TruthBook Religious News Blog

Seven out of Ten Believe in God – But What About Life After Death?

Seven out ten Europeans believe in God. That is one result of a representative survey conducted on behalf of Reader’s Digest Germany. 8,600 persons in 14 European countries were interviewed November through January. The results are published in the March issue of the magazine.

Poland came out on top with 97 percent of the interviewees saying they believe in God, followed by Portugal (90) and Russia (87). At the bottom of the list are Belgium (58), the Netherlands (51) and the Czech Republic (37).

The fact that someone believes in God does not necessarily mean that he or she also believes in life after death. 53 percent of all Europeans are convinced that physical death is not the end – 18 percent fewer than those who believe in God.

For 43 percent of all Europeans religion is necessary to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. This conviction is strongest in Poland (86), Russia (78) and Switzerland (54), whereas relatively few people subscribe to this view in the Czech Republic (27), the Netherlands (25) and France (24). 79 percent of the Portuguese are convinced that religion is a positive force in the world. 78 percent of the Poles and 72 percent of the Spaniards agree. Belgians (39), Russians (36) and the Dutch (34) are not so sure.

Even 15 years after re-unification Germany is still a deeply divided country as far as religion is concerned. In the former Communist East 77 percent are convinced that God does not exist compared to 22 percent in the West. The belief in God does not necessarily mean that Germans regard him as a personal being.

For 83 percent of all believers God is present in nature, 75 percent regard him as their creator and 70 percent describe him as an ever-present source in their life.

Religious faith is widely appreciated as giving a sense of protection (45) or meaning in life (39). Only one percent say that faith intimidates them.

Almost one in five regards natural disasters, epidemics or other catastrophes as expressions of God’s displeasure.

65 percent of all believers resort to prayer to get in touch with God. Two thirds of all prayers are concerned with “people who are important to me”. Second on the list are peace and justice in the world. Only relatively few prayers have to do with “my sins and my salvation” (13) or “my work and my job” (11).

According to the survey churches are losing their influence. Faith is regarded as a matter for the individual. 61 percent of all Germans say that churches do not have any decisive say in matters of faith.

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Has the Fourth Great Awakening arrived?

The First Great Awakening, roughly 1730-60, established evangelical Protestantism as an American style of belief. It fed the colonies' egalitarian spirit and gave momentum to the American Revolution itself.

The Second Great Awakening, 1800-1830, intensified born-again enthusiasm and energized anti-slavery sentiment, fueling the Civil War.

A lesser-known Third Great Awakening, 1890-1930, generated a Social Gospel message, using Jesus' teachings to stir social reform, workers' rights and housing for the poor.

Has the Fourth Great Awakening arrived?

Recent stats don't suggest revivalistic outbreak. The number of Americans who identify with a religion (now around 80%) declined from 1990 to 2001, according to a study by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The number of people preferring ''No Religion'' rose from 8% to 14%. Even Gibson's Jesus movie reportedly has left scant impact in church growth and evangelism.

Today's spiritual energies make a splintered scene, more like a re-formation than reformation. For 20 years, believers have been realigning around ''conservative'' and ''liberal'' labels rather than expanding church influence. People split along another divide, too — personal spirituality vs. organized religion. Public theology has nearly vanished as seminary disciplines specialize and fragment. Traditional belief in God and devil is high, but post-1965 immigration etches unheard-of pluralism onto the canvas. The results will polarize the landscape — or cause new spiritual blends and tolerance.

If revival awakens, how will we know? Here's one index: An epidemic of compassion, decency, ecological responsibility, a progressive tax code, the Golden Rule. Fewer ideological loyalties, lotteries and public lies.

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Study on teens' faith reflects trends in U.S. at large, sociologist says

Most American teens believe in God and worship in conventional congregations, but their religious knowledge is remarkably shallow and they have a tough time expressing the difference that faith makes in their lives, a new survey says.

