{"title":"Toward Multiscalar Analyses of Religions","authors":"Dominic Wilkins","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12953","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12953","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The scholarly study of religion has experienced substantial change over the past quarter-century. Central among these was recognizing religions as existing within and shaped by spatial relations—a.k.a. religious studies’ “spatial turn.” Engaging geographic theory offered several benefits, particularly concerning interreligious conflicts, religions and secularisms, and religions’ intersections with other, seemingly divorced facets of lives and livelihoods. Yet religion's spatial turn remains incomplete. One striking omission is that of scale. A nuanced concept central to understanding spatialities and their relations, geographers have recently centered on scale and multiscalar relations when theorizing spatialities. Greater engagement with scale and especially multiscalarity would similarly benefit the scholarly study of religion.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"240-250"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144245116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religious Exit Costs","authors":"Jared Bok","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12963","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Although much research has been conducted on religious exits, most of it focuses on the characteristics of those who have left, the factors prompting them to leave, or the issues they face in their new lives, with little systematic theorizing about the forms and roles of religious exit costs—that is, the penalties religious adherents pay or anticipate paying should they leave their respective religious groups. In this article, I aim to fill this gap by providing a clearer conceptualization for religious exit costs, discussing how they may vary in form, and generating a series of theoretical propositions concerning their role in preventing exit and the implications associated with successful preventions.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"227-239"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Weak(ening) Link Between Religiosity and Morality: Evidence from Five Western Countries","authors":"Sam Reimer, Galen Watts","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12960","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Previous research has often found a strong link between religiosity and morality. Specifically, high religiosity results in more restrictive moral positions, and the tendency toward absolutism. In this paper, we use the World Values Survey (WVS) to show a weakening link between three morality scales and religiosity over time in five Western countries (Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand). The exception to this general trend is the area of sexual or body morality, where the correlation remains strong. Further, religiosity does not promote moral homogeneity, as those with high religiosity give no less diverse answers to moral questions than the nonreligious. We suggest that secularization, changing religiosity, and the discursive winnowing of “religion” help explain these trends.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"198-210"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Intergroup and Contextual Determinants of Real-World Religious Donations: An Experimental Test in Jerusalem","authors":"Ilona Goldner, Shahaf Zamir, Elia Yitzhakian, Tzipi Rosen, Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12961","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Religious belief commonly relates to prosocial behavior, yet studies suggest that religious individuals tend to limit their prosociality to ingroup members. In this study, we conducted a door-to-door fundraising field experiment to investigate further religious prosociality and ingroup favoritism in a real-world setting. Our results support the association between religiosity and prosociality, showing that religious individuals (compared to secular individuals) were likelier to donate and display hospitality toward fundraisers. However, we also found evidence of ingroup bias by focusing on the role of religiosity level as a boundary of the religious ingroup among co-religionists. Religious people were more inclined to donate to religious fundraisers than secular fundraisers, despite a shared religious affiliation with both. Furthermore, we explored the implications of religious diversity residential context on this nuanced ingroup bias and suggest that the religious community structure alone may not be sufficient to explain the nuances of religious prosocial behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"211-226"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jssr.12961","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Guardianship in Transition: Contextual Embodiment of Islamic Tenets Among Iranians in Kentucky","authors":"Erfan Saidi Moqadam","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12959","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This article engages with current discussions on Islamic authority, proposing an approach that regards the bottom-up experiences, agency, and exegetical intervention of ordinary practitioners as equivalent to those of experts. Focusing on guardianship, this article examines how Iranians understand and transform this Quranic concept within the specific context of Kentucky, and how these understandings are shaped by observing local Christian practices that exclusively emphasize biblical authority. Through ethnographic analysis, this article explores how these Iranians have challenged the prevailing exegesis that restricts guardianship solely to the Islamic jurist (<i>faqīh</i>). This specific setting, removed from any institutionalized religious authority, has empowered them to collectively articulate their exegetical tensions, contradictions, and paradoxes over the pertinent verses as Islamic—concerning guardianship in this study—and also to strategically harmonize their interpretations and practices with the Christian context to gain recognition, acceptance, and cultural integration.