Although it is widely assumed that religiosity plays an important role in individuals' attitudes about death, research to date has failed to reveal consistent associations between religiosity and death attitudes. Drawing from D. M. Wulff's (1991) multidimensional model of religiosity, the authors examined associations between religious attitudes as measured by the Post-Critical Belief Scale and...

In this short response, we selectively address some of the key issues and criticisms raised by our esteemed commenters. First, we clarify our standpoint vis à vis “biological” arguments, underscoring that our article is not to be read as hostile to all forms of explanations that incorporate biology into the explanation of religious behavior and belief, but only against those explanations that a...

Naturalism and humanism have long histories in China, side-by-side with a long history of theistic belief. In this paper I will first sketch the early naturalistic and humanistic traditions in Chinese thought. I will then focus on the synthesis of these perspectives in Neo-Confucian religious thought. I will argue that these forms of non-theistic belief should be considered aspects of Chinese r...

PURPOSE The present study aims to examine the association between religious involvement and mental disorder (anxiety disorder, mood disorder, alcohol use disorder) in a general Chinese population, and explore connections between religious belief and mental disorders in the Hui and Han ethnic groups. METHOD Data were examined from a representative sample of 2,770 community-dwelling adults in t...

The cognitive science of religion integrates insights from diverse scientific disciplines to explain how people acquire, represent and transmit religious concepts. This perspective has led to a fruitful research program on the naturalistic origins of religion. However, it has thus far not directly addressed a key component of religion: faith or committed belief. The present review proposes a fr...

This is a study of risk perception in relation to New Age (NA) beliefs, including traditional folk superstition and belief in paranormal phenomena, as well as use of alternative healing practices. Data were also obtained on trust dimensions and on personality and psychopathology variables, as well as religious involvement. It was found that four factors accounted for the investigated NA beliefs...

Previous research on religion and helping has left some questions unanswered. In the present study, participants expressed willingness to help groups of people in need (homeless people and illegal immigrants), and this after having been religiously versus non-religiously stimulated. The activation of religious context increased the willingness to help, but only the homeless. Orthodox religious ...

Many studies have examined the influence on sexual attitudes and behavior of religious belief (i.e., religious denomination) or religiosity (e.g., attendance at services, subjective importance of religion). However, few studies have examined the combined effects of religion and religiosity on sexual attitudes and behavior. This study examined such effects in a representative sample of 19,307 Au...

objectives: the present research is aimed at surveying the role of (internal and external) religious orientation in the mental health and the extent of depression in elderly people residing in welfare centers and the society. methods: the study has been conducted through post-event and correlation method by using stochastic and cluster sampling in 230 cases of elderly people at senior citizens`...

BACKGROUND Religious participation or belief may predict better mental health but most research is American and measures of spirituality are often conflated with well-being. AIMS To examine associations between a spiritual or religious understanding of life and psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses. METHOD We analysed data collected from interviews with 7403 people who participated in the thir...