TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Oct. 23 2008

This is page one of a two-page article. Please click on "external link at the end of this page.

WASHINGTON - Most Americans strongly believe that God has uniquely blessed America, and a similar majority believe that the United States should set the example as a Christian nation to the rest of the world, a survey, released Wednesday, found.

Sixty-one percent agree that America is a nation specially blessed by God, and 59 percent believe the United States should be a model Christian nation to the world, according to a poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc. for the PBS news program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and the United Nations Foundation.

Support for the idea that America is uniquely blessed by God was highest among people who attend religious services weekly (80 percent), with 86 percent of evangelical Christians sharing this belief. In comparison, less than half (48 percent) of those who attend religious services less regularly held the same view.

The nationwide survey of 1,400 adults, including an oversample of 400 evangelical Christians aged 18-29, was conducted to find how religion shapes people’s view of America’s role in the world and its foreign policy.

People who strongly believe that America is blessed by God and should set a strong Christian example are also more likely to say that the United States is morally obligated to play a significant role in world affairs.

Overall, most Americans also believe the United States has a responsibility to be very engaged (24 percent) or moderately involved (70 percent) on the global stage. However, most Americans believe (67 percent) the United States’ relation with the rest of the world is on the wrong track.

In terms of foreign policy priorities, there was not much of a difference between what the general American public and what white evangelicals consider most important issues. They both agree that controlling nuclear weapons around the world and fighting global terrorism are the two top agendas for Washington.

There were also no significant differences between the two groups on other issues such as fighting global disease, preventing genocide in countries like Sudan, improving the standard of living in less developed nations, and promoting democracy in other nations.

What the general American public and white evangelicals most sharply contrast on in terms of foreign policy priorities is supporting Israel - 65 percent of white evangelicals consider this extremely or very important compared to 46 percent of the general American public; promoting religious freedom in other nations (67 percent white evangelicals vs. 53 percent); combating global warming (43 percent vs. 59 percent); and providing women with reproductive healthcare (53 percent vs. 60 percent).

Differences can be explained by religious views held by evangelical Christians, who largely see Israel as the birthplace of Christianity and link abortion to reproductive healthcare.

In addition to examining faith groups as a whole, the survey also looked in particular at young white evangelicals.

Labels: America, evangelicals, God, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc, Michelle A. Vu

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Practicing vs. non-practicing

October 20, 2008
Knights of Columbus poll reveals political divisions among Catholic voters

Washington, D.C. / (CNA) -- A recent survey sponsored by the Knights of Columbus sheds new light on the Catholic vote by examining the differences between the 65 percent of Catholics who regularly practice their faith and the 35 percent who do not. The survey finds that, while a majority of practicing Catholics is pro-life, a majority of non-practicing Catholics favors abortion rights.

Additionally, a supermajority of practicing Catholics opposes same-sex marriage, but non-practicing Catholics, while still largely in opposition to the proposal, favor same-sex marriage at a rate higher than the American population as a whole.

The survey, “Moral Issues and Catholic Values,” was conducted by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. Surveying 1,733 Americans among whom 813 were Catholics, it claims a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent for all Americans and 3.5 percent for Catholics specifically.

According to the survey, about 45 percent of registered practicing Catholics said they would definitely vote for a candidate who supports embryonic stem cell research. Close to 38 percent said they would definitely vote for a candidate who would “leave the economy to market forces,” while only 27 percent said they would definitely vote for a candidate who provided amnesty to illegal immigrants currently working in the U.S.

The survey also shows specific demographic divisions of the Catholic population. Seventy percent of Catholics are white, while 25 percent are Latino. Among practicing Catholics, 72 percent are white and 24 percent are Latino, while among non-practicing Catholics 65 percent are white and 26 percent Latino. While within the poll’s margin of error, only one percent of practicing Catholics and four percent of non-practicing Catholics are African American.

Labels: Catholic, Knights of Columbus, Marist College Institute of Public Opinion, Moral Issues and Catholic Values, non-practicing, practicing

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Friday, October 17, 2008

A Car Crash, A Five-Year Coma, and The Inner Voice

This video is the story of a young girl who suffered a brain injury in a car crash, after which she endured a five-year coma. During that period of time, she was sustained in her inner self by her relationship with God. In the video, she relates her experience, during which she maintained much of her consciousness, and she expresses a desire to help others who are searching for assurance of God and the assurances of faith.

