New research conducted in the U.S., Poland, and Iran shows that certain types of religiosity actually decrease prejudice against members of other religions. What's more, Iranian Muslims who are the most committed to Islam are the least hostile toward Christians. Read more
Does increased modernity and economic development really lead to a decline in religion? Political scientists Ron Inglehart and Christian Welzel think that the answer is complicated, and it has to do with existential security. Read more
Interested in higher education’s real effect on religion, sociologist Jonathan Hill (Calvin College) found that it mildly increases skepticism toward super-empirical beliefs, decreases adherence to exclusivism, and increases preference for institutionalized religion. Read more
A new research study from Oxford University shows that rituals associated with different cultural settings have unique effects on group bonding and on memory. This matters for our understanding of group bonding dynamics even in non-religious settings, such as contemporary urban gangs. Read more
Connor Wood From religion blogs to blockbuster academic books, debates and conversations on religion are plentiful in today’s world. But if one digs deeply into the mass-media conversation about religion, something becomes apparent: people are just not understanding each other. Writers and thinkers constantly express bafflement at their ideological opponents’ outlandish views. Pundits seem to talk right past each other. A research paper from the late 1990s may give us a hint as to why – around the world, progressives... Read more
What’s the evolutionary purpose of atheists? Political scientist Dominic Johnson suggests no less than 10 possible hypotheses. Read more
New research from Butler University correlates religious practice with greater stores of self-regulation, suggesting that religious practitioners may more persistent in the face of some challenges. Read more
Religions can be profoundly sexually repressive. Why is this? New research from Mali offers a surprising suggestion: so that fathers can be sure they're raising their own children. Read more
People have an inalienable right to their bodies, right? Well, sort of. This author thinks that the individualism in our culture is an historical anomaly, and that our Lockean heritage – while a powerful mainstay of our own secular culture – is keeping us from understanding why religious cultures include rituals like circumcision. Read more
Why does religion matter? New research from the Netherlands argues that it matters more than we think: what religion you are can measurably affect how you perceive things. Read more
Science On Religion
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