01: Religion is aiding second generation immigrants in assimilating to American society, though sometimes in ways that lead them away from upward mobility, said Alejandro Portes, a prominent Princeton University scholar of immigration.
Portes presented findings from a study of second generation Americans in the cities of Miami and San Diego at the August meeting of the Association of the Sociology of Religion. Both religious affiliation and attendance of the second generation tended to lower the rate of what is called “downward assimilation,” meaning involvement in unproductive or risky behaviors such as unemployment and crime.
Those who attended congregations just on a monthly basis showed a lower incidence of of downward assimilation than non-attenders. This effect was most closely seen in the major religions of Catholicism and Protestantism rather than in alternative religions, according to Portes. Ironically, religion could also be “reactive” and assist downward assimilation. Those converting to a religious group and attending several times a week showed the highest rate of downward assimilation. This may be because such a disruptive break upsets family and neighborhood ties necessary for upward assimilation.
02: Anti-Catholicism remains a persistent prejudice among Americans, according to sociologist Andrew Greeley.
In analyzing the 2004 General Social Survey data that included new questions that sought to measure anti-Catholic attitudes, Greeley found the view that “Catholics can’t think for themselves” as particularly persisting among many Americans of different religions and educational levels. Only 37 percent disagreed with the statement that Catholics can’t think for themselves and only one-third dismissed the charge that Catholic rosaries and holy medals are superstitious.
Southerners and conservative Christians were the least likely to reject the statement about the rosary being superstitious. Greeley found that one-third of conservative Protestants reject the assertion that Catholics cannot think for themselves, as do two-fifths of mainline Protestants, according to an article in Commonweal (Sept. 9). A similar pattern was found on the rosary statement. Pentecostals were the most inclined to accept anti-Catholic stereotypes, according to Greeley.
But even among those with graduate degrees, only 40 percent dismissed the statement that Catholics can’t think for themselves or that rosaries are superstitious. Greeley speculated that there may be a correlation between anti-Catholic views and prejudice against other races and homosexuals.
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03: A new survey of secularism and religiosity on American college campuses finds that small private schools are usually the most secular while some state universities even outpace formally church-affiliated schools in religious activity.
The Princeton Review survey of college students on their own schools found that Reed College in Oregon was viewed as the most secular college in the country while Brigham Young University was rated the most religious. Along with BYU, Wheaton and Grove City colleges and Notre Dame and Samford universities were the top five religious schools.
Following Reed in secularity was Bard College, the New School’s Eugene Lang College, Hampshire College, and Lewis & Clark College. Touchstone magazine (October) notes that all of the schools on the least religious list were colleges, with almost all of them private, while several public universities made the most religious list. The magazine concludes that the survey has its limits; evangelical Calvin College was rated less religious than Texas A&M University.
(Touchstone, P.O. Box 410788, Chicago, IL 60641)
04: The spread of HIV-AIDS may be following a similar pattern in Muslim-majority countries as it has in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by the National Bureau of Asian Research, found that, aside from Bangladesh and Iran, few Muslim nations have mounted a significant public health campaign to combat AIDS, “in part because authorities assume that few Muslims engage in behaviors such as premarital sex, homosexuality, prostitution and drug use.”
Even in Iran, like other Islamic societies, there are few records kept as to the numbers of commercial sex workers from whom the disease is largely spread. In some nations, Muslim leaders have boycotted or condemned Western programs on AIDS prevention, believing that their advocacy of condoms would only spread promiscuity. Authors Nicholas Eberstadt and Laura Kelley find that similar opposition to AIDS prevention programs by Muslim leaders in Muslim sub-Saharan Africa occurred during the start of the disease’s epidemic in that region in the 1990s.
(For further information on this study: http://www.aei.org/docLib/20050608_eberstadtNBRreport.pdf)