Sociology Commons^™

The Influence Of Religion On The Criminal Behavior Of Emerging Adults, Christopher Salvatore, Gabriel Rubin

Gabriel Rubin

Recent generations of young adults are experiencing a new life course stage: emerging adulthood. During this ‘new’ stage of the life course, traditional social bonds and turning points may not be present, may be delayed, or may not operate in the same manner as they have for prior generations. One such bond, religion, is examined here. Focusing on the United States, emerging adulthood is investigated as a distinct stage of the life course. The criminality of emerging adults is presented, a theoretical examination of the relationship between religion and crime is provided, the role of religion in emerging adults’ lives …

Religion, Nonreligion, And Deviance: Comparing Faith's And Family's Relative Strength In Promoting Social Conformity, Whitney Decamp, Jesse M. Smith

Whitney DeCamp

The Practitioner, The Priest, And The Professor: Perspectives On Self-Initiation In The American Neopagan Community, Marty Laubach, Louis Martinie’, Roselinda Clemons

Marty Laubach

Initiation is a religious practice that is generally understood as involving socialization and acceptance into a religious community, but American Neopaganism, with its emphasis on individualism and autonomy, has evolved a meaning that challenges that simple understanding. American Neopagan communities are marketplaces of ideas that are comprised of groups and solo practitioners, all in interaction in which they might conduct main holidays together, but not necessarily work together in what they would consider more “serious” practices in which they receive the spirit communications with which they develop the ideas. Among groups, these practices include initiations through which candidates are trained …

Social Institutions And Same-Sex Sexuality : Attitudes, Perceptions And Prospective Rights And Freedoms For Non-Heterosexuals, Padmore Adusei Amoah, Razak Mohammed Gyasi

Dr. AMOAH Padmore Adusei

Religious and cultural values have been used as a yardstick to disregard the rights and freedoms of people in non-normative sexual relationships in many African countries. However, little is known about the extent to which this assertion is empirically buttressed by public opinion in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. Employing in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion, this study sought public opinion on how religious and cultural precepts informed attitudes and perception on same-sex sexuality. Twenty people who were aged 19 to 60 years participated in the study. The phenomenon of same-sex sexuality was expressively distasteful to majority of participants …

The Mysterious Case Of The Islamic State Organization (Iso) Smiling Martyr--Solved, Paul Kamolnick

Paul Kamolnick

Excerpt: For a mere Muslim mortal, Allah’s granting of martyrdom (Shahada) is the pinnacle of spiritual achievement. The martyr (Shahid) is granted unique privileges among which are the right to bypass the moral interrogation meted out to determine after death whether one is spiritually fit; the complete freedom from all anguish, pain, and suffering caused by one’s wounds as one immediately traverses into the highest of seven heavens; the right to intercede and request divine favors on behalf of seventy of one’s loved one’s; the enjoyment of exclusive sexual privileges with seventy-two virgins; and finally, the right to exist within …

Social Institutions And Same-Sex Sexuality : Attitudes, Perceptions And Prospective Rights And Freedoms For Non-Heterosexuals, Padmore Adusei Amoah, Razak Mohammed Gyasi

Mr. GYASI Razak Mohammed

Religious and cultural values have been used as a yardstick to disregard the rights and freedoms of people in non-normative sexual relationships in many African countries. However, little is known about the extent to which this assertion is empirically buttressed by public opinion in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. Employing in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion, this study sought public opinion on how religious and cultural precepts informed attitudes and perception on same-sex sexuality. Twenty people who were aged 19 to 60 years participated in the study. The phenomenon of same-sex sexuality was expressively distasteful to majority of participants …

What Is "American" In American Religion?, Rhys H. Williams, Sylvester Johnson, Kathryn Gin Lum

Rhys Williams

No abstract provided.

Models Of Cosmic Order: Physical Expression Of Sacred Space Among The Ancient Maya, Jennifer P. Mathews, James F. Garber

Jennifer P Mathews

The archaeological record, as well as written texts, oral traditions, and iconographic representations, express the Maya perception of cosmic order, including the concepts of quadripartite division and layered cosmos. The ritual act of portioning and layering created spatial order and was used to organize everything from the heavens to the layout of altars. These acts were also metaphors for world creation, world order, and establishing the center as a position of power and authority. This article examines the articulations of these concepts from the level of caches to the level of regions from the past and present in an attempt …

A Hidden Life, Matthew Schmalz

Mathew Schmalz

The author recalls a former student whose traditional Catholic devotion celebrated the hidden life, a life cut short by domestic violence.

The Impact Of Islam As A Religion And Muslim Women On Gender Equality: A Phenomenological Research Study, Sonia D. Galloway

Sonia D. Galloway, Ph.D.

The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the meanings, structures and essence of the lived experience of Muslim women via an Islamic theoretical (Kalam) framework. The study's goal was to describe a detailed and comprehensive description of how Muslim women use Islam to promote gender equality and improve treatment within their daily lives. The critical importance of gleaning a better understanding of Islam and the perceived invisibility of Muslim women motivated the researcher to undertake this study. The research study included a qualitative phenomenology research approach. Data were collected from multiple sources: observations, semi-structured individual interviews and …

Introduction: A Changing Indonesia, Maribeth Erb, Kathleen M. Adams

Kathleen M. Adams

No abstract provided.

