Religion Exam Two ALL SOLUTION LATEST EDITION 2024 GUARANTEED GRADE A+

Developmental Context Unlike in the theories of Freud and Piaget as we have seen, development continues into adulthood •Possibly a post-formal operational thought stage (e.g., Sinnott, 2003) •More reflective thinking and an ongoing search for truth (Kitchener et al., 2006) •Supports the idea of a Quest orientation to religion where seeking is more valued than finding. •Erikson saw development as a lifelong psychosocial process •Religion is generative in midlife, giving something to pass on •Integrity in facing death is facilitated by healthy spirituality and meaning •Fowler, too, saw new stages of faith emerging in adulthood Cohort group of persons of the same age group, born at about the same time, and facing the same historical and cultural situations as they move through life's stages Brainpower common cohort names •Baby boomers: products of Vietnam War era, born roughly ; may have started move to spirituality apart from religiosity •Generation X: Less religious and more spiritual in orientation •Millenials (?) age of religion in adulthood •Mean age of all people is 28 years •Muslims: 23 years •Jews: 36 geography of adults in religion •Christians are largest group in the Americas, Europe, northern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Australian •Muslims are largest group in Northern Africa, Southwest Asia, and Indonesia •Buddhists in Southeast Asia; Hindus in India United States numbers in religion •Data from Pew Forum (2008) •Certainty that God exists •Highest: Jehovah's Witnesses (93%), followed closely by CJCLDS, Historically Black Churches, and Evangelicals •Less certain: Jews (41%) and Buddhists (39%) •Religion as Very Important •Highest: Historically Black Churches (85%) and Jehovah's Witnesses (86%) •Versus American average for saying this: 56% •Similar patterns for other data, with Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Historically Black Churches having highest endorsements of religious behaviors and beliefs •Belief that sacred text is the Word of God: Evangelicals 59%; Muslims 50% •Buddhists most supportive of homosexuality (80%); Jehovah's Witnesses lowest (12%) •Downward trend in religiousness over past 60 years may make it seem America is less religious, especially of organized type •Longitudinal studies may portray this more accurately •Thus the importance of the Berkeley Institute of Human Development Longitudinal Study (Dillon & Wink, 2007) •Showed little change in overall religiousness through the adult lifespan, with only 6% showing significant upward or downward shift •Into old age, spirituality stays strong in the religious, but grows in importance for nonreligious persons Race, Ethnicity, and Religion and Spirituality •While religion and spirituality cross race and ethnics boundaries, they have different forms •Pew Forum (2008) •Most ethnic church (given way data was collected): Historically Black Churches at 92% African American •Muslims in U.S. are 24% African American •Asians form largest percentage of Hindus (88%) •Whites (65%) of Buddhists •Catholics predominantly white, though large group of Latinos (29%) United States: Latinos •Total more than 50 million in the U.S. (Pew Forum, 2007 ) •Thus the largest ethnic minority (Koss-Chioino, 2013) •Majority (68%) are Roman Catholic •Though influenced by Pentecostal and charismatic forms (54%) •Most are active in religion and see God as active in their lives •20% of Latinos are evangelical, half of those converting from Catholicism United States: African Americans •Faith central in many African American communities and forms a key part of identity (Neilson et al. 2013) •More than for Caucasians, religion predicts life satisfaction and negatively correlates with depression (Husaini et al., 1999; Musick et al. 1998) •Also attend religious services more than Caucasians •Older religious AA's in particular have higher scores than other groups on sense of well-being (Fry, 2000) •Traditions and theology of African American churches provide a resource for confronting racism (Krause, 2004) •While some strand of religion facilitate racism via right-wing authoritarianism, faith paradoxically provides strength to respond in the victims of such prejudice United States: Asian Americans •A diverse group compromising 5.6% of U.S. population, though this is predicted to triple by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) •Fastest growing minority group in U.S. •Ai et al. (2013) summarize data limited by including only Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese •49% of Chinese claim no religious affiliation while less than 7% of the other two make that claim •Catholicism is the dominant faith for Filipino-Americans (71%) •Vietnamese adhere largely to other unspecified religions •More monotheistic Asians, faith impacts their daily functioning within context of various subcultural roots United States: Indigenous Americans •Maybe best to refer to this diverse group by North American Indigenous people, though they prefer to be called by names of their tribes (King & Trimble, 2013) •One of the smallest faith groups in America, because of Christianity •A distinct spirituality despite variations among the individual groups •"Core motif is the belief that spirit and spirituality is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent" (King & Trimble, 2013, p. 565) •And these beliefs are strongly held •Traditions include