Labels: Allison Zopel, coma, consciousness, God, healing, inner peace, spirituality, The Urantia Book, video

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Nationwide Poll Provides Beneath-the-Surface Look at Catholic Voters

By: PR Newswire
Oct. 14, 2008 02:00 PM

Some major differences between practicing and non-practicing Catholics

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A just-completed nationwide poll provides new insights into America's Catholic voters, highlighting the ways in which they differ from the electorate as a whole. But the survey also examines in detail the ways in which the 65% of Catholics who practice their faith regularly differ from the 35% who do not. The poll was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between September 24 and October 3, 2008.

In some areas, the poll finds that Catholic voters' views are similar to the general population, on issues like government funding for the poor, amnesty for illegal immigrants, global warming, civil unions and same-sex marriage and a belief that the economy is the nation's number one problem. 70% of all registered voters and 70% of all registered practicing Catholics say they would vote for a candidate who believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman, including majorities of the electorate and of practicing Catholics who would "definitely vote for" such a candidate. Catholics and non-Catholics agree that America needs a moral makeover. 71% of all US residents and 73% of US Catholics believe that "the country's moral compass right now points in the wrong direction."

Some of the most dramatic differences are found within the community of Catholic voters. 59% of practicing Catholics are pro-life, while 65% of non-practicing Catholics are pro-choice. Non-practicing Catholics are far more likely to be pro-choice than the population at large (65% vs. 50%). Only 30% of US residents favor same-sex marriage, while 46% of non-practicing Catholics do. 75% of practicing Catholics oppose same-sex marriage.

Parental notification if a daughter under 18 is planning to have an abortion is supported by 77% of U.S. residents, and by 84% of practicing Catholics.

Full details of the poll results can be found at www.kofc.org.

SOURCE Knights of Columbus

Labels: abortion, Catholic, Marist College Institute of Public Opinion, non-practicing, practicing, same-sex marriage

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Religiosity Curbs Teen Marijuana Use By Half, National Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2008) — While many congregations of different faiths preach against drug abuse, it has been unclear whether a youth’s religious involvement has any effect on his risk of drug abuse.

Now a new national study by two Brigham Young University sociologists finds that religious involvement makes teens half as likely to use marijuana.

The study – which will be published October 13 in the Journal of Drug Issues – settles a question scholars have disagreed on in the past.

"Some may think this is an obvious finding, but research and expert opinion on this issue have not been consistent," said BYU sociology professor Stephen Bahr and an author on the study. "After we accounted for family and peer characteristics, and regardless of denomination, there was an independent effect that those who were religious were less likely to do drugs, even when their friends were users."

The study, co-authored by BYU sociologist John Hoffmann, also found individual religiosity buffered peer pressure for cigarette smoking and heavy drinking.

The term religiosity as used in the study has to do with people's participation in a religion and not the particular denomination. Hoffmann said the protective effect of church and spirituality supplements the influence of parents.

Two data sets were used in the study, 13,534 students who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and 4,983 adolescents in a state-wide survey of Utah schools. Individual religiosity was measured by two questions: one asked the students how frequently they attended church and the other asked the students to rate the importance of religion to them.

However, researchers found that religiosity didn’t have the same effect on use of illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Professor Bahr gave his insight as to why:

"There are pretty strong social norms against illicit drugs throughout society," Bahr said. "So even if you aren't religious, you receive many messages against illicit drugs. But that may be less so for drinking, smoking and even using marijuana, which tend to be strongly opposed by many religious groups."

Another result showed that the religiosity within the community as a whole does not play as big a role as formerly thought by researchers.

"Previously, it was thought that if someone grew up in a religious community and went to church, then the community’s religious strength would make a difference,” Bahr said. “We basically found that this was not the case. Individual religiosity is what makes the difference."

Labels: Brigham Young University, drug abuse, marijuana, religiosity, youth

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Meditation goes mainstream

Bonna Johnson
October 10, 2008

A report released this year showed an astonishingly high number of Protestants - nearly half - say they meditate at least once a week. Among the public, 39 percent meditate at least weekly, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

It's no surprise that people are seeking paths to peace and serenity in our high-octane, 24-hour world.

"We're a mentally focused, hard-core, achievement-oriented society," says Dr. J. David Forbes, a medical doctor and meditation teacher in Nashville, Tenn. "People are finding it hard to quiet the brain down."

