In recent years, attempts have been made to incorporate religion into tobacco control efforts, especially in countries like Malaysia and Thailand where religion is central to the lives of people. This paper is a prospective examination of the perceived relevance and role of religion and religious authorities in influencing smoking behaviour among Muslims in Malaysia and Buddhists in Thailand. Data were collected from 1,482 Muslim Malaysian and 1,971 Buddhist Thai adult smokers who completed wave 1 (early 2005) of the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia Survey (ITC-SEA). Respondents were asked about the role of religion and religious leadership on smoking at Wave 1 and among those recontacted, quitting activity at Wave 2. Results revealed that over 90% of both religious groups reported that their religion guides their day-to-day behaviour at least sometimes, but Malaysian Muslims were more likely to report that this was always the case. The majority (79% Muslims and 88% Buddhists) of both groups believed that their religion discourages smoking. About 61% of the Muslims and 58% of the Buddhists reported that their religious leaders had encouraged them to quit before and a minority (30% and 26%, respectively) said they would be an influential source to motivate them to quit. Logistic regression models suggest that these religious factors had a clear independent association with making quitting attempts in both countries and this translated to success for Malaysian Muslims but not for the Thai Buddhists. Taken together...

In order to elucidate cultural correlates of utilization of primary health services by young adult men, we investigated religion in which one was raised and service utilization. Using data from a national survey we tested the hypothesis that religion raised predicts access to and utilization of a regular medical care provider, examinations, HIV and other STD testing and counseling at ages 18–44 years in men born between 1958 and 1984. We also hypothesized that religion raised would be more predictive of utilization for Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanic Black Americans than for non-Hispanic White Americans. The study included a national sample of 4276 men aged 18–44 years. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were used to assess the hypotheses using data on religion raised and responses to 14 items assessing health care access and utilization. Compared to those raised in no religion, those raised mainline Protestant were more likely (p < 0.01) to report a usual source of care (67% vs. 79%), health insurance coverage (66% vs. 80%) and physical examination (43% vs. 48%). Religion raised was not associated with testicular exams, STD counseling or HIV testing. In multivariate analyses controlling for confounders, significant associations of religion raised with insurance coverage...

Religion and spirituality exert a significant role in the lives of many individuals, including people with schizophrenia. However, the contribution of religion and spirituality to various domains (psychopathology, explanatory models, treatment seeking, treatment adherence, outcome, etc.) has not received much attention. In this article, we review the exiting data with regards to the relationship of religion, spirituality, and various domains in patients with schizophrenia. Available evidence suggests that for some patients, religion instills hope, purpose, and meaning in their lives, whereas for others, it induces spiritual despair. Patients with schizophrenia also exhibit religious delusions and hallucinations. Further, there is some evidence to suggest that religion influences the level of psychopathology. Religion and religious practices also influence social integration, risk of suicide attempts, and substance use. Religion and spirituality also serves as an effective method of coping with the illness. Religion also influences the treatment compliance and outcome in patients with schizophrenia.

According to systematic reviews, religious beliefs and practices are related to higher life satisfaction, happiness, and positive affect (Koenig and Larson, 2001). The present research extends previous findings by comparing satisfaction with life and character strengths of non-religious people, religious people, who practice their religion and people that have a religious affiliation but do not practice their religion. We assessed life satisfaction (SWLS), character strengths (VIA-IS) and the orientations to happiness (OTH) in a sample of N = 20538 participants. People with a religious affiliation that also practice their religion were found to be more satisfied with their life and scored higher on life of meaning than those who do not practice their religion and than non-religious people. Also religious people who practice their religion differed significantly from those who do not practice their religion and non-religious people regarding several character strengths; they scored higher on kindness, love, gratitude, hope, forgiveness, and on spirituality. There were no substantial differences between people who had no religious affiliation and those with a religious affiliation that do not practice their religion (all ηp2s < 0.009). Altogether...

