{"results":[{"id":"ss_770ebc30430d94883ec16bc66bcfdd1044ca715e","title":"The Future of Religion","authors":[{"name":"R. Stark"},{"name":"W. Bainbridge"}],"abstract":"Religion is alive and well in the modern world, and the social-scientific study of religion is undergoing a renaissance. For much of this century, respected social theorists predicted the death of religion as inevitable consequence of science, education, and modern economics. But they were wrong. Stark and Bainbridge set out to explain the survival of religion. Using information derived from numerous surveys, censuses, historical case studies, and ethnographic field expeditions, they chart the full sweep of contemporary religion from the traditional denominations to the most fervent cults. This wealth of information is located within a coherent theoretical framework that examines religion as a social response to human needs, both the general needs shared by all and the desires specific to those who are denied the economic rewards or prestige enjoyed by the privileged. By explaining the forms taken by religions today, Stark and Bainbridge allow us to understand its persistence in a secular age and its prospects for the future.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2023,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology"],"doi":"10.1525/9780520341340","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/770ebc30430d94883ec16bc66bcfdd1044ca715e","is_open_access":true,"citations":784,"published_at":"","score":90.52},{"id":"ss_992ee28d43080ecd2bb3737b01e23b2a65f29613","title":"The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion","authors":[{"name":"H. Lafollette"},{"name":"M. Woodruff"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2015,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology","Political Science"],"doi":"10.1080/09515089.2013.838752","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/992ee28d43080ecd2bb3737b01e23b2a65f29613","is_open_access":true,"citations":2392,"published_at":"","score":89},{"id":"ss_7306b10f9b279a89652469d3ed29695b753fd160","title":"Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications","authors":[{"name":"H. Koenig"}],"abstract":"This paper provides a concise but comprehensive review of research on religion/spirituality (R/S) and both mental health and physical health. It is based on a systematic review of original data-based quantitative research published in peer-reviewed journals between 1872 and 2010, including a few seminal articles published since 2010. First, I provide a brief historical background to set the stage. Then I review research on R/S and mental health, examining relationships with both positive and negative mental health outcomes, where positive outcomes include well-being, happiness, hope, optimism, and gratefulness, and negative outcomes involve depression, suicide, anxiety, psychosis, substance abuse, delinquency/crime, marital instability, and personality traits (positive and negative). I then explain how and why R/S might influence mental health. Next, I review research on R/S and health behaviors such as physical activity, cigarette smoking, diet, and sexual practices, followed by a review of relationships between R/S and heart disease, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, immune functions, endocrine functions, cancer, overall mortality, physical disability, pain, and somatic symptoms. I then present a theoretical model explaining how R/S might influence physical health. Finally, I discuss what health professionals should do in light of these research findings and make recommendations in this regard.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2012,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.5402/2012/278730","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7306b10f9b279a89652469d3ed29695b753fd160","pdf_url":"https://downloads.hindawi.com/archive/2012/278730.pdf","is_open_access":true,"citations":2068,"published_at":"","score":86},{"id":"ss_b9741197842d7165799df59c69bfd785b982505b","title":"The Restructuring of American Religion","authors":[{"name":"W. Bainbridge"},{"name":"Robert J. Wuthnow"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2021,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology"],"doi":"10.2307/2579175","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b9741197842d7165799df59c69bfd785b982505b","is_open_access":true,"citations":536,"published_at":"","score":81.08},{"id":"ss_ccd12caf6c292e5ebec028dc49025b2d1b801ced","title":"Handbook of Religion and Health","authors":[{"name":"S. Charles"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2001,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.5860/choice.50-0826","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ccd12caf6c292e5ebec028dc49025b2d1b801ced","is_open_access":true,"citations":3128,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_bdd32ed2f77aceb744bf2512ddc0ac56028c906a","title":"Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide","authors":[{"name":"P. Norris"},{"name":"R. Inglehart"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2004,"language":"en","subjects":["Political Science"],"doi":"10.2307/20034150","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bdd32ed2f77aceb744bf2512ddc0ac56028c906a","is_open_access":true,"citations":2518,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_b0677e486f25f1688a2d0de802b89fc7f55b7c79","title":"Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality. Implications