Once they do, he says, meditation may lead not only to new insights but also to a healthier, happier life, he says. Studies show daily practice can reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure and even increase life expectancy in the elderly, he says.

Meditation has been, at times, eyed with suspicion. The Vatican in 1989 went so far as to say that methods such as Zen, yoga and transcendental meditation, can "degenerate into a cult of the body" and be dangerous.

And the notion that meditation is too way out there for Christians, if not rooted in the Bible, still exists today.

"The idea of emptying the mind is not biblically based," says Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "There can be a danger."

Referring to meditation's long association with Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions, Whitney says, "Some of the yoga stuff, where you're given a mantra, that is rooted in false religions." He sees no problem with stretching, but once you start chanting, you're treading on treacherous ground, he says.

But for many Christians, meditation fits quite nicely into their religious life. They're drawn to biblical Scriptures, such as in the Psalms, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God."

For them, meditation has brought deeper meaning to their lives.

Labels: Bonna Johnson, meditation, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, protestants, religion

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Friday, October 10, 2008

World Survey: Highly Religious More Giving of Their Time, Money

10/09/2008

A Gallup poll surveying over 140 countries and all major religions found that people who consider themselves "highly religious" are more likely to donate to charity, volunteer, and help strangers in need.

Though donating to charity was more common than volunteering, highly religious people still reported doing more of both than less religious people. The gap is smaller between highly religious and less religious when it comes to helping strangers.

The survey can't conclude whether religiosity makes one more likely to help others, or if generous people are more attracted to religion. Most faiths have traditions of helping others, such as charity among Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Labels: charity, Gallup Poll, religiosity, volunteering

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Listening to The Big Bang

By Brandon Keim
September 28, 2008

You'll need to access the full article by clicking on the "external link" at the bottom of this post, so you can hear the "sound of the Big Bang."

When artist Jonathan Keats needed a liturgy for his temple to science, he didn't need to go far: the sound of the Big Bang is all around us, echoed in a stream of photons emitted by the universe's creation and still spreading.

Known as Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, these were officially identified in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson. Using software that extrapolates the nature of the sound from oscillations in the radiation, University of Virginia astronomer Mark Whittle has recorded this echo.

The full explanation can be found on Whittle's page. It's pretty technical, but the basic question — isn't sound non-existent in space? — can be quickly answered: There's no sound in space because it's empty, but this wasn't always the case. Shortly after the Big Bang, space was full of gas through which sound waves could move, producing a symphony that Whittle describes thusly:

... a descending scream, building into a deep rasping roar, and ending in a deafening hiss. As if this were not impressive enough, the entire acoustic show is itself the prelude to a wonderful transformation: the highest pitch sounds ultimately spawn the ?rst generation of stars, while the deep bass notes slowly dissolve to become the tapestry of galaxies which now ?lls all of space.

The Big Bang did not, it turns out, bang. It screamed.

To listen to the first million years of the universe, compressed into five seconds, click here. And to listen to more of the Big Bang, as recorded by Whittle and arranged by Keats, visit the Atheon, which opens tomorrow at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.

You'll also be able to hear the hypothesized sounds of a universe in which time does not exist, and a universe without structure. (And if you play it backwards, you can hear the words, "I buried Paul." Kidding!)

Labels: Big Bang, Brandon Keim, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Mark Whittle, sound waves

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What Religion Can Do For Your Health

Thursday October 9, 2008

Click on "exernal source" for complete article, and complete access to the rest of this interview with Dr Koenig.

Like many of you, I'm always telling people I will pray for their health, and I mean it. I realize that every person I pray for doesn't get his wish just because I've engaged the Guy upstairs in a conversation, but somehow I feel better knowing I put it in God's hands.

So it was with interest I read Beliefnet's interview with Dr. Harold G. Koenig, co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at Duke University Medical Center, where he also serves on the faculty as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Koenig is the author of many books, including "The Healing Power of Faith," "Faith and Mental Health," and "Spiritual Caregiving," and he has been nominated twice for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He spoke with Lisa Schneider of Beliefnet about why he believes being part of a religious community can make people healthier--and happier.

I have excerpted a few paragraphs.

A recent study suggests that praying for others does not improve their health. How do you interpret the results?

I think the results are very consistent with good science and good theology. Good science because there's no acceptable scientific mechanism or pathway by which prayer--at least the way it was designed in this study without people knowing whether or not they were prayed for--could have any effect, and it's good theology because God is not predictable, he's not a part of the material universe.

