01: The conflict between religion and science in the U.S. is often portrayed as being between conservative believers and secular Americans but a recent study finds that a “post-secular” camp who tend to view both science and religion favorably.
The study, conducted by Timothy L. O’Brien and Shiri Noy and published in the American Sociological Review (80:1), is based on an analysis of General Social Survey data. O’Brien and Noy find that 43 percent of Americans hold the “traditional” perspective that prefers religious explanations of the world over scientific ones, 36 percent hold to a “modern” perspective, preferring scientific explanations, and 21 percent adhere to what the researchers call the post-secular position which, while favoring both perspectives, will side with religion when faced with competing accounts of events, such as creation versus evolution.
This third perspective “is consistent with recent findings that many religious individuals are scientifically literate yet prefer some religious explanations to scientific ones,” they write. The researchers find that perspectives on science are less based on denominational, ideological, and sociodemographic differences and are more related to cultural and religious values, especially for the post-secular camp. These cultural perspectives tend to shape political positions relating to science, particularly “life” issues, such as abortion and stem cell research.
(American Sociological Review, http://www.asanet.org/journals/asr/american_sociological_review.cfm)
02: Russian-American Jewish young adults have been considered the most secular of American Jews, but a recent study suggests that Jewish education and exposure to Jewish culture in Europe and Israel significantly increases religious identity and involvement within this group.
Previous research has found that young American Jews participating in educational programs involving study trips to Israel, such as the Birthright program, show more attachment to Judaism and Israel. But the new study, conducted by the Research Institute for New Americans, specifically looked at graduates of the Russian American Jewish Experience (RAJE), a Brooklyn-based program offering free trips to Israel and Europe for 18 to 30-year-olds who have completed a semester of classes on various Jewish subjects.
The Jewish Week (Jan. 7) reports that the study, conducted among 300 respondents who were selected randomly from 2, 240 alumni, are far more likely than their peers to study and practice Judaism, volunteer for a Jewish organization, and marry a Jewish spouse. Of the 35 percent of RAJE alumni who married after completing the program, 94 percent married a Jewish spouse—a much higher rate than Birthright alumni overall (72 percent) and non-Orthodox Jews (40 percent or lower).
The study also found that 73 percent of RAJE alumni had taken part in Jewish organizations and 71 percent attended Sabbath dinners.
03: Atheists, especially those who are involved in and lead organized secularist groups, have been shown to be largely male, white and middle-aged or older, but that pattern is changing, according to a study by British sociologists Christopher Hassall and Ian Bushfield.
In the online journal Secularism & Nonreligion (3:7), the authors analyze trends in diversity found in 48 atheist conferences among 630 speakers from 2003-2014 and find that while white men still dominate in the movement, there has been a growing proportion of non-white and female speakers. This may be because there have been direct attempts to diversify atheist ranks, although it also may reflect generational shifts in the demographics of the secularist community.
The authors also see strong parallels between the growing representations of minorities in academic disciplines and how this was changed by deliberate attempts to broaden diversity and similar efforts of change in the atheist movement.
(Secularism & Nonreligion, http://www.secularismandnonreligion.org/article/view/snr.as)
04: According to data released by the Mufti Council of Russia, there are currently around 20 million Muslims in Russia, with 2 million of them living in the city of Moscow, 650,000 more in the Moscow area and 750,000 in St. Petersburg and its area, reports Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West (January).
According to the same Muslim sources, the number of mosques has grown at a rapid pace since the end of the communist system; there were some 100 mosques in all of Russia in the 1980s, and there are now more than 7,000. However, before the communist era, there had been twice as many mosques. While the number of new mosques signals a revival of Islam in Russia, worship places have not yet adjusted to significant movements of the population (i.e. migrants from Muslim areas of the former Soviet Union settling in cities in the European part of Russia as well as Siberia).
This means that there are not enough mosques available in large cities, especially in the Western and Southern areas of Russia. Moreover, there is resistance by local authorities and people against the building of mosques in some areas, especially in Central and Northwestern Russia.
(Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West, Birmensdorferstr. 52, P.O. Box 9329, 8036 Zurich, Switzerland – http://www.g2w.eu)
05: The growth of Christianity in China and the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy may be related, according to recent research.
The study, conducted by economists Qunyong Wang and Xinyu Lin and appeared in the China Economic Review, finds that the areas where Christian congregations and institutions are prevalent, there is also a pattern of robust economic growth. Using provincial data from 2001-2011, the researchers looked at the effect of religious beliefs on economic growth.
Wang and Lin note that Christian congregations and institutions account for 16.8 percent of all religious institutions, which is three times larger than the share of Christians in the general population. In citing the study in an article on the website of First Things magazine (Jan. 5) (December), Brian Grim writes that the findings may show how religious institutions may generate economic benefits through their direct spending for goods, services and salaries. They may also have a “halo effect,” fostering networks as well as serving as centers of cultural, ethical, spiritual and even recreational activity.
Wang and Lin add that Chinese Christianity’s social doctrines, emphasizing human as well as economic development, may be at work, as well as the teaching that the Christian is accountable to God and fellow believers can result in legal and rational investment behavior rather than illegal or reckless speculation. Grim argues that the impact of Christianity identified by this study might even reinforce the economic impact of Confucianism. Wang and Lin also find positive, although inconsistent, economic effects from other Chinese religions including Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.
Grim concludes that China might have to reconsider its strict regulations on all religions just as it has de-regulated its economy, if the Chinese economic miracle is to remain vital in the decades to come.
06: Meanwhile, Buddhism may have its own effect on illegitimate business practices, according to research in the Journal of Business Ethics (125:2).
A study by finance and management professor Du Xingqiang looked at the relation of religion on the practice of “tunneling,” an illegal business practice in which a majority shareholder or high level company insider directs company assets or future business to themselves for personal gain. Using a sample of 10,170 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market for the period of 2001-2010, Xingqiang examined whether and how Buddhism, can mitigate tunneling. He used firm-level Buddhism data, measuring the number of Buddhist monasteries within a certain radius around Chinese listed firms’ registered addresses.
He argues that this study provides strong evidence that Buddhist intensity is significantly negatively associated with tunneling. This finding is consistent with the view that Buddhism has important influence on corporate behavior, and can serve as a set of social norms or an alternative mechanism to mitigate controlling shareholders’ unethical tunneling behavior.
Xingqiang also tested the effect of Taoism on tunneling but found no such relationship, though he did find that the effects of Confucian philosophy and “culture” (measured by the presence of Confucian and cultural centers) decreased the activity. The researcher concludes that his findings suggest, “some informal institutions such as Buddhism can serve as an alternative monitoring role in emerging markets like China where formal systems are incomplete.”
(First Things, http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/01/what-christian-contributes-to-c…; Journal of Business Ethics, http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal/10551 )