prayer ties, smudging, ceremonial peace pipes, medicine wheels, and vision quest Religion, Spirituality, and Gender •"The data are clear: Women consistently demonstrate a greater affinity for religion than men do" (Hood et al., 2009, p. 152) •They are more confident in their faith, see it as more important, and practice it more frequently •Women form the greatest majority in Historic Black Churches and Jehovah's Witnesses •And a number of non-Christian religions•Why so? •Possibly socialization as historically socialized to be submissive so turn to a powerful God •Biology is another option, with religion promoting social cohesion •Greater utility given women being less powerful (Pargament, 1997) •Women may be more open about sharing personal problems, are more relational, and more experiential in faith (Gallup, 2002) sex and marriage •Religion has long been appealed to as an authority regarding this topic •But tension has grown as sexual norms have shifted •As texts such as the Bible and Qur'an appear to advocate for strict sexual standards •Religion sees marriage as promoting flourishing and a context for nurturing the next generation Hierachal structure •Many major faiths see men as having some type of authority over women •Christians may use this to justify domestic abuse while traditional Islamic faith or Hasidic Judaism may limit women's opportunities •Men have often abused this authority •A study of Mormons (Johnson et al., 1988) found husbands were happier when wives worked full time while wives happier in role of traditional homemaker Sex and Marriage Waiting for Sex •Do the religious live up to their standards on sexual faithfulness? •Muslims 50% less likely to report premarital sex than Christians •Hindus, too, had lower rates than Christians (Adamczyk & Hayes, 2012) •Christians also more likely to be unfaithful once married than Muslims Marital Satisfaction •The more similar husbands and wives are in religious beliefs, the more satisfied in marriage (Dudley & Kosinski, 1990) •Faith sanctifies the relationship and provides joint activities •Seeing God as working in all things strengthens Muslim and Christian African-American families (Marks et al, 2012) •Overall religion yields happier and longer marriages (Mahoney et al. 2003) •The more conservative the faith, the more likely to marry within the same tradition and less likely to change affiliation (Hadaway & Marler, 1993) •If religion is unimportant, the faith of the partner is not important •Yet, having children may stir more religious commitments and create tension if both parents don't share this •Intermarrying among religions accounts for 20% of religious switching (Hood et al., 2009) same sex marriage •While Americans are more accepting of this, the very religious are less so •Though those who see religion as fairly or unimportant are more positive •Among college students (Woodford et al., 2012) •59% of religiously affiliated approved •Jews most accepting Religion and Spirituality in the Workplace •People of faith commonly apply their religion/spirituality in their work •Studied by a variety of disciplines including organizational psychologists, business ethicists, and management researchers (Hill et al., 2013) •Spirituality brings many benefits to work •We will follow the three dimensions described by Hill et al. (2013) Spiritual Influences on Work •Providing values that make for better work ethic •Such as religious values of service and meaning (Duffy, 2010) •And yields coping skills for challenges on the job •Manage stress well •Lower burnout (Awan, 2011) Spiritual Motivations •Thinking in the West shaped by the Protestant work ethic, though other faiths also offer incentive to work well •Key is motivation to achieve (Hood et al., 2009) supplied in part by a sense of God calling one to one's work •Believing oneself to be called by God into one's work gives significant and growth (Carroll, 2013) The Dark Side of Religion and Spirituality at Work •Not as well researched •May include tensions for women between traditional religious values and modern workplace •Or when highly religious persons experience moral conflicts with the employer's business practices •Should employers be allowed to have religious exemptions? atheism Belief that there is no god. agnostic (n.) one who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic; (adj.) without faith, skeptical Statistics on Atheists and Agnostics •In the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARI; Kosmin & Keysar, 2009) •2.3% said "there is no such thing" as God •4.3% said no way to know if there is a God •5.7% unsure about the existence of God •Yields a total of over 12% who are unbelievers, similar to other surveys •Still may be seekers •May be the result of the move to a "secular age" (Taylor, 2007) •Particularly scientists tend to be unbelievers at higher rates than the general population •72% of scientists are atheistic while 56% of Americans are certain there is a god Psychodynamic Explanations of declining faith •Many famous atheists grew up in homes who dominant fathers who expressed little love •Called a neurotic denial of God by Lepp (1963) •This overlooks the compensatory hypothesis of attachment reasoning in declining faith •An ideological decision that there is not God •70% of San Francisco Bay atheists had believed in God before rejecting that reasoning (Hunsberger & Altemeyer, 2006) education in declining faith •Higher education is consistently