The study of religion is severely handicapped by a lack of adequate cross-national data. Despite the prominence of religion in international events and recent theoretical models pointing to the consequences of regulating religion, cross-national research on religion has been lacking. We strive to fill this void by developing measurement models and indexes for government regulation, government favoritism, and social regulation of religion. The indexes rely on data from an extensive coding of the 2003 International Religious Freedom Report for 196 countries and territories. Using a series of tests to evaluate the new data and indexes, we find that the measures developed are highly reliable and valid. The three indexes will allow researchers and others to measure the government’s subsidy and regulation of religion as well as the restrictions placed on religion by social and cultural forces beyond the state.

The status, roles, and interactions of three dominant African ethnic groups and their descendants in Cuba significantly influenced the island’s cubanidad (national identity): the Lucumís (Yoruba), the Congos (Bantú speakers from Central West Africa), and the Carabalís (from the region of Calabar). These three groups, enslaved on the island, coexisted, each group confronting obstacles that threatened their way of life and cultural identities. Through covert resistance, cultural appropriation, and accommodation, all three, but especially the Lucumís, laid deep roots in the nineteenth century that came to fruition in the twentieth. During the early 1900s, Cuba confronted numerous pressures, internal and external. Under the pretense of a quest for national identity and modernity, Afro-Cubans and African cultures and religion came under political, social, and intellectual attack. Race was an undeniable element in these conflicts. While all three groups were oppressed equally, only the Lucumís fought back, contesting accusations of backwardness, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and brujería (witchcraft), exaggerated by the sensationalistic media, often with the police’s and legal system’s complicity. Unlike the covert character of earlier epochs’ responses to oppression...

Die Dissertation untersucht die Entwicklung des christlich-jüdischen Dialogs in Deutschland. im Zeitraum ab der Nachkriegszeit (1948) bis 2009. Hierbei richtet sich das Augenmerk vor allem auf die deutschen Vereine „Gesellschaften für christlich-jüdische Zusammenarbeit“. Diese haben sich in ihren Satzungen der Überwindung religiöser Vorurteile verpflichtet. Die Arbeit intendiert, über die Optionen zur Entlarvung und Bekämpfung von Vorurteilen über Menschen anderer Religionen, insbesondere von mythisch-irrationalen Klischeebildern über Menschen jüdischen Glaubens, aufzuklären. Dies erfolgt anhand konkreter Beispiele aus der Lebenswelt von Vereinsmitgliedern, die sich für interreligiöse, schwerpunktmäßig christlich-jüdische Veranstaltungen einsetzen. Thematisiert wird in der Dissertation nicht ausschließlich der Religionsdialog unter Geistlichen, sondern im Mittelpunkt steht die Dokumentation und Analyse der Kooperation von Menschen unterschiedlicher ideologischer Ausgangspunkte, Atheisten eingeschlossen. Ausgangspunkt für die Untersuchungen war die Hypothese, dass permanente, friedliche und effektive Zusammenarbeit möglich sei, ohne dass die Teilnehmer an der Zusammenarbeit ihre individuellen Glaubensweisen einander angleichen. Die Dissertation ist eine religionshistorische Arbeit zu einem aktuellem Thema und ist zum Teil parallel zu den laufenden Geschehnissen in der christlich-jüdischen Zusammenarbeit (z.B. Reaktionen auf die neue Karfreitagsfürbitte) entstanden. Die Analyse erfolgte aus einem religionssoziologischen Blickwinkel. Wesentlich ist dabei die Gegenüberstellung von Selbst- und Fremdbild dreier religiöser Gruppen (Katholiken...

