Search

Does the ability of some brain dead bodies to maintain homeostasis with the help of artificial life support actually imply that those bodies are living human organisms? Or might it be possible that a brain dead body on life support is a mere collection of still-living cells, organs and tissues which can coordinate with one another, but which lack the genuine integration that is the hallmark of a unified human organism as a whole? To foster further study of these difficult and timely questions, a Symposium on the Definition of Death was held at The Catholic University of America in June 2014. The Symposium brought together scholars from a variety of disciplines-law, medicine, biology, philosophy and theology-who all share a commitment to the dead donor rule and to a biological definition of death, but who have differing opinions regarding the validity of neurological criteria for human death. The papers found in this special issue are among the fruits of this Symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent U.S. military engagements in the Middle East have drawn public attention to the thorny issue of religion in the armed forces but the scholarship on religion in the military lags far behind these developments. Scholars have not developed a coherent research program around the challenges that religion faces in the armed forces or the religious issues that soldiers, commanders and military institutions grapple with on a daily basis. This papers seeks to initiate a scholarly conversations about the roles and effects of religion in the armed forces. I propose exploratory hypotheses that touch on some key themes that such a research program might cover, at three levels of analysis. At the institutional level, scholars should interrogate the relationship between religious norms and constitutional challenges in society and in the military. At the unit level, research should explore the impact that chaplains and group rituals have on unit morale. At the individual level, this research program should initiate a comprehensive investigation of the effects of individual religious practices on the mental health of soldiers and, in turn, the impact that participation in combat has on soldiers' religiosity. These illustrative hypotheses are far from exhaustive and should be regarded as invitations for future exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a large cache of letters to John and Frances Gunther after the death of their son as well as memoirs and fiction by bereaved parents, this essay challenges the assumptions of secularization that infuse histories of twentieth-century American medicine. Many parents who experienced the death of children during the postwar period relied heavily on religion to help make sense of the tragedies medicine could not prevent. Parental accounts included expression of belief in divine intervention and the power of prayer, gratitude for God's role in minimizing suffering, confidence in the existence of an afterlife, and acceptance of the will of God. Historians seeking to understand how parents and families understood both the delivery of medical care and the cultural authority of medical science must integrate an understanding of religious experiences and faith into their work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses pragmatism, religion and John Foster Dulles's embrace of Christian internationalism in the 1930s. It looks at Dulles's engagement with Christian ecumenism and the way that it affected his thinking. It argues that the key to Dulles's engagement with religion is to draw out his engagement with the methods and ideals of American pragmatism. It explores Dulles's attempts to tackle the problem of peace, and the impact of the idea that people could affect government actions on Dulles.

