Believing
Belief in belief: Even atheists in secular countries show intuitive preferences favoring religious belief
Will Gervais et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1 April 2025
Abstract:
We find evidence of belief in belief -- intuitive preferences for religious belief over atheism, even among atheist participants -- across eight comparatively secular countries. Religion is a cross-cultural human universal, yet explicit markers of religiosity have rapidly waned in large parts of the world in recent decades. We explored whether intuitive religious influence lingers, even among nonbelievers in largely secular societies. We adapted a classic experimental philosophy task to test for this intuitive belief in belief among people in eight comparatively nonreligious countries: Canada, China, Czechia, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam (total N = 3,804). Our analyses revealed strong evidence that 1) people intuitively favor religious belief over atheism and that 2) this pattern was not moderated by participants’ own self-reported atheism. Indeed, 3) even atheists in relatively secular societies intuitively prefer belief to atheism. These inferences were robust across different analytic strategies and across other measures of individual differences in religiosity and religious instruction. Although explicit religious belief has rapidly declined in these countries, it is possible that belief in belief may still persist. These results speak to the complex psychological and cultural dynamics of secularization.
Religion, Perceptions of Scientists’ Moral Culture, and Support for Science in the United States
Timothy O’Brien & Shiri Noy
American Sociological Review, April 2025, Pages 257-290
Abstract:
How do perceptions of scientists’ moral values relate to support for science in society? Recent advances in the sociology of science and religion suggest that people associate scientists with moral values in addition to factual knowledge, and that concerns about scientists’ morality are why members of some religious groups are more critical of science than non-religious people. We test this theory using data from a probability sample of U.S. adults that includes new measures of beliefs about scientists’ moral values, such as their compassion, fairness, and generosity (n = 1,513). Results from structural equation models indicate that active members of all religious groups are, to varying degrees, more skeptical than atheists and agnostics of scientists’ moral character. A decomposition of direct and indirect effects indicates that beliefs about scientists’ moral values play an intermediary role in the relationship between religion and support for science, and that support for science among the religious is partially suppressed by their concerns about scientists’ morality. This article offers the first direct evidence of the moral culture the U.S. public associates with scientists. We suggest that religious differences in support for organized science reflect religious differences in beliefs about scientists’ moral values.
Religious service attendance is protective against the diseases of despair: Evidence from regression, sibling-fixed effects, and instrumental variables analyses
Michael Lebenbaum & Jason Fletcher
American Journal of Epidemiology, April 2025, Pages 1002–1011
Abstract:
It is unclear whether the large secular decline in religiosity has contributed to the dramatic rise in the “deaths of despair.” We contribute to the recent epidemiologic literature estimating more rigorous effects of religiosity on health by examining the association between religiosity and the diseases of despair via regression, sibling fixed effects (SFE) analyses, instrumental variable (IV), and cross-lag analyses. We used the US Add Health sample when respondents were in Waves (W) 3-5 (ages: 18-43). We measured religious service attendance and a composite outcome consisting of painkiller abuse, past-year suicidal ideation, and weekly binge drinking. We estimated linear probability models, SFE, IV, and cross-lag models. Confounders included parental socio-demographics, community/school characteristics, and individual socio-demographics. Greater religious service attendance was negatively associated with the composite outcome in the pooled sample (β =-0.031; p < .5) and at each wave (W3 β=-0.025; W4 β=-0.040; W5 β=-0.028; all p < .5). Conclusions were similar in SFE models (W3-5 pooled β=-0.013), IV models (W4 β=-0.081; W3-5 pooled β=-0.064, all p < .5, F>100, and overidentification p > .10) and cross-lag models (W3-5 pooled β=-0.023, p < .5). The consistent results across models suggests that the large decline in religious service attendance likely contributed to the rise in the deaths of despair.
