Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Doubts: Content, Connections, and Complexity of Thinking

Hunsberger, Bruce; Alisat, Susan; Pancer, S. Mark; Pratt, Michael W.

doi:10.1207/s15327582ijpr0603_7

Cited by 101 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The guiding assumption was that doubt was more likely to be a problem for people who were deeply involved in religion and occupied formal church roles. The authors suspected that such people would be most invested psychologically, temporally, and materially in their faiths; therefore, religious doubt might be a greater threat or challenge to their personal identities (Ellison 1994;Hunsberger et al 1996;Kooistra and Pargament 1999). Findings confirmed that congregants who were more involved in their churches faced more difficulties dealing with doubt.…”

Section: Religious Doubt and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Indeed, research has shown that religious doubt may spawn positive outcomes, such as a deepening of personal identity, diminished prejudices, and an inclination toward helping others in need (Hunsberger et al 2001). Moreover, people who display a greater degree of religious doubt are more likely than others to process religious and existential material in integratively complex ways and are subsequently better equipped to generate the sense of coherence and meaning researchers associate with improved psychological health (Hunsberger et al 1993;Hunsberger et al 1996).…”

Section: Religious Doubt and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Religious Doubt and Mental Health Across the Lifespan

et al. 2007

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The current study examined the connections among religious doubt, mental health, and aging in a nationwide sample of individuals 18 years and older (N = 1629). Findings indicate that that religious doubt emerging from the recognition of suffering and evil in the world has a deleterious impact on mental health. Results also show that as people grow older, religious doubts continue to be associated with psychopathology, but the magnitude of this association becomes weaker across age categories. In other words, the impact of doubt on mental distress declines as one ages. These effects were found across various measures of mental distress, including depression, general anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoia, hostility, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Findings are explored within the context of psychosocial development and the experiential trajectory of religious maturity.

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Section: Religious Doubt and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Religious Doubt and Psychopathologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Doubt and Mental Health Across the Lifespan

et al. 2007

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“…If we keep these Aspects separate, we are able to document a potential Aspect-specific difference in the developmental niveaus; for example, a lag of development in existential or religious issues. The question addressed in previous research, whether the relation between religious fundamentalism and complexity of thought exist for existential content only (Hunsberger, Pratt, & Pancer, 1994; see also Pancer, Jackson, Hunsberger, & Pratt, 1995;and Hunsberger, Alisat, Pancer, & Pratt, 1996), can be reflected on in terms of faith development. This could be of special relevance for research with fundamentalist individuals, if we have reason to assume that a fundamentalist orientation consists of a revival of ear- (Noam, 1990).…”

Section: The "Classical" Methods According To the Manual For Faith Devmentioning

confidence: 98%

THEORY: "Faith Development Research Revisited: Accounting for Diversity in Structure, Content, and Narrativity of Faith"

Streib¹

2005

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion

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Based on the recent proposal in this journal (Streib, 2001a) to revise James Fowler's (1981) faith development theory, the article argues for a revision of faith development research to account not only for structural diversity, but also for narrative and content diversity. Therefore, it suggests the inclusion of content-analytical and narrative-analytical procedures into faith development research. The argument develops in light of a review of 53 empirical