BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine religious factors associated with alcohol involvement in Mauritius. The three main religions on the island, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam, promote different views of the appropriate use of alcohol. Based on reference group theory, we hypothesized that both the content of a religion's alcohol norms and an individual's religious commitment wo...

Child stunting in India exceeds that in poorer regions like sub-Saharan Africa. Data on over 168,000 children show that, relative to Africa, India's height disadvantage increases sharply with birth order. We posit that India’s steep birth order gradient is due to favoritism toward eldest sons, which affects parents' fertility decisions and resource allocation across children. We show that, with...

There are ideas about Bhuta found in Ancient Tamil Literatures. They Fall into Three categories. Among them, natural objects (five elements) associated with Religion, the worship god Sathukka is Sramana Religions like Jainism, Bhddhism, and protective Ganam or collective Bhutas Saivism. This Article examines these three types of detail.

the early 1990s, most scientists considered consciousness taboo, but now many consider it the most important unsolved problem in science. Consciousness is also a key issue in the ongoing dialogue between science and religion. The dominant view of consciousness in the hard sciences is of course materialist and reductionist. This has had important successes, but it also has important unresolved p...