Secularity in Different Hues: Racial Variation in Sociopolitical Attitudes Among the Nonreligious
Isaiah King & Michael Ryan
Social Currents, forthcoming
Abstract:
Nonreligious individuals have risen to nearly 30 percent of the United States’ population. This notable rise of the “nones” has garnered considerable attention from sociologists of religion and has propelled the study of secular Americans to the forefront of the discipline. However, the study of secularity as its own diverse cultural framework is still limited. Many scholars operate under the implicit assumption that nonreligion carries with it a host of other sociopolitical characteristics that construct the homogeneous “secular” identity. Drawing on data from the American Mosaic Project (n = 2400), we explore how secularity has unique influences among different races on attitudes about affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and immigration. We find that the religious/secular divide is far more pronounced among Whites in terms of political ideology relative to other races, religion plays a significant role in support for affirmative action among all races except Whites, and secularity increases the likelihood of
The Weak(ening) Link Between Religiosity and Morality: Evidence from Five Western Countries
Sam Reimer & Galen Watts
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has often found a strong link between religiosity and morality. Specifically, high religiosity results in more restrictive moral positions, and the tendency toward absolutism. In this paper, we use the World Values Survey (WVS) to show a weakening link between three morality scales and religiosity over time in five Western countries (Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand). The exception to this general trend is the area of sexual or body morality, where the correlation remains strong. Further, religiosity does not promote moral homogeneity, as those with high religiosity give no less diverse answers to moral questions than the nonreligious. We suggest that secularization, changing religiosity, and the discursive winnowing of “religion” help explain these trends.
Gender Variations in the Indirect Effects of In-person and Virtual Religious Attendance on Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Laura Upenieks & Terrence Hill
Social Currents, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although numerous studies have established the indirect effect of in-person religious attendance on mental health through social support, it is unclear whether this process might extend to virtual attendance. In this study, we employ national survey data from the United States (n = 1,701) to explore gender variations in the indirect effects of in-person and virtual religious attendance on psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses indicated that weekly or more in-person and virtual religious attendance were associated with greater social support among women, but not among men. We also observed statistically significant indirect effects of in-person and virtual religious attendance on lower levels of psychological distress through greater social support among women, but not among men. By revisiting the integrative function of modern religious rituals, we may advance our understanding of the ways in which technological innovation in institutions of religion might impact the mental health of women and men.
A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Psychological Benefits of a Daily Examen-Based Practice
Thomas Plante et al.
Journal of Religion and Health, April 2025, Pages 1239-1256
Abstract:
This is a randomized controlled trial of an Examen-based practice, an intervention reflecting a five-step daily reflection and prayer practice developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Catholic Jesuit order. Like other practices (e.g., mindfulness, yoga), this practice can be used as a spiritual or secular intervention to help people with a variety of challenges and stressors. In this exploratory study, 57 university students were randomly assigned to a two-week daily Examen-based condition, while 58 students were assigned to a wait-list control condition. Questionnaires measuring hope, life meaning, satisfaction with life, mindfulness, compassion, stress, anxiety, and depression were administered pre- and post-intervention and subsequently at two-week follow-up. Significant differences were found for conditions on the measures of life meaning, satisfaction with life, and hope, suggesting that the Examen-based practice produces improvements in individuals’ global evaluations of their lives as well as their perceptions of the future. Suggestions for further research are offered.
Guardianship in Transition: Contextual Embodiment of Islamic Tenets Among Iranians in Kentucky
Erfan Saidi Moqadam
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article engages with current discussions on Islamic authority, proposing an approach that regards the bottom-up experiences, agency, and exegetical intervention of ordinary practitioners as equivalent to those of experts. Focusing on guardianship, this article examines how Iranians understand and transform this Quranic concept within the specific context of Kentucky, and how these understandings are shaped by observing local Christian practices that exclusively emphasize biblical authority. Through ethnographic analysis, this article explores how these Iranians have challenged the prevailing exegesis that restricts guardianship solely to the Islamic jurist (faqīh). This specific setting, removed from any institutionalized religious authority, has empowered them to collectively articulate their exegetical tensions, contradictions, and paradoxes over the pertinent verses as Islamic -- concerning guardianship in this study -- and also to strategically harmonize their interpretations and practices with the Christian context to gain recognition, acceptance, and cultural integration.