Psychology of Religion

Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

This paper includes the "Possibility Implications" of the Kantian, Machiavellian, and Nietzschean Ethical Standards.

Immortality of the Soul as an Intuitive Idea

by Vera Pereira

Co-authored with Luís Faísca and Rodrigo Sá-Saraiva
Published in Journal of Cognition and Culture

'Sense of presence' experiences in bereavement and their relationship to mental health: A critical examination of a continuing controversy

by Edith Steffen

A book chapter co-authored with Adrian Coyle. Published in 2012 in C. Murray (Ed.). Mental Health and Anomalous Experience. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 33-56.

ABSTRACT

The experience of sensing the presence of the deceased is a common occurrence following... more ABSTRACT

The experience of sensing the presence of the deceased is a common occurrence following bereavement. Although this experience tends to be reported as positive and meaningful by perceivers, for most of the twentieth century it has been described in pathologising terms in the bereavement literature. Recent decades have seen the publication of numerous studies that point to the normality of this experience and its potential benefits for the bereaved perceivers’ wellbeing. However, there is an ongoing debate within bereavement scholarship regarding the nature and healthiness of this experience. This chapter critically examines the extant literature concerning ‘sense of presence’ experiences and draws attention to the diversity of definitions and conceptualisations within which this experience can be interpreted. Research from a variety of perspectives, including attachment theory and the continuing bonds perspective, is discussed and emerging evidence is reported which suggests that those who can make sense of their experience within culturally-sanctioned (spiritual) conceptual frameworks enjoy greater benefits as a result. The discussion then focuses on meaning-making concerns with regard to this phenomenon and concludes with relevant practice recommendations.

VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MONOTHEIST CONTEXTS

by Kevin Reimer

Sel PsychRel Education in India

by Sahaya G. Selvam

Positive Psychology as a theoretical framework for studying and learning about religion from the perspective of psychology

by Sahaya G. Selvam

Mortality salience and religion: divergent effects on the defense of cultural worldviews for the religious and the non-religious

by Ilan Dar-Nimrod

Norenzayan, A., Dar-Nimrod, I., Hansen, I. G., & Proulx, T. (2009). Mortality Salience and Religion: Divergent Effects on the Defense of Cultural Values for the Religious and the Non-Religious. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 101-113.

More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

These implications are: moral, epistemology, love, happiness, time and space, psychological, art, education, medical, economic, war, capital punishment, and abortion.

"Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" includes additional categories.

The Died-Again Christian Syndrome among fundamentalist Old Testament students in South Africa

by Jaco Gericke

An early now curiously strange personal attempt at describing the loss of faith as a ex-fundamentalist student of the Old Testament in South Africa.

Limit Conditions in an Encounter of Theology with Neuroscience

by Andrew Irvine

Predicting Atheism: A Test of the Defective Father Hypothesis

by Joseph Langston

Post-hoc controls for age, race, and gender do not render the analysis results significant or substantial.

OBJECTIVE:  To examine relationship between presence/absence of father in childhood or male figure in adolescence... more OBJECTIVE:  To examine relationship between presence/absence of father in childhood or male figure in adolescence and belief/non-belief in God.  Variable of image of God as masculine/feminine was added to assess its potential as a moderator.  Those with absent fathers were hypothesized to evince greater rate of non-belief.

METHODS:  Using secondary data analysis, a path analysis was employed, constituted by two linear regression analyses, to examine data from the 2008 GSS Cross-Section version 2 (N = 2,023).

RESULTS:  Hypothesis was unconfirmed.  No relationships were found to have significance at the .001 level.  Neither linear regression analysis met a .30 threshold for association (LRA 1, R = .09; LRA 2, R = .06) or .001 threshold for significance.  Results were nevertheless generalizable from sample to population due to the large number of cases.

DISCUSSION:  Future research should seek to obtain samples where believers and non-believers are more equally represented.  Inclusion of attachment scales, dynamic religiosity measures, and control and additional variables are recommended.  Results are discussed in light of attachment theory.

Foubert, J.D. Watson, A., Brosi, M.W., & Fuqua, D.R. (in press). Explaining the wind: How self identified born again Christians define what born again means to them. Journal of Psychology and Christianity.

by John Foubert

Christian students on college campuses form a large proportion of the student body on many campuses, and consequently,... more Christian students on college campuses form a large proportion of the student body on many campuses, and consequently, they are an important influence, collectively, on the existential dialogue occurring on university campuses. However it is understood, regeneration is a fundamental and central element of the life and belief system of Christian students. Some college students who identify as Christian also define themselves as born again, yet a multiplicity of understandings of this concept appears to exist. The present study sought to investigate how self-identified, born again Christian students define the term “born again,” how they come to know that they are born again, and how they experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in their personal lives. Due to the exploratory, phenomenological nature of the research questions, we chose a qualitative, interview-based method. Specifically, 18 self-identified born again Christians were interviewed. Five types of responses regarding how they defined what it meant to be born again were uncovered and discussed.

