Religious Doubts and the Problem with Religious Pressures for Christian Students
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Self-Determination Theory and the Concept of “Controllers”
Religious Pressures as Possible Controllers
3. Religious Doubt and Religious Exploration
3.1. Religious Exploration as Normative
3.2. Religious Exploration and the Continuum of Internalization
4. The Potential Utility of Religious Doubt
Homeostatic Forces Preventing Religious Doubt
5. The Possible Relationship of Religious Doubt with Religious Pressures
6. Aim of Study
7. Materials and Methods
8. Procedures and Recruitment
9. Participants
10. Instruments
10.1. Religious Doubts Questionnaire
10.2. Religious Pressures Questionnaire
10.3. Spiritual/Religious Relatedness and Self-Mastery Scale
11. Analytical Strategy
12. Results
13. Discussion
I feel that at (the educational environment) there is a very high expectation for perfection and not a lot of room for error. It creates immense pressure that condemns me into believing certain things as opposed to exploring what I believe and why (22-year-old female).
For being all-powerful, it seems like a shitty thing for God to have let her die meaninglessly when she was so devoted to helping others and taking care of her son who needed her desperately. There was no reason for God to let that happen … no purpose whatsoever (20-year-old male).
(Educational environment) is not a very safe place for asking questions about issues that we as Christians really need answers for and don’t have. I am (not) comfortable asking questions in general out of fear of feeling stupid or ashamed.
I had already suffered a debilitating amount of doubt over the years, including during the time (friend) and I were roommates. Before his death, I had already gotten to the place where I considered myself an atheist/agnostic. Yet surprisingly, his death caused me to … be open to the existence of God, as (his) death was so shocking and untimely that a part of me wondered if there was more to his death than I could see (22-year-old male).
Through this loss I have actually felt the greater power of God, because I got to see and reflect on how He was there in my grandmother’s life and how He interacted with her life, before I was even around. I felt more closely connected to God, my grandmother and to the gravity of time (22-year-old female).
14. Religious Pressures as Both Internal and External “Controllers” of Religious Doubt
15. Limitations and Implications for Research
16. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spiritual/Religious Relatedness | 33.97 (5.712) | |||
Spiritual/Religious Self-Mastery | 0.534 *** | 30.44 (4.776) | ||
Religious Doubts | −0.279 *** | −0.267 *** | 9.90 (4.280) | |
Religious Pressures | 0.347 *** | 0.164 *** | −0.232 *** | 37.52 (9.327) |
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Walker, A.C.; Lang, A.S.I.D.; Munoz, R. Religious Doubts and the Problem with Religious Pressures for Christian Students. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 975. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100975
Walker AC, Lang ASID, Munoz R. Religious Doubts and the Problem with Religious Pressures for Christian Students. Education Sciences. 2023; 13(10):975. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100975
Chicago/Turabian StyleWalker, Andrea C., Andrew S. I. D. Lang, and Ricky Munoz. 2023. "Religious Doubts and the Problem with Religious Pressures for Christian Students" Education Sciences 13, no. 10: 975. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100975