The concepts and measurements in psychology of religion often adhere to its Judeo-Christian roots, which causes problems when measuring non-Christian religiosity. In this paper, two successive ...studies are presented. The first study applied Huber’s CRS-15, while the second study used the CRSi-20. Both samples consisted of believers of the non-Christian, Abrahamic Baha’i religion in Germany. In the first study, in which N = 472 participated (MAge = 43.22, SDAge = 15.59, 60.0% female), the reliability and validity issues related to items of public practice and experience of the CRS-15 were uncovered. After modifying the content of these items and adding the five additional items of the interreligious CRSi-20, which was tested among N = 324 participants (MAge = 47.12, SDAge = 17.06, 59.6% female) in a second study, most reliability issues were solved. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the CRSi-20 model describes the data appropriately with adequate fit indices. Therefore, the CRSi-20 for Baha’is offers the first reliable and valid measurements of Baha’i religiosity, being at the same time capable of taking the emic perspective fully into account while maintaining the possibility of cross-religious comparisons.
•Previous research found that people who are or feel privileged are less often fundamentalists.•In a representative sample from Turkey we found the opposite pattern.•This pattern was consistent even ...after controlling for other variables.•Other variables correlated mostly as predicted with fundamentalism.
Previous research established that people who are or feel more privileged tend to be less religiously fundamentalist. However, in the present research we predicted this association to be reversed when political leaders such as governments are promoting and incentivizing (religious) fundamentalism. Using Turkey as an example, we found support for our hypothesis in a Muslim sample (N = 736) representative for age, gender, education-level ethnicities, and urbanicity: Individuals, who feel more privileged – i.e., less deprived – were more fundamentalist, even after controlling for a range of other variables that were previously associated with fundamentalism including conspiracy beliefs, personality, and sociodemographic variables. This negative association between deprivation and religious fundamentalism was not mediated by conspiracy beliefs. Interestingly, the associations of the control variables such as authoritarianism and conspiracy beliefs with religious fundamentalism mostly replicated previous research. Implications are discussed.
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This study examines the multidimensionality of spirituality by comparing the applicability of two models—the five-dimensional model of religiosity by Huber that we have extended with a sixth ...dimension of ethics and the three-dimensional spirituality model by Bucher. This qualitative study applied a semi-structured interview guideline of spirituality to a stratified sample of N = 48 secular individuals in Switzerland. To test these two models, frequency, valence, and contingency analysis of Mayring’s qualitative content analysis were used. It could be shown that Bucher’s three-dimensional model covers only about half of the spirituality codes in the interviews; it is especially applicable for implicit and salient spiritual aspects in general, as well as for spiritual experience in specific. In contrast, the extended six-dimensional model by Huber could be applied to almost all of the spirituality-relevant codes. Therefore, in principle, the scope of this six-dimensional model can be expanded to spirituality. The results are discussed in the context of future development of a multidimensional spirituality scale that is based on Huber’s Centrality of Religiosity by extending the religiosity concept to spirituality without mutually excluding these concepts from each other.
The topic of religiosity in Turkey is often restricted to studies of secularization or fundamentalism. However, new religious phenomena, especially deism, are now drawing much attention in Turkey, ...yet most studies are focusing on small samples. Our study widens this view by presenting questionnaire data on a variety of religious self-assessment categories derived from a representative quota sample in relationship to sociodemographic and other religiosity variables. Only one-third define themselves as orthodox religious while 62 % identify as ‘believers’. The categories deism, non-belief/atheism, and religiously indecisiveness cover 7.2 % in total. Orthodox religious individuals differ in their sociodemographic profile from the rest (are older, more rural, less educated, higher rate of unemployment) and a sharp drop of all religiosity scores was observed from the orthodox religious to the rest. Deists, non-believers/atheists, and religiously indecisive individuals can, together with some ‘believers’, be grouped into a highly secularized cluster. Our findings suggest that there is a huge variety of religiosities in contemporary Turkey, despite the over-religionization imposed by the current government. Religious educators and clergy should welcome such changes by promoting development towards religious maturity independent of political agendas.
Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international ...relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercultural prejudices, can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge. However, it is acknowledged that theologians themselves may harbor such biases. This study, conducted within the framework of the Religious Openness Hypothesis, employed an online questionnaire among theology students, seen as future multipliers of religiosity, in Germany and Turkey (N = 513) using convenience sampling. The results reveal the consistent relation of religiosity to all forms of prejudice among German Christians, with a linked defense against secularism potentially leading to self-isolation and the protection of their own worldview against religious or cultural outgroups. In contrast, the (generally high) prejudice among Turkish Muslims appears to be rooted not primarily in religiosity or defense against secularism but in fundamentalism and, most likely, in other socio-cultural factors such as politics and education. For both subsamples, religiosity was positively linked with xenosophia, particularly when accounting for fundamentalism. The article concludes by proposing curriculum implications for universities and schools in both cultural contexts.
