No abstract

Rejection of Darwinian evolution (implying rejection of the common origin of all species, including humans) was assessed among 1,100 churchgoers from a range of Christian denominations in England. The main predictors of rejecting evolution were denominational affiliation and attendance. Individuals from Pentecostal or evangelical denominations were twice as likely to reject evolution compared with those from Anglican or Methodist churches. In all denominations, higher attendance was associated with greater rejection of evolution. Education in general, and theological education in particular, had some effect on reducing rejection, but this was not dependent on having specifically scientific or biological educational qualifications. Psychological type preferences for sensing over intuition and for thinking over feeling also predicted greater rejection, after allowing for the association of type preferences and general religiosity. Reasons for the association between psychological type and rejection of evolution are discussed in the light of the known characteristics of different function preferences.

This paper argues that the nation's commitment to young people involves proper concern for their physical health, their psychological health, and their spiritual health. In this context the notion of spiritual health is clarified by a critique of John Fisher's model of spiritual health. Fisher developed a relational model of spiritual health, according to which he conceives defines good spiritual health in terms of good an individual's relationship within to four domains: the personal, the communal, the environmental, and the transcendental. In the present analysis, we will make comparisons are made between pupils educated in three types of schools: publicly-funded schools without religious foundation, publicly-funded schools with an Anglican foundation, and new independent Christian schools (not publicly funded). The Our findings draw attention to significant differences in in the levels of spiritual health experienced by pupils within these three types of schools.

No abstract

Research at York St John (RaY) is an institutional repository. It supports the principles of open access by making the research outputs of the University available in digital form.