Religious Commitment Research Articles

How Religiousness Increases and Decreases Prejudice: The Mediating Roles of Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Ethnocentrism

ABSTRACT We hypothesized that while both religious commitment and quest orientation directly reduce prejudice, their overall influence would largely depend on their indirect effects through two serial mediators: religious fundamentalism and religious ethnocentrism. Our study (N = 429) examined six different forms of prejudice (toward Muslims, Jews, Blacks, atheists, homosexuals, the poor). Serial mediation path analyses confirmed that (a) religious fundamentalism and religious ethnocentrism mediate the connection between religious commitment and prejudice and between quest orientation and prejudice, and (b) religious ethnocentrism mediates the connection between religious fundamentalism and prejudice. For all six forms of prejudice, religious ethnocentrism was the stronger predictor of prejudice. Consistently, religious commitment directly decreased prejudice but indirectly increased prejudice through heightened levels of religious fundamentalism, and in turn, heightened levels of religious ethnocentrism. The implications of these findings, and the importance of studying factors that moderate the direct and indirect influences of religiousness, are discussed.

What does religion have to do with it: Exploring noninstitutional arguments for effective enforcement of IPR

AbstractThrough this paper the authors intend to establish a connect between religion and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) particularly how various religions have justified IPRs and analyze whether religion can prove to be the much‐needed enforcement tool to fight infringement of IPRs. Intellectual Property is a domain which is governed purely by creativity and technology and has traditionally been justified by utilitarianism. However, the evidence we are in possession of does not entirely justify the rationale of exclusive rights granted under the current IPR regime. While questioning the contradictory evidence seems as a logical move, instead scholars are turning to nonindustrial faith‐based arguments which justify intellectual property as a moral end in itself. A growing number of academics are choosing to devote at least a portion of their research to examining how religious thought can influence approaches to difficult intellectual property questions because they find the religious texts to be a rich source of inspiration on both temporal and eternal issues. A major obstacle in the enforcement of IPR is that people are not entirely convinced that infringing IPR is unethical. This enforcement challenge, surprisingly in the presence of legislations, may be tackled by informal institutions such as religious commitments.

Assessing the Feasibility of the Uniform Civil Code in a Diverse and Secular India

India is a nation celebrated for its rich religious diversity and commitment to secularism. Personal laws for religions like Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity currently govern civil matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. However, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution advocates for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to establish a uniform legal framework, potentially advancing gender equality and promoting national integration. This research paper explores the feasibility of implementing a UCC in India by examining the benefits of a UCC, including its impact on reducing gender disparities, while addressing concerns over cultural autonomy and religious freedom. The latter half of the paper also provides policy recommendations for implementing the UCC in India.

Religion and Environment: The Role of Religiosity on Pro-environmental Behavior Among University Students in Indonesia

Numerous environmental problems in various countries occur as a result of human misbehavior in interacting with their environment. Therefore, to maintain balance in the relationship between humans and the natural environment, it is necessary to develop pro-environmental behavior. This study aims to investigate the role of religiosity on pro-environmental behavior. This research employed a quantitative-correlational method. The participants in this study were 205 university students aged 18-24 years who were selected by convenience sampling technique. This study used two primary instruments to measure the two research variables: Religious Commitment Inventory - 10 (RCI-10) to measure religiosity and the General Ecological Behavior Scale to measure pro-environmental behavior. The research data were analyzed using regression analysis techniques. The analysis showed that religiosity has a significant role as a predictor of pro-environmental behavior among university students. This means that the higher the level of religiosity, the higher pro-environmental behavior. These findings have practical implications for environmental conservation programs. It is important to develop pro-environmental behavior intervention programs for the community by instilling religious values that could encourage awareness, and then behavior, of environmental sustainability. Keywords: religion, religiosity, pro-environmental behavior, environmental psychology, environment

Differences in Religious Commitment and Harm Reduction Attitudes Among US Medical Students by Sex Assigned at Birth: A Pilot Study.