Es besteht heute ein weit über die Grenzen der christlichen Theologien hinausreichender Konsens darüber, dass die kritische Funktion zu den Wesensbestimmungen des christlichen Glaubens und die Wahrnehmung der kritischen Aufgaben auch in gesellschaftlichen Realitäten zur Grundberufung des christlichen Glaubens gehören. Um diese Annahmen zu überprüfen, werden in der vorliegenden Untersuchung verschiedene Stimmen der christlichen Theologie und Religionsphilosophie in einen Diskurs über die kritische Dimension des christlichen Glaubens einbezogen. Damit wird keinesfalls eine Homogenisierung der verschiedenen Ansichten und Zugangsweisen zur Problematik des kritischen Bewusstsein der christlichen Glaubens angestrebt, sondern im Gegenteil die Bewusstmachung der Gemeinsamkeiten und der Unterschiede, die allerdings durch einen grundsätzlich bei allen Beteiligten nachweisbaren Impetus bestimmt sind: Die kritische Dimension des religiösen Glaubens zu erschließen, mit welchen Motiven auch immer. Daher lautet die leitende These der vorliegenden Untersuchung wie folgt: Die christliche Theologie ist geradezu als Einheit von gläubigen und kritischen Funktionen des Bewusstseins, die sich gegenseitig bestimmen und beeinflussen, zu verstehen. Kritische Funktion ohne Glaubensbezug verfällt einer bodenlosen und polemischen Kritikasterei...

This thesis examines the work of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Indonesia. In describing the inner workings of MCC it draws on a diverse range of historical and contemporary sources as well twenty-two months of ethnographic field research. The argument focuses on two themes. First, it explores the ways in which the practices of MCC are informed by the Anabaptist-Mennonite Christian religious tradition in North America. The influences of Mennonite vernacular theologies, identities and practices are far-reaching. Particularly important is the idea of service, which constitutes a distinctive Mennonite paradigm of development. Second, the thesis analyses processes of translation. MCC is an interstitial organisation located between different socio-cultural milieux. The factors propelling North American Mennonite donor participation in MCC must be translated into Indonesian contexts. Because translation involves both transference and transforma tion, MCC's work is dynamic and unpredictable. Therefore, while Mennonite religion is deeply influential, actual practice in Indonesia involves collaborations with a range of actors who come from different positions. In exploring the practices of translation in MCC the thesis pays attention to the place of individuals and relationships. In doing so...

La religión cumple un papel fundamental en la constitución de las sociedades y, por ende, de las comunidades políticas. El propósito de este trabajo es estudiar el tipo de prácticas y creencias más recurrentes en la congregación religiosa Misión Carismática Internacional y la manera en que estas influyen en el proceso de toma de decisiones electorales de sus feligreses. Con el fin de aportar a la comprensión de la relación entre religión y política, a partir del caso se explica hasta qué punto la religión es soporte de la actividad política.; Religion plays a fundamental role in the constitution of societies and political communities. The purpose of this paper is to study the types of practices and beliefs more usual in the colombian christian-evangelic congregation Mision Carismatica Internacional and how these religious habits affect the process of making electoral decisions of their parishioners. In order to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between religion and politics, the paper also explains how far religion as collective experience is a solid ground where political activities can be builded.

En el ámbito empresarial, durante mucho tiempo y aún en la actualidad, la religión se ha visto como un tema aparte. Sin embargo, la literatura del desarrollo empresarial colombiano muestra que en los inicios del siglo XX la religión tuvo una fuerte influencia tanto en los dirigentes empresariales como en la mentalidad de los empleados. No obstante, antes de entrar a discutir si existe alguna relación entre la religión que tiene el empresario y la perdurabilidad empresarial -que es el problema que se pretende resolver a través de este trabajo-, se determinó que las tres religiones a describir en cuanto a su contenido empresarial son el Catolicismo, el Protestantismo y el Judaísmo, por su aporte histórico al desarrollo empresarial de Antioquia, departamento que ha sido un gran propulsor de la economía nacional. Posteriormente, para estudiar el fenómeno religioso y su influencia en las decisiones y comportamientos del directivo, en primer lugar se hizo necesario entender el funcionamiento del ser interior a través de los modelos mentales y las ciencias que estudian el comportamiento; y en segundo lugar, describir las creencias y dogmas que las tres religiones de estudio profesan para de esta manera comprender el comportamiento histórico y actual de los empresarios del país.; CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS EMPRESARIALES PARA LA PERDURABILIDAD; At company level...