Still, the notably comprehensive National Study of Youth and Religion concluded that "religion really does matter" to teens.

The research found that devout teens hold more traditional sexual and other values than their nonreligious counterparts and are better off in emotional health, academic success, community involvement, concern for others, trust of adults and avoidance of risky behavior.

The four-year effort was conducted by 133 researchers and consultants led by sociologist Christian Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith reports the full results in the new book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press), written with doctoral student Melinda Lundquist Denton. The book will be published next week.

While America is becoming a more diverse nation, at least 80 percent of teens still identify themselves as Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon or Jewish, with most teens adhering to their parents' faith tradition, the report says.

Substantial majorities said they: were affiliated with a local congregation (82 percent); had few or no doubts about their beliefs in the past year (80 percent); felt "extremely," "very" or "somewhat" close to God (71 percent); prayed alone a few times a week or more often (65 percent); and "definitely" believed in divine miracles from God (61 percent).

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

In a secular ocean, waves of spirituality

The prominent role that religion continues to play in American public life, meanwhile, has undermined the widespread European view that modern societies inevitably grow more secular, and that religion is an attribute of underdevelopment.

"A preoccupation with spirituality is much more present now at a religious and philosophical level" than it was a few years ago, says Dominique Moisi, a French political analyst.

In Britain, the country's largest bookseller has noticed that preoccupation, and moved to meet it. Expanding the shelf space it devotes to religious and spiritual books, "we have increased our range over the last few years," says Lucy Avery, a spokeswoman for the Waterstone's chain.

Sales of such books rose by nearly 4 percent last year, she adds, and titles such as the Dalai Lama's "The Art of Happiness" and a modern-language "Street Bible" have become bestsellers.

"I have noticed that a lot of general-interest publishers are turning to religious books now for commercial reasons, because that is what the public wants," says Laurence Vandamme, a spokeswoman for Cerf, the largest French religious publisher.

In France, leading philosopher Régis Debray, once a comrade in arms of Che Guevara in the Bolivian mountains, has devoted two of his most recent books to explorations of God and religion. Le Monde, the French establishment's newspaper of record, this year launched a glossy bimonthly "World of Religion."

"The need for meaning affects the secularized and de- ideologized West most of all," wrote Frédéric Lenoir, the editor of the new magazine, in his first editorial. "Ultramodern individuals mistrust religious institutions ... and they no longer believe in the radiant tomorrow promised by science and politics; they are still confronted, though, by the big questions about origins, suffering, and death."

[There is still not] a resurgence of organized religion on a continent where church attendance has been plummeting almost everywhere in recent decades.

Yet 74 percent of Europeans say they believe in a God, a spirit, or a life force, according to the latest findings of the European Values Study, a 30-year, Continentwide survey. And youth workers in Britain are finding "consistent evidence ... that a secular generation is being replaced by a generation much more interested in spiritual issues," says Stuart Murray-Williams, a theologian at Oxford University who recently published a book entitled "After Christendom."

A wide array of religious groups has sprung up across Europe to meet that generation's needs, most notably Buddhist communities.

"I've noticed a steady increase in interest," says Suvannavira, a Russian-born, British-educated monk who runs the Western Buddhist Order's Paris outpost in a cramped storefront meditation center. "Our order has doubled in size since 1990."

"The discourse has changed," Dr. Murray-Williams says. "Ten or 15 years ago, any mention of spiritual experiences would have drawn blank looks. Today people are hungry to talk about them." Murray-Williams says it's too soon to say what all this portends.

"There is a kind of inchoate spirituality that could be significant, or it could be a passing trend," he says. "It will be a while before we know whether or not it is strong enough to challenge the culture of secularism."

That culture is showing signs of wear, argues Jacques Delors, who once bemoaned Europe's lack of "soul" when he was president of the European Commission. "I fear that the construction of Europe is sinking into absolute materialism," he worries. "Things aren't going well for society, so society is little by little going to start asking itself what life is for, what death is, and what happens afterwards."