Harm reduction emphasizes positive change by working with individuals without judgment, coercion, discrimination, or requiring abstinence from drugs to receive support. This study examines how religious commitment and medical student attitudes toward harm reduction approaches for substance use differ based on sex assigned at birth. Participants from a US osteopathic medical school completed the revised Harm Reduction Acceptability Scale and the Belief into Action Scale.Statistical analyses revealed that males had significantly higher harm reduction acceptability scores than females. Moreover, a significant negative correlation between religious commitment and harm reduction acceptance was found, indicating that stronger religious commitment was linked to lower acceptance of harm reduction. To build on this cross-sectional exploratory study, further research is needed to delve deeper into sex differences in medical students' attitudes and the role of religious commitment in harm reduction. Future studies should explore the direction and causality of these relationships.

‘To Each Their Own’

Abstract In 2014 a violent encounter unfolded at the royal cemetery of Betsioka between Christian evangelists and their antagonists: spirit mediums, shrine caretakers, and monarchical-ancestral spirits (tromba). The narratives provided by members of the Malagasy Church of Jesus Christ, alongside those offered by spirits and their human supplicants, paint an intimate portrait of the two groups’ competing ideologies. The event emerged from longstanding tensions between indigenous Sakalava communities and highlander Protestant migrants who demonize possession rituals attached to the Sakalava monarchical system. Critically, both parties mediated their disagreement through the shared understanding that each individual has a unique destiny and should be free to follow their own religious commitments. Discourse on predestined individual difference challenged the actions of evangelists who saw the ‘traditions of the ancestors’ as incommensurable with Christian life. Increasing Christian nationalism on the island highlights the awkward place that aggressive proselytization occupies in religious rights debates.

EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT ON ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS TOWARDS HALAL HOTELS

This study is aimed at examining the impact of religious commitment on Malay Muslim behavior to select a halal hotel which attitude is considered a mediating variable. The research findings are beneficial for both academicians and practitioners in the domain of Islamic tourism.The study is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action , arguing that religious commitment affects the willingness of Malays to note their intention and dislike the halal hotel selected.A Structural Equation Modeling approach was adopted to analyze the data drawn from the survey of 492 respondents at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Respondents who agreed to participate in the survey had to sign the consent form.It was discovered that religious commitment has a significant impact on the attitude as well as the behavioral intention of consumers when the obtained effect sizes are equal to.306 and.443, respectively. On the other hand, the attitude serves as a partial mediating factor with an effect size of.129. The research findings may be useful for hoteliers wishing to develop their marketing strategies to attract Malay Muslim customers who consider the intention to select a halal hotel as well as their attitude.

EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT ON ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS TOWARDS HALAL HOTELS

This study is aimed at examining the impact of religious commitment on Malay Muslim behavior to select a halal hotel which attitude is considered a mediating variable. The research findings are beneficial for both academicians and practitioners in the domain of Islamic tourism.The study is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action , arguing that religious commitment affects the willingness of Malays to note their intention and dislike the halal hotel selected.A Structural Equation Modeling approach was adopted to analyze the data drawn from the survey of 492 respondents at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Respondents who agreed to participate in the survey had to sign the consent form.It was discovered that religious commitment has a significant impact on the attitude as well as the behavioral intention of consumers when the obtained effect sizes are equal to.306 and.443, respectively. On the other hand, the attitude serves as a partial mediating factor with an effect size of.129. The research findings may be useful for hoteliers wishing to develop their marketing strategies to attract Malay Muslim customers who consider the intention to select a halal hotel as well as their attitude.

The Faithless Analyst.

In this lecture, I wish to speak about the faithless analyst. This is an analyst without fixed religious notions, without specific preferences with regard to religious faith and practice, without religious commitments or attachments of the kind that would influence the course of the analysis. Is this possible? Analysts like everyone else grow up in specific cultures that are deeply entangled with religious traditions. Can analysts shed this formation when they enter the consulting room? Should they? Values come with religious faith and practice. Should the analyst shed such religiously based values for the sake of absolute neutrality? I want to think about such faithlessness as an impossible ideal for analytical practice and how to work with failures to remain faithless in the presence of different faiths or the absence of faith among patients.

