This study examined the relationship between multiple dimensions of religious involvement and transitions of tobacco smoking abstinence, persistence, cessation and relapse over 9-10 years of follow-up in a national sample of adults in the United States. Using data provided at baseline and follow-up, participants were categorized as non-smokers, persistent smokers, ex-smokers, and relapsed smoke...

The economic argument for subsidizing charitable giving relies on the positive externalities of charitable activities, particularly from the religious institutions that are the largest recipients of giving. But the net external effects of subsidies to religious giving will also depend on a potentially important indirect effect as well: impacts on religious participation. Religious participation...

Religious socialization occurs within the immediate family as well as in the broader social context. Previous research has shown that parents’ religiosity matters less for the transmission of religious beliefs in devout than in secular nations, implying smaller costs of religious socialization. In this paper we test which other societal factors affect the transmission of religious beliefs: anti...

Abstract The global COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted several instances of churches violating state issued and scientifically recommended guidelines designed to keep populations healthy prevent the further spread disease. While these are minority responses orders, they nonetheless raise questions about rationality ecclesial belonging in response pandemic. In this article, I draw on work William...

The ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Israel is highly homogeneous and is virtually isolated from the surrounding secular society. Nevertheless, in recent years some openness to psychotherapy has emerged. In this paper the first author, herself a member of the ultra-orthodox community and a psychotherapist, presents a series of analyses and discussions of the major issues raised by therapy amo...

Jasmine flower belonging to Oleaceae family is cultivated in temperate places across the globe which has more than 200 species. This flower has traditional, religious, social, spiritual and medicinal benefits. It is considered as symbol of beauty, deep affection, happiness and elegance. It is the National flower of many countries. Due to its charming fragrance, it is extensively used in perfume...

Recently many people have shown great interest in traditional indigenous practices and popular medicine, involving the ingestion of natural psychotropic drugs. We received a request to analyze and determine the nature of a dark green liquid with a dark brown plant sediment, which the police had seized at an airport and inside the home of a person belonging to the 'Santo Daime' religious movemen...

This study explores how a group of British South Asians (BSA) understood, defined and evaluated languages associated with their ethnic and religious identities, focusing upon the role of language in the negotiation and construction of these identities and particularly upon strategies employed for coping with identity threat. Twelve BSA were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule...

Longitudinal data spanning early (30s) and older (late 60s/mid-70s) adulthood were used to study spiritual development across the adult life course in a sample of men and women belonging to a younger (born 1928/29) and an older (born 1920/21) age cohort. All participants, irrespective of gender and cohort, increased significantly in spirituality between late middle (mid-50s/early 60s) and older...

As Clifford Geertz remarked in his Islam Observed (1968), the idea of a ‘changing’ religion is a contradiction in terms, as religion is fundamentally concerned with what is permanent and eternal. Still, one way to come to terms with religious change is to consider the many ways that religion is interpreted, by laymen and scholars alike. Social anthropologists like myself have naturally found a ...