There is considerable scope, some religious leaders suggest, for those churches to unite in a bid to inject their common values into public life. After all, mainstream Christians, Jews, and Muslims share many views on family matters, and the sanctity of human life.

Indeed, some observers wonder whether the most significant "clash of civilizations" in Europe may pit, not Christians against Muslims, but believers of all faiths against nonbelievers.

... the violence that has accompanied the eruption of religion into European public life "may exacerbate the difference between religion and spirituality.

"Many people see spirituality as something positive, while religion is seen as a system that can be divisive," he says.

But the signs are there, says Mr. Delors, to suggest that religious sentiment may yet take firmer hold in European life. "I don't expect a wholesale social mutation," he says. "But I can see little white stones marking out a path."

By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
• Sophie Arie in Rome and Geoff Pingree in Madrid contributed to this report.

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Religious leaders want environmental reform

In a statement more than 1,000 religious leaders across the country expressed dismay and alarm at several environmental policies.

"They are taking a short-term approach to stimulating the economy at the long-term detriment to our environment," said the Rev. Kent Harrop, pastor of First Baptist Church in McMinnville. "President Bush touts himself as a faith-based leader while ignoring the fact that protecting the environment is also a faith-based value. And we want the president and his administration to see the connection between one's faith and the policies of his administration."

Harrop and other local leaders especially are concerned about:

* The Clear Skies Initiative, legislation proposed by the Bush administration to control air emissions. A committee vote on the bill was delayed until March 2 because committee members are deadlocked.

* The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that addresses the reduction of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. It went into effect Wednesday, without the participation of the United States.

"The Clear Skies (initiative) is a lie because the administration's proposals for air pollution allow coal-burning facilities to keep polluting the atmosphere," said retired Rev. Paul LaRue, who is a member of the Jason Lee United Methodist Church in Salem. "The same could be said for water pollution. The administration favors industry, it favors corporations, and it favors rich people who continue to exploit the earth at the expense of all the rest of us."

A recent poll from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that these local religious leaders are not alone.

By a 2-to-1 margin, survey respondents back strong regulations to protect the environment even though they might cost jobs or result in higher prices. The poll also found that in setting national priorities, 53 percent of those asked place the environment above other issues including abortion and same-sex marriage.

Mark Shibley, associate professor of sociology and coordinator of the environmental studies program at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, said that the religious-environmental movement is significant and has been growing for the past decade.

"In one sense, it's hard to see how these kinds of statements are making a difference in terms of the administration," he said. "On the other hand, it is important to see what the statements say about the evolution of religious communities. It's clear among evangelicals ... they are now weighing in much more on environmental issues than ever before."

Shibley said that trend is important because evangelicals tend to be more conservative.

"If they come to care about environmental issues, it might be more powerful than the usual suspects like the Sierra Club," he said.

Retired Rev. Stuart Shaw, a United Methodist clergyman for 43 years, said that environmental issues span all religions and all political views.

"There are some issues that all Christians and Hindus and Buddhists, Jews and Muslims all cherish in terms of God's relationship in the world," the Salem resident said.

"One of those things is this world is our home. Religious leaders of all sorts believe that and think we have to take care of that."

bcasper@Statesman Journal.com or (503) 589-6994
BETH CASPER
Statesman Journal
February 19, 2005

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Satisfaction comes from within...

Seven traits of happy people

• They have high self-esteem. (This, however, is true only for individualistic societies such as ours.)
• They are optimistic, outgoing and agreeable.
• They feel in control of their lives.
• They have close friends or a satisfying marriage.
• Their work and leisure activities are engaging.
• They have a meaningful religious faith or spirituality, one that is full of hope and that provides a supportive community.
• They exercise and get enough sleep.

