; (ii) citizens can acquire reasons to respect the religious choices of others through internalizing a value-promoting moral and political code. I argue that both defenses fail. The cornerstone of both arguments is the connection Wall draws between reasons to promote value and reasons to respect it. I claim that Wall’s conception of the relationship between promoting and respecting value is inadequate. I conclude that the failure of Wall’s defense of perfectionist toleration should motivate liberal perfectionists to develop more sophisticated accounts of normative reasons. The viability of a truly liberal perfectionism depends upon such developments.

Printing and Protestants: Reforming the Economics of the Reformation

The causes of the Protestant Reformation have long been debated. This paper attempts to revive and econometrically test the theory that the spread of the Reformation is linked to the spread of the printing press. The proposed causal pathway is that the printing press permitted the ideas of the Reformation to reach a broader audience. I test this hypothesis by analyzing data on the spread of the press and the Reformation at the city level. An econometric analysis which instruments for omitted variable bias suggests that within the Holy Roman Empire, cities within 10 miles of a printing press by 1500 were 57.4 percentage points more likely to be Protestant by 1600. These results are robust, though the effects are weaker, across Western Europe. The analysis also suggests that the early spread of press affected religious choice into the 19th century.

A Misunderstood Calvinist: The Religious Choices of Bastiaen Jansz Krol, New Netherland's First Church Servant

AbstractIn the history of New Netherland the comforter of the sick Bastiaen Jansz Krol (1595-1674) is known as the first servant of the Reformed Church, before the establishment of a formal congregation with an ordained minister. Until recently, his reputation as such was quite mediocre, and the quality of his faith was questioned by the historians of the Reformed Church. In this article, the author revises this negative image thoroughly. Completing the biographical data he interprets them in the context of the early ambitions of the WIC. Arguing, moreover, that Krol was born in a Mennonite family and converted to Calvinism after his first marriage, he presents (with a full translation) the pamphlet which shows his new commitment to orthodox Calvinism. Krol's pamphlet was published previously to his appointment as comforter of the sick and may have motivated his choice by the Amsterdam consistory.

Monoteísmo e Intolerância Religiosa e Política

Este trabalho e uma reflexao sobre a relacao entre monoteismo e a intolerância religiosa e politica presente na historia. A premissa adotada afirma que os monoteismos – judaico, cristao e islâmico – tendem a favorecer a intolerância entre os povos e em relacao as opcoes religiosas e politicas dos individuos em suas respectivas nacoes. A dificuldade de aceitar o “outro” e, nessa perspectiva, inerente ao carater monoteista, isto e, a imposicao de um Deus. A analise do politeismo grego e da experiencia monoteista egipcia, resgatada por Freud, fornece elementos para pensarmos os monoteismos que conhecemos.

Can Liberal Perfectionism Justify Religious Toleration? Wall on Promoting and Respecting

Toleration is perhaps the core commitment of liberalism, but this seemingly simple feature of liberal societies creates tension for liberal perfectionists, who are committed to justifying religious toleration primarily in terms of the goods and flourishing it promotes. Perfectionists, so it seems, should recommend restricting harmful religious practices when feasible. If such restrictions would promote liberal perfectionist values like autonomy, it is unclear how the perfectionist can object. A contemporary liberal perfectionist, Steven Wall, has advanced an engaging defense of religious toleration that promises to defuse the threat. Wall grounds perfectionist toleration in an innovative and developed account of reasons of respect. He thus defends perfectionist toleration on two grounds: (i) the appropriate manner of responding to perfectionist goods like autonomy and membership is to respect the religious choices of others; (ii) citizens can acquire reasons to respect the religious choices of others through internalizing a value-promoting moral and political code. I argue that both defenses fail. The cornerstone of both arguments is the connection Wall draws between reasons to promote value and reasons to respect it but Wall’s conception of the relationship between promoting and respecting value is inadequate. I conclude that the failure of Wall’s defense of perfectionist toleration should motivate liberal perfectionists to develop more sophisticated accounts of normative reasons. The viability of a truly liberal perfectionism depends upon such developments.

Qualidade de vida e tratamento hemodialítico: avaliação do portador de insuficiência renal crônica