It tells us nothing about the effectiveness of prayer. Do you think it's impossible to do that?

It's impossible for studies designed like this. God would have to be quantitative and predictable, which is ludicrous in the context of any Christian or Jewish or Islamic tradition and even within the Eastern traditions.

How do you measure God's will for a person? Ninety-six percent of the participants in the Harvard study had someone else praying for them. We don't know how much prayer they had, we don't know how sincere the prayers were. None of that was taken into account, and it would be very hard to measure those things. And none of the benefits to the prayed-for group were measured after 30 days. Maybe God healed them after 30 days--we don't know. You can see that this study is ridiculous.

Putting aside the ability to be able to prove it or not, do you believe that prayer can heal--specifically help someone, for example, recover from cancer?

Absolutely. I believe that on faith and I also believe it because I've seen that happen with people, including personal friends. Of course they knew they were being prayed for, by their families and their churches, and those people have had remarkable recoveries. I believe it because it says it in the scriptures that I believe in. So there's no doubt in my mind that prayers help people--those who are prayed for and those saying the prayer.

One thing we do know is that God is good and because God is good, whatever God allows to happen or does in response to prayer has to be good. Theologically speaking it may be bad for a person to do well after coronary artery bypass surgery. It may be that if a person had some complications, he would realize his limitations, he may reach out to God, he may forgive his neighbor, he may tell his loved one that he loves them. Good things come out of difficult situations.

Labels: Beliefnet, Harold G. Koenig, health, religious community, Therese Borchard

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Worshiping online: Is it really church?

By Lisa B. Hamilton, October 06, 2008

...the cathedral is hushed. Some kneel in shafts of light tinted by stained glass. Others leave quietly, a few stopping to light a candle on the way out.

In the courtyard, the mood is lighter. "Nice outfit. How did you get it?" "How did you get it? Shouldn't the question be where?"

This is the Anglican Church in Second Life's virtual cathedral, so the answer involves computer keys and Internet links. And those who've stopped to chat do so in the form of animated characters -- many elaborately costumed -- they've created to represent themselves on the computer screen.

All it takes is an Internet connection to download a free program that lets one participate in the virtual world. Anglican Church in Second Life was developed in 2006 by users of an interactive website called Second Life cathedral who desired an Anglican presence. The Second Life cathedral has 400 to 500 members, mostly from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, with a sprinkling from Europe and Asia. Each week, 80 to 100 members attend one of five online worship services, a Bible study or a discussion group.

Services are traditional in that they are straight from Anglican prayer books, but they do not contain the Eucharist, baptism or other sacraments. Members use their computers to create animated figures call avatars, which may resemble their creators as much or as little as desired, and manipulate them (including kneeling in a pew) using their computer keyboard throughout the 3-D place of worship, which takes its inspiration from medieval European cathedrals.

For some, virtual church offers the safety of anonymity. Nothing prevents members from creating avatars in the opposite gender, or even ones resembling animals more than humans. Not only are there no name tags in the virtual church, but members also take a new name when they enter the Second Life world.

"This is a good place to heal from First Life church," one "parishioner" said during a regularly scheduled Saturday discussion group in the "courtyard" of the cathedral.

"I feel less judged here," said another. When someone types, "community building is what we do best," avatars, which are visible in the discussion group, clap and nod in agreement.

One visitor's initial dip into Second Life's cathedral was marked by acceptance and patience. In a discussion, all questions were answered politely and all participants treated respectfully. When the inexperienced visitor attended Compline and smacked a newly created human avatar into a pillar before landing on the eagle gracing the lectern, other worshipers reassured the visitor that expertise would develop soon.

Prompting discussion

Virtual ministries can deepen conversation about the meaning of the sacraments in the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Barbara Crafton, founder of The Geranium Farm, a website whose offerings include a free subscription to the reflections she writes, also marveled at the Internet's power to heal and to build community. Crafton's "farm" began in early 2002, when her health forced her to retire from fulltime parish ministry and she began e-mailing daily reflections to her parishioners and their acquaintances.

Today, subscribers to those e-mails, called "farmers," number in the tens of thousands, and Crafton's "almost daily" reflections are sent across the globe with the tagline "down-to-earth support for living." Crafton's ability to find spirituality in everyday living is apparent in her reflections, which range in topic from the Scriptures appointed for the coming Sunday to lessons taught her by relationships, gardening, cooking (her two dozen books include The Geranium Farm Cookbook) and her cats. The site also offers opportunities for prayer, chat and reading other writers and bloggers (including Moretz) who Crafton has vetted.