Source: David Myers, social psychologist and author of "Pursuit of Happiness"

True joy comes from things that feed the soul, not from stuff that is driven or worn. Even a job promotion or raise offers only a temporary high.

That helps explain why the happiest nations aren't always the wealthiest.

The United States - one of the top three wealthiest countries per-capita worldwide - is only 15th among 82 countries in a recent happiness study.

Latin American nations such as Colombia reported greater happiness and life satisfaction, according to researcher Ronald Inglehart, who studies human values and beliefs at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.

Colombia ranked eighth in Inglehart's study, although its per-capita gross domestic product of $6,300 was one sixth that of the United States.

"People tend to take for granted what they have and want more," Inglehart said, explaining why bling doesn't equal smiles.

For the past half century, experts have noticed an increase in anxiety and depression in America. Ed Diener, a psychology professor with the University of Illinois, has linked those trends with a societal drop in trust and connectedness.

Relationships matter.

But that's not the only secret to paradise. Happy people are those who experience personal growth, who have high self-esteem and who accept themselves for who they are.

"It's not something you can put on like a new coat," McNees said.

Happiness is attained by nurturing the inner self.

One might do that by helping a person in need or by strengthening bonds within the community. But this poses challenges for some modern Americans.

"Never has a culture existed that so greatly encouraged the greediness and lustiness of humans as our society," said Tim Kasser, associate professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill.

This insatiable desire for material goods isn't entirely society's fault. Many experts believe it is human nature to want more. Survival among primitive man would have depended upon his willingness to search for more wood and better animal skins.

In modern man, the wealthier he becomes, the wealthier he expects to be, explained social psychologist and happiness expert David Myers.

Eventually, expectations can't be met, and disappointment sets in.

So the growing materialism and individualism that loomed large in post 1960-America fueled divorce, overspending and depression, said Myers, who teaches at Hope College in Holland. He called it "me thinking as opposed to we thinking."

Not even religious devotion can bring happiness to the self-centered. Experts say spirituality helps only when it fosters a sense of community, friendship or personal growth.

Myers has compiled a list of tips for people who seek happiness:

• Improve your self-esteem.
• Seek out activities that offer personal growth.
• Build a support network of people to embrace you during times of trouble.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Exercise regularly.

Myers also suggests people keep a gratitude journal to remind themselves of how good life is.

Sometimes it is easy to overlook the simple joys in a day.

"People," Schieberl said, "need to learn to be happy with what they have."

Contact Christine Rook at 377-1261 or clrook@lsj.com.
By Christine Rook
Lansing State Journal

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Black Teens Significantly More Likely to Attend Church Than Whites

According to the new National Study of Youth and Religion, Black youth are far more likely to attend religious services regularly than their White peers. The gap is largest among high school seniors, with Black students nearly 50 percent more likely to go to church at least once a week.

Among seniors, 45 percent of Blacks reported weekly church attendance, compared to 31 percent of Whites.

The survey showed the attendance rate for Black youth has climbed since 1995. The White rate has held steady.

Research shows that teens who attend church are less likely to drink, smoke, abuse drugs and get in trouble with the law. They are more likely to play sports, volunteer in the community and make better grades.

The young people were not asked for reasons.

Some experts and teens, both Black and White, think the disparity might have to do with the entertainment nature of services.

Face it, teens say, some White churches can be kind of boring.

Christian Smith, professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina and primary investigator of the new study, says that "Historically, the church has been more important to Blacks than Whites because of their lack of other institutions," Smith said. "Government wasn't going to work for them. They didn't have a business community. Even in slavery days, church meetings were allowed when nothing else was."

Long after the Civil War, the church remained the heart of Black culture, often becoming political and social centers. Black ministers, such as Martin Luther King Jr., led the civil rights movement.

By Donald Bradley

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

71 percent of Europeans say they believe in God: poll

Seven in 10 Europeans say they believe in God but regional disparities abound, with 97 percent of Poles but only 37 percent of Czechs saying they believe, according to an opinion poll released Wednesday.