Music and religion are linked in many ways. For example, music can trigger religious experiences, which has been a topic since the beginnings of the study of the psychology of religion. Whether this ...musical effect is culture-dependent, a pure neuropsychological phenomenon, or a combination of both remains empirically unanswered. This cross-cultural experiment among n = 84 Turks andn = 63 Germans shows that religious music can trigger religious experience but this is, at least partially, a culture-dependent experience. Moreover, certain kinds of religious music can fail to trigger a religious experience independent of culture, which can also underpin a neuropsychological effect of musical features on religious experience. Religious experience during music is strongly predicted by positive emotions that are felt during the musical experience. Future studies should be more interdisciplinary, focusing on the effect of certain musical features on the religious experience of individuals from different cultural backgrounds.
Historically, fasting has been practiced not only for medical but also for religious reasons. Bahá'ís follow an annual religious intermittent dry fast of 19 days. We inquired into motivation behind ...and subjective health impacts of Bahá'í fasting.
A convergent parallel mixed methods design was embedded in a clinical single arm observational study. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted before (n = 7), during (n = 8), and after fasting (n = 8). Three months after the fasting period, two focus group interviews were conducted (n = 5/n = 3). A total of 146 Bahá'í volunteers answered an online survey at five time points before, during, and after fasting.
Fasting was found to play a central role for the religiosity of interviewees, implying changes in daily structures, spending time alone, engaging in religious practices, and experiencing social belonging. Results show an increase in mindfulness and well-being, which were accompanied by behavioural changes and experiences of self-efficacy and inner freedom. Survey scores point to an increase in mindfulness and well-being during fasting, while stress, anxiety, and fatigue decreased. Mindfulness remained elevated even three months after the fast.
Bahá'í fasting seems to enhance participants' mindfulness and well-being, lowering stress levels and reducing fatigue. Some of these effects lasted more than three months after fasting.
Kurds have often been labelled a disruptive faction within German society by the media and in several studies. However, many studies have a self-identified weakness in the form of radical or small ...samples that do not adequately represent the Kurdish majority. The present study is the first to be on a German-wide sample of migrants originating from Turkey and their descendants (N = 1201), twelve per cent of which are Kurdish. We ask how their ethnic and religious identities relate to their identificative integration and their acceptance of the norms and values of German mainstream society. The surprising results show that Kurds identify with German society more closely than their non-Kurdish counterparts do and throughout the analyses, a Kurdish identity remains the strongest predictor of a German identity. The results are discussed in terms of identity-shaping narratives, hybrid identities and the heightened integration pressure placed upon Kurds.
Previous research has established a reliable link between religiosity and schizotypy as well as schizophrenia. However, past research mainly measured religiosity as a one-dimensional construct. In ...the present research (N = 189), we aimed to get a better understanding of the religiosity–schizotypy link by measuring religiosity using Huber’s five-dimensional model of Centrality of Religiosity, while also testing for curvilinear relations and potential moderators. We found negative small-to-medium-sized correlations between all five dimensions of religiosity and the schizotypy dimension of impulsive nonconformity, but no reliable associations with the other three dimensions of schizotypy: unusual experiences, cognitive disorganization, and introverted anhedonia. Some of these associations were moderated by religious affiliation: Religiosity and schizotypy correlated positively among non-members, but negatively among members of religious communities, suggesting that affiliation has a positive impact on the well-being of religious people. In line with Huber’s predictions, we found a reversed U-shape association between the religious dimension of private religious practice and schizotypy. Unexpectedly, however, conformity and tradition values did not moderate the relations between religiosity and schizotypy. We discuss our findings in terms of person–environment fit, the prevention hypothesis of the schizotypy-religiosity link, and offer implications for mental health practitioners.
Zusammenfassung
Der Psychologe Traugott Konstantin Oesterreich (1880–1949) gilt mit seinem Interesse an religiösen Erfahrungen als einer der Pioniere der Kultur- und Religionspsychologie. Neben ...Glossolalie (Zungenrede) und parapsychologischen Phänomenen (z. B. Geistererscheinungen) behandelte er ganz zentral Besessenheitszustände. In seinen früheren Werken geht er – in Anlehnung an französische Psychopathologen wie Pierre Janet – von einer Persönlichkeitsspaltung aus, die der Besessenheit zugrunde läge. Mit dieser bricht Oesterreich jedoch auf Basis seiner Einsichten zur Phänomenologie des Ich und belegt in
Die Besessenheit
(1921) anhand zahlreicher internationaler Dokumente seine These der Besessenheit als zwangs- und gefühlsmäßigen Imitationszustand, wobei dissoziative Zustände nicht nur Ursache (z. B. Depersonalisation, Derealisation), sondern auch Folge des Besessenheitsanfalls seien (z. B. Amnesie). Oesterreichs Studie zur Besessenheit bleibt gerade im Kontext einer erhöhten Nachfrage an Exorzismen in einigen europäischen Ländern hochrelevant. Heutige Studien zur Besessenheit betonen negative Auswirkungen von Exorzismen für die psychische Gesundheit von Menschen mit dissoziativen Störungen. Aus diesem Grund sollte es Anliegen zukünftiger Forschung sein, therapeutische Modelle weiterzuentwickeln, die stärker auf die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Psychotherapeuten und unterstützenden Seelsorgern abzielen.
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