Identifying psychosocial strengths that support physical health can lead to better pathways to prevention and intervention. Relying on the resilience portfolio model as a conceptual framework, this study explores strengths in three domains (regulation, meaning making, and interpersonal) to identify promising protective factors to support physical health-related quality of life (P-HRQOL), controlling for prior exposure to adversity, age, and gender. This study uses data from four resilience portfolio model studies collected in the southern United States, combined to increase the number of people who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native. The sample included 147 people (M age = 28.5 years; SD = 16.26), of which 57 percent are female. The surveys collected data on adversities (polyvictimization, other adversities, county poverty), psychosocial strengths (psychological endurance, sense of purpose, religious meaning making, compassion, and community support), and P-HRQOL. The full model accounted for 24 percent of the variance in P-HRQOL, with strengths explaining more than twice as much variance as adversities (13 percent versus 6 percent). A sense of purpose showed the most promise for supporting P-HRQOL. Regarding implications, authors recommend exploring a wider range of protective factors that might improve resilience in Native communities. Several evidence-based pathways to meaning making, such as narrative and mindfulness, may improve health outcomes for Native people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests exclusionary mechanisms fostering negative socioeconomic outcomes for African immigrants. This study explored predictors of social exclusion among immigrants from African countries living in the United States. The authors examined four dimensions of social exclusion that entail social–cultural and structural–economic exclusion. Authors used structural equation modeling to analyze cross-sectional survey data from first- and second-generation African immigrants across the United States (N = 409). Findings highlighted the negative effects of discrimination on all four dimensions of social exclusion. In addition, higher levels of education were associated with higher levels of social–cultural exclusion, whereas higher levels of income were protective from social and structural–economic exclusion. Authors also found health status, religion, race, and immigrant generation to have significant effects on social exclusion. Study findings have important implications for social workers seeking to identify and prevent exclusionary mechanisms and practices affecting African immigrants in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Research has shown that stereotype threat can impair older adults' memory in Western cultures. We tested whether this also occurs for older adults from the East Asian Chinese culture. We also tested whether an intervention that highlighted Confucian principles would protect Chinese older adults from stereotype threat's detrimental effects. Method Culturally-Chinese older adults residing in the United States completed a memory test either under age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline or not. Prior to this, some participants were also reminded of Confucian traditions of filial piety and were assured these values had been transmitted to the younger generation. Results Stereotype threat impaired Chinese older adults' memory performance. However, our intervention was effective in eliminating this deficit. When the Chinese participants were reminded of the Confucian principle of filial piety they did not exhibit stereotype threat effects. Discussion Confirming that younger adults have an obligation to respect their elders can eliminate the social-evaluative pressure of stereotype threat for Chinese older adults. These findings are noteworthy since population aging is happening at an unprecedented pace in East Asia. Although our results suggest that stereotype threat can adversely affect older adults' cognitive performance in these societies, we also identify a culturally-based intervention to alleviate this impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Social isolation among older adults is an important but under-recognized risk for poor health outcomes. Methods are needed to identify subgroups of older adults at risk for social isolation. Methods We constructed a typology of social isolation using data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and estimated the prevalence and correlates of social isolation among community-dwelling older adults. The typology was formed from four domains: living arrangement, core discussion network size, religious attendance, and social participation. Results In 2011, 24% of self-responding, community-dwelling older adults (65+ years), approximately 7.7 million people, were characterized as socially isolated, including 1.3 million (4%) who were characterized as severely socially isolated. Multinomial multivariable logistic regression indicated that being unmarried, male, having low education, and low income were all independently associated with social isolation. Black and Hispanic older adults had lower odds of social isolation compared with white older adults, after adjusting for covariates. Discussion Social isolation is an important and potentially modifiable risk that affects a significant proportion of the older adult population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that, for white Americans, conflating national and religious group identities is strongly associated with racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia, prompting some to argue that claims about Christianity being central to American identity are essentially about reinforcing white supremacy. Prior work has not considered, however, whether such beliefs may influence the racial views of nonwhite Americans differently from white Americans. Drawing on a representative sample of black and white Americans from the 2014 General Social Survey, and focusing on explanations for racial inequality as the outcome, we show that, contrary to white Americans, black Americans who view being a Christian as essential to being an American are actually more likely to attribute black–white inequality to structural issues and less to blacks' individual shortcomings. Our findings suggest that, for black Americans, connecting being American to being Christian does not necessarily bolster white supremacy, but may instead evoke and sustain ideals of racial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between eight dimensions of spirituality (and religion) and people with four different types of disability status: hearing, vision, physical mobility, and emotional or mental disabilities. The overarching aim was to identify specific spiritual–religious profiles within each disability population relative to the general population. To conduct this cross-sectional examination, the authors used nationally representative data from the General Social Survey in the United States. The results reveal unique spiritual and religious profiles across the four types of disability status examined, although people with emotional or mental disabilities may have the most distinct profile. Compared with their counterparts among the general public, people with hearing, physical, and emotional disabilities were more likely to report praying several times a day; people with all four types of disability were more likely to report having a turning point when they became less committed to religion. Understanding which spiritual and religious dimensions are disproportionately more likely to exist among a given population with a particular disability helps practitioners provide more effective services to members of that group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the significance of political mobilization among ecumenical Protestants during World War II and the importance placed on human rights and civil rights, particularly the role of the organization the Federal Council of Churches (FCC) and the FCC's involvement in the establishment of the United Nations (UN) following the war. It also discusses the World Order Movement.

