Search Results (63)

Human societies depend on prestige hierarchies that confer status on demonstrated competence, alongside the dominance hierarchies that rely on coercion and that humans share with other primates. The same neural processes that support cooperative learning under prestige are hypothesized to participate in rivalry, polarization, and ideological hostility when their operating environments depart from those in which they evolved. This selective narrative review proposes a candidate integrative framework, the Hypothesized Neural Integration Model of Prestige and Pride, drawing on converging but largely indirect evidence from affective neuroscience, neuroeconomics, evolutionary psychology, and social neuroscience. The framework groups five categories of functionally pluripotent processing, each understood as engaging nodes within overlapping large-scale brain networks rather than as a localized regional mechanism: valuation-related processing implicating orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, reward-learning signals indexed in the ventral striatum, self-referential and identity-relevant processing engaging medial prefrontal cortex within the default-mode network, threat- and salience-related processing involving the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex within the salience network, and neuroendocrine output regulated through the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and modulated by gonadal and neuropeptide systems. Consistent with Poldrack on reverse inference and with Marr on levels of analysis, the framework is presented at an integrative implementational level with candidate algorithmic mappings specified for each category, not as a computational specification of the constructs themselves, and treats high-level constructs such as prestige, status, and sacred value as emergent phenomena arising from dynamic network interactions, bodily states, cultural contexts, and historical contingencies rather than as properties localized to single regions. Because few neuroimaging paradigms isolate freely conferred deference from generic social rank, claims specific to prestige are deliberately restricted throughout, and the evidence base is presented as one concerning social rank unless a paradigm operationalizes prestige directly. Material ownership, sacred values, religious belief, and digital prestige metrics are treated as candidate domains of application, with explicit separation of direct neural evidence, behavioral evidence, and theoretical extrapolation. Symbolic escalation in consumer markets, sacred-value absolutism, and amplified social feedback on digital platforms are interpreted as candidate environmental amplifiers of ancestral status mechanisms rather than demonstrated causal pathways. Nine operational study designs are proposed to guide future preregistered tests, including one designed to establish whether a prestige-specific neural claim can be made at all. Intervention strategies are mapped to candidate processing and network targets using an explicit evidence-grading scheme, with structural and institutional measures weighted equally alongside cognitive and contemplative ones. The framework relies on correlational neuroimaging subject to reverse-inference constraints, draws primarily from samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic populations, and should be evaluated as a hypothesis-generating account rather than as a confirmed neural architecture. Full article

This article theorizes conscience as a political principle in the context of polarized democracy, examining its strategic articulation in the rhetoric of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu between 2010 and 2023. While existing scholarship on polarization and majoritarianism has focused primarily on identity politics and institutional erosion, less attention has been paid to the moral vocabularies through which opposition actors reconfigure democratic legitimacy. Drawing on conscience and theories of secularism, this study conceptualizes conscience as a mediating category that unsettles the binary between religious authority and secular reason. Through qualitative discourse analysis of parliamentary speeches, campaign addresses, and party documents, the article demonstrates how conscience is framed simultaneously as transcendent and universal—invoked as divinely resonant yet politically inclusive. I argue that this formulation constitutes a heterodox model of religion–politics relations that departs from both assertive secularism and majoritarianism. By privileging individual moral deliberation over collective identity claims, Kılıçdaroğlu articulates a liberal-pluralist alternative aimed at depolarizing democratic contestation. The findings contribute to political theory by advancing an account of conscience as a performative and strategic resource in democratic struggles. More broadly, the study offers a framework for understanding how moral rhetoric can be mobilized to foster democratic resilience in deeply divided societies, with implications extending beyond the Turkish case. Full article

Contrasting mainstream operational definitions of mindfulness, this article introduces the Dialectical Mandala Model of Mindfulness (DMMM), a dialectically articulated framework integrating Daoist internal alchemy and Buddhist contemplative theory. It reconceptualizes mindfulness as a multilayered developmental architecture rather than a set of techniques or cognitive skills, extending beyond cognitive adjustment to encompass the psycho-physical dynamics of qi, shen (spirit), hun (cloud-soul), and po (white-soul). Grounded in the catuṣkoṭi framework, the DMMM proposes a reconstruction of the dialectical logic underlying certain contemplative traditions through a systematic integration of the subject–object polarity, and aligns with the second stage of Kwang-Kuo Hwang’s three-step epistemological strategy for developing indigenous psychology, contributing to theory-building within cross-cultural and indigenous psychological discourse. The study combines close textual analysis with a reflexive use of autoethnographic vignettes from long-term practice, not as reports of experience themselves but as an epistemically situated resource for model construction. The DMMM formalizes a recursively unfolding developmental trajectory of mindfulness cultivation into a system of four interrelated cycles, each comprising four distinct phases. Across these phases, the developmental qualities of faith, understanding, practice, and realization function as recurrent structural principles rather than merely experiential descriptors. By articulating the internal dynamics and causal coherence of these phases, the model offers a systematic theoretical account of how spontaneous or non-discursive states may be understood as structured by a deeper dialectical logic. These four cycles provide a framework for analyzing transformations in mindfulness across stages and traditions, thereby contributing to religious studies, contemplative studies, and cross-cultural psychological theory-building. Full article

