Lost Tribes
Brands: The Opiate of the Nonreligious Masses?
Ron Shachar, Tülin Erdem, Keisha Cutright & Gavan Fitzsimons
Marketing Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Are brands the "new religion"? Practitioners and scholars have been intrigued by the possibility, but strong theory and empirical evidence supporting the existence of a relationship between brands and religion is scarce. In what follows, we argue and demonstrate that religiosity is indeed related to "brand reliance," i.e., the degree to which consumers prefer branded goods over unbranded goods or goods without a well-known national brand. We theorize that brands and religiosity may serve as substitutes for one another because both allow individuals to express their feelings of self-worth. We provide support for this substitution hypothesis with U.S. state-level data (field study) as well as individual-level data where religiosity is experimentally primed (study 1) or measured as a chronic individual difference (study 2). Importantly, studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that the relationship between religiosity and brand reliance only exists in product categories in which brands enable consumers to express themselves (e.g., clothes). Moreover, studies 3 and 4 demonstrate that the expression of self-worth is an important factor underlying the negative relationship.
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Calvin's Restrictions on Interest: Guidelines for the Credit Crisis
J.J. Graafland
Journal of Business Ethics, October 2010, Pages 233-248
Abstract:
Calvin's view on the legitimacy of interest has had a great impact on the economic development of Western society. Although Calvin took a fundamentally positive attitude to interest, he also proposed several restrictions on the charging of interest. In this article, we investigate the relevance of these restrictions to the current credit crisis. We find that each of them provides a relevant interpretation of what went wrong in the buildup of the credit crisis and gives directions to improve policies of banks and governments as well.
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Religiosity and Economic Performance: Micro-econometric Evidence from Tibetan area
Qin Tu, Erwin Bulte & Shuhao Tan
China Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use results from a household survey to explore the relation between religiosity and our proxy for income among herders in rural Tibet. Our main results are twofold. First, there exists a positive relation between the intensity of religious beliefs (the main 'output' of the religious production process) and income - beliefs about the after-life affect production and savings decisions today. Second, and perhaps more surprising, we find an inverted U-shaped relation between religious 'inputs' (time and money spent in the temple) and income. While it is possible to use too much resources as religious inputs, we find that the great majority of the respondents is on the upward sloping part of the curve linking economic performance to religious inputs. We present tentative evidence that the positive impact of religiosity and income may be explained by status (reputation) and information effects associated with producing religiosity.
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Belonging, Believing, Behaving: The Religious Character of Public Servants
Patricia Freeman & David Houston
Administration & Society, October 2010, Pages 694-719
Abstract:
How do public servants compare to the general public in their religious affiliation, beliefs, and behaviors? Using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, we compare public servants in government and outside government to the general public through a series of logistic regression models. Although there is little difference in terms of denominational affiliation, public servants have a stronger commitment to, and are more active in, their religious communities. The implications of these findings for public administration are discussed.
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High-cost Religion, Religious Switching, and Health
Christopher Scheitle & Amy Adamczyk
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, September 2010, Pages 325-342
Abstract:
Previous research has devoted significant attention to understanding the link between health and personal religious beliefs and practices, typically finding that more religious people tend to have better health. However, almost no attention has been given to how switching religious groups or leaving religion altogether is related to self-reported health. Due to selection and causation mechanisms, switching from high-cost groups that are theologically and culturally exclusive could be associated with poor health more than switching from other religious groups. Using data from the 1972 through 2006 General Social Surveys, we examine the relationship between health and religious switching as moderated by the religious tradition of origin. We find that people who are raised and stay in high-cost sectarian groups, such as the Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses, have better self-reported health than those raised and staying in other religious traditions. However, people who leave such groups are more likely to report worse health than those who leave other groups.
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Religion and assisted and non-assisted suicide in Switzerland: National Cohort Study
Adrian Spoerri, Marcel Zwahlen, Matthias Bopp, Felix Gutzwiller & Matthias Egger
International Journal of Epidemiology, forthcoming
Background: In the 19th century, eminent French sociologist Emile Durkheim found suicide rates to be higher in the Protestant compared with the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. We examined religious affiliation and suicide in modern Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal.
Methods: The 2000 census records of 1 722 456 (46.0%) Catholics, 1 565 452 (41.8%) Protestants and 454 397 (12.2%) individuals with no affiliation were linked to mortality records up to December 2005. The association between religious affiliation and suicide, with the Protestant faith serving as the reference category, was examined in Cox regression models. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were adjusted for age, marital status, education, type of household, language and degree of urbanization.
