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Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy poses a complex global challenge. Our study investigates correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates, religious demographics, and educational performance. Materials and methods: Using cross-sectional analysis, data from reputable sources were analyzed for correlations using Pearson's correlation and linear regression. Results: We found statistically significant positive correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates and PISA scores, Catholic populations, non-religious, and atheist populations. Conversely, negative correlations were observed with Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. Our findings suggest potential influences of religious beliefs and educational attainment on vaccination rates. Conclusion: The data reveals a positive correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Catholic, Non-Religious, and Atheist populations, while indicating a negative correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. These findings underscore the potential significance of engaging religious leaders in promoting vaccinations as a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this autobiographical essay, Elaine (Sneierson) Leeder traces her evolution from being an atheist, anarchist, lesbian feminist to becoming a spiritual seeker. Following her path from being raised an Orthodox Jew, Leeder discovers that her social activism and deep dedication to social justice have roots in Jewish values. This has led her to embrace her Judaism in newfound ways. By studying for her Bas Mitzvah, Leeder has learned about spirituality, the lessons of the Kabbalah and resolved deep fears of death and dying. Her piece is heartfelt and follows a path toward the unknown.

Abstract Introduction Vaccine hesitancy poses a complex global challenge. Our study investigates correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates, religious demographics, and educational performance. Materials and methods Using cross-sectional analysis, data from reputable sources were analyzed for correlations using Pearson’s correlation and linear regression. Results We found statistically significant positive correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates and PISA scores, Catholic populations, non-religious, and atheist populations. Conversely, negative correlations were observed with Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. Our findings suggest potential influences of religious beliefs and educational attainment on vaccination rates. Conclusion The data reveals a positive correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Catholic, Non-Religious, and Atheist populations, while indicating a negative correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. These findings underscore the potential significance of engaging religious leaders in promoting vaccinations as a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy.

Belief in God is the first of several principles enshrined in the Rukun Negara of Malaysia which makes it one of the important principles to be upheld by any Malaysian citizen. However, there are some who do not accept this concept of believing in God and they are referred to as atheists. The existence of this group can seen clearly when issues that concern this group became public knowledge like the meeting of atheists in Kuala Lumpur that took place in 2017 and the existence of a Facebook group called Warung Atheist (Atheist Stall). Therefore, this article is prepared to discuss a discourse on the atheism within the Malaysian society including: [1] to analyze past studies related to the definitions and history of atheism; [2] to analyze past studies related to atheist thoughts and arguments and [3] to analyze past studies related to the response and objection to atheism. This article is written using qualitative method with content analysis design. In general, the research findings show that, in Malaysia, there are so few studies conducted on this topic. The study on the definitions and history of atheism among Malaysian researchers is still lacking because many researchers make the studies as a side topic only. This also happens to studies on themes related to atheism, but it should be noted that there are several studies have begun to make focusing on atheism. However, most researchers in Malaysia conduct studies which concern the objection against and criticism towards atheism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dixi is the property of Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is generally believed that the greatest asset of human being is the moral values and according to theist such values have been infused in human by the creator. By accepting such view we simply get rid of any effort of searching the origin of morality or ethics and also transfer the responsibility of being ethical on the almighty. But when atheist denied God, the liability of being moral comes to human and also the significant question arose why we should be moral. Probably more important is the hunt for the origin of our morality. In this article we have discussed about that origin of our morals in Nietzsche’s view as he was one of the strongest atheist of all time and in the light of the Darwinian evolutionary philosophy which inspired the modern age atheists. In this course, we have showed that how Nietzsche’s individual-centric value system faced the demand of societal explanation of interactive moral outcome and Darwinian school of evolutionary thinking articulates such issue in a broader perspective normally dealt with the philosophical views of human ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the frameworks provided by Max Weber's comprehensive theory to offer insights into why a growing sector of young people residing in Bogota now identifies as either atheist or agnostic. This research attempts to understand why this subgroup rejects or has distanced itself from the Catholic tradition, which is still dominant in Colombia. Quantitative and qualitative data from a survey, along with a series of in-depth interviews of young people aged between 14 and 21 years, is analyzed and interpreted to achieve this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion is an influential and resilient phenomenon that parades no cryptograms of decline. It incites the deepest obligation, emotion, sharp action, strong dialogues and study for practitioners, opponents and fence-sitters. Any anthropoid who is familiar with the world around them understands that religion is a powerful probing phenomenon that demands better understanding through inquiries. Despite the force of religion, the 21st century has observed nonreligious groups and scholars’ greater influence on religion. This mixed-method study adopts a grounded theory approach to inductively ascertain from collected data, whether religious movements (RM) will survive the heroic tremor from nonreligious movements (NRM) and scholarship. The study discussed how scholars have studied religion and NRM in various academic disciplines and how the activities and engagements of NRM and scholarship have impacted the beliefs, functions and paradigm of RM. The study discoveries bring out that, though NRM and scholarship have vastly altered religious beliefs and meanings, RM will live beyond the 21st century, as far as human beings remain. The study findings additionally acmes that RM should not envision the NRM and scholarship as harmful but also as an expedient tool for favorable and inspired reforms. The study contributes to scholarship by defining religion as anthropoids’ innermost instinct and craving to satisfy certain responsibilities as revealed by a transcendental being or a higher order. The study further contributes to academia with the theory that, religious movements cannot be suppressed by the copious nonreligious schedules and scholarship, nevertheless it has made weighty vicissitudes to the trajectory of religious movements, which is worth stating and noteworthy.