Selkea! Memories of Eating Non-Kosher Food among the Spanish–Moroccan Jewish Diaspora in Israel

Drawing on life-story interviews and ethnography conducted in Israel from 2009 to 2023, this article examines how members of the Spanish-speaking Moroccan–Jewish diaspora in Israel recalled their habits of eating non-kosher food in Morocco. We explore how these memories emerged in response to commonplace discourses that depict Moroccan Jews as a distinctly religious-traditional ethnic group, untouched by European secular influences, and dichotomous to modern secular cultures in Israel. Contrary to this image, members of the community whom we interviewed highlighted a Jewish Moroccan life that was deeply connected to Spanish colonialism and the broader Hispanic and Sephardi worlds. We focus specifically on the concept of selkear, a Haketia (Judeo-Spanish) term meaning to let something go, make an exception, or turn a blind eye. Our analysis of our participants’ memories provides a nuanced understanding of Jewish religiosity in the context of colonialism and of how Mizrahi–Sephardi immigrants in Israel reclaimed their Judaism. Highlighting the practice of eating non-kosher food is thus a strategy used to challenge dominant notions of rigid religious commitment within the Sephardi diaspora and their interpretation in Israel.

A Library in One Volume – The Notebook of the Nineteenth-Century Ismāʿīlī Scholar Sayyidī Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Hamdānī from Surat

Abstract The focus of this article is the eminent Ismāʿīlī scholar Sayyidī Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Hamdānī (1833–98) and his private notebook, which over time he filled with a wide variety of content, ranging across religions, history, the sciences and mathematics, literature, and the occult. The multiple-text manuscript (majmūʿa) is part of the Hamdani Manuscript Collection, now at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London (Ms. 1662). Al-Hamdānī, who is known as an important protagonist in the history of this family library, was also a “moving spirit” in the Daʿwa, the religious and political mission of the Ismāʿīlī Dāʾūdī Bohra Ṭayyibīs in Gujarat. As most of his epistles and his memoirs are not accessible and have not been researched until now, the notebook provides a preliminary testimony, opening a window to his intellectual world. In this article, this unique document is presented in its historical context and described in terms of its materiality, content and use. It is considered as a rich source of information about its owner and the literary holdings a nineteenth-century Bohra scholar could draw on. We also ask what role the personal manuscript might have played with respect to Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Hamdānī’s religious commitments in the Ṭayyibī Daʿwa.

After Restructuring: Understanding Religion, Nonreligion, and Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract The Restructuring of American Religion (1988) provided a still-influential framework for the study of American religion that centered the emergence, after World War II, of a left–right religio-political divide driving mobilization around conflicts understood as moral. But in the last 30 years, the landscape of American religion has been transformed by decline in commitment to mainstream religious institutions, especially white Christian ones, and by the emergence of large groups of Americans who are religiously indifferent or who embrace spirituality or nonreligion. A new framework is needed to account for this transformed landscape. This framework must avoid problems characteristic of earlier approaches by conceiving of morals and interests as mutually constitutive, centering whiteness, racialization, and the defense of heteropatriarchy in explaining religio-political conflict, integrating the study of nonreligion and spirituality and religion, and analyzing not only decline in religious commitment but the changing meaning of religious identity in a transformed landscape.

Development and Validation of Ikhlaas Scale for Pakistani Muslim Adults.

Ikhlaas refers to the capacity of having sincere intentions in both acts of worship (ibadah) dedicated to God and our dealings with others, as we strive to seek God's pleasure. The present research was primarily conducted to develop a psychometrically sound measure of ikhlaas and establish its construct validity. Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, it comprised two studies. Study 1 was conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, an initial set of 17 items for the Ikhlaas Scale (IS) was developed through the thematic analysis of Quranic verses, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. Phase 2 was related to the translation and cross-language validation of scales. Phase 3 involved administering this item pool to a sample of Pakistani Muslim adults (N = 300) and conducting an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) that revealed a two-factor structure (item loading 0.45-0.89) for the 12-item IS, accounting for 43.65% of the variance. The first factor measured ikhlaas in worship (7 items), while the second factor measured ikhlaas in dealings with others (5 items). Ikhlaas had a significant positive correlation with taqwa and significant negative correlations with materialism, providing evidence for the convergent validity of the IS. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) conducted on a sample of Muslim adults (N = 702) confirmed the 12-item, two-factor structure of the IS observed in the EFA. Ikhlas was positively related to religious commitment and religious emphasis. In the final measurement model, the average variance extracted (AVE) of all constructs (ikhlaas, religious emphasis, and religious commitment) was > 0.50, the values of maximum shared variance (MSV) were lower than those of AVE, and the diagonal values of the square root of the AVE were higher than the intercorrelations. The heterotrait-monotrait correlation ratio (HTMT) ranged from 0.51 to 0.61, which testified to the discriminant validity of IS. Overall, the IS is a robust measure of ikhlaas that needs to be further studied for developing its nomological network across global Muslim populations.

