One of Eric Voegelin’s most important and widely regarded studies is about “The Political Religions”; it was written in 1938 and can be considered a document that shows an early gained conviction which permeates also his later thought. The treatise ends in an epilogue, in which Voegelin makes the following crucial statement: “The life of people in political community cannot be defined as a prof...

BACKGROUND The religious beliefs and spirituality of patients on hemodialysis (HD) therapy have not been studied extensively. Studies of the dialysis population seem to indicate that religion may be associated with increased patient satisfaction with life and increased levels of social support. METHODS Using multiple religiosity scales and scales to assess patient satisfaction with life and s...

Religion is an important element of end-of-life care on the paediatric intensive care unit with religious belief providing support for many families and for some staff. However, religious claims used by families to challenge cessation of aggressive therapies considered futile and burdensome by a wide range of medical and lay people can cause considerable problems and be very difficult to resolv...

Rarely have the geographical boundaries of religious communities coincided with the borders of states. As a result believers have often found themselves having to cross state frontiers in order to fulfill spiritual needs, while states have worked to manage the complications, and to exploit the opportunities, presented by the international dimensions of different religious traditions. In light o...

Although accumulating evidence over the past thirty years indicates that noise is an environmental stressor in residential settings, much of the data emanated from studies in high-intensity, noise impact zones around airports or major roads. Little is known about religious noise, especially at night, which is increasingly a growing concern for both the general public and policy-makers in sub-Sa...

The aim of the study was to analyse associations of religiosity and mortality in a secular region. The sample consisted of 734 Danish, community dwelling elderly persons, living in a secular culture, and all aged 70 when primary data were collected. Secondary data consisted of a 20 year follow-up on vital status or exact age of death. The study was designed to be highly comparable to studies co...

Religion and spirituality play an especially important role in the lives of older adults and may have a positive impact on their mental health. Despite historically tense relationships between religion and psychology, there has been an increase in research concerning the intersection of these topics. Specifically, the relationship between religion and coping has been a major theme. Previous res...

This study examines the effects of prolonged exposure to terrorism in 600 religious and non-religious Jewish adolescents living in Jerusalem, particularly post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, coping strategies and social support. The youth in Jerusalem reported high exposure to terrorist acts. This exposure was associated with high PTS, depressive symptoms and...

It was hypothesized that intrinsic religiousness helps to cope with increased salience of terrorism. Intrinsically religious and non-religious participants were told that it is highly probable or highly improbable, respectively, that terrorist attacks will occur in Germany. High probability of terrorism only negatively affected the mood of non-religious participants but not of intrinsically rel...