for physical and mental health research.","authors":[{"name":"Peter C. Hill"},{"name":"K. Pargament"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2003,"language":"en","subjects":["Psychology","Medicine"],"doi":"10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.64","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b0677e486f25f1688a2d0de802b89fc7f55b7c79","is_open_access":true,"citations":1992,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_62de162e25471a945fb16a991494b6d470d0c286","title":"Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins.","authors":[{"name":"M. Barron"},{"name":"M. Gordon"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":1964,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology","History"],"doi":"10.2307/2090888","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/62de162e25471a945fb16a991494b6d470d0c286","is_open_access":true,"citations":3124,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_9d7a80e74bd4ad8ab613d1cbbcb65b21768742fd","title":"Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam","authors":[{"name":"T. Asad"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":1994,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology"],"doi":"10.2307/3712068","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9d7a80e74bd4ad8ab613d1cbbcb65b21768742fd","is_open_access":true,"citations":2422,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_63c1c120d189e24c26d7e34a380aadfc9fe8d494","title":"The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice","authors":[{"name":"A. Favazza"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":1998,"language":"en","subjects":["Psychology"],"doi":"10.1176/ajp.155.7.988","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/63c1c120d189e24c26d7e34a380aadfc9fe8d494","is_open_access":true,"citations":1794,"published_at":"","score":80},{"id":"ss_bb62a152034177835b341889043b9dbaf8a04de7","title":"Spiritual but Not Religious?: Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion","authors":[{"name":"N. Ammerman"}],"abstract":"Spirituality\" has often been framed in social science research as an alternative to organized \"religion,\" implicitly or explicitly extending theoretical arguments about the privatization of religion. This article uses in-depth qualitative data from a religiously-diverse U.S. sample to argue that this either-or distinction not only fails to capture the empirical reality of American religion, but it does not do justice to the complexity of spirituality itself. An inductive discursive analysis reveals four primary cultural \"packages,\" that is, ways in which the meaning of spirituality is constructed in conversation -a Theistic Package that ties spirituality to personal deities, an Extra-Theistic Package that locates spirituality in various naturalistic forms of transcendence, an Ethical Spirituality that focuses on everyday compassion, and a contested Belief and Belonging Spirituality tied to cultural notions of religiosity. Spirituality is, then, neither a diffuse individualized phenomenon nor a single cultural alternative to \"religion.\" Analysis of the contested evaluations of Belief and Belonging Spirituality allows a window on the \"moral boundary work\" (Lamont 1992) being done by the cultural discourse of being \"spiritual but not religious.\" The empirical boundary between spirituality and religion is far more porous than the moral and political one.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2019,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.4324/9781315177458-13","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bb62a152034177835b341889043b9dbaf8a04de7","is_open_access":true,"citations":411,"published_at":"","score":75.33},{"id":"ss_b3c2555c7d151e04fb8ffdfa9b156d2a25e5eb04","title":"Invisible Religion","authors":[{"name":"Earl D. C. Brewer"},{"name":"T. Luckmann"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2022,"language":"en","subjects":["Sociology"],"doi":"10.1163/9789004249707_vsr_com_00000010","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b3c2555c7d151e04fb8ffdfa9b156d2a25e5eb04","is_open_access":true,"citations":267,"published_at":"","score":74.00999999999999},{"id":"ss_fb7b5be1a627b97ac98e83a0045bd62bfcf8b9ec","title":"Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health? Meta-analysis of Longitudinal Studies","authors":[{"name":"B. Garssen"},{"name":"A. Visser"},{"name":"Grieteke Pool"}],"abstract":"ABSTRACT The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the longitudinal positive effect of religion or spirituality (R/S) on mental health. We summarized 48 longitudinal studies (59 independent samples) using a random effects model. Mental health was operationalized as a continuous and a dichotomous distress measure, life satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. R/S included participation in public and private religious activities, support from church members, importance of religion, intrinsic religiousness, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, and composite measures. The meta-analysis yielded a significant, but small overall effect size of r = .08 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.10). Of eight R/S predictors that were distinguished, only participation in public religious activities and importance of religion were significantly related to mental health (r = .08 and r = .09, respectively; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.11 and 0.05 to 0.12, respectively). In conclusion, there is evidence for a positive effect of R/S on mental health, but this effect is small.