This study examines the perceptions of Palestinian Arab students enrolled in teacher training colleges regarding their religious, ethnic, and educational identities and investigates the associations between these identities and life orientation, self-mastery, and self-esteem. In addition, the study evaluates a hypothesized model in which life orientation is posited to mediate the relationship between religious identity, ethnic identity, self-esteem, self-mastery, and educational identity. The research includes a sample of 512 Arab Palestinian Israeli students studying in Israeli teacher training colleges who filled out an online questionnaire. The findings show that participants reported clear and coherent perceptions of their religious, ethnic, and educational identities, along with a generally positive life orientation and moderate levels of self-esteem and self-mastery. Significant correlations were found between the variables. Furthermore, religious and ethnic identity, self-esteem, self-mastery, and life orientation were all directly associated with educational identity. Bias-corrected bootstrap analyses confirmed significant indirect effects through positive life orientation, supporting the hypothesized mediation model. These findings help to illustrate the extent to which the religious and ethnic identities of indigenous multi-religious and multicultural minorities contribute to the growth and development of individuals and advocate for their strengthening, contrary to claims that belittle these identities or call for ignoring and suppressing them. Furthermore, the study underscores the potential role of identity awareness in fostering adaptive psychosocial adjustment and reducing social polarization. Full article

Given the lack of research on the intersection of media and religion outside the U.S. and in South Korea, this study analyzed how two mainstream daily newspapers have depicted Christianity and compared their tones and frames toward this religion and megachurches in Korea. News stories on three major religions—Protestantism, Buddhism, and Catholicism—were identified and collected from the newspapers’ online archives. Overall, 302 out of 895 articles were focused on Christianity. Quantitative content analysis was utilized with a manual holistic approach. One of the major findings is that Chosun Ilbo, a conservative-leaning publication, described Protestantism in a more positive manner than Kyunghyang Shinmun, a liberal-leaning newspaper. Another finding is that there has been a shift in religion news coverage between 2011 and 2022 in terms of frames applied. Frames such as political power and corrupt were used more often in 2011, whereas the social work frame was employed more frequently in 2022, when covering Protestantism. The findings offer critical implications for journalists, religious communities, and the public by identifying journalistic practices that potentially fuel audience polarization. This exploratory study serves as a foundational step in advancing scholarly discourse on the media–religion interface in South Korea. Full article

Social workers are charged with challenging social injustice and pursuing social change, particularly during divisive and conflictual times, and just as social work has often been at the forefront of conversation during these times, so too has faith and religion. In this article, two social work faculty members engage in interfaith dialogue of Christianity and Sikhism to explore social justice, moral responsibility, and community-based approaches to peacebuilding. The article highlights how each faith tradition’s theological commitments (e.g., Christian emphases on agape, liberation, and restorative justice and Sikh principles of seva (selfless service), sarbat da bhala (the welfare of all) and Sant Sipahi (courageous resistance to oppression) shape distinctive yet complementary approaches to justice-oriented action. By examining the convergence and divergence between Christian and Sikh perspectives, the authors contribute to broader conversations on peacebuilding, pluralism, and ethics across diverse faith communities. Through an exploratory framework emphasizing mutual inquiry, the dialogue reveals shared values such as dignity, compassion, and the pursuit of equitable social structures, while also highlighting the unique contributions each faith brings to contemporary social justice movements and social work practice. Finally, the article demonstrates how interfaith engagement can expand practitioners’ understanding of justice by offering alternative moral languages, practices, and modes of activism. Thus, it identifies the potential of interfaith partnerships for addressing systemic inequities and conflict, countering religious polarization, and cultivating sustainable models of peace grounded in solidarity. Full article