associated with nonbelief •Possibly via social inheritance (Streib & Klein, 2013) Raised in unbelief in declining faith •Streib (2007) found in 9 countries that those raised without faith tended to stay that way •A secular socialization Atheists, Agnostics, and Well-Being •If religion and spirituality promote well-being as we've seen, what of atheists and agnostics? •Little research addresses this •Streib and Klein (2013) suggest a U-shaped curve where people high or low or religiousness have the greatest sense of well-being, with those in the middle have lower levels •And while people of faith have sought to accommodate psychotherapy to their beliefs, Silver (2013) notes the same has not been done for unbelievers •Though many theories are intrinsically agnostic Intellectual atheist/agnostic group (38%) Proactive in seeking knowledge in the area Activist atheist/agnostic group (23%) Socially engaged and actively promote atheism and agnosticism Seeker agnostics (8%) •Find it a challenge to believe in the divine, but open to seeking• Antitheists 15%) Almost aggressive in their negative views on belief in God Nontheists (8%) See little reason to take a stand either way Ritual atheist/agnostics (12.5%) •A surprise group •While not believing in God, find meaning is some religious rituals Organized eacism •Religion is known for its social organizing power. •To deny religion/God is (often) to excommunicate oneself from that organization •Atheism/Agnosticism have developed organizations of their own to cope with this exile. Freedom From Religion Foundation •Actively involved in promoting their views/disputing religion americam athesists •Similarly involved in the public sphere. Institute for Humanist Studies •Organized around humanism rather than non-belief. Center for Inquiry Based on scientific inquiry/excellence, with atheism being secondary to scientific enterprise Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science Sub-grouping of the CFI, focused on promoting atheistic science initiatives Perceptions of Atheism •Generally disliked by religious groups. •Distrust is central to the feelings of dislike (Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, 2011) •Generally trusted less than many other often-disliked groups •Often perceived to lack morality Atheism Distrust •More Distrusted Than: •Christians •Muslims •LGBTQ community •Feminists •Equally Trustworthy as: •Rapists intrinsic faith those who live faith out and for whom it is the core of their meaning system extrinsic faith those who simply sue religion for belonging or benefits Intrinsic Orientation •Faith a master motive (Paloutzian, 1996) •Comes from within, not imposed from without •Part of the personality, not just a tool •On the Intrinsic-Extrinsic Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) endorse items like religion answers questions about meaning Extrinsic Orientation •Opposite of intrinsic •Religion mostly about some type of payoff •Seek God because God will respond with good things •On the I-E Scale, endorses items life prayer being for relief and protection Relationship of the I and E Dimensions •Originally the idea was a continuum, with these being opposites •But test yielded those high or low on both •Indiscriminately proreligious •Endorsed both types of items •Indiscriminately anti- or nonreligious •Endorsed neither •This generated quite a bit of research in the late 20th Century •Much was related to prejudice •Findings, e.g., on prejudice: those who are regular or non-church goers less prejudiced while those with a "little bit of faith" more so •While intrinsic group less prejudiced that extrinsics, the indiscriminately proreligious was the most prejudiced (Allport & Ross, 1967) •May be due to a lack of cognitive complexity on their part A "Quest" for More Dimensions •Concerns with the I-E scale led Batson et al. (1978) to conclude that intrinsic faith might reflect social desirability •Proposed a new dimension: quest •Those who see religion or spirituality as a process more than a thing •Doubts and uncertainties are valuable •The Q scale showed almost no relationship with social desirability •And predicted low scores on racial discrimination •Yet, those high in Q easily deferred help if their offer was declined in a "Good Samaritan" experiment (Batson, 1993) •While those high in I persisted and helped the victim •While somewhat controversial, these dimensions are still commonly used in research Religion and Spirituality in death and dying •Growing old is easy to dismiss •And we may avoid thinking about it •Yet, it is an interesting time that is gaining more scholarly attention •Religion often plays a role in aging gracefully (or not) •Imagine yourself growing old as we cover this material to enhance your empathy with this group Religion and Spirituality in Old Age:Aging in the 21st Century •Combining the large group of aging "baby boomers" with improved medical technologies means that there will be more old people •Number of old in the U.S. may double from 35 to 70.1 million between 2000 and 2030 (Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics, 2008) •We may stereotype the old by seeing them all the same •For instance the oldest old (85+ years) are growing dramatically in number aging in the 21st century •Religion is not static during old age •Impacted by developmental issues including changes in physical and cognitive functioning •Social changes also impact the process •In the form of