Crafton is well aware that Episcopal churches increasingly go beyond using a website in the same way a parish hall bulletin board is utilized, providing, in addition to service times and directions, sermons to be downloaded in print or in audio, online pledging, church school registration and links to the youth group's Facebook page. Yet, she mused recently, "I am struck by the limited ways many institutions use their websites -- many have a let's-use-the-website-to-make-people-come-to-church approach, but sites can do so much more than that in terms of actually serving people's need for spiritual community."

The Geranium Farm includes a message board with various topics offering opportunities for giving and receiving spiritual care: messages that seek prayer; comfort in grief; alerts on walks for various causes; stories offering inspiration and insight; theological musings. Another Geranium Farm webpage, called candle vigils, allows visitors to type a prayer that, with a mouse click, results in an animated candle that "burns" for a week. Recently, the page contained 527 candles and corresponding prayers.

To those who claim they lack resources to minister virtually, Crafton answered, "Well, I can hardly press the send button, and yet I have a website visited by thousands. Clearly people with knowledge about the Internet have to be part of the enterprise."

Furthermore, Crafton said, "Jesus creates Christian community. He can do that anywhere he is supported by us, whether in bricks and mortar or online."

Labels: Anglican Church, Geranium Farm, Internet, Lisa B. Hamilton, Rev. Barbara Crafton, virtual church

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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Experts try to unlock mysteries of happiness

You can't buy it, experts say. Pursuing goals, not goods is a key to true satisfaction

By Bonnie Miller Rubin and Jeremy Manier | Chicago Tribune reporters
October 5, 2008

Americans have seen their retirement savings shrivel, home equity evaporate and job security vanish. The only numbers zooming upward seem to be gas and food prices.

It may look like there's nothing to smile about, but that shouldn't stop us, said Ed Diener, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has been studying happiness for more than a quarter-century. Here's what he wants you to know: That disappearing 401(k) balance? It's no more a barometer of sadness than winning the lottery guarantees life satisfaction. It's all a matter of perspective.

Diener is co-author, with his son, Robert Biswas-Diener, of the new book "Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth." He is part of the positive psychology movement that started about two decades ago and bypasses the Freud model of disease and dysfunction, focusing instead on emotional hardiness.

In their view, psychological wealth includes relationships, spirituality ("not necessarily religion . . . but the feeling you are connected to something larger than yourself"), physical health and a sense of engagement.

What separates those with psychological wealth from miserable peers is their ability to adjust. "That means controlling what is controllable, . . . diversifying your stocks, then returning to the areas of your life that are going well, such as friends and family," he said. "It means making a conscious decision to be resilient."

It takes strong character to find happiness in the face of adversity, but scientists often have found that aspect too vague a topic to study. Understanding how the brain processes raw feelings of desire and pleasure is far easier. Most creatures seek pleasure in some way. Pleasure motivates us to seek food, sex and a multitude of things that ensure the survival of an individual or species.

"We have no precise sense of what willpower means in the brain, or why some people are better at it than others," said Todd Braver, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis.

Braver's team is studying how the brain area called the prefrontal cortex is involved in long-term decision-making. They want to understand how the anticipation of a reward far off in the future—such as the increased satisfaction of a fulfilling but low-paying job—can sometimes overrule the enticement of short-term pleasure.

Whether in the gold markets of Dubai or the Australian outback, the scientists have learned happiness goes beyond genes and circumstances. We require enough material wealth to be self-sufficient, the psychologists believe, but the levels of contentment do not dramatically increase after our needs are met. While there is a spike after a major acquisition—like a new car—the euphoria over leather seats doesn't last.

The same is true with setbacks: Watching one's nest egg dwindle is enough to pull anyone into a deep hole, but a year later, people typically rebound.Some people find happiness in escaping the seesaw of fleeting gains and losses. Steven Biedermann, 45, an investment banker, was living the good life in a Gold Coast condo with all the requisite perks—but he longed for meaning, not bigger bonuses.

Then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "That was the match that lit up a bundle of kindling that had been piling up for years," he said. The next fall, Biedermann sold everything and joined the Peace Corps. He headed to Kiribati in the Central Pacific, swapping the condo for a small stick hut and swanky restaurants for fish and rice. He grew closer to his Christian faith.