This study examined whether strong ethnic community participation facilitates social integration or reinforces social separation among Filipina marriage migrants in the Daegu–Gyeongbuk region of South Korea. A mixed-methods design combined survey data collected between 2018 and 2019 with a media discourse analysis covering 2020 to 2025. Survey results indicate extensive ethnic network participation, with 94.5% of respondents involved in religious or Filipino community organizations, yet persistent integration challenges. Language barriers were reported by 54.8% of respondents and cultural misunderstandings by 40%, suggesting strong bonding social capital alongside limited bridging social capital even after prolonged residence. Drawing on Putnam’s social capital theory, 328 news articles on Filipino–Korean relations were screened, of which only 10 directly addressed marriage migrants. None examined the routine experiences identified in the survey, reflecting discursive erasure shaped by polarized narratives of victimization or exceptional success. The temporal separation between the datasets enables an assessment of whether documented integration patterns are acknowledged in public discourse. The findings raise concerns about policy approaches that prioritize ethnic community centers without providing sustained opportunities for intercultural interaction, particularly given that many respondents entered marriage through religious matching programs that embedded them within ethnic networks, with potential health implications. Full article

This study examines the determinants of tolerance among higher education students in Montenegro and their implications for educational and societal sustainability. Guided by the framework of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), it investigates how socio-demographic factors, economic insecurity, political orientations, and digital media use shape attitudes toward ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 469 students in 2021 and analysed using binary logistic regression. Results show that education is the strongest predictor of tolerant attitudes (p < 0.01), highlighting the transformative role of higher education in fostering inclusive and sustainability-relevant competencies. Economic insecurity, particularly unemployment, was associated with more exclusionary views, linking social equity to sustainability outcomes. Gender (p < 0.001), age (p = 0.07), and engagement with human-rights content online (p < 0.01) also emerged as significant predictors. Religiosity showed a modest negative association with tolerance (p = 0.01). The final model explained 37% of the variance in tolerant attitudes (Nagelkerke R² = 0.37). Digital media played an ambivalent role: while it increased exposure to diverse perspectives, it also contributed to polarization, underscoring the need for critical digital literacy within ESD-aligned curricula. Overall, the findings demonstrate that inclusive education, digital competence, and participatory learning environments are central to building tolerant, cohesive, and sustainability-oriented societies. The study contributes to ESD scholarship by linking social inclusion, sustainability competencies, and the role of higher education in post-transition contexts. Full article

Recent global conflicts have amplified long-standing patterns of religion-related bias and discrimination in the U.S. The continuing war on Gaza has led to bias, hostility, and violence against both Muslims and Jews in the U.S. We present an overview of results from a new 1308-person national survey data collection gathered through NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel with oversamples of Jews and Muslims. Our findings reveal important reversals, asymmetries, polarities, and solidarities in perceptions and experiences of bias among Jews and Muslims and experiences of and responses to the war among religious groups. Jews were the most likely group to report experiences of religious bias and hostility in the U.S. and the most likely to register fear about future bias, followed by Muslims, a reversal of patterns from earlier research. Jews were the most likely religious group to report experiencing an increase in religious bias or hostility after October 7, 2023. Americans reported warm feelings towards Jews, Muslims, Israelis, and Palestinians but cool feelings towards the Israeli government and Hamas, suggesting that across most religious groups, Americans demonstrate more sympathy towards religious identities when compared to national identities and political entities. Full article

This study aims to understand how religious affective content in the digital realm influences epistemic authority, social imaginaries, and religious beliefs among young adults (individuals between 18 and 35) with a university education and who identify as Christian, Hindu, or Muslim in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Data indicate the growing role of digital platforms as epistemic sources for religious maintenance, while families, private sacred-text teachings, religious leaders, and the community continue to serve as primary sources. Cultural capital, such as higher education and social skills, does not necessarily make respondents psychologically or emotionally resilient to be able and effectively deal with moral distrust and hate speech on social media. In daily life individuals feel cross-pressured between their religious attitudes, and secular educational institutions and government agencies who promote liberal values while perceiving religion as a threat, despite not consistently adhering to those liberal values themselves. Hence, this experienced injustice in the city, enhanced by the negative framing of religion in digital media, may influence the social judgement of individuals and the processes of alienation, polarization and radicalization. Full article

Religion and partisanship remain deeply intertwined in contemporary American politics, especially in public debates on religious expression in state institutions. This study examined whether religious identity and behavior continue to influence public attitudes independently of party affiliation in a highly polarized environment. Drawing on the latest 2023–2024 Pew Religious Landscape Study, the analysis examined support for teacher-led Christian prayer in public schools—a constitutionally contentious issue—through survey-weighted logistic regression models. The models included key religious predictors—tradition, born-again identity, and church attendance—alongside controls for political ideology and party identification. While Republican partisanship is the single strongest predictor of support, religious identity retains a significant and independent effect. Evangelical Protestants, as well as highly observant individuals across traditions, consistently show greater support for school prayer than their less religious or differently affiliated co-partisans. These residual effects point to the persistence of religious subcultures within each party coalition. By identifying such within-party variation, this study contributes to broader debates on the evolving boundaries of secular governance and the complex interplay between religion and partisan identity. Full article

Understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of religion is crucial for explaining cultural and geopolitical transformations. Based on multi-source religious demographic data, this study analyzes the spatio-temporal dynamics of global Catholicism after WWII using gravity migration and standard deviational ellipse models, revealing spatial heterogeneity and tracing the migration of its developmental center. Spatial typology techniques are further employed to classify patterns of Catholic growth efficiency. Our findings reveal that: (1) The absolute number of global Catholics has steadily increased, exhibiting a west-heavy, east-light pattern, with particularly notable growth in the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. The proportion of Catholics has declined—especially in traditional strongholds such as Europe and the Americas—while rising in emerging missionary regions, notably in Africa. (2) The macro-trend of Catholic development demonstrates a continuous southward shift in its global center of gravity, transitioning from Europe to the Global South—particularly regions like Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The standard deviational ellipse reveals pronounced oscillation, with an increasing rotation angle and a southward tilt, suggesting an accelerating pace of change in the global distribution of Catholicism. (3) Post-WWII, Catholic growth outpaced population in 75.57% of countries, though modestly. Developmental efficiency temporally followed a trajectory of “broad weak positive—drastic polarization—weak equilibrium”, while spatially reflecting pronounced regional heterogeneity shaped by the combined effects of colonial legacies, social demands, political dynamics, and modernity shocks. Overall, our study provides empirical support for understanding the links between religious spatial patterns and social transformation. Full article

The making of a land patrimony for the benefit of religious missions is profoundly linked to territorial construction in the colonies but is rarely examined from the angle of ecclesiastical governmentality over the ceded lands. This analysis highlights three complementary processes for understanding the role of religious mission land heritage in territorial reconfigurations. First, this article examines the process of “land sanctuarization”, which materializes territorial anchoring through the crystallization of land rights granted to religious missions over customary lands previously presumed to be “vacant”. Next, it explores the formation of an “ecclesiastical dominium”, manifested in the dismantling of state missions and their free transfer, explicit or tacit, to religious missions under concession or agreement regimes. This reveals the exercise of state power over the land heritage of religious missions, positioning them as structuring axes and administrative intermediaries for public services, thus giving rise to an ecclesiastical governmentality that drives territorial production and reconfiguration. Finally, postcolonial dynamics reveal the resurgence of new spatial polarities shaped by the complexity of evolving religious actors along the center–periphery axis of a recomposing territorialization. This study underscores the importance of a transversal approach to better govern the land legacies of religious missions, fostering a pluralistic reterritorialization of postcolonial societies in central Africa. Full article

The rapid growth in interfaith peacebuilding has elevated the prominence of religion in theoretical and practical discourse, highlighting its importance in conflict dynamics. In dialogue-based encounters between distinct identity groups, religion often emerges as a key factor, regardless of participants’ specific affiliation or religiosity level. However, studies on religion-related tension typically adopt a polarized perspective, framing conflict in intergroup contexts while overlooking intra-group dynamics. This paper addresses this gap through a qualitative cross-case analysis of two studies, conducted in Israel during 2016–2019. Participants included 28 secular Jews and 28 secular Arabs (Christian and Muslim). Our findings reveal that non-religious individuals from both societies experienced similar challenges in navigating intra-group, religion-based encounters. Participants identified religion as defining boundaries of understanding, acceptance, legitimacy, and belonging within their societies. The study also highlights gaps in mutual recognition, whereby the participants expressed willingness to accept religion as integral to their religious counterparts’ identity, yet reported that this openness was not reciprocated. This gap created barriers to dialogue, weakening potential intra-group cohesion. This paper contributes to the literature on conflicts and peacebuilding, underscoring notable intra-group similarities between Jewish and Arab participants, and offers a novel framework for understanding religious dynamics across distinct social contexts. Full article

Congregational leaders in the US must navigate a political landscape marked by increasing political polarization and a notable rise in support for ideas aligned with Christian nationalism. While gender, race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation have long shaped political lines, the US population has steadily become more entrenched in partisan political divides. Recent research shows the relationship between religious identity and willingness to use violence to support political and religious ideologies. These trends profoundly affect faith communities, challenging theological perspectives, social dynamics, and civic engagement. This paper examines how political polarization and Christian nationalist impulses within mainline Christian congregations impact congregational leadership. This study identifies key factors driving these changes through qualitative analysis of case studies and quantitative research. It explores their implications for community cohesion and the broader societal fabric. The findings suggest that while some communities experience heightened internal conflict and fragmentation, others adapt by engaging in dialogue, story-sharing, and education. The paper concludes with recommendations to counter political polarization and ideological extremism through increased understanding, nuanced theological reflection, and political awareness. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on congregational leadership and political engagement, highlighting the need for nuanced strategies to address the challenges of political polarization and Christian nationalism in the US today. Full article