deaths of loved ones •And poor health limiting mobility and access to seeing others •Combine these with the struggle of Western society to find a place for the aging population •Financially burdensome due to health care costs and lower productivity •Nelson (2009) counters this by noting that the Christian faith in particular sees virtue in aging while seeking to minimize suffering •There are nonspiritual ways to value old persons as well •Yet, community in particular is a resource offered in religion •Hinduism sees the freedom of old age as facilitating the spiritual seeking of this stage of life, called vanaprastha (Olivelle, 2004) •Erikson (1963) looked at this age as a time of integrity versus despair •Erikson (Krause 2013) later in his own life saw integrity in more explicitly religious terms Faith in Old Age: Researching Religion in Old Age• •Generally considered to be the most religious time in life (Denton, 2009), this holding true in 138 of 142 countries surveyed •This from cross-sectional data, raising question as to why this might be the case •Potentially these are the last vestiges of a cohort that was religious •Though that holding true worldwide seems to bear more explanation •Another research issue is measurement which is often too crude •Using retrospective recall, Krause (2013) found old adults had differing trajectories of faith across their lives •Old adults of different faiths in different countries share prayer and meditation as ways to cope with aging, though Christians and Muslims more communal Religious Differences across Old Age •This span of potentially 30 years sees considerable changes in quality of life •Having a close friend at church is associated with better health (Krause, 2010a) •Around age 90 men decline in a sense of cosmic transcendence while women grow in this (Tornstam, 2005) •Clearly more research needed on changes in religious belief and behavior across old age Ethnicity and Religion in Late Life African American old people have experienced considerable prejudice and turned to the church for consolation (Nelson & Nelson, 1975) •May account for why old blacks are more religious than whites •Attend church more, consume more religious media, feel closer to God, more prayerful, more social relationships (Krause, 2004) •Less research on Latino old adults, though they will outnumber African American old adults by 18% to 12% b 2050 (Federal Interagency for on Aging Related Statistics, 2008) •Old Mexican Americans use faith to deal with suffering, finding positive religious appraisal in their lives •Also find support in church •And making of mandas, vows to perform religious acts in agreement with the Virgin Mary Religion vs Spiriutality in old age Much research on old adults have been done in concepts associated with American Protestantism (Glicksman, 2009), missing more individualistic and spiritual trends •Future studies need to be more intentional in parsing out spirituality from religion Quest in old age •Recall quest from our last chapter •A seeking and doubting process •Old adults seem to do this in conjunction with intrinsic or extrinsic faith, leaving openness to change (Futterman et al., 1999) Role of religion in old life May turn to religion more for coping as have more to cope with •Developmental declines plus imminence of death •Religion and spirituality place life in a larger context than one's subjective experience •Though negative coping can yield views that these challenging are from not pleasing God Current Issues: Social Value of Religion •Beyond the simple social benefits of faith communities, these are binding communities that are cohesive and offer support for the old (McFadden, 2013) •Thus yield •Higher levels of gratitude to God (Krause & Ellison, 2009b) •More satisfaction with health (Krause & Wulff, 2005) •More profound life meaning (Krause, 2007) •Support during financial hardships (Krause, 2006) •Use of religious coping strategies (Krause, 2010b) •McFadden (2013) proposes social media as a way to replace the lack of attendance in community caused by poorer health Positive Benefits of Religion in aging •Thousands of studies support positive health benefits with religion (Krause, 2013) •For the old, involvement in religion correlates with •Fewer limits to function •Better health •Lower likelihood of developing problems •Promotes preventative behaviors •Decrease likelihood of dementia and depression problems in religion in aging •Krause (2013) raises two questions about this research: •Is this unique to religion? •Early findings suggest religious support may be more positive than secular systems •What of negative side of religion? •Old adults may have negative relationships with church leaders and can lead to religious doubt Facing Death: Grief in Older Adults •As one ages, the number of family and friends who die increases, yielding a sense of loneliness •Religion is helpful here by lowering complications of bereavement (Nelson, 2009, citing studies in the US and UK) •Partly due to belief that loved one is in a better place in the afterlife •Ritual is also helpful •Most religions have death rituals •Appel and Papaikonomou (2013) narrate the story of three women using faith in different ways rooted in differing South African cultures •Some mix elements of differing religions, called syncretism •Various views of afterlife in different faiths •E.g. Indigenous Americans venerate dead ancestors Religion and cognitive decline CONTINUED...