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"187-197"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144245007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Democratic Approach to Religion News: Christianity and Islam in the British and Turkish Press","authors":"Ismail Albayrak","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12951","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"260-261"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antiracism as Inclusivity: The Racial Justice Paradigm of White Progressive Churches","authors":"Gerardo Martí","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12949","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12949","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Observations in White progressive churches across the United States and Canada reveal antiracism as grounded in a “Theology of Inclusivity” framed by a Golden Rule morality. In attempting to integrate antiracism with broader inclusionary initiatives historically focused on LGBTQ+ affirmation, leaders and members view racism as a “deeper” issue, rooted in Christianity's historical complicity and societally pervasive social injustice. Although antiracism programming fosters dialogue and reflection, the emphasis on inclusivity often stalls in abstraction amid disagreement, delaying substantive congregational decisions. The burden of consensus creates an “awareness trap” where continuous deliberation replaces decisive action. While forging shared priorities, the antiracism focus prods members toward an individualized ethic, encouraging members to address racial justice through personal roles outside the church beyond any collective congregational efforts. In the process, these progressive congregations increasingly reframe individual antiracist initiatives as ecclesial action, allowing churches to view any member efforts as valid extensions of their antiracist identity.</p>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"173-186"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jssr.12949","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Melissa J. Wilde, Tessa D. Huttenlocher, Elena G. van Stee
{"title":"Religious Inequality in America: The View from 1916","authors":"Melissa J. Wilde, Tessa D. Huttenlocher, Elena G. van Stee","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12941","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The <i>Censuses of Religious Bodies</i> contain detailed information about early 20th-century American religious groups. However, these data have not been used to their full potential—likely because until recently, most of the data in these volumes had not been digitized. We undertook a large data entry initiative to make these data available to contemporary researchers. This research note introduces scholars to the data set and presents the first quantitative analysis of the wealth held (and not held) by American religious groups a century ago. By quantifying the vast historical disparities between religious traditions, we provide new empirical support for complex religion theory, which argues that religion has been and continues to be a site of stark social inequalities. We hope our findings and work digitizing these data will spur future research into how socioeconomic disparities between religious groups have persisted or been disrupted over time.</p>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"251-259"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jssr.12941","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leaving Haredi Judaism: Coping Resources and Perceived Social Support During Community Transitions and Religious Disaffiliation","authors":"Maria C. Erhard","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12946","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12946","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Navigating transitions across community boundaries, such as former Haredim leaving their covenantal communities of origin to integrate into mainstream society, is a widespread phenomenon with profound societal implications. This study investigates the impact of current community affiliation and perceived social support on the sense of coherence (SOC) and community sense of coherence (ComSOC) coping resources of former Haredim. Conducted in 2022, the study surveyed 147 ex-Haredim in Israel. Findings reveal that perceived social support and strength of community affiliation predict higher SOC and ComSOC levels throughout the disaffiliation process. ComSOC shows greater sensitivity to influence than general SOC and is its strongest predictor among the studied variables. Other significant predictors are involvement in the ex-Haredim community, years since leaving, and family disconnection. In its salutogenic quality and focus on coping resources, this study offers insights for supporting individuals navigating disaffiliation challenges and similarly profound change processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"148-172"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jssr.12946","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144245125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correlates of Continued Church Membership Intention: An Empirical Study of Religion in Ghana","authors":"Andrews Agya Yalley","doi":"10.1111/jssr.12948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12948","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines the factors influencing continued church membership intention in Ghana, focusing on the key correlates of this behavior. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) the survey data collected were analyzed. The findings highlight charismatic leadership, religious experience, corporate social responsibility, personal needs fulfillment, tangibles, and message credibility as significant determinants of continued church membership intention. Furthermore, the study identifies a willingness to donate as a consequential outcome. The proposed integrative model not only offers scholars essential constructs for future theoretical exploration but also provides church managers with a comprehensive framework to enhance membership retention strategies. This research serves as a critical foundation for both academic and practical advancements in understanding the dynamics of church membership.</p>","PeriodicalId":51390,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion","volume":"64 2","pages":"123-147"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jssr.12948","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144245124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}