Más allá del bien y del mal: la Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios en el Uruguay.

by L. Nicolás Guigou

Autores: L. Nicolás Guigou y Yamila Rovitto

Más allá del bien  y del mal: la Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios en el Uruguay.
L. Nicolás Guigou y... more Más allá del bien  y del mal: la Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios en el Uruguay.
L. Nicolás Guigou y Yamila Rovitto
En: Roger Geymonat (Comp.) Las religiones en el Uruguay. Montevideo: La Gotera, 2004.

Religión, memorias y mitos.Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.

by L. Nicolás Guigou

Religión, memoria y mitos. Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.
Religión, memoria y mitos. Las artes de narrar en la construcción de identidades.
En: Anuario de Antropología Social. Montevideo: DAS-NORDAN, 2008. ISSN: 1510-3846

En la presente investigación se ha procurado unificar diversos ejes relacionados
con un conjunto de... more En la presente investigación se ha procurado unificar diversos ejes relacionados
con un conjunto de tematizaciones de interés antropológico,
intentando ahondar en la esfera de lo religioso en tanto eje
de construcción identitaria, a través de la indagación de las
mitologías, memorias y narrativas posibles en el marco de la
memoria colectiva y social de un grupo específico: la comunidad
rural denominada San Javier (Departamento de Río Negro,
Uruguay). La matriz religiosa de esta Colonia se afinca en su
propio proceso fundacional: San Javier fue fundado en el año
1913, en el Uruguay, por un grupo de inmigrantes rusos pertenecientes
a la “Comunidad Nueva Israel” (Novo Israilskaia
Obchina), corriente religiosa escindida de la Iglesia Ortodoxa
Rusa a mediados del siglo XVIII. En el presente artículo refiero
a la profundización en las narrativas de los habitantes de San
Javier, estudiando las diferentes temporalidades que atraviesan
a las mismas y las fragmentaciones espacio-temporales sobre
las cuales estas narrativas se construyen.

The Language of the Soul

by Author Sam Oliver

Soul Communication: This paper is on my blog link of my website.

It has been said that “our hearts will not rest until we rest in thee.” This is our journey in life. It is our journey... more It has been said that “our hearts will not rest until we rest in thee.” This is our journey in life. It is our journey home. It is the journey into the spacial quality of existence that brought us into this world. It is the journey of what is leading us through this life. And, it is the journey back to where it all began.

Through the years, we accumulate a series of experiences. Our tendency is to evaluate and simply reflect on what we have been through and what we have learned. This inward site into what we can no longer see with our eyes allows us to see through them, and into, our soul.

The landscape of the soul creates a movement and a synchronistic pattern between our heart and our mind through the inner visions of our soul. When the heart and imagination join forces to look back or look forward, we are deepening our awareness of who we really are. This deepening of who we really are is our soul.

It has been said that “our hearts will not rest until we rest in thee.” This is our journey in life. It is our journey home. It is the journey into the spacial quality of existence that brought us into this world. It is the journey of what is leading us through this life. And, it is the journey back to where it all began.

One could say that the infant and the elderly are more soul than body. As you and I develop our personality and ego, we begin to think we are somebody. Ram Dass calls this “somebody training.” We begin to think we are real and act on this appearance of being as we move into adulthood. When we mature, we go back into what Ram Dass has called “nobody training.”

We spend a great deal of time learning to develop independence from infancy only to lose it again as we die. It is the journey from innocence to grace. The human expression is a journey with many ups and downs. What keeps us on tract and often sane in an insane world is the “landscape of the soul.” The landscape of the soul gives us strength to do the impossible and give us hope when there is none.

Even though all parts of the self needs to be embraced with scrutiny and unconditional love, there is something inside us perfecting our true nature. Our authentic self knows we are growing through life and simply going through life at the same time. This delicate balance between these two forces of nature enables us to stay on our path. In so doing, we learn to trust in our soul and find direction there when direction in life is not present.

When darkness turns to day, the sun moves over the horizon and touches everything in sight. This movement across the landscape brightens everything. Such an illumination awakens us all. We rise with energy moving in and through us allowing us to create a new day. It is a day unique from all the rest and creatively woven into our soul.