Introduction: Transgender individuals face high levels of prejudice in interpersonal relationships. However, limited experimental research has examined the role of identity disclosure on anti-transgender prejudice. Methods: Drawing upon research on distrust and identity disclosure, two between-participants experiments (total n = 802) examined the role of intentional and unintentional identity disclosure on negative attitudes (Studies 1 & 2), perceived deception (Studies 1 & 2) and distrust (Study 2) toward two potentially concealable and historically distrusted identities (transgender and atheist). Specifically, the current studies examine the impact of a target's stigmatized identity (transgender or atheist) and method of disclosure (intentional or unintentional) on perceptions of the target, perceived deceptiveness, and distrust toward the target. Results: Our findings demonstrated that compared to atheists, transgender targets elicited greater levels of prejudice and were viewed as more deceptive, and that this effect was amplified if the target did not intentionally reveal their identity. Study 2 demonstrated that perceived deception mediated the relationship between reveal type (i.e., intentional vs. unintentional) and prejudice toward participants who read about a transgender (but not atheist) target. Discussion: We discuss the implications of these findings for reducing prejudice toward binary transgender individuals, particularly those who do not voluntarily disclose their identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionTransgender individuals face high levels of prejudice in interpersonal relationships. However, limited experimental research has examined the role of identity disclosure on anti-transgender prejudice.MethodsDrawing upon research on distrust and identity disclosure, two between-participants experiments (total n = 802) examined the role of intentional and unintentional identity disclosure on negative attitudes (Studies 1 & 2), perceived deception (Studies 1 & 2) and distrust (Study 2) toward two potentially concealable and historically distrusted identities (transgender and atheist). Specifically, the current studies examine the impact of a target’s stigmatized identity (transgender or atheist) and method of disclosure (intentional or unintentional) on perceptions of the target, perceived deceptiveness, and distrust toward the target.ResultsOur findings demonstrated that compared to atheists, transgender targets elicited greater levels of prejudice and were viewed as more deceptive, and that this effect was amplified if the target did not intentionally reveal their identity. Study 2 demonstrated that perceived deception mediated the relationship between reveal type (i.e., intentional vs. unintentional) and prejudice toward participants who read about a transgender (but not atheist) target.DiscussionWe discuss the implications of these findings for reducing prejudice toward binary transgender individuals, particularly those who do not voluntarily disclose their identity.

This article uses the frameworks provided by Max Weber’s comprehensive theory to offer insights into why a growing sector of young people residing in Bogota now identifies as either atheist or agnostic. This research attempts to understand why this subgroup rejects or has distanced itself from the Catholic tradition, which is still dominant in Colombia. Quantitative and qualitative data from a survey, along with a series of in-depth interviews of young people aged between 14 and 21 years, is analyzed and interpreted to achieve this purpose.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of religion on charitable donation of atheists. We used experimental method utilizing a post-test and a control group. The population of the present study was 314 students at Sharif University of Technology recruited in the second half of 2018 semester and randomly assigned to either the experimental (n=27) or the control (n=26) group. Then subjects answered some demographic questions (i.e., age, gender, and income) and some questions from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and were also primed using a research-made Religious Priming Tool. Then they were given an opportunity to donate money to Mahak Charity, while keeping the record of donation amounts. At the end, they reported their religious orientation again and answered questions to check their knowledge of the objectives of the experiment. Finally, we compared the median of the donations in two groups. The data analyzed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test due to the abnormality of data distribution. The results showed that highlighting religion had no effect on donation of the atheists. The experiment warrants further research for the purpose of a better understanding of mechanisms influencing prosocial behavior.