Nous entamons notre étude par l'examen de cinq justifications avancées au soutien de la liberté de religion: la tolérance, la rationalité, l'utilitarisme, le perfectionnisme et la neutralité. Ensuite, nous exposons de façon générale le droit relatif à liberté de religion tel qu'il est mis en oeuvre au Canada. Ces deux étapes préliminaires nous amènent à analyser de façon critique l'interaction entre la liberté de religion et les droits et intérêts des enfants. La thèse générale que nous développons est la suivante: lorsqu'une situation met en présence la liberté de religion ainsi que les droits et intérêts fondamentaux d'un enfant qui n'est pas assez mature et intellectuellement indépendant pour pouvoir faire des choix éclairés, nous sommes d'avis que le test de proportionnalité n'est pas appliqué par la Cour suprême et que généralement, il ne devrait pas l'être. Nous concluons que l'intérêt et les droits fondamentaux de l'enfant ont un poids prépondérant.; First, the author analyses five reasons that may be advanced to justify freedom of religion: tolerance, rationality, utilitarianism, perfectionism and neutrality. Then, the author generally sets out the mechanisms by which freedom of religion is interpreted in Canada. These two preliminary steps lead to a critical analysis of the interaction between freedom of religion and children's rights and interests. The author submits that when a legal situation involves freedom of religion and the fundamental interests or rights of children that are not capable of autonomous choices...

Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals approximate prototypes encoded in cultural models. Low cultural consonance is associated with higher psychological distress. Religion may moderate the association between cultural consonance and psychological distress. Brazil, with substantial variation in religion, is an important society for the examination of this hypothesis. Research was conducted in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, using a mixed-methods design. Measures of cultural consonance were derived using ethnographic methods and then applied in a survey of 271 individuals drawn from four distinct social strata. Low cultural consonance was associated with higher psychological distress in multiple regression analysis ( B = -.430, p < .001). Members of Pentecostal Protestant churches reported lower psychological distress independently of the effect of cultural consonance ( B = -.409, p < .05). There was no buffering effect of religion. Implications of these results for the study of religion and health are discussed.; Consonancia cultural es el grado en que individuos se acercan a prototipos codificados en modelos culturales. Consonancia cultural baja está asociada con alto nivel de trastornos psicológicos. La religión puede moderar la relación entre consonancia cultural y trastornos psicológicos. Brasil...

Objetivo:caracterizar la comprensión de los líderes y miembros de la religión católica sobre el dolor de existir.Método:80 católicos participaron en el estudio. La recogida de datos se realizó a través del Instrumento de Evaluación de Contenidos Religiosos. Se ha realizado el análisis de contenido y se calculó la media aritmética y la desviación estándar.Resultados:las siguientes categorías emergieron: tiempo de afiliación, inicio de la práctica religiosa y cambios de afiliación religiosa, responsabilidad de los actos y relación con la muerte, descripción de Dios, conciencia de la existencia de experiencias profundas, posibilidad de recompensa, aumento de la fe en la proximidad con la muerte, religión como un intento de explicar las limitaciones humanas, relación entre religión y ciencia y religión del pasado y del presente en relación a la ciencia. En el instrumento, los ítems con las asignaciones más altas fueron: creo que la naturaleza debe ser respetada (9,96±0,19); creo que todos los seres vivos merecen respeto (9,70±0,67); hacer que la vida vale la pena vivir (9,70±0,78); mi vida es un proceso de transformación (9,63±1,04) y respeto de la diversidad de las personas (9,56±0,91).Conclusión:se han notado asociaciones existentes entre las percepciones de los participantes y las construcciones religiosas...