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2020,"language":"en","subjects":["Psychology"],"doi":"10.1080/10508619.2020.1729570","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fb7b5be1a627b97ac98e83a0045bd62bfcf8b9ec","pdf_url":"https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/120348641/Does_Spirituality_or_Religion_Positively_Affect_Mental_Health_Meta_analysis_of_Longitudinal_Studies.pdf","is_open_access":true,"citations":306,"published_at":"","score":73.18},{"id":"ss_f20ba26e23ee31dfdc7bc746055724205c5d4e94","title":"The future of religion","authors":[{"name":"Richard Rorty"},{"name":"G. Vattimo"},{"name":"S. Zabala"},{"name":"A. Gargani"},{"name":"Wendy Lochner"}],"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2021,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.1007/BF00135235","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f20ba26e23ee31dfdc7bc746055724205c5d4e94","is_open_access":true,"citations":213,"published_at":"","score":71.39},{"id":"ss_1ff2d8e411f5ab0d2d38e3ea441606c393b206a9","title":"Lived Religion","authors":null,"abstract":"","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2020,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.4135/9781529714401.n257","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1ff2d8e411f5ab0d2d38e3ea441606c393b206a9","is_open_access":true,"citations":203,"published_at":"","score":70.09},{"id":"doaj_10.55476/001c.155051","title":"“How Can We Abandon Them?” The Legacy of Pope Francis on Right-Wing Populism","authors":[{"name":"Valerio Aversano"},{"name":"Ellen Van Stichel"}],"abstract":"In recent decades, a novel right-wing nationalist and\npopulist tendency has emerged on a global scale, frequently framing\nChristian identity as one of its central pillars. This article explores the relationship between right-wing populism and Christianity, by addressing how populism considers the role of religion on the one hand, and how Christianity position itself in relation to populism on the other hand, with a specific focus on Pope Francis’s social thought Although the relationship between right-wing populism and Christianity appears to be ambivalent, the response of Pope Francis, as elaborated in the encyclical _Fratelli Tutti_, is not. In the section entitled “A Better Kind of Politics,” the distinction between the “popular” and “populist leader” is employed as a hermeneutical tool to investigate current political developments. Furthermore, it enables us to respond to the allegation that Francis himself could be considered a populist, as some claim, referring to his alleged affinities with the political culture associated with Peronism. In his interpretation of the notion of political love as delineated in _Fratelli Tutti_, Francis leaves us with a legacy regarding the ethical response of Christians to populism, promoting instead a “culture of encounter” and a “better kind of politics.”","source":"DOAJ","year":2026,"language":"","subjects":["Moral theology"],"doi":"10.55476/001c.155051","url":"https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.155051","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":70},{"id":"doaj_10.63954/qw9hfq29","title":"Women's Rights in Islam: Historical Evolution from Pre-Islamic Arabia to Modern Times","authors":[{"name":"Araj Sekh"}],"abstract":"\nWomen’s rights in Islam are often debated and frequently misunderstood due to cultural practices and selective interpretations. This paper examines the historical evolution of women’s rights in Islam from pre-Islamic Arabia to modern times. It aims to show how Islamic teachings brought significant reforms in the social, legal, and moral status of women. Before Islam, women faced severe discrimination, denial of inheritance, and lack of personal choice. Islam addressed these injustices by granting women rights to inheritance, consent in marriage, education, religious responsibility, and participation in social life. The study also highlights the important contributions of Muslim women scholars, jurists, and educators during the prophetic and medieval periods. In addition, the paper briefly discusses Muslim feminism and contrasts it with Western feminist thought to clarify key ideological differences. Based on Qur’anic teachings, Hadith, and historical evidence, the paper argues that Islam fundamentally supports dignity, justice, and equity for women. The study concludes that many contemporary challenges faced by Muslim women arise from cultural misuse of religion rather than Islamic principles themselves. Understanding Islam through authentic sources is essential for an accurate view of women’s rights.