The Impact of Pastoral Care on Students’ Religious and Psychological Well-Being in a Christian Tradition-Based Residential Hall in Hong Kong

This study investigates the impact of pastoral care on the religious and psychological well-being of students residing in St. John’s College, a Christian tradition-based residential hall in Hong Kong. The research employs a mixed-methods approach and comprises two complementary studies: a quantitative analysis (Study 1) involving 98 participants and a qualitative investigation (Study 2) with 26 participants. Study 1 utilised the Religious Commitment Inventory-10 (RCI-10) and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) to measure religious commitment and psychological well-being, respectively. Initial findings revealed significant correlations suggesting that higher levels of religious commitment engender improved psychological well-being. Study 2 explored these relationships further through semi-structured interviews, providing deeper insights into how pastoral care influences students’ religious practices and mental health. The qualitative data underscored the nuanced role of pastoral activities in fostering a supportive community atmosphere, enhancing both personal and communal religious experiences.

Experiences of Muslim patients living with peritoneal dialysis: A qualitative study in Southern Thailand.

Living with peritoneal dialysis affects the patient's life. The experiences of peritoneal dialysis patients, especially Muslim patients, are incomprehensible. There is a need to explore this area further to foster nursing practice improvement through enhanced understanding. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of Muslim patients who are undergoing peritoneal dialysis. A qualitative descriptive design was employed to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of Muslim patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis in a peritoneal dialysis unit in Southern Thailand. Participants were initially recruited through purposive sampling and then selected based on the inclusion criteria. Data saturation was reached from October 2019 to January 2020. Ten Muslim patients who had been receiving peritoneal dialysis for a minimum of one month participated in personalized, in-depth, face-to-face interviews, which were supplemented by field notes. Inductive content analysis was performed using open coding, categories, and abstractions. The experiences of Muslim patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis were grouped into two main categories: 1) Overwhelmed by change and 2) Learned to survive. Peritoneal dialysis has a significant impact on Muslim patients, especially during the first months of treatment. Recognizing religious teachings and strengthening religious commitment through participation in religious practices are central to living on peritoneal dialysis. The findings offer a more profound insight into the experiences of Muslim patients receiving peritoneal dialysis. These results can be foundational knowledge for establishing and improving culturally appropriate nursing practices for Muslim patients.

Halal Labels and Religious Commitment: Their Impact on Bottled Water Purchases

Research Aims: To determine how halal labelling affects purchasing decisions for bottled drinking water products among Muslim students in Solo Design/methodology/approach: The study used quantitative descriptive analysis with primary data. The data analysis method used multiple linear regression analysis with independent variables, namely halal labelling (X1) and religiosity (X2). The number of samples in the study was 183 respondents. This study uses a purposive sampling technique with specific criteria. The study's dependent variable (Y) is the decision to purchase bottled drinking water Research Findings: halal labelling and religiosity have a positive and significant effect on customer decisions to buy bottled mineral water drinks. The value of the coefficient of determination concluded that the contribution of the independent variables in the regression model can explain the variation of the dependent variable by 48,6%. In contrast, the rest is explained by other variables outside the regression equation model. Based on the analysis results, actual steps need to follow up on purchasing decisions for halal bottled drinking water products, one of which is that the university can provide and facilitate the availability of bottled drinking water (AMDK) products on the campus. Besides increasing awareness of halal drinking water, it can also positively impact the development of halal products in universities in Solo. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: The research highlights the simultaneous and partial influence of halal labelling and religiosity on purchasing decisions for bottled drinking water in universities in Solo. This adds a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in a specific religious and educational context. The study emphasizes the need for further research into the urgency of providing halal AMDK, suggesting that such products are crucial for consumer assurance. This calls attention to a potentially underserved market segment. Keywords: Halal Label, Religiosity, Purchase Decision, Bottled Drinking Water.