Why did Americans vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential election? Social scientists have proposed a variety of explanations, including economic dissatisfaction, sexism, racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. The current study establishes that, independent of these influences, voting for Trump was, at least for many Americans, a symbolic defense of the United States' perceived Christian heritage. Data from a national probability sample of Americans surveyed soon after the 2016 election shows that greater adherence to Christian nationalist ideology was a robust predictor of voting for Trump, even after controlling for economic dissatisfaction, sexism, anti-black prejudice, anti-Muslim refugee attitudes, and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as measures of religion, sociodemographics, and political identity more generally. These findings indicate that Christian nationalist ideology--although correlated with a variety of class-based, sexist, racist, and ethnocentric views--is not synonymous with, reducible to, or strictly epiphenomenal of such views. Rather, Christian nationalism operates as a unique and independent ideology that can influence political actions by calling forth a defense of mythological narratives about America's distinctively Christian heritage and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to see whether feelings of death anxiety are lower among older than among younger people. In addition, an effort is made to see whether religious hope explains this relationship. It is proposed that the inverse relationship between a religiously oriented sense of hope and death anxiety increases across successively older age-groups. In contrast, it is hypothesized that the relationship between a generalized sense of hope and death anxiety will not vary across successively older age-groups. Method: Data on religious hope, a general sense of hope, and death anxiety were obtained from a recent nationwide survey of people aged 18 and older (N = 2,783). Results: The findings suggest that, compared with older adults, feelings of death anxiety are higher among younger and middle-aged people. The results further reveal that a religious sense of hope, but not a general sense of hope, reduces feelings of death anxiety across successively older age-groups. Discussion: These findings suggest that a previously unexamined dimension of religion (i.e., religious hope) may help people cope with feelings of death anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists since Durkheim have known there is nothing essential about the category "religion," so why does the category persist? If we can begin to understand why it is still necessary in the twenty-first century for critical theorists to remind us that "religion" is without a vital differentiating element, then perhaps we might begin to imagine more, rather than less, expansive epistemological frameworks. Even as sensitive scholarship works to deconstruct the Enlightened secular typologies that gloss historical inequities, it often misses the cross-cultural patterns of signification that have shaped post-tribal hierarchies for millennia. Critically expanding Robert Bellah's earlier arguments surrounding American Civil Religion, I argue for the role of the immaterial imagination in the establishment of trans-local, supra-kin communities—both nationalist and religious. Drawing on Philo of Alexandria, Isocrates, and Rousseau, I contend that an expansive theory of otherworldliness is necessary to understand the "modern" world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Western Historical Quarterly is the property of Oxford University Press / USA 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 reimagines the history of parenting as a subject for the study of religion. Through a schematic description of parenting in the United States, I observe the expanded responsibilities and increased social expectations for parents in the formation of child identity. Focusing on the concept of parental authority, I argue that the relationship of authority between parent and child is an important document of religious history in a secular age, and encourage future scholars to explore parenting habits, prescriptions, and admonitions as an archive for religious studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the Study: Research has linked several aspects of religion --including service attendance, prayer, meditation, religious coping strategies, congregational support systems, and relations with God, among others--with positive mental health outcomes among older U.S. adults. This study examines a neglected dimension of religious life: listening to religious music. Design and Methods: Two waves of nationally representative data on older U.S. adults were analyzed (n = 1,024). Results: Findings suggest that the frequency of listening to religious music is associated with a decrease in death anxiety and increases in life satisfaction, self-esteem, and a sense of control across the 2 waves of data. In addition, the frequency of listening to gospel music (a specific type of religious music) is associated with a decrease in death anxiety and an increase in a sense of control. These associations are similar for blacks and whites, women and men, and low- and high-socioeconomic status individuals. Implications: Religion is an important socioemotional resource that has been linked with desirable mental health outcomes among older U.S. adults. This study shows that listening to religious music may promote psychological well-being in later life. Given that religious music is available to most individuals--even those with health problems or physical limitations that might preclude participation in more formal aspects of religious life--it might be a valuable resource for promoting mental health later in the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of the Pennsylvania court cases Commonwealth v. Armstrong and Commonwealth v. Sigman in attempting to define the boundaries of parental authority and religious freedom of minors, and the significance of the religious movement the Second Great Awakening upon society and the law. It examines the work of Eighth Judicial District judge Ellis Lewis in the Armstrong case and his ruling regarding physician William Armstrong's objection to his daughter's baptism, and the work of Third Judicial District judge John Banks in the Sigman case.

