Atheists are often portrayed in the media and elsewhere as angry individuals. Although atheists disagree with the pillar of many religions, namely the existence of a God, it may not necessarily be the case that they are angry individuals. The prevalence and accuracy of angry-atheist perceptions were examined in 7 studies with 1,677 participants from multiple institutions and locations in the Un...

This is a descriptive study using a qualitative approach. The purpose was to analyze women’s perception about female vulnerability to acquire STD/HVIV. The study took place in 2006 at a university campus in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Interviews were carried out with 12 women, older than 18 years, of different educational levels, ethnic origins and religions. The women were students, technical-...

Current measures of religious coping are generally etic in nature, measuring constructs across religions. Emic variables (i.e., those specific to particular religions) often left out, which limits our ability assess religious/spiritual during times stress and adversity. Here we provide findings from three studies conducted develop test an emic Christian meaning-making method: identifying with C...

According to the Religious Openness Hypothesis, the religious and psychological openness of American Christians is obscured by a defensive ghettoization of thought associated with a Religious Fundamentalist Ideological Surround and can be discovered instead within a Biblical Foundationalist Ideological Surround. A test of this claim examined Religious Fundamentalism, Biblical Foundationalism, Q...

This paper examines the concept of “diversity” as mentioned in the Qur’an and how commonalities in diverse religions may be used as a model for civilizational dialogue towards achieving harmony. This study reveals that religious and cultural diversity are laws of nature which cannot be changed while the concept of “identity” is a contested issue in modern discourse. Results also show that peace...

Religions are organized in a variety of ways. They may resemble an elected autocracy, a parliamentary democracy, or something akin to a monarchy, where heredity plays a primary role. This variation allows for a comparative study of their organization. These differing power arrangements call for different types of strategic behavior in the fight for control over church doctrine and finance. And ...

Abstract Religions use linguistic and non-linguistic codes of meaning to express their contents: natural tongues, music, sculpture, poetry, rituals, practices... Also, religions provide the semantic context rules produce, validate, interpret expressions: as such, can be considered languages. The Sophia Special Issue ‘Religions Languages: A Polyphony Faiths’ explores multifaceted relationships w...

the overall aim of this paper is to highlight a transcendental usage of the religion of islamin the qur’an. i will show that the notion of islamas a unitary religion is used in the qur’an as a genus for religions (adyan) which have appeared throughout human history. this usage will show that there is a sense of religion which guarantees the essential unity of all religions and prepares us to un...

Some scholars include changes in spirituality, such as a greater commitment to their religious beliefs or an enhanced understanding of spiritual matters, in the definition of posttraumatic growth; others conclude that questions of spirituality should be excluded from this definition. This article highlights the fundamental difference of religion to other domains of posttraumatic growth because ...