This is the landscape of our soul. As you can see, nature has a way of showing us just how powerful we are. The same power that created the moon and the stars and the movement of all space and time lies within the human heart.

Human beings are fortunate to be able to be aware of our awareness. This awareness gives us an opportunity to reflect on our soul and find blessing in being alive. Our consciousness of a creative force inside us guiding us into this world, through it, and eventually to our eternal home allows us to fulfill a purpose on this earth.

Such a purpose is beyond our own ability to really know. Yet, we can open our heart enough to allow our purpose to find us. This is done by recognizing that the things in life that really matter ARE the things in life that isn’t matter.

Yes, it is our soul’s longing to fulfill the purpose for which we came to earth for. No one really knows how a baby is conceived totally. Science and human understanding still hasn’t been able to fully comprehend such a force of nature. We can only embrace what is beyond us and find a way to bring into being forces of nature such as a tiny child.

When a child is born, we are in awe. The miracle of birth creates something inside us all. It is the remembrance that life does not come from us. Instead, life comes through us. As such, we are living in a dream come true . All of us are probably living our soul’s purpose more than we know, and even, can know. It is the mystery of all mysteries.

This does not explain why some of us find peace and other’s find pain. But, such a philosophy will enable us all to find grace in knowing our lives create what we all are a part of. An understanding of such grace gives every one of us a chance to find mercy and grace and the same unconditional love we came into the world with when we were born.

Sam Oliver

Separating the “sinner” from the “sin”: Religious orientation and prejudiced behavior toward sexual orientation and promiscuous sex

by Jo-Ann Tsang

The relationship between religious orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and implicit attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.

by Jo-Ann Tsang

Psychometric and rationalization accounts for the religion-forgiveness discrepancy.

by Jo-Ann Tsang

Co-authored with Michael McCullough and William Hoyt

An Experimental Test of the Relationship Between Religion and Gratitude

by Jo-Ann Tsang

Co-Authored with Ashleigh Schulwitz and Robert Carlisle. Published online in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality in 2011.

Although gratitude is an important component of religion, very little research exists on the relationship between... more Although gratitude is an important component of religion, very little research exists on the relationship between religion and gratitude. Most research is correlational and relies on self-report measures. We addressed these limitations by experimentally manipulating
religious salience and by including a behavioral measure of gratitude. We examined the relationship between religion and two forms of gratitude: (a) grateful reactions to a specific, standardized favor, and (b) self-reported grateful personality. Eighty-one female undergraduate students received a religious or neutral prime, and then received a positive outcome ostensibly from another participant or from random chance. Results demonstrated that intrinsic religiousness was positively associated with grateful disposition
but not with self-report or behavioral gratitude for the specific favor. Intrinsic religion was also positively associated with self-reported motivation to express appreciation, but only in the presence of a religious prime and in the absence of a favor. The religious prime had a marginal main effect, facilitating prosocial behaviors but not
gratitude. These results provide important qualifications for the positive relationship between religion and gratitude reported in previous research.

Dancing with Angels

by Author Sam Oliver

Angels

Throughout history, angels have been known as guiding spirits. They have been called "Messengers of God."... more Throughout history, angels have been known as guiding spirits. They have been called "Messengers of God." Angels have been seen as encouraging souls whose purpose is to lead us through transformative events in our lives.

Often, these guiding spirits are embraced so that a sense of comfort can be felt in the midst of despair. A dying patient and family members who believe in the presence of angels report feeling blessed by God.

Angels are extensions of God's consciousness to most traditional religions. They come to us in various ways, shapes, sizes, and expressions. What a person believes to be true is true for that person.

When a person is dying, we can work with their angels in the following ways:

1. Believe the Patient.

Spiritual creativity is often the only level of independence that a dying person has at the end of life.

2. Encourage Inner Exploration.

If given enough time and a nonjudgmental attitude, dying patients feel more and more comfortable with those who care for them and begin to share the inner dynamics of their life with those around them.

A nonjudgmental sharing of lives creates a pathway into inner exploration. As such, a sense of safety is felt and the journey into the depths of one's soul is encouraged.

3. Allow the Patients to follow their Soul.

When we trust in the Wisdom that created our dying patient's life, we are trusting in the Wisdom that created all living things.

When a dying patient begins to trust you as his or her caregiver, you become a midwife, a fellow soul, an angel on a person's path of dying into life. As a patient is dying, he or she generally becomes more soul than body.

As a person let's go of his or her identification with physical matter, what really begins to matter are the things in life that isn't matter. The relationship created between you and a patient in this kind of transformative experience of dying connects us to the eternal realm. Here, we are invited to dance with the angels.

Sam Oliver