Os relatos de portadores de insuficiência renal crônica em hemodiálise sobre as alterações em seu cotidiano após o início do tratamento motivaram indagar quais aspectos têm alterado a qualidade de suas vidas (QV). Estudo descritivo exploratório objetivando avaliar a QV dos portadores de doença renal crônica em hemodiálise, por meio do instrumento Kidney Disease and Quality of Life Short Form (KDQOL-SF). Foram entrevistados 72 pacientes em Goiânia - Brasil, entre abril e maio de 2005. A maioria (52,8%) era do sexo masculino, idade média 51,1 ± 16,6 anos, católica, renda menor que 2 salários mínimos ou não trabalhava, tinha companheiro fixo e fazia hemodiálise há menos que 60 meses. Os maiores escores foram obtidos nas Dimensões “Estímulo por Parte da Equipe de Diálise” (88,37), “Qualidade da Interação Social” (80,83) e “Função Cognitiva” (80,74). As Dimensões “Função Física” (20,49) e “Papel Profissional” (22,22) obtiveram os menores escores. A percepção dos indivíduos nas Dimensões do KDQOL-SF foi influenciada pela religião, gênero, idade, tempo de tratamento, presença de companheiro fixo, escolaridade, se residia sozinho e pelo trabalho. Conclui-se que o indivíduo em hemodiálise sofre alterações na sua QV, as quais indicam que aspectos estão influenciando-a negativamente e que podem direcionar ações dos profissionais.

Ambiguity, pessimism, and rational religious choice

Using a subclass of the α-maximin expected-utility preference model, in which the decision maker’s degree of ambiguity and degree of pessimism are each parameterized, we present a theory of religious choice in the Pascalian decision theory tradition, one that can resolve dilemmas, address the “many Gods objection,” and address the ambiguity inherent in religious choice. Parameterizing both the degree of ambiguity and the degree of pessimism allows one to examine how the two interact to impact choice, which is useful regardless of the application. Applying this model to religious choice is a move beyond subjective expected-utility theory, allowing us to show that a change in either the degree of ambiguity or the degree of pessimism can lead a decision maker to “convert” from one religion to another.

Epilogue: Religious Origins of Nations?

At the end of this book, it would seem appropriate to look back and see how the various contributions relate to the results and conclusions of the Leiden project, which are presented in the opening chapter. Here we have to bear in mind that the nature of the contributions differs: some authors have reacted to elements of our essay; others have offered their insights on the basis of their own research, whether it is concerned with additional sources regarding the Syriac Orthodox community, or whether it relates to some of the other Christian communities of the Middle East. However, central to all the contributions is the question 'Can a religious choice indeed be the starting point for an ethnic community and eventually even a nation, or should we assume that the Christian communities of the Middle East have always been of an ethnic nature?'. Keywords: Christian communities; epilogue; Religious Origins

Conversion, Mobility and the Roman Inquisition in Italy Around 1600

Early modern Europe was a world on the move, where travellers and merchants, soldiers and pilgrims, men and women met on the roads every day.1 Many left their homes for journeys short or long, and they did so for a variety of reasons — travelling as part of their work or to look for work, or fleeing plague or religious repression. Some had more personal motives: they wished to improve their lot, or to escape the narrowness of village life or an unhappy marriage. In their travels, men and women crossed cultural, religious or confessional borders.2 With the advent of the Reformation, a wholly new problem emerged within Catholic Europe, for now migrants traversed territories belonging to different confessions. Travellers in the Mediterranean region had long encountered the religious worlds of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. A journey from Tripoli in Lebanon to Venice meant leaving Muslim and entering Catholic territory. In Italy, migrants from the Ottoman Empire were confronted with a society unfamiliar with the status of the dhimmi, and if they were taken for renegades or New Christians they even risked persecution by the Roman Inquisition. How did travellers and migrants react when faced with other religious cultures? How did they integrate into a new society? How important were changes of religion in this process? If they converted, how did religious, social and economic considerations determine their religious choice? And how clear-cut was the newly adopted religious identity?

Relations between church and state in Russia today*

According to its constitution the Russian Federation is a secular state in which all religious associations are equal before the law. The constitution also guarantees freedom of religious choice and practice. Federal legislation, as well as the legislation of the republics, should be in accordance with these clearly formulated principles. Many provisions in the federal law on religion of 1997, however, are in conflict with them. Moreover, in practice the statement in the preamble to that law regarding the historical role of Orthodoxy and that of other ‘traditional religions’ is arbitrarily interpreted to justify a privileged position for Orthodoxy and to some extent for Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. The ‘secularity’ of a state does not entail the marginalisation of religion. A secular state should take account of the historical role and importance of each religion. The Russian state may legitimately award Orthodoxy a position of primus inter pares and privileges of honour in comparison with other religions on the basis of proportionality. These should not, however, take the form of legal advantages. Orthodoxy can perfectly well play the role of ‘official’ religion, but it should not be a ‘state’ religion. It would be advisable to establish a system of bilateral agreements between each religious association and the state and to create a fiscal system that allowed citizens who declare that they belong to a given religious faith to devote part of their taxes to the financial support of that faith. *This is a translated and edited version of ‘Otnosheniya mezhdu tronom i altarem v Rossiiskoi Federatsii (vzglyad iz Italii)’ in Religiya i obshchestvo: chast' II: religiozhyye traditsii v usloviyakh globalizatsii (Moscow, Rossiiskaya Akademiya Nauk, 2007), pp. 15–64.