The article discusses division and debate within the Unitarian church concerning the use of the pulpit to support the abolition of slavery in the U.S. during the mid-19th century. It examines the views of Unitarian theologian William Ellery Channing, the role of ministers in social change and the importance of revivalism, and the concept of the separation of church and state. It also contrasts Southern Unitarians such as minister Theodore Clapp with other Unitarian ministers whom some thought violated the concept of the duty of noninterference with matters such as slavery.

This article investigates the relationship between two well-documented patterns in charitable giving: the positive relationship between religion and generosity and the growth in the numbers of, and donations to, international aid organizations. I discuss three modes by which religion shapes Americans' preferences on international aid: values, social norms, and exposure to need. Using a 2005 national survey of church members, I find that (1) altruistic values, congregational social ties, and exposure to international needs through one's congregation all are associated with giving to international causes; (2) individuals with more frequent attendance, those with more social ties in the congregation, and evangelicals and black Protestants are significantly more likely to prefer church over government aid; and (3) aid organizations affiliated with a religious tradition enjoy an "in-group" advantage in support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the ways in which ideology regarding Israel divides liberals and conservatives in America, and it mentions U.S.-Israeli relations, as well as information about the American government's policy towards the Middle East. The views of international relations theorists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt are mentioned, along with U.S. national interests and the influence of an "Israel lobby" which includes wealthy Jews and the right-wing American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The attitudes of Americans and Israelis are examined, as well as American diplomacy and public opinion polls in the U.S.

A number of case studies and legal briefs describe very troubling incidents faced by secondary school students because of their minority religious group affiliation. The purpose of the study described in this article was to understand the lived experiences of minority religious youths who attend public schools in an area of the United States where the majority of students are affiliated with one dominant religious tradition. Semistructured focus groups were conducted with 50 adolescents (in grades 6 to 12) affiliated with religious minority groups (11 students were Jewish, 11 Muslim, 18 Catholic, and 10 Universalist Unitarian). Analysis was conducted using grounded theory methodology, and a method of constant comparative analysis was applied. The data yielded four major themes: (1) minority status, (2) precursors, (3) teacher and adult roles, and (4) perception of peer intent. Several of the incidents described by the participants were congruent with the definition of hate crime or bullying; other experiences were representative of the concept of microaggression. One of the most unanticipated findings from this study was participants' reports of teachers as perpetrators in several incidents. Findings from this study point to the need for the implementation of strategies designed to increase religious tolerance in our increasingly diverse public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented which discusses the Puritan president of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts Henry Dunster's opposition to the practice of infant baptism within New England's Puritan movement during the mid 17th century. An overview of the leaders of the Puritan movement's efforts to convince Dunster accept infant baptism is provided.

The U.S. military makes chaplaincies an integral part of its effort to maintain global, “full-spectrum dominance.” The purpose of this article is to analyze the military's design and use of its chaplaincies. I take a textual rather than ethnographic approach. I examine not the subjective views of individual chaplains, but the military's institutional literature and public statements by its chaplains. I argue that the military constructs mission-specific meanings for religion by combining, arranging, and re-framing choices made elsewhere, by other branches of government and various civilian religious communities. The Pentagon optimizes religious diversity for military priorities, puts into uniform and sociologically re-certifies religious leaders, re-conceives pastoral tasks as mission-helps, subsumes religious practices to martial discourse, and calibrates moral sensibilities. Through these publicly authorized acts, the U.S. military wields religion as a multiplier of military force, for the security of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]