Upon his return, he was hired to manage the Chicago Public Schools investment portfolio—a way to make use of his skills, but with a loftier purpose. Though he earns less than he did his first year after graduating from DePaul University in 1986, Biedermann said he's fulfilled. "It's about serving others, not being served. That's where my happiness comes from."

Labels: Bonnie Miller Rubin, Ed Diener, happiness, Jeremy Manier, positive psychology, Robert Biswas-Diener

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Teens have 'feel-good' type of faith

By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret News
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2008

The majority of American teens have embraced an informal, "feel good" view of God and religion that not only emphasizes personal happiness as the central goal of life but has become something of a new religion in and of itself.

That is according to researchers examining teens over an 11-year time span as part of the National Study of Youth and Religion. In explaining the study's findings on Friday, Holli M.H. Eaton of Azusa Pacific University told members of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists that the "feel good" view of faith has five identifiable characteristics and has been dubbed "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

Its "tenets" are as follows:

* There is a God who created human life and watches over human beings.

* God wants people to be kind, caring and good.

* The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about one's self.

* God doesn't need to be involved in one's life except when needed to solve a problem -- "kind of a heavenly butler."

* Good people go to heaven when they die.

Beyond these generalizations, teens in general "can't verbalize the basics of their faith," Eaton said, noting there are exceptions but that the majority are unable to do so.

"When you ask about grace, they automatically think you're talking about 'Will and Grace,"' a TV sitcom that is popular with teens and young adults. "When you talk about honor (in religious terms), they think of honors classes at school."

When hundreds of teens were interviewed at length about the principles of their faith, none mentioned self-discipline, "but feeling happy was mentioned more than 2,000 times," Eaton said.

"Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a new religion in researchers' view. It's taking over in kids' lives."

The study, conducted by sociologist Christian Smith, began in 2000 based out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith addressed students and faculty at Brigham Young University earlier this year to share his findings, which also include data showing that LDS teens are the most highly religious by denomination of all the groups in the study, with 71 percent saying they attend a religious service at least once a week.

While Latter-day Saint teens see their faith as central to their lives, the majority of American teens see it as highly dispensable, Eaton said. "It's the first thing many teens are willing to let go when there are competing demands in their lives," she said. "Nearly all American youth are profoundly individualistic, and they think that 'what I think is right is right for everybody."'

She said most share the view that "it's okay to be somewhat religious, but it's important not to be too religious. They don't want to talk about specific beliefs. That's too religious," she said.

"Most teens say they pray, but it's usually when they want something. Very few read the Bible and even fewer engage in other religious practices."

Marilyn S. Wright, a psychologist at Pepperdine University, said the vast majority of teens are "incredibly inarticulate" about their own faith, even as they mature into young adults. The initial survey of more than 3,300 teens in 2000 has been followed by subsequent phases of questioning for 10 percent of those studied, and age doesn't change the ability to express their feelings about faith, she said.

Yet teens whose parents put religion at the center of their lives differ from the overall survey group in significant ways, mirroring the religious attitudes and practices of their parents, she said -- something that is encouraging to parents who often believe peer influence is more powerful.

She said LDS teens are "more involved in youth groups for more years and are more likely to claim to be youth leaders in their groups" than other teens. The survey also showed LDS teens are "the most Bible-believing and the least likely to believe in the occult."

Labels: Carrie A. Moore, God, happiness, Holli M.H. Eaton, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, National Study of Youth and Religion, religion, teenagers

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Religion makes people helpful and generous -- under certain conditions: UBC researchers

Lorraine Chan

University of British Columbia

Belief in God encourages people to be helpful, honest and generous, but only under certain psychological conditions, according to University of British Columbia researchers who analyzed the past three decades of social science research.

Religious people are more likely than the non-religious to engage in prosocial behaviour – acts that benefit others at a personal cost – when it enhances the individual's reputation or when religious thoughts are freshly activated in the person's mind, say UBC social psychologists Ara Norenzayan and Azim Shariff

Their paper "The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality" appears in the October 3, 2008 issue of the journal Science.

The two-part paper first reviews data from anthropology, sociology, psychology and economics. Norenzayan and Shariff then go on to explore how religion, by encouraging cooperation, became a factor in making possible the rise of large and stable societies made of genetically unrelated individuals.

