Archive for the ‘science’ Category


Republican or Democrat, whether or not you social distance likely has more to do with whether you feel the U.S. is under threat from others not like you.
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A new study finds that individuals who are open to new ideas and recognize both the strengths of others and their own limitations, have not succumbed to political apathy or indifference. The study also suggests these intellectually humble individuals are better able to seek accurate information rather than reflexively defend their own beliefs, and to pursue discussions on critical issues with an attitude of mutual respect.
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A national study finds prayer, worship and a strong spiritual life have a significant association with a
satisfying sex life. That ageless staple of male comics – that women lose interest in sex after the
wedding ceremony – also doesn’t seem to apply to married couples of strong faith.


Low pay. Great expectations and scrutiny. And a job where a knack for effective begging comes in handy. So who would want to be an editor of an academic journal on religion? Some who do this work say there needs to be a larger conversation about how journal editors are supported and compensated, and how these issues matter to their mission of disseminating excellent scholarship on religion from throughout the world.
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Are evangelicals, even those that identify as politically conservative, that much different from everyone else? Two new studies yield results that may surprise those holding on to an image of highly religious individuals as rigid and uncaring, more concerned with judging than loving one another..
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An ideal of multiracial churches is to be a sign of a day when faith transcends color and ethnicity. But are they instead increasing inequality? New findings from the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project find that black and Asian pastors in multiracial churches are “standing on the doorsteps of assimilation only to be ultimately denied entrance through the door of whiteness and access to the privileges enjoyed by the white majority.”
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Can belief in Hell, envisioned by many as a place of eternal torment, be considered a pathological fear? A study taking a systematic look at Hell anxiety found in general that individual belief in Hell was not in itself connected to any neuroses, and that most people did not display an unhealthy focus on the possibility of eternal damnation. The results suggested belief in hell “is perhaps a rational response to personal theological” beliefs.
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People who are active members of religious groups are more likely to participate in protests, a new global study finds. And the likelihood of public protest by religious individuals is strongest in those countries that are the least democratic,
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