The objective of this exploratory study was to identify how religion influences the survival of a group of cancer patients. The study consisted of an ethnographic case with the participation of six laryngectomized male and female patients between 51 and 72 years old, who had been operated on two to five years earlier. Data were collected by semistructured interviews and analyzed on the basis of the concepts of culture and religion. The results were synthesized into three descriptive categories: the moral representation of cancer, religious beliefs about the cancer trajectory, and negotiation with religion for survival. These categories give rise to the meaning "the hope for a second chance", which emphasizes the importance of religion as part of the support networks that articulate with the patient's coping with the stigma of cancer, with the hope for cure, and with the ways of organizing everyday life, during survival.; La finalidad de este estudio exploratorio fue identificar cómo la religión influencia la supervivencia de un grupo de pacientes oncológicos. Consistió en un estudio de caso etnográfico con la participación de seis laringectomizados, de ambos sexos, con edad de 51 a 72 años, que habían sido operados de dos a cinco años antes. Los datos fueron recogidos por entrevistas semi-estructuradas y analizados según los conceptos de cultura y religión. Sintetizamos los resultados en tres categorias descriptivas: la representación moral del cáncer...

This thesis examines the role of religion in national-EU relations. The focus is on how EU membership (or potential membership) may affect nations of a particular religious background in a particular way and, furthermore, whether religious difference affects national-EU relations in a particular way. The study is based on an internal perspective to two countries-Greece and Turkey-whose religious traditions stand outside a 'core' of religious traditions within the European Union (that is, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism). On the basis of these two cases I argue that neither religion per se (as theology or doctrine), nor the prevalence of a particular faith are definitive factors in national-EU relations. Rather, it is mainly in the domain of institutional interests of the `church' vis-ä-vis the 'state', that we find religion influencing national-EU relations. These institutional interests are, in turn, shaped by the relationship between religion and national identity in each case, and the relationship between 'church' and 'state'. The differences in these relationships in the cases of Greece and Turkey yield vast differences in the way 'religion' affects national-EU relations. This thesis examines the role of religion in national-EU relations. The focus is on how EU membership (or potential membership) may affect nations of a particular religious background in a particular way and...

This article sprung from previous structural analyses of religion as onticity, but went somewhat further by placing more emphasis on encounters with the numinous as the core of religion, as well as on the dynamic character of religion. In doing so, this analysis methodologically transcended the limitations of a structuralist view of religion. The post-structuralist approach that was followed, assigns greater prominence to the interpretive and constructivist activities of the actors involved in religious experience. Application of this expanded view of religion to the South African Policy on Religion and Education (2003) demonstrated that the Policy caused a break between the various facets of religion education and resultantly disrupted the wholeness of religion education.

This article is about freedom of religion in South Africa before and after 1994. It is often argued that the relationship between church and state, and the resultant freedom of religion, during 1652-1994 was determined by a theocratic model of the relationship between church and state. In a theocratic model it is religion and its teachings that determine the place and role of religion in society. This article argues that it was, in fact, a Constantinian model of the relationship between state and church which determined the place and role of religion in society between 1652 and 1994. In a Constantinian model it is the governing authority's understanding and application of religion that determines the place and role of religion in society as well as the resulting degree of freedom of religion. Examples from history are used to prove the point. The second part of the article discusses freedom of religion in South Africa after 1994.

Eritrea is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religion country. The country does not have an official state religion. However, since the country's independence in 1991, the relationship between state and religion has been a troubled one. At least four religions are officially recognised by the state: Islam, of the Sunni rite; the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, part of the worldwide Coptic Orthodox Church of the eastern rite; the Eritrean Catholic Church, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic movement; and the Eritrean Evangelical Church, part of the Lutheran World Federation. There are also a number of religious beliefs which are not formally recognised by the state. Members of these religious groups practise their belief clandestinely at the risk of insurmountable levels of persecution: If caught practising their religion in whatever form, they are treated harshly. The persecution of these groups takes place mainly in the form of coerced repudiation of one's religion. This is routinely accompanied by various forms of human rights violations, such as prolonged arbitrary detention and solitary confinement, including torture. In extreme cases it also entails extrajudicial execution. In this context, freedom of religion is severely restricted in Eritrea due to the excessive levels of state intervention in matters of personal belief or creed. As such...