Numerous authors have suggested that religious belief has a positive association, possibly causal, with prosocial behavior. This article critiques evidence regarding this "religious prosociality" hypothesis from several areas of the literature. The extant literature on religious prosociality is reviewed including domains of charity, volunteering, morality, personality, and well-being. The exper...

In prior research with primarily heterosexual religious and spiritual individuals, positive and negative forms of religious coping have been posited to moderate the links between minority stressors and psychological outcomes (Kim, Kendall, & Webb, 2015; Szymanski & Obiri, 2011). With a sample of 143 sexual minority people, the present study extended these hypotheses by examining the moderating ...

This month’s issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics is a special issue devoted entirely to the ethics of infant male circumcision—an elective surgical practice that is currently performed on around a third of the world’s male population. The last time the Journal ran a symposium on this issue was in 2004, and there has been relatively scant discussion of the practice in the ethical literature s...

This article analyzes the politics of preaching in Turkey in the last decade by focusing on the appointment of women as preachers and vice-muftis by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a state institution established for the protection of secular foundations through religious service. It asks what happens when women wearing headscarves become civil servants and give religious...

Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a practice involving the removal of all or parts of the female external genitalia.It has been documented in 28 African countries and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East,but due to increasing immigration from these countries to the western world,FGM has become a worldwide human rights and health issue. Materials and Methods: This paper is ...

Information Communication and Technologies (ICTs) are vital tools that religious organizations pervasively utilize in the United States of America (USA) to shape social issues, influence social policy and participate in governance. This paper articulates the different methods of deploying ICTs by religious organizations toward social justice and human development in the USA from historical to c...

This paper explores the relationship between religion and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), with particular interest in religion’s possible influence in the development of OCD and its impact on treatment outcome. The paper begins with a review of theoretical and research literatures concerning religious involvement, research evidence linking religious involvement and physical and mental heal...

Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation volunteers and nonvolunteers.Volunteers tended t...

The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is a brief (10-item, or five-item short form version), reliable and valid self report measure assessing strength of religious faith and engagement suitable for use with multiple religious traditions, denominations, and perspectives. It has been used in medical, student, psychiatric, substance abuse, and among general populations national...