In the eyes of God
Communism as the Unhappy Coming
Simeon Djankov & Elena Nikolova
Journal of Comparative Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper shows that Eastern Orthodox believers are less happy compared with Catholics and Protestants using data covering more than 100 countries around the world. Consistent with the happiness results, the paper also finds that relative to Catholics, Protestants, and non-believers, those of Eastern Orthodox religion have less social capital and prefer old ideas and safe jobs. In addition, Orthodoxy is associated with left-leaning political preferences and stronger support for government involvement in the economy. Compared with non-believers and Orthodox adherents, Catholics and Protestants are less likely to agree that government ownership is a good thing, and Protestants are less likely to agree that getting rich can only happen at the expense of others. These differences in life satisfaction and other attitudes and values persisted despite the fact that communist elites sought to eradicate church-going in Eastern Europe, since communists maintained many aspects of Orthodox theology which were useful for the advancement of the communist doctrine. The findings are consistent with Berdyaev's hypothesis that communism is a successor of Orthodoxy.
Analytic atheism: A cross-culturally weak and fickle phenomenon?
Will Gervais et al.
Judgment and Decision Making, May 2018, Pages 268–274
Abstract:
Religious belief is a topic of longstanding interest to psychological science, but the psychology of religious disbelief is a relative newcomer. One prominently discussed model is analytic atheism, wherein cognitive reflection, as measured with the Cognitive Reflection Test, overrides religious intuitions and instruction. Consistent with this model, performance-based measures of cognitive reflection predict religious disbelief in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, & Democratic) samples. However, the generality of analytic atheism remains unknown. Drawing on a large global sample (N = 3461) from 13 religiously, demographically, and culturally diverse societies, we find that analytic atheism as usually assessed is in fact quite fickle cross-culturally, appearing robustly only in aggregate analyses and in three individual countries. The results provide additional evidence for culture’s effects on core beliefs.
Quality Choice and Product Differentiation in Monopoly Theory: An Application to the Puritan Church
Franklin Mixon & Kamal Upadhyaya
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
French engineer and transport economist Jules Dupuit (1804–1866) conjectured more than 150 years ago that, in the context of a three‐part tariff concerning French railroads, a discriminating monopolist will find it most profitable to distort product (service) quality at each of the two ends of the quality spectrum in order to prevent consumers in the middle class (i.e., the second of three classes) from defecting to either end (i.e., first or third class). This study extends a branch of the literature on the economics of religion by arguing that 17th‐century Puritan theologians in colonial America used, in a way that is consistent with Dupuit's insights, Puritan religious doctrines related to eternal salvation and witchcraft to distort the quality, at both ends of the quality spectrum in a three‐part tariff construct, of the religious services they provided to their parishioners. In doing so, we employ economic modeling from seminal studies of the medieval Roman Catholic Church.
Are Men’s Religious Ties Hormonally Regulated?
Aniruddha Das
Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, forthcoming
Procedures: Data were from the 2005–2006 and 2010–2011 waves of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), a national probability sample of older U.S. adults. Analysis was through autoregressive cross-lagged panel models (minimum N = 1071).
Results: Higher baseline levels of both testosterone and DHEA prospectively predicted religious ties, whether measured through attendance at services or network connections to clergy. Moreover, contrary to arguments of sociocultural modulation of androgens, the pattern of associations was most consistent with hormonal causation of religious connections. Results were robust to a range of time invariant and time varying confounders, including demographics, hormone supplements, and physical health.
The Positives and Negatives of Higher Education: How the Religious Context in Adolescence Moderates the Effects of Education on Changes in Religiosity
Philip Schwadel
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, December 2017, Pages 869-885
Abstract:
Although longitudinal research suggests that declines in religiosity associated with higher education vary across religious traditions, it tells us little about variation in the effects of higher education on changes in religiosity more broadly. Higher education may promote increases in religiosity for some, particularly with many Americans now being raised in relatively secular homes. This research note uses multilevel growth curve models and four waves of longitudinal data to examine how the religious context in adolescence moderates the effects of higher education on changes in emerging adult religiosity, regardless of the direction of change. Religious tradition and parent religious service attendance assess the religious context in adolescence, and several religiosity scales and measures of religious behaviors assess dimensions of religiosity. Results show that higher education is particularly likely to lead to religious decline for mainline Protestants and those with religiously active parents, and to increases in religiosity for the religiously unaffiliated and those with parents who infrequently attend religious services. These findings demonstrate how the religious context in adolescence conditions the influence of education, thereby highlighting the variable nature of the influence of higher education on changes in religiosity.
When Does Religion Matter With Regard to Crime? Examining the Relationship Between Genetics, Religiosity, and Criminal Behavior
Stephen Watts
Criminal Justice and Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Religiosity has been shown to be a predictor of initial criminal offending, reoffending, and desistance. To date, however, research has generally failed to assess the role that biological factors play in moderating the religiosity–crime relationship. The present study utilizes a nationally representative sample of male adolescents (N = 4,053), to explore whether variants of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) and the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) interact with religiosity to affect self-reported criminal offending. Results of negative binomial regressions demonstrate that religiosity interacts with these genes to influence offending among males, net of controls. Importantly, once potential confounding variables are accounted for, a statistically significant effect of religiosity on offending among males is only evident for those who carry plasticity alleles for both DAT1 and MAOA (vs. carrying one or zero plasticity alleles). Thus, among males, whether religiosity is important for criminal offending depends partly on the individual genotype. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.