To date, says Norenzayan, the public debate whether religion fosters cooperation and trust has largely been driven by opinion and anecdote.

"We wanted to look at the hard scientific evidence," says Norenzayan, an associate professor in the Dept. of Psychology.

The investigators found complementary results across the disciplines:

* Empirical data within anthropology suggests there is more cooperation among religious societies than the non-religious, especially when group survival is under threat
* Economic experiments indicate that religiosity increases levels of trust among participants
* Psychology experiments show that thoughts of an omniscient, morally concerned God reduce levels of cheating and selfish behaviour

"This type of religiously-motivated 'virtuous' behaviour has likely played a vital social role throughout history," says Shariff, a Psychology PhD student.

Shariff adds, "One reason we now have large, cooperative societies may be that some aspects of religion – such as outsourcing costly social policing duties to all-powerful Gods – made societies work more cooperatively in the past."

Across cultures and through time, observe the authors, the notion of an all-powerful, morally concerned "Big God" usually begat "Big groups" –large-scale, stable societies that successfully passed on their cultural beliefs.

The study also points out that in today's world religion has no monopoly on kind and generous behaviour. In many findings, non-believers acted as prosocially as believers. The last several hundred years has seen the rise of non-religious institutional mechanisms that include effective policing, courts and social surveillance.

"Some of the most cooperative modern societies are also the most secular," says Norenzayan. "People have found other ways to be cooperative – without God."

Labels: Ara Norenzayan, Azim Shariff, God, Lorraine Chan, prosocial behavior, psychology, religion, University of British Columbia

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Thursday, October 02, 2008

Poll: Americans wary of churches pushing politics

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Americans strongly believe churches should tread lightly when it comes to political activity.

According to a survey released by LifeWay Research, Americans believe churches should not campaign for or endorse political candidates and pastors should only endorse candidates as private citizens outside of a church service.

When asked for their level of agreement with the statement “I believe it is appropriate for churches to publicly endorse candidates for public office,” 59 percent said they strongly disagree. Sixteen percent somewhat disagree.

When it comes to how churches use their resources, Americans believe overwhelmingly that churches should not use those resources to campaign for candidates for public office.

When asked to respond to the statement “I believe it is appropriate for churches to use their resources to campaign for candidates for public office,” 85 percent disagree, including 73 percent who disagree strongly.

Regarding whether churches should lose tax-exempt status for publicly endorsing candidates, a slim majority agree and differences appear along many of the same lines.

Thirty-eight percent strongly agree and 14 percent somewhat agree “that churches who publicly endorse candidates for public office should lose their tax exemption.” Twenty-five percent strongly disagree, 17 percent somewhat disagree and 6 percent are not sure.

“Americans overwhelmingly want pastors to stick to faith and not political endorsements,” Stetzer says. “However, they are less certain that they want the government to strip them of their tax exemption. Americans don’t want churches in politics, but they are not as certain they want the government in the churches.”

When the question centers on pastors rather than churches, Americans are slightly more open to endorsement of candidates, but not during a church service.

Although more than half believe it is appropriate for pastors to endorse candidates for public office outside of the church, only 13 percent believe it is acceptable for pastors to endorse candidates during a church service.

The telephone survey was conducted in June 2008 among 1,208 adults randomly selected throughout the country in proportion to population. Weighting is used to adjust for non-response controlling for region, age, race, religion and gender. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the margin of error does not exceed +2.9 percent.

To view the entire report in addition to charts, visit www.lifewayresearch.com.

Labels: Americans, church, LifeWay Research, politics

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How religion got deep into politics

How religion got deep into politics

By John Shulson | The Virginia Gazette
October 1, 2008

WILLIAMSBURG -- Bruton Parish Episcopal Church recently launched its fall series, “The Influence of Religion on Presidential Politics,” with an overflow crowd in Lewis Hall to hear Dan Roberts speak on “America’s Vacant Public Square.”

Roberts, a true Renaissance man, is a professor of history at the University of Richmond. He’s also a Presbyterian minister, a Bronze Star Medal recipient and a jazz pianist. Roberts created the syndicated Public Radio series, “A Moment in Time,” which plays to 2 million listeners eager to resist “this growing epidemic of ignorance about the [historical] past.”

The radio program was inspired by a survey in which 78% of college seniors from 55 top universities could identify Bevis and Butthead, while only 33% could connect the dots between George Washington and Yorktown. Roberts set about to make history relevant in short radio bursts.

