Background – last sentence; I recommend replacing the words “role of.....in acceptance or refusal of vaccination” by “...views/attitudes and practices...of...related to vaccination...” In line with the change of the title the sentence was changed into ” role in promoting acceptance...” Since the attitudes of congregation members that appointed the religious leaders included in the study, I sugg...

Acceptance and compliance with screening and genetic programs for genetic illness depends crucially on the compatibility and fit of their design with the social, cultural and religious concerns and mores of target communities. As a case in point, genetic screening programs that are currently in use within Jewish populations are considered on the background of ethical and religious concerns. Imp...

We draw on the organizational ecology tradition to frame the relationship between the religious environment of a community and local religious participation. Prior research linking religious environments to religious participation downplays a key organizational aspect of religion: the congregation. Following the organizational ecology usage of density, we argue that congregational density—the n...

BACKGROUND Patients' religious commitments and religious communities are known to influence their experiences of illness and their medical decisions. Physicians are also dynamic partners in the doctor-patient relationship, yet little is known about the religious characteristics of physicians or how physicians' religious commitments shape the clinical encounter. OBJECTIVE To provide a baseline...

BACKGROUND The national program for the prevention of Down syndrome includes screening (using the triple test) and invasive diagnostic tests in women at risk for a Down syndrome pregnancy. However, despite the program, the majority of Down syndrome infants are born alive (approximately 1/1000 live births). OBJECTIVES To determine whether the relatively high incidence of Down syndrome at birth...

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...

PURPOSE A community and faith-based intervention with elderly persons and their adult children involving religious, medical, and academic communities is described. DESIGN AND METHODS Lifestyle changes and individual and corporate forms of spirituality were affirmed using an expanded Rowe and Kahn model of successful aging. Faculty from academic, medical, state, and religious institutions pres...

Many theories of religion tend toward a naturalistic, sociological, Durkheimian framework. While these theories have pointed out important dimensions of religious experience, they risk reducing the human experience of religion to a purely social or psychological phenomenon, without taking seriously the claims of religious adherents themselves. How can we begin to work toward a unique theory of ...

Information Communication and Technologies (ICTs) are vital tools that religious organizations pervasively utilize in the United States of America (USA) to shape social issues, influence social policy and participate in governance. This paper articulates the different methods of deploying ICTs by religious organizations toward social justice and human development in the USA from historical to c...

Though Muslims have been living in Nepal from the 15th century, they have started practicingtheir religious activities freely only after enactment of new civil code in 1963. This paper aims to explore the potentials and problems on the existing mosques, perception of the religious structures by Muslim community and analysing of existing legal and institutional framework before drawing a conclus...