The Role of Whites in Lay Leadership Within Latino Churches
Brandon Martinez & Jeffrey Tamburello
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Latinos are the largest ethnoracial minority group in America, and Latino congregations play an important role in the lives of their members and communities. Yet, little research exists on these congregations. The current study provides an examination of the lay leadership structures and power dynamics within Latino congregations. Drawing from organizational ecology theory and the homophily principle as well as contemporary racial stratification literature, we propose competing hypotheses regarding the roles whites play within the lay leadership and power structures of Latino congregations. Utilizing a national multilevel data set, we find the persistence of white privilege existing within Latino congregations, as whites are more likely to hold lay leadership positions within these congregations than Latinos, despite their numeric minority status. Moreover, our results reveal that individual access to the decision‐making process in these congregations increases for both whites and multiracial individuals as the proportion of Latinos increases in their congregation. We further discuss the implications of these findings.
Improving intergroup relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland via E‐contact
Fiona White et al.
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Northern Ireland is characterised by extensive segregation between its predominantly Catholic and Protestant communities. With the aim of overcoming this segregation, the current study experimentally evaluated the effectiveness of electronic‐ or E‐contact as a novel indirect contact and prejudice‐reduction strategy. Here, Catholic and Protestant participants were not required to meet physically but were involved in a collaborative and goal‐orientated online interaction with a member of the other community. As predicted, E‐contact improved both Catholics’ and Protestants’ outgroup attitudes via improved contact expectancies and reduced intergroup anxiety. These findings provide support for the contemporary role of online interactions in actively overcoming the physical and psychological barriers that often prevent prejudice reduction in segregated communities.
Religion and Infant Mortality in the United States: A Community‐Level Investigation of Denominational Variations in Postneonatal Deaths
Ginny Garcia, John Bartkowski & Xiaohe Xu
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, December 2017, Pages 886-895
Abstract:
Although a growing body of research has detected the effects of community‐level religiosity on various health outcomes, very little scholarship has examined the influence of religious ecology on infant mortality rates (IMRs). We conduct ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses on postneonatal IMRs (PNIMRs) using county‐level data from the National Center for Health Statistics Linked Birth and Infant Death Data (1990, 2000, and 2006–2010), churches and church membership data, and the Area Health Resource File. We find that while overall rates of postneonatal deaths have decreased over time, the effects of religion on this outcome have become more pronounced. Specifically, we find that counties with greater proportions of mainline Protestant and Catholic adherents exhibit significantly lower PNIMRs. We further find that a greater proportion of conservative Protestants, and especially fundamentalists, increases postneonatal infant mortality. Our findings lend additional support to cultural explanations of U.S. infant mortality.
Do values explain the low employment levels of Muslim women around the world? A within‐ and between‐country analysis
Eman Abdelhadi & Paula England
British Journal of Sociology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using worldwide data from the World Values Survey (WVS) gathered in 2010–2014, we examine two distinct ways in which Islam may be associated with women's employment. We show that, within their countries, Muslim women are less likely to be employed than women of other religions. We also examine between‐country differences and find that, net of education and family statuses, the employment levels of women living in countries that are 90–100 per cent Muslim are not significantly different than those living in countries that are only 0–20 per cent Muslim. Then we test a prevailing view: that Islam discourages gender egalitarian values, and that these values – held by women themselves or people around them – explain why Muslim women are less likely to be employed than women of other religions within their own countries. Despite the rich measures of values in the WVS and a large sample, we find no evidence that values explain any of the lower employment of Muslim women, mainly because values have little or no effect on women's employment. Thus, we conclude that most of the world's gap in employment between Muslim women and other women is within‐country and is not explained by gender ideology. Future research should examine alternative hypotheses, including ethno‐religious discrimination.
Cousin Marriage Is Not Choice: Muslim Marriage and Underdevelopment
Lena Edlund
American Economic Review, May 2018, Pages 353-357
Abstract:
According to classical Muslim marriage law, a woman needs her guardian's (viz. father's) consent to marry. However, the resulting marriage payment, the mahr, is hers. This split bill may lie behind the high rates of consanguineous marriage in the Muslim world, where country estimates range from 20 to 60 percent. Cousin marriage can stem from a form of barter in which fathers contribute daughters to an extended family bridal pool against sons' right to draw from the same pool. In the resulting system, women are robbed of their mahr and sons marry by guarding their sisters' "honor" heeding clan elders.
Where Men Appear More Religious Than Women: Turning a Gender Lens on Religion in Israel
Landon Schnabel, Conrad Hackett & David McClendon
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Past research, typically focused on Christians in Christian nations, has found that women tend to be more religious than men. This study uses original nationally representative data (N = 5,601) with strategic oversamples of minority groups to examine variation in how religion and gender intersect across ethnoreligious identities in Israel. We demonstrate that Israel diverges from the typical pattern of women appearing more religious than men. In fact, Israeli men are consistently more religious than Israeli women on commonly used measures and frequently more religious on a broader set of questions specific to Judaism and Israel. Subgroup analyses highlight the intersectional nature of gender and religion, showing that men's greater religiosity in Israel is limited to Jews, and, more specifically, nonsecular Jews. We suggest that gender gaps arise, at least in part, because religions are gendered institutions with gendered norms, expectations, and incentives, and that these norms, expectations, and incentives vary from religion to religion.