\n","source":"DOAJ","year":2026,"language":"","subjects":["Religions. Mythology. Rationalism"],"doi":"10.63954/qw9hfq29","url":"https://wajgr.com/index.php/WAJGR/article/view/17","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":70},{"id":"arxiv_2601.11436","title":"An Epidemiological Modeling Take on Religion Dynamics","authors":[{"name":"Bilge Taskin"},{"name":"Teddy Lazebnik"}],"abstract":"Religions are among the most consequential social institutions, shaping collective identities, moral norms, and political organization across societies and historical periods. Nevertheless, despite extensive scholarship describing conversion, competition, and secularization, there is still no widely adopted formal model that captures religious dynamics over time within a unified, mechanistic framework. In this study, we propose an epidemiologically grounded model of religious change in which religions spread and compete analogously to co-circulating strains. The model extends multi-strain compartmental dynamics by distinguishing passive believers, active missionaries, and religious elites, and by incorporating demographic turnover and mutation-like splitting that endogenously generates new denominations. Using computer simulations, we show that the same mechanism reproduces canonical qualitative regimes, including emergence from rarity, rapid expansion, long-run coexistence, and transient rise-and-fall movements. A reduced calibration variant fits historical affiliation trajectories with parsimonious regime shifts in effective recruitment and disaffiliation, yielding interpretable signatures of changing social conditions. Finally, sensitivity analyses map sharp regime boundaries in parameter space, indicating that modest shifts in recruitment efficacy or retention among active spreaders can qualitatively alter long-run religious landscapes. These results establish a general, interpretable framework for studying religion as a dynamical diffusion process and provide a tool for comparative inference and counterfactual analysis in sociological research.","source":"arXiv","year":2026,"language":"en","subjects":["physics.soc-ph"],"url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11436","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.11436","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"2026-01-16T16:55:56Z","score":70},{"id":"crossref_10.26034/fr.argos.2025.8217","title":"Fälle von Religion","authors":[{"name":"Stephanie Gripentrog"}],"abstract":"Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der spezifischen Rolle von psychologischen Fallgeschichten für die Verwissenschaftlichung von Religion und nimmt dafür insbesondere die Tagungsgeschichte in den Blick. Nach einigen grundsätzlichen Überlegungen zur epistemologischen Relevanz der Fallgeschichte und wissenschaftlichen Kongressen als Orte spezifischer Wissensproduktion folgt die Analyse eines Ausschnitts des Fachdiskurses der entstehenden Religionspsychologie. Hierfür werden insbesondere die ersten internationalen religionspsychologischen Kongresse der Jahre 1930 und 1931 in den Blick genommen. Gegenstand der Analyse sind hier vor allem die entsprechenden Kongressakten sowie die Bedeutung von Fallgeschichten für die Begründung der Religionspsychologie als empirischer Wissenschaft. Dabei sticht die Fallgeschichte der Therese Neumann von Konnersreuth in besonderem Maße heraus: Sie war nicht nur wissenschaftlich, sondern auch politisch von hoher Brisanz. Gegenstand des zweiten Kongresses von 1931 war vor allem die Frage nach dem „Unglauben“, mit der auf die als krisenhaft wahrgenommene religiöse Situation der Gegenwart reagiert und der ebenfalls anhand empirischer Erhebungen nachgegangen wurde. Auf beiden Kongressen zeigte sich eine Veränderung des disziplinären Selbstverständnisses: Im Interesse einer religionsapologetischen Profilierung bewegte man sich weg von früheren, als „psychologistisch“ wahrgenommenen Ansätzen.","source":"CrossRef","year":2025,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.26034/fr.argos.2025.8217","url":"https://doi.org/10.26034/fr.argos.2025.8217","pdf_url":"https://www.journal-argos.org/article/download/8217/8576","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":69},{"id":"doaj_Le+formule+magiche+medio+inglesi+del+XV+secolo+tra+convenzionalit%C3%A0+e+innovazione","title":"Le formule magiche medio inglesi del XV secolo tra convenzionalità e innovazione","authors":[{"name":"Donata Bulotta"}],"abstract":"\nThe precariousness of the health situation in England from the 14th century onwards led to the use of any curative means, whether scientific, religious or ritual-magical. In this context, healing charms were seen as accessible and practicable methods. They were often added to medical prescriptions and herbal remedies in medical or pseudo-pharmacological compilations, as they were considered an alternative form of therapy equally valid in the treatment of ailments. Many charms created during this period were a mixture of magic, religion and folklore, but some received new cultural stimulus, by incorporating original elements and symbolism from Arabic, Greek and Hebrew magical texts introduced to the island. This work will focus on a selection of 15th century healing charms. The analysis aims to demonstrate that the principles of the new occult and esoteric doctrines, circulating in the intellectual and cultural centers of the island, influenced the magical healing ritual. The study of pseudo-Solomonic texts, although strongly censored by the Church, however contributed to the creation of new textual amulets, which were used in addition to the pre-existing charms so becoming a further alternative medium in the therapeutic procedure.\n","source":"DOAJ","year":2025,"language":"","subjects":["German literature","Philology. Linguistics"],"url":"https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/filologiagermanica/article/view/2771","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":69}],"total":1014631,"page":1,"page_size":20,"sources":["CrossRef","DOAJ","arXiv","Semantic Scholar"],"query":"By religion"}