His thoughts concerning religion and politics date back to the founding days of our country and its disenchantment with the Church of England.

Assuredly, “Church and state were tightly locked,” he told his Bruton Parish audience, “but distrust also existed.” He recalled that the Founding Fathers rejected sectarian religion in government. “The state would not be the people’s moral salvation, and it wouldn’t seek to manage people’s lives.”

Instead, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution addressed religion in non-specific terms. “We could have created a Christian republic, but we looked west toward something new,” he said.

However, the seeds of a growing religious movement within the state were sown when the Constitution was ratified. “Evangelicals said they wanted a Bill of Rights and freedom of religion and bartered with James Madison to achieve this.”

As America began to grow into a diverse republic, the Great Awakening saw a growth in evangelical churches. Later, the immigration of many Catholics and Jews tended to undermine Protestant dominations, he said.

Roberts said presidential candidates realize “it’s dangerous to play the religious card. Candidates try to avoid making it an issue... in order not to offendcategories of people.”

Since candidates need to be careful not to make overt appeals, Roberts said, politicians resort to code language such as “family values.” He explained that “family values” can mean one thing to a couple with a child in Virginia and quite another to two men who adopt a child in Chicago.

Of the need to tread lightly in the use of religion, Roberts illustrated three candidates who traversed political minefields: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Richard Nixon.

Even though Jefferson was accused of being a deist and the father of a child born to a slave, he refused to respond to allegations and chose to ignore the subject of religion. He decided instead to hit hard on John Adams’ position on war.

Lincoln didn’t conform to orthodox religious folks. He reacted against sectarian rivalry and even used reason and ridicule to counter aspects of the Bible. However, Lincoln eventually grew into a form of Unitarian religion, using it not in debates but in other ways. He used biblical language in fighting slavery. He could speak the religious language of the voters he needed. The result was that his humor and his personal demeanor propelled him to office even though the people didn’t share his religious beliefs.

It was Nixon, Roberts said, who started “pious presidential pandering” to play to the religious. He explained that Nixon, a Quaker, occasionally went to church, preferring to hold Sunday services in the White House. However, Nixon tended to stay away from the subject of religion.

Instead, he used overt religiosity as a code.

“Nixon’s strategy was to win the Southern white vote. Many in the South were racists and religious. He realized a direct racist appeal couldn’t be done. But he did appeal to them through the use of code phrases familiar to Southern whites such as ‘states’ rights’ and ‘law and order.’”

In drawing his extensively prepared comments to a close, Roberts returned to his theme of a town square.

“The vacant public square is under attack. Many voters calculate to use religion to determine who they’ll vote for. It’s now factored into the strategy. The fate of the public square hangs in the balance.”

Labels: Abraham Lincoln, America, church-state, Dan Roberts, history, John Shulson, politics, religion, Richard Nixon, Thomas Jefferson

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New Site Combines Spiritual and Medical Guidance

Monday, September 29, 2008

By: Sylvia Booth Hubbard

Doctors and patients looking to augment traditional medical care with a dose of spiritual healing can turn to a new Web-based resource that offers a mix of advice, references and even actual prayers.

The site’s founders say the site offers much needed support, especially in a place as spiritual as the U.S. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 94 percent of Americans believe in a higher power. When Americans become ill, 75 percent want their doctor to include spiritual aspects into their medical treatment. And nearly half want their doctors to pray, not just for them, but with them. Some 43 percent of doctors admit they pray for their patients privately.

Spirit-Health Connections provides:

# Links to recently published articles on health and spirituality.

# Prayers of support for health providers of all faiths, including Christian prayers from several denominations appropriate in the death of a child, and Buddhist prayers for the sick.

# “Ask an Expert” section which allows readers to email questions on spirituality and health that will be answered by experts.

# A calendar of events lists lectures and conferences across the nation along with contact information.

# Links to centers and universities worldwide that study health and religion

# Excerpts from books for medical professionals, spiritual advisors, and researchers that explore spirituality and health.

# A media section which features video and audio files that can be downloaded free of charge.

Although some scientists say there is no rational explanation for how prayer works, others counter with the fact that aspirin was used effectively for hundreds of years before science figured out how it works. .

Labels: health, Spirit-Health Connections, spirituality, Sylvia Booth Hubbard, Temple Foundation Press

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