Results: Suicide rates per 100 000 inhabitants were 19.7 in Catholics (1664 suicides), 28.5 in Protestants (2158 suicides) and 39.0 in those with no affiliation (882 suicides). Associations with religion were modified by age and gender (P < 0.0001). Compared with Protestant men aged 35-64 years, HRs (95% CI) for all suicides were 0.80 (0.73-0.88) in Catholic men and 1.09 (0.98-1.22) in men with no affiliation; and 0.60 (0.53-0.67) and 1.96 (1.69-2.27), respectively, in men aged 65-94 years. Corresponding HRs in women aged 35-64 years were 0.90 (0.80-1.03) and 1.46 (1.25-1.72); and 0.67 (0.59-0.77) and 2.63 (2.22-3.12) in women aged 65-94 years. The association was strongest for suicides by poisoning in the 65-94-year-old age group, the majority of which was assisted: HRs were 0.45 (0.35-0.59) for Catholic men and 3.01 (2.37-3.82) for men with no affiliation; 0.44 (0.36-0.55) for Catholic women and 3.14 (2.51-3.94) for women with no affiliation.
Conclusions: In Switzerland, the protective effect of a religious affiliation appears to be stronger in Catholics than in Protestants, stronger in older than in younger people, stronger in women than in men, and particularly strong for assisted suicides.
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Reexamining the effect of Christian denominational affiliation on death penalty support
Kevin Wozniak & Andrew Lewis
Journal of Criminal Justice, September-October 2010, Pages 1082-1089
Abstract:
Despite the fact that numerous Christian denominations in America condemn or condone the death penalty, extant research on the effects of religiosity on citizens' support for capital punishment has generated ambiguous results of denominational affiliation. This empirical ambiguity may be the result of measurement error. Testing data from the General Social Survey, this study employs a historically and theologically grounded measure of religious tradition affiliation to contrast to past research. Controlling for religious beliefs, religious behaviors, and race, the results indicate that affiliation with any Christian denomination increases the likelihood that an individual will support the death penalty compared to nonreligious individuals. In contrast, members of different Christian religious traditions are no more or less likely to favor capital punishment than other Christian affiliates.
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How ‘Islamic' Is Islamic Banking?
Feisal Khan
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
Islamic banks hold well over US$700B in assets and are growing at over 15% p.a. Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF) involves wider ethical and moral issues than simply 'interest-free' transactions. Its advocates argue that these make it more economically efficient than onventional banking and promote greater economic equity and justice. To what extent, then, do actual slamic banking practices live up to the ideal, and how different are they from conventional banking? A preliminary investigation shows that, three decades after its introduction, there remain substantial divergences between IBF's ideals and its practices, and much of IBF still remains functionally indistinguishable from conventional banking. This runs counter to claims by IBF advocates that it would rapidly differentiate itself from conventional banking. However, despite not providing an alternative to conventional banking and finance, IBF does strengthen a distinctly Islamic identity by providing the appropriate Islamic terminology for de facto conventional financial transactions.
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Developments in Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Cloning: Islamic Ethical Positions, A Review
Hossam Fadel
Bioethics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Stem cell research is very promising. The use of human embryos has been confronted with objections based on ethical and religious positions. The recent production of reprogrammed adult (induced pluripotent) cells does not - in the opinion of scientists - reduce the need to continue human embryonic stem cell research. So the debate continues. Islam always encouraged scientific research, particularly research directed toward finding cures for human disease. Based on the expectation of potential benefits, Islamic teachings permit and support human embryonic stem cell research. The majority of Muslim scholars also support therapeutic cloning. This permissibility is conditional on the use of supernumerary early pre-embryos which are obtained during infertility treatment in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics. The early pre-embryos are considered in Islamic jurisprudence as worthy of respect but do not have the full sanctity offered to the embryo after implantation in the uterus and especially after ensoulment. In this paper the Islamic positions regarding human embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning are reviewed in some detail, whereas positions in other religious traditions are mentioned only briefly. The status of human embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning in different countries, including the USA and especially in Muslim countries, is discussed.
