BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine religious factors associated with alcohol involvement in Mauritius. The three main religions on the island, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam, promote different views of the appropriate use of alcohol. Based on reference group theory, we hypothesized that both the content of a religion's alcohol norms and an individual's religious commitment wo...

Building on foundations from the cognitive science of religion, this chapter synthesizes theoretical insights and empirical evidence concerning the processes by which cultural evolutionary processes driven by intergroup competition may have shaped the package of beliefs, ritual, practices, and institutions that constitute modern world religions. Five different hypothesized mechanisms are presen...

As individuals are given wider latitude to openly practice and express their faith at work, it is likely that believers will spend least part of working life actively thinking about God. Yet, despite the central role belief in God plays people’s lives, research has little attention impact on task performance. The current investigates relationship between monotheistic believers’ creativity. We c...

human perfectibility may be regarded as a point in which the most dominant religions of the world meet one another. it, therefore, can be chosen as a start point for religions when taking part in dialogue. there can be found different names for human perfection and perfect man in well-known religions of the east and the west. buddha`s name for perfect man is arhat and free man, confucius` is ta...

The virome contains the most abundant and fastest mutating genetic elements on Earth. The mammalian virome is constituted of viruses that infect host cells, virus-derived elements in our chromosomes, and viruses that infect the broad array of other types of organisms that inhabit us. Virome interactions with the host cannot be encompassed by a monotheistic view of viruses as pathogens. Instead,...

Religions and languages are social variables, like age, sex, wealth or political opinions, to be studied like any other organizational parameter. In fact, religiosity is one of the most important sociological aspects of populations. Languages are also obvious characteristics of the human species. Religions, languages appear though also disappear. All religions and languages evolve and survive w...

Any student of comparative religion will notice - and seek to identify as well - the points of similarity and difference between various religions. One might even claim that the discipline of “influence studies” has its roots in these discussions of comparison and contrast. However, these discussions persistently fail to address the nuances of particular faiths. Here, I intend to shed some ligh...