The survey, to appear in the February 24 edition of Reader's Digest, was conducted in 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Switzerland.

After Poland, Russia emerged as the country with the most believers at 87 percent, followed by Austria (84 percent) and Spain (80 percent).

While 71 percent of Europeans said they believed in God, they were more skeptical about the prospects of life after death, with only 53 percent saying such a life exists.

Less than half of all respondents (43 percent) said they believed that religion was necessary for people to "make the distinction between good and evil".

Reader's Digest said surveys were conducted in each country by nationally recognized polling institutes.

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Dose of spirituality has healthful effect

A variety of studies suggest that emotional happiness, including the kind often found among members of spiritual and religious communities, bolsters the immune system against the flu, colds, and other illnesses.

Among the apostles of spirituality in healthcare is the New England School of Whole Health Education, hidden in a shoe box of an alley in Wellesley. School founder Georgianna Donadio stresses the emotional and spiritual aspects of health. Mixed in the curriculum with ''Anatomy & Physiology," ''Applied Nutrition," and other traditional-sounding courses are offerings that examine major world religions, how they share a version of the Golden Rule, and why it's good for health.

''If you're a spiritual person that gets up every day and says, 'Thank you for another day' . . . your nervous system and immune system is going to be affected."

She's not alone in that belief. Newsweek International reported that researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and the University of Wisconsin found that a group of people who practiced Buddhist meditation, by stimulating the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, developed a stronger resistance to the flu than those who didn't.

Buddhists needn't be the only beneficiaries. In other religions, prayer has the same power of ''eliciting the relaxation response of meditation," says Dr. Eva Selhub, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Mind/Body Medical Institute.

Spirituality essentially means ''the profound sense that you belong to a larger whole," said Selhub. ''If you want to break it down to a science, [spirituality is] basically a bunch of very good behaviors. . . . It's the belief that you want to take care of yourself." That feeling comports with the way humans were designed as social creatures, she says. ''When you feel like you're part of a whole, it's actually going to turn the stress response off."

Research into the flu-and-faith link is part of a broader inquiry in recent years into the possible health benefits of spirituality and religion. In 1988, Harvard researchers coined the term ''Mother Teresa effect" to describe how merely watching an act of altruism can be good for you.

Subjects were shown a film of the famous nun caring for orphans in Calcutta. The researchers found that the viewers' saliva had increases in immunoglobulin A, which defends against the cold virus. Some of the subjects, Donadio says, didn't even agree with Mother Teresa's religion.

''I don't want to attribute anything to any [particular] religion," Donadio says. Rather, it's the happiness that can come from being part of a community, religious or otherwise, that makes the difference -- much the same way, says Donadio, that married people tend to outlive the unmarried. ''Aspects of religious community [such as] optimism enhance your health."

Donadio doesn't advise parents to let their children ignore all the things our mothers and doctors have told us about taking care of ourselves.

If ''you're just not sleeping and you're not eating the way you should, are you going to be vulnerable to getting sick? Of course you are. So while spirituality plays a big role, it doesn't mean all you have to do is have a positive attitude. . . . Wash your hands. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Get sleep."

Questions, comments, and story ideas can be sent to spiritual@globe.com
By Rich Barlow

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Doctors often operate on faith

A national survey of nearly 1,100 physicians offers a couple of revelations about doctors' views on faith, prayer and miracles.

First, it shows that physicians -- although educated in the empirical sciences -- are far more religious personally and more open professionally to the possibility of divine intervention than you might expect.

Seventy-four percent of U.S. doctors believe divine miracles have occurred, and 73 percent believe they can occur today. Surprisingly, 55 percent say they've seen medical results in patients that they could describe only as miracles.

Second, the survey shows that, despite this general finding, doctors of differing spiritual traditions vary widely in their views of religion's importance in their own lives or in their medical practices. Those polled included various types of Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and unspecified others.