One of the controversial issues of the philosophy of Kant is the question of the role of postulates of practical reason. Their introduction into the practical philosophy of Kant is often criticised since they are regarded as heteronomic elements, violating the autonomy of the will. In the first Critique the heteronomy of these foundations seems to appear more distinctly. By contrast, the third Critique is often regarded as the point where Kant’s ethics finally reaches its maturity. Here Kant finally comes to a formulation of the superfluity of religion for morality. An important passage on which the apologists of such a view rely is the example of a “righteous man (Spinoza [...])” (KU, AA 05: 452) who reveres the moral law but rejects the existence of God. Quite often attention is paid only to the beginning of this fragment. But at the end Kant comes to the conclusion that, although morality as such does not need religion, morality inevitably leads to religion. This passage is also interesting for another reason. We see in it a direct parallel with a text of J.J. Spalding, who considers the same example of an atheist-minded person (Spinoza). And the conclusion is essentially identical to that of Kant. The moral law commands regardless of man’s faith in God. Thus nothing prevents us from presenting a righteous atheist. But in practice this does not occur, since a truly righteous person, in accordance with his inner mood, freely and naturally comes to the idea of God.

This research paper is an attempt to examine Atheist’s arguments in the context of Pakistan. Atheism is a growing phenomenon across the world; however, the factors which led the atheists to adopt atheism as their identity vary from context to context. Consequently, the goal of this research paper is to explore major factors which led the Muslim youth towards atheism in Pakistani context. This research is important, firstly to understand the arguments normally given to alienate the youth form their religion, and secondly to initiate a way forward to counter the arguments so the people of Pakistan remained intact to their inherited religion—Islam. This study focuses on answering two basic questions. How does one become atheist? What are the factors which lead towards atheism? Semi-structured qualitative interviews are used as a method of this study and 19 self-identified atheists from different universities have been interviewed on the bases of comprehensive open-ended questionnaire ranging from their diverse educational, institutional and their peer groups. A non-probability snow-ball sampling technique is used to find participants for interviews. Each interview is recorded and later coded and analysed the data in search of understanding the argument in the participants’ responses. This research concludes that there are both similarities and differences across countries in the way atheists conceptualize atheistic ideology and their evaluation of the arguments on atheism. The results also suggest that the debate of atheism is highly contextual and adaptation of research methodologies from country to country should be done. Keywords: Atheism, Pakistan, Fundamental beliefs, Marginalized minority, Atheist, Factors

Copyright of Politics & Religion Journal is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents the difficulties encountered by an evangelist, later converted into an anthropologist, when conducting an academic study of the Pirahá ethnic group living in the Amazon rainforest. Following twenty years of cohabitation with the Pirahá, this evangelist/anthropologist was able to confirm what previous missionaries had reported: the Pirahá were entertained by the biblical account and they were even interested in it but only as a mere story. The author examines the linguistic difficulties that prevent the Pirahá, subjected to an almost unique language contrasting Chomsky's universal grammar, from assigning any spiritual or salvific category to the Word of God. The author also describes the evangelist/anthropologist’s return, a few years later, to the jungle and the way he is reunited with the Pirahá but this time without his faith and god.

Using an empirical approach, this study addresses the question whether followers of different religious beliefs (Christians, Muslims, and Hindus), as well as Atheists and Agnostics manifest different senses of humour when rating a variety of jokes. The study further investigates whether one’s religious background influences the threshold of what is considered offensive. And finally, it seeks to answer whether jokes targeting religions other than one’s own are always perceived as funnier. Analysing the results of a public survey (N=783) containing a blend of religious and non-religious jokes (including irreverent ones), we found that Hindus demonstrate overall the highest humour appreciation among all the groups, while Christians were the least amused by the jokes presented on the survey. Muslims had overall robust humour responses, despite reporting the highest incidence of being offended. Atheists were the least likely to be offended, and they generally enjoyed irreverent jokes. All groups agreed that if a joke was seen as offensive, its funniness was reduced.

