Power of Faith
Uneasy Lies the Crown: External Threats to Religious Legitimacy and Interstate Dispute Militarization
Ariel Zellman & Davis Brown
Security Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although often argued that religion should significantly influence international conflict, the empirical record is mixed. For every recurrent interreligious conflict, there are numerous examples of sustained interreligious cooperation. Conflict also frequently mars the oft-assumed peaceful relations between shared-religion states. We argue that religion is an important intervening factor in interstate dispute militarization, especially between internally threatened rivals. In mixed-religion dyads, conflict often follows oppression of cross-border coreligionists, whereas in shared-religion dyads, conflict occurs as one side disproportionately increases its official support for that religion. In both instances, dispute militarization is primarily an effort to undercut domestic competitors, whose challenge is augmented by external threats to leaders' religious legitimacy. We test these propositions using new, long-term data on religious demography and state-religion policy, identifying rivalries via antecedent interstate territorial disputes. The findings largely confirm our hypotheses, substantially clarifying the conditions under which religion contributes to international militarized conflict.
Does armed conflict increase individuals' religiosity as a means for coping with the adverse psychological effects of wars?
Ori Shai
Social Science & Medicine, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines how armed conflict affects individuals' religious behaviors (e.g., praying) and beliefs. The direction of the effect is theoretically not clear: war exposure may strengthen individuals' religiosity. Alternatively, after war exposure, individuals may stop following religion, and decrease their faith in God. To assess the direction of this effect, this study examines individuals' religiosity before and after a war between Israel and a Lebanese terror organization in 2006. Using both longitudinal and cross-section datasets, I find that being exposed to war or residing in war-affected regions increases individuals' religious behaviors and beliefs. These results are more pronounced among lower-educated individuals and among those who were not religious prior to the violence. Exploring possible mechanisms, I show that individuals become more religious as a means for coping with the adverse psychological effects of the war. Placebo tests using the pre-war period and individuals' views unrelated to war exposure strengthen my main findings.
Men are less religious in more gender-equal countries
Jordan Moon, Adam Tratner & Melissa McDonald
Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 9 February 2022
Abstract:
Sex differences in religiosity are cross-culturally common and robust, yet it is unclear why sex differences in some cultures are larger than in others. Although women are more religious than men in most countries, religions frequently provide asymmetrical benefits to men at the expense of women. Two global analyses (51 countries and 74 countries) found that country-level gender equality was consistently and negatively associated with religiousness (i.e. religious attendance, reported importance of God and frequency of prayer) for men, more than for women, leading to a larger sex difference in religiousness in more gender-equal countries. Results were especially robust for religious attendance, and hold accounting for country-level wealth, as well as individuals' religious affiliation, the moralization of sexuality, age and education level. We interpret results through a rational choice lens, which assumes that people are more drawn to religion when it is consistent with their reproductive goals.
On Weber, Pathogens, and Culture: A Global Empirical Analysis of Religion and Individualism
Sabri Ciftci
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Collectivism-individualism framework is widely employed to explain differences in economic development and democratization. However, little empirical work has been done about the religious microfoundations of this framework. This study closes this gap by providing a global empirical analysis of religion and individualism. Distinguishing between piety and religious identity, the study proposes theoretical mechanisms linking religion to varieties of individualism controlling for diffusive effects of denominational size and collectivism inducing exogenous factors. A series of multilevel model estimations using the World Values Surveys along with denominational composition and historical pathogen prevalence confirm that religiosity inhibits social and expressive individualism but engenders economic individualism. Some support is found for Weber's religious ethic thesis as differences emerge among religious denominations. Pathogen prevalence and denominational size somewhat strengthens the negative correlation between religiosity and individualism. These results are robust to alternative specifications and have significant implications about the role of religiosity in shaping individualistic attitudes.