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Religious participation and risky health behaviors among adolescents
Jennifer Mellor & Beth Freeborn
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous studies have shown that adolescent religious participation is negatively associated with risky health behaviors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use. One explanation for these findings is that religion directly reduces risky behaviors because churches provide youths with moral guidance or with strong social networks that reinforce social norms. An alternative explanation is that both religious participation and risky health behaviors are driven by some common unobserved individual trait. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and implement an instrumental variables approach to identify the effect of religious participation on smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use. Following Gruber (2005), we use a county-level measure of religious market density as an instrument. We find that religious market density has a strong positive association with adolescent religious participation, but not with secular measures of social capital. Upon accounting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find that religious participation continues to have a significant negative effect on illicit drug use. On the contrary, the estimated effects of attendance in instrumental variables models of binge drinking and smoking are statistically imprecise.
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Hyunsun Choi
Economic Development Quarterly, November 2010, Pages 372-383
Abstract:
Ethnic entrepreneurship is one of the key factors of community economic development. This article explores how religious institutions enhance ethnic entrepreneurship through social capital in the Los Angeles Korean community, which has high self-employment rates and active participation among its Christian congregations. The role of religious institutions is rarely discussed in terms of entrepreneurship. The article finds that religion-based social capital has greatly benefited the small business development of this ethnic community. Korean ethnic congregations have acted as small business incubators through social networking and capital accumulation. In addition, the article asserts that contemporary community development should reemphasize social capital, religious institutions, and entrepreneurship.
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Frank Gillum & Derek Griffith
Journal of Religion and Health, September 2010, Pages 283-295
Abstract:
Many studies find racial differences in prayer and religious practices, but few reports examine factors that help explain the effects of Hispanic ethnicity or African American race. A national survey conducted in 2002 collected data on 10 non-religious spiritual practices as well as on prayer for health reasons in 22,929 adults aged 18 years and over. We found marked racial and ethnic differences in the use of prayer and other spiritual practices for health reasons. Greater proportions of African Americans and Hispanic Americans than European Americans reported prayer for health reasons. Sociodemographic variables and health status could not explain these differences. Further, among those who reported prayer, African Americans were more likely than European Americans to report being prayed for by others. However, African American women and Hispanic women and men were significantly less likely than European Americans to use other spiritual practices such as meditation and Tai Chi. Surprisingly African American men were just as likely to report these practices as European American men. Sociodemographic variables and health status could not explain these differences.
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Joseph Baker & Scott Draper
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, September 2010, Pages 413-424
Abstract:
Studies have attempted to understand the association between more conventional supernatural (religious) beliefs and practices and less conventional "paranormal" supernatural beliefs. Some have posited that the two comprise incompatible cultural spheres and belief systems, while others have argued that supernatural religious beliefs are "small steps" toward less conventional paranormal views (such as belief in astrology and telekinesis). We build upon recent scholarship outlining a more nuanced, nonlinear relationship between religiosity and paranormal beliefs by identifying a specific niche of believers who are particularly likely to dabble in unconventional supernatural beliefs. Strong believers in the paranormal tend to be characterized by a nonexclusive spiritualist worldview, as opposed to materialist or exclusive religious outlooks. Paranormal believers tend to be characterized by moderate levels of religious belief and practice, and low levels of ideological exclusivity. In general, the relationship between more conventional religiosity and paranormal beliefs is best conceptualized as curvilinear.
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Comparing spiritual transformations and experiences of profound beauty
Adam Cohen, June Gruber & Dacher Keltner
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, August 2010, Pages 127-135
Abstract:
Certain highly emotional experiences have the potential to produce long-lasting and meaningful changes in personality. Two such experiences are spiritual transformations and experiences of profound beauty. However, little is known about the cognitive appraisals or narrative elements involved in such experiences, how they are similar, and how they differ. In a study of emotion-related narratives, these experiences were found to share many features but also differ in their valence. Experiences of profound beauty are almost always positive, but spiritual transformations are both positive and negative. Moreover, spiritual transformations seem to produce long-lasting change, but experiences of profound beauty, although evocative, do not seem to produce long-lasting change. An emotion approach helps to elucidate two understudied but important emotional experiences.
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A decision theory of clergy political behavior
Brian Robert Calfano
Social Science Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies of clergy political behavior have used one of two empirical lenses to explain clergy actions-ideology and contextual influences. The first lens generally supposes that clergy behave according to their sincerely held preferences; the second takes personal ideology into account, but suggests that clergy are also subject to influence from the environment in which they serve. While both approaches have received adequate attention, there has been no attempt to develop a systematic decision theory outlining when and why clergy might elect to follow their ideological preferences in some cases, and respond to contextual influence in others. This research note proposes a decision theory based on work in the congressional behavior scholarship. It outlines the conditions under which clergy use their sincere preferences and reference group cues to determine their political behavior. It then tests these propositions using data from two national surveys of American clergy.