It is known that the communism had affected the history of this world. This ideology had succeeded influencing a third of the world in less than one century after Karl Marx’s death and it had caused some revolutionary movements at some countries of the world. It is interesting to say that even what Marx had predicted about the history of human being in the future was not surely proven, but his ideas have been affecting people. But, the communism has serious problems related to the theological matter for sure. It could make people becoming atheist. Moreover, it could create the people hate their religion, but they could become religion’s antagonists. Marx’s hatred toward religions was expressed by the words: “Religion is the opium of the masses”. Then Lenin, another figure of the communism, did a discrimination to religious people, as well as, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong who prohibited all kinds of religious activities during their lifetime. Long time ago, thousands of Indonesian Moslems were becoming victims of a communist party in Indonesia (PKI). Nowadays, the communism doctrine begins to appear and affect some youths of Indonesia. Perhaps, it does because they have been frustrated and being disappointed by the socio-political condition which is controlled by modern capitalists. But, they have to be aware that the communism is not a solution. In fact, it is surely dangerous. It could ruin religions’ concepts. Hence, this article would try to explain some theological problems of the communism ideology.

This study presents a three-year replication and extension of Maurer’s (2013) evaluation of a classroom activity to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Students in six sections of an introductory family science course were assigned to one of three conditions and one of two target marginalized groups for a 3x2 design. Results differed significantly from those reported by Maurer (2013), and suggested that all three methods tested were equally effective in reducing prejudice and discrimination and that such changes were lasting. Additionally, a student participant served as a co-inquirer on this project, and her reflections on the process are included.

Propomos uma análise do verbete "Spinoza" do Dictionnaire Historique et Critique salientando a estrutura retórica do texto, em cujo centro se encontra a nova figura do ateu, construída por Bayle, o ateu especulativo ou "o ateu de sistema".The paper presents a study of the rhetorical framework of the article "Spinoza" in Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique and the new image of the atheist as athée de système.

Through in-depth interviews with scientists at elite academic institutions-those particularly likely to have no firm belief in God-we provide insight into the motives scientists who are not religious have for joining a religious group and the struggle faced by these individuals in reconciling personal beliefs with what they consider the best interests of their families. Narratives stress the use of resources from identities as scientists to provide their children with religious choices consistent with science and in negotiating spousal influence and a desire for community. Findings expand the religious socialization and identities literatures by widening the range of understanding of the strategies parents utilize to interface with religious communities as well as lead to more nuanced public understanding of how atheist and agnostic scientists relate to religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that religiosity can potentially serve as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. A clear understanding of the influence of religion on suicidality is required to more fully assess for the risk of suicide. The databases PsycINFO and MEDLINE were used to search peer-reviewed journals prior to 2008 focusing on religion and suicide. Articles focusing on suicidality across Buddhism, Native American and African religions, as well as on the relationship among Atheism, Agnosticism, and suicide were utilized for this review. Practice recommendations are offered for conducting accurate assessment of religiosity as it relates to suicidality in these populations. Given the influence of religious beliefs on suicide, it is important to examine each major religious group for its unique conceptualization and position on suicide to accurately identify a client’s suicide risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from a large, four-language web-based questionnaire, supplemented with data from the General Social Survey, allow us to explore possible sources of Atheism, notably the hypothesis that lack of social obligations encourages disbelief in God. The analysis is rooted in the compensator theory of religion, first proposed twenty-five years ago, but it incorporates a recent addition: the distinction between primary and secondary compensation. Social obligations make secondary compensation important, because it substitutes a compensator for a reward that a person is obligated to provide to another person. The data show that Atheism is indeed more common among people whose social obligations are weak. The analysis also traces connections between Atheism and the demographic fertility collapse that has been occurring in most advanced industrial nations, suggesting that secularization might best be understood in the context of declining social obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that, in general, the West is becoming more secular. Religious belief has been shown in some studies to have positive associations with outcomes such as coping with serious illness and other life events and general well-being. In this paper, we describe the data from parents enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) on their religious behaviour and beliefs collected on three occasions during the 1990s and early 2000s, that are available for researchers to use in association with other longitudinally collected data on social, biological, genetic and epigenetic features of this culturally largely protestant Christian population. Data were collected antenatally and then subsequently at 5 and 9 years post-delivery from self-completion questionnaires completed by each parent independently.  Strong sex differences (all P<0.001) were noted regarding religious beliefs and behaviour: for example, 49.9% of women stated that they believed in God or some divine being compared with 37% of men. Almost twice as many men (28.6%) than women (14.9%) declared they were atheists. Men were less likely to have stated that they had been helped by a divine presence; to appeal to God if they were in trouble, to attend religious services or obtain help from members of religious groups. Among the 6256 women and 2355 men who answered the questions at all three time points, there was evidence of a slight reduction in professed belief and a slight increase in the proportion stating that they were atheists. Information is available from this resource, which is rich in data on the environment, traumatic incidents, health and genetic background. It can be used for research into various aspects of the antecedents and consequences of religious belief and behaviour., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.