Precursors To And Pathways Through Conversion: Catalytic Experiences Of Born Again Christian College Students, John D. Foubert, Matthew W. Brosi, Angela Watson, Dale R. Fuqua

John D. Foubert

Born again Christians are a significant religious population in the United States, and throughout the world. The process by in which a born again identity is assumed is not clearly described in the research literature. Therefore, we asked 18 born again Christian college students a series of questions designed to uncover what led to their identity of being born again. Responses fell into three overarching themes. First, participants described exposure within relationships to God’s principles. Second, participants noted the influence of introspection and reflection on their lives apart from the influence of God. Third, participants had an active response in …

Review Of 'The Lyre Of Orpheus' By Christopher Partridge, Vaughan S. Roberts

Vaughan S Roberts

Navigating Uncertainty: The Survival Strategies Of Religious Ngos In China, Jonathan Tam, Reza Hasmath

Reza Hasmath

Axiomatic Social Choice Theory, David Randall Jenkins

David Randall Jenkins

Ordered Relations Theory’s two axioms ultimately enable (individual: society) well-being transitivity inasmuch as they impound Social Choice Theory’s impossibility theorem, impossibility-resolving axioms, and all such further regressive impossibility theorems and impossibility-resolving axioms.

Phil 130: Dimensions Of Diversity (Spring 2014), Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

Discrimination In France, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

Legitimation, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Mark C Modak-Truran

This article identifies three different conceptions of legitimation - pre-modern, modern, and post-secular - that compete both within and across national boundaries for the coveted prize of informing the social imaginary regarding how the government and the law should be legitimated in constitutional democracies. Pre-modern conceptions of legitimation consider governments and rulers legitimate if they are ordained by God or if the political system is ordered in accordance with the normative cosmic order. Contemporary proponents of the pre-modern conception range from those in the United States who maintain that the government has been legitimated by the “Judeo-Christian tradition” to those …

Phil 130: Dimensions Of Diversity (Fall 2013), Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

Socially Constructed Teen Motherhood: A Review, Marc Fonda, Rachel Eni, Eric Guimond

Marc V. Fonda Ph.D.

This article reviews literature on the gradual construction of teenage pregnancy as a social issue in North America. It shows how teen motherhood emerged not as an issue unto itself, but as a microcosm of numerous, closely intertwined phenomena including: the evolution of Western views on human sexuality and gender roles; the place of religious values in society; and the emergence of various modern technologies, the social and medical sciences, and how such disciplines view childhood, motherhood, and women in society. In particular, it shows that even as teen pregnancy is today viewed primarily through public health and/or socioeconomic lenses, …

Phil 130: Dimensions Of Diversity (Summer 2013), Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

Evolving Christian Attitudes Towards Personal And National Self-Defense, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

This Article analyzes the changes in orthodox Christian attitudes towards defensive violence. While the Article begins in the 19th century and ends in the 21st, most of the Article is about the 20th century. The Article focuses on American Catholicism and on the Vatican, although there is some discussion of American Protestantism.

In the nineteenth and early in the twentieth centuries, the traditional Christian concepts of Just War and of the individual's duty to use force to defend himself and his family remained uncontroversial, as they had been for centuries.

Disillusionment over World War I turned many Catholics and Protestants …

Phil 130: Dimensions Of Diversity (Spring 2013), Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

To The Peoples: Christianity And Ethnicity In China's Minority Areas, Francis Khek Gee Lim

Francis Khek Gee Lim

No abstract provided.

Men's Modesty, Religion, And The State: Spaces Of Collision, Karen M. Morin

Karen M. Morin

No abstract provided.

Family Life Cycle Revisited: Age And Life Course Effects On Church Attendance At “Conventional” And Middle Age, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

We examined the effects of marital status and parenthood on church attendance using panel data from the 1975 and 1992 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Consistent with prior research, both cross-sectional and fixed effects ordered logit models indicated that marriage and parenthood were positively associated with church attendance. However, prior research has examined only adults in more “conventional” ages of family formation, and our findings indicated that the effects of parenthood extend into middle age. We also found support for prior notions that divorce/separation has negative effects on church attendance and that this effect is present among adults in their thirties as …

The Embodiment Of Tolerance In Discourses And Practices Addressing Cultural Diversity In Schools, The Case Of Cyprus, Nicos Trimikliniotis, Corina Demetriou, Elena Papamichael

Nicos Trimikliniotis

The report examines the processes, methods and Practices of the Cypriot educational system as the

embodiment of tolerance in discourses and practices addressing cultural diversity in schools. These are

mediated by the perceptions of policy makers, the convictions of stakeholders involved in the processes and abilities of and tools made available to educationalists. In examining the nature of the educational system and particularly the way in which the system treats its minoritised individuals and groups, the philosophy which emerges is that of viewing diversity as a disadvantage and a deficiency that needs to be ‘treated’, against a backdrop of essentialising …

Household Allocation Of Time And Church Attendance, Corry Azzi, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

This paper presents the first systematic attempt by economists to analyze the determinants of individuals' participation in religious activities. A multiperiod utility-maximizing model of household behavior is developed which includes among its implications the shape of a house-hold's life-cycle religious-participation profile and the division of religious participation between husband and wife. The theory is empirically tested using statewide church-membership data and survey data on individuals' frequency of church attendance. The paper concludes by discussing several extensions of the model which lead to additional potentially testable hypotheses.

Household Allocation Of Time And Religiosity: Replication And Extension, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Stephen Long and Russell Settle's (1977) empirical tests of the economic theory of religiosity presented by Corry Azzi and myself (1975) in this Journal tend to be less supportive of our theory than were our original results. As such, I welcome the opportunity to trot out some further replications and extensions that I have conducted and I leave it to the reader to judge the relative merits of the two new contributions.

Finding A Voice Of Challenge: The State Responds To Religious Women And Their Communities, Marie A. Failinger

Marie A. Failinger

The appropriate response of Western nation-states to the situation of religious women who are caught between democratic norms of gender equality and the demands of their religious community has been a source of tension in many Western nations, including the U.S. This article attempts to give voice to the complex nature of women’s religious conduct as tied to their identities, and to propose alternative ways that the state might further its norms of gender equality besides intrusive regulation of religious communities.