"I was initially surprised" by the overall depth of physicians' religious beliefs, said Alan Mittleman, a professor of philosophy at the seminary and-director of the Finkelstein-Institute. I spoke with him by phone.

But the more he pondered the survey's findings, the more sense they made, he said: "Doctors are not just people working with white coats in labs. They work at the intersection of life and death."

You can see detailed results of the poll at the Jewish seminary's Web site: www.jtsa.edu/ research/finkelstein. Click on "public interest surveys."

Here are a few of the findings:

• Of 1,087 doctors surveyed, 61.5 percent identify themselves as belonging to some category of Christianity (divided by the pollsters into Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and other Christian). Nearly one-fourth say they're Jewish.

• Of all doctors, 34.1 percent are "literal" believers in the tenets of their faiths; 65.9 percent are "liberal" members.

• Most likely to visit a house of worship daily or weekly: Orthodox Jews, 82.3 percent. By comparison, 53 percent of Protestants attend services at least once a week. Eleven percent of all physicians never worship at a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.

• Overall, 46 percent of doctors say prayer is "very important" in their personal and professional lives. Among Muslims, 66.7 percent say it's very important; among Orthodox Jews, 76.5 percent; among Orthodox Christians, 70 percent.

• Among Orthodox Jews, 82.4 percent frequently read religious texts; 86 percent of Reform Jews don't.

• About 60 percent of Protestant and Orthodox Christians think the Bible's accounts of miracles, such as the parting of the Red Sea, are literally true, but only 35.4 percent of Roman Catholic doctors think so.

• The vast majority of Christian doctors pray for patients, including 71.3 percent of Roman Catholics, 76.5 percent of Protestants and 81.6 percent of other Christians. Among physicians who describe themselves as Jewish by culture but not actively observant in their faith, nine in 10 don't pray for patients.

• Three-fourths of Orthodox Christians and other Christians say they've seen patients receive miraculous healings.

Paul Prather
herald-leader contributing columnist

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, February 05, 2005

CEO sees role for human factor

A conversation with Mother Teresa propelled J. Robert Ouimet on a quest to find out how he could reconcile human needs with the productivity needed to succeed in business.

After his discussion with Mother Teresa, Ouimet embarked on a nine-year journey to obtain a doctoral degree with a dissertation evaluating just how to balance the two.

In South Bend Friday to present his argument to a class of University of Notre Dame business students, Ouimet emphasized that spirituality must play a role for a company wanting to balance those two tenets of business.

"In the workplace today, we pursue efforts to increase productivity and profits," he said. "But by doing only that, we forget completely the human side of the organization."

Ouimet is the chairman and chief executive officer of Montreal-based Holding O.C.B. and Ouimet-Tomasso, primarily a frozen pasta producer in Canada that was founded by Ouimet's father.

While he maintained that modern business schools do an excellent job teaching free-market principles, they often neglect the human aspect of a company.

As a result, employees become more burned out, turnover rates increase and workplace morale suffers because businesses forget that their fundamental objective should be to keep humans in mind, Ouimet said.

Balancing the two isn't easy, he acknowledges, especially since the economic and human aspects should carry equal weight in an organization.

"It's not only not easy, it is terribly, awfully, completely, and constantly bloody tough," Ouimet said.

That's where spirituality comes in, to give the head of an organization strength to make tough decisions.

Ouimet pointed to bi-annual employee surveys, outreach efforts that include spending company time at soup kitchens and silent meditation rooms in the workplace as examples of management strategies he initiated at his company that help promote a more value-centered workplace.

But he added that developing a workplace culture that balances profits and people takes years to nurture, and that ultimate responsibility for creating that environment falls on a company's leaders.

"There is only one way to start this, and it is at the top," Ouimet said. "It has to start with the privileged, the powerful, and the wealthy. Then, and only then, will it slowly trickle out into the rest of the organization."