Religiosity and the Marital Satisfaction of Malaysian Christians: A Pilot Study

Amid the challenges experienced by married couples and families, the need to examine the factors associated with marital satisfaction is recognised across various communities and backgrounds. Nevertheless, research on Malaysian Christians remains limited, especially concerning religiosity and marital satisfaction. Therefore, this study provides a deeper understanding of marital satisfaction among Malaysian Christians, focusing on its association with the factor of religiosity. 62 participants responded to self-report scales – including the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Religious Commitment Inventory-10 – and open-ended questions on marital satisfaction experience and marital views, values, and attitudes development. A one-sample t-test analysed the marital satisfaction level of Malaysian Christians and some amount of marital distress was indicated. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis established that religiosity significantly predicted marital satisfaction. The open-ended responses were analysed thematically and the identified themes pertaining to how married Malaysian Christians experience marital satisfaction and religiosity complemented the quantitative findings. These findings could inform the development of programmes on marriage and family life and assist marriage counsellors, family therapists and other mental health professionals to work more effectively with the Malaysian community. Couples and families may also gain awareness, insights and inspiration towards enriching their experiences within marriage and family life.

Establishing the temporal relationship between religious commitment, sexual identity struggles, and religious struggles among sexual minorities.

Establishing the temporal relationship between religious commitment, sexual identity struggles, and religious struggles among sexual minorities.

Religion- and Spirituality-Based Effects on Health-Related Components with Special Reference to Physical Activity: A Systematic Review

The positive effects of religion and/or spirituality through faith-based interventions on health and promoting health programs have been well documented over the last two decades. Research indicates that faith-related programs can motivate increased physical activity, among other behaviors. This review summarizes the literature on how religion and spirituality beliefs and practices support physical, mental, and psychosocial health, focusing primarily on physical activity. A literature search was conducted using databases (Medline/PubMed, Science Direct) and Google Scholar, with search terms like “religion”, “spirituality”, “physical activity”, “physical exercise”, and “health” to identify relevant studies from 2017 to 2023. Thirteen studies were selected, including seven cross-sectional designs, four randomized controlled trials, and two cohort studies. Eleven of these studies reported positive effects of religious faith, religiosity, and spirituality interventions on increasing physical activity or reducing sedentary behavior. These findings confirm that greater religious commitment is positively associated with better health outcomes, including increased physical activity. This research suggests that further studies are needed to identify specific religiosity/spirituality variables in the context of physical activity association and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. Such insights may inform the development of intervention programs aimed at promoting physical activity and strengthening health associations.

Evaluation of an acceptance and commitment therapy with religious content to control obsessive-compulsive disorder, dysfunctional beliefs, feeling guilty, scrupulosity, and thought control among Muslims in Iran.

The present study aimed to develop an integrated protocol by combining religious content and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and evaluate its effectiveness in controlling obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), dysfunctional beliefs, feeling guilt, scrupulosity, and thought control among Muslims in Tehran, Iran. An exploratory mixed-method research design was applied in this study. In the qualitative stage, the document analysis method was used to extract components related to ACT with religious content. Also, the content and face validity of the intervention were confirmed by experts. Subsequently, a semi-experimental, pretest-posttest, control-group design was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the adapted protocol with a 3-month follow-up. In the quantitative stage, the inclusion criteria were meeting the diagnostic criteria for OCD based on the diagnostic interview of a psychiatrist, having religious purity/impurity obsessions, not receiving minimum psychological treatment for at least one month before entering the study, religious commitment; minimum age of 18 years and maximum age of 50 years; and having at least a high school diploma. The exclusion criteria from the research were as follows: age over 50 years; educational level of less than a high school diploma; having a personality disorder; receiving other treatments, inability to participate in sessions; and being introduced by a family member. The experimental and control groups participated in 25 individual treatment sessions based on the adapted protocol and 8 conventional ACT sessions. According to the results, the effectiveness of the religion-adapted ACT intervention on the severity of obsession and dysfunctional religious beliefs was higher in patients with OCD compared to the control group in the posttest. The present study showed that adding religious components to the ACT protocol can increase its effectiveness in reducing the severity of purity/impurity obsessions compared to the conventional ACT in the Muslim Iranian population.