Psychology of Religion

The “war” between science and religion is quite well known, but it is probably not as extensive and overwhelming as most people might believe. Religion has far more problems with science than science has with religion. These two disciplines have coexisted for several centuries, at least since the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, without either overcoming the other or thus winning the war. So it would seem that they are both necessary elements of the human endeavor as well as civilization and society as a whole. However, there is a fairly recent movement to bring science and religion together by finding a common ground for spirituality within science. Spirituality is usually equated to religion, but it really need not be tied inexorably and only to religion. Spirituality can be studied in a more general context outside of the traditional religions and within the context of science. Scholars and scientists have both found many common points of focus between science and spirituality and it was such common points that were explored by the conveners of the seminar and the learners attending the seminar.

This is a draft paper exploring the inextricably links between spirituality and psychology. It also discusses Cartesian duality before embarking on an exploration of a more holistic notion of the Self as Body-Mind.  It is basically a sketch for a more elaborate annotated paper.

In the New York Times, psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that "Psychology is Not in Crisis." She is responding to the results of a large-scale initiative called the Reproducibility Project, published in Science magazine, which appeared to show that the findings from over 60 percent of a sample of 100 psychology studies did not hold up when independent labs attempted to replicate them. She argues that "the failure to replicate is not a cause for alarm; in fact, it is a normal part of how science works." But she's making a pretty big assumption here, which is that the studies we're interested in are "well-designed" and "carefully run." A major reason for the so-called "crisis" in psychology, however, is the fact that a very large number of not-well-designed, and not-carefully-run studies have been making it through peer review for decades.

Judge Richard J. Leon rules in this recent case that government regulations exempting churches and religious organizations from Affordable Care Act violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but not the free exercise clause of religion clause of the First Amendment.

Over the last two decades, various lines of research within cognitive science and social psychology have converged to create dual-process theory. The received view of this
theory suggests two distinct cognitive processes: one is intuitive and the other reflective. But the defining features of these two types have been called into question by recent critiques. In response, new constraints have refined the distinctive features of each type, and distinguished between distinct types of processes and differing modes of the same type. This reformulation of dual-process theory bears upon the cognitive science of religion by reorganizing our understanding of religious cognition in relation to these two types of processes. Religious belief has been traditionally associated with type 1, intuitive, processes. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on dual-process theory and religion in order to suggest that while these basic intuitive processes may support religious beliefs, we must also expand our view to understand belief in relation to varying cognitive modes. These modes exist on a continuum, and are properly understood as type 2, reflective, processes. Thus they present a more nuanced and complex framework for understanding the relationship between varying types of religious belief and cognitive styles.

In the past decade, the cognitive science of religion has
worked to find an evolutionary explanation for supernatural belief. The explanations are convincing, but have created the stereotype that atheism is unnatural. In a similar way studies linking religious belief and health have vilified atheism as unhealthy. But belief is too complex, health is too nuanced, and the data are too varied to draw such a generalization. Catherine Caldwell-Harris has developed a psychological profile to understand nonbelief as an expected outcome of individual difference and therefore natural. In a similar manner I argue that we should study the relationship between belief and health
through the lens of individual differences. This approach is especially promising given recent research which indicates personality fully accounts for the relationship with well-being previously attributed to belief. This approach has the added benefit of neutralizing the conversation by understanding atheism as the healthy expression of a natural personality.

RE: Facades, illusions & ideological concepts created & promoted by ancient royalty out of necessity; effective creation of an alternate version of reality. It is only by knowing this information that the true nature of ancient texts may be understood correctly. Not knowing, means making incorrect assumptions & conclusions. Important!

This is a study regarding traits that are found in clinical psychopaths and the same traits as found displayed by the ancient author known as 'Flavius Josephus'. This paper presents the need to make such information a necessary part of the study of ancient literature.

Peaceful coexistence has replaced endemic warfare among the Asabano and other Om-Fu River peoples in Papua New Guinea. An Australian patrol making first contact in the 1960s curtailed warfare through threats. A decade later, Christian missionaries successfully communicated a ban on fighting and a mechanism for dispersing the vengeful feelings that had maintained payback cycles through prayer. Institutions forbidding raiding and a ritual engaging a supernatural agent who demands exclusive rights to revenge have defused local warfare for 50 years. This case suggests that peace can be indefinitely sustained through enculturating appropriate beliefs and scripts that are tailored for particular cultural contexts. [pacification; peace; religion; Melanesia; war; world peace] / La coexistence pacifique a remplacé la guerre larvée chez les Asabanos et d'autre peuples de la rivière Om-Fu de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. Une patrouille australienne qui fit les premiers contacts avec ces peoples dans les années 1960 mit fin à la guerre au moyen de menaces. Une décennie plus tard, des missionnaires chrétiens réussirent à interdire les combats et mettre en place un mécanisme pour désamorcer, par la prière, les sentiments vindicatifs qui nourrissaient les cycles de représailles. Des institutions interdisant les raids et un rituel invoquant un agent surnaturel qui exige le doit exclusif d'exercer une vengeance ont inhibé les guerres locales depuis 50 ans. Ce cas suggère qu'il es possible de maintenir indéfiniment la paix en inscrivant dans la culture des croyances et des scénarios appropriés, conçus pour un contexte culturel spécifique. [pacification, paix, religion, Mélanésie, guerre, paix]

The Biblical Dynasty was founded by the original author of Genesis. That individual is now known, he was Adamenemhept I, who used several other names. He was the founder of the 12th Dynasty in Egypt. His own Egyptian ancestors had tried to create a monotheistic religion before him, but did not succeed.