Spiritual over physical formidability determines willingness to fight and sacrifice through loyalty in cross-cultural populations
Chad Tossell et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 8 February 2022
Abstract:
Across 11 studies involving six countries from four continents (n = 3,285), we extend insights from field investigations in conflict zones to offline and online surveys to show that personal spiritual formidability - the conviction and immaterial resources (values, strengths of beliefs, character) of a person to fight - is positively associated with the will to fight and sacrifice for others. The physical formidability of groups in conflict has long been promoted as the primary factor in human decisions to fight or flee in times of conflict. Here, studies in Spain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Morocco reveal that personal spiritual formidability, a construct distinct from religiosity, is more strongly associated with the willingness to fight and make costly self-sacrifices for the group than physical formidability. A follow-on study among cadets of the US Air Force Academy further indicates that this effect is mediated by a stronger loyalty to the group, a finding replicated in a separate study with a European sample. The results demonstrate that personal spiritual formidability is a primary determinant of the will to fight across cultures, and this individual-level factor, propelled by loyal bonds made with others, disposes citizens and combatants to fight at great personal risk.
Church Politics, Sectarianism, and Judicial Terror: The Scottish Witch-Hunt, 1563 - 1736
Parashar Kulkarni & Steven Pfaff
Explorations in Economic History, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examine a tumultuous period in Scottish history beginning from the Reformation in 1560 until a few years after the Revolution of 1688. During this period, the Crown repeatedly provoked political crises by attempting to impose an episcopal structure on the Church of Scotland. Using time series data of witch accusations, we find that the Scottish Presbyterians were substantially more active in persecuting alleged witches during periods when they were excluded from power. Although monopoly churches can be instruments of state-making and social order, our results show that the disciplinary instruments of an established church can be turned against the state. In polities divided by factional religious conflict the suppression of sectarian groups can lead them to impose religious discipline as a counterweight to state formation.
The Search for Spices and Souls: Catholic Missions as Colonial State in the Philippines
Dean Dulay
Comparative Political Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
A growing literature posits that colonial Christian missions brought schooling to the colonies, improving human capital in ways that persist to this day. But in some places, they did much more. This paper argues that colonial Catholic missions in the Philippines functioned as state-builders, establishing law and order and building fiscal and infrastructural capacities in territories they controlled. The mission-as-state was the result of a bargain between the Catholic missions and the Spanish colonial government: missionaries converted the population and engaged in state-building, whereas the colonial government reaped the benefits of state expansion while staying in the capital. Exposure to these Catholic missions-as-state then led to long-run improvements in state capacity and development. I find that municipalities that had a Catholic mission have higher levels of state capacity and development today. A variety of mechanisms -- religious competition, education, urbanization, and structural transformation -- explain these results.
Traditional Supernatural Beliefs and Prosocial Behavior
Etienne Le Rossignol, Sara Lowes & Nathan Nunn
NBER Working Paper, January 2022
Abstract:
In sub-Saharan Africa, traditional supernatural beliefs, including belief in witchcraft, black magic, or fetishism, are widespread. Some have hypothesized that these beliefs help to sustain cooperative behavior in a setting where the state is often absent. Others have documented that, at least at a macro-level, such beliefs are negatively associated with prosocial behavior. We contribute to a better understanding of the causal effects of these traditional supernatural beliefs by using lab-in-the-field experiments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Participants complete a range of experimental tasks where one player chooses whether to act in a prosocial manner towards another player. Participants are randomly assigned to another player that has either a strong or weak belief in witchcraft, and this information is known by the players. We find that participants act less prosocially towards randomly-assigned partners who believe more strongly in witchcraft. We also find that antisocial behavior is more socially acceptable and prosocial behavior less socially acceptable when playing with a partner who believes more strongly in witchcraft. Our findings suggest that the negative relationship between witchcraft and prosocial outcomes observed in the data may, in fact, be due to the causal effect of the presence of traditional supernatural beliefs on people's behavior.
Conservative Protestantism, Sexual Insecurity, and Masculine Discrepancy Stress
Terrence Hill et al.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Are conservative Protestant men especially insecure about their sexual prowess and masculinity? A recent state-level analysis by Perry and Whitehead suggests that they are. In this study, we use national data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey to formally test whether conservative Protestant men are more concerned with their sexual abilities and masculinity than other men. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic and ordinary least squares regression models consistently show that conservative Protestant men tend to exhibit similar levels of sexual insecurity (self-reported performance anxiety, erectile dysfunction, and ED medication use) and masculine discrepancy stress (perceived failure to conform to normative expectations associated with hegemonic masculinity) as men of other religious faiths (moderate Protestants, Catholics, and other Christians/religions) and men who report no religious affiliation. Our analyses are noteworthy because they call into question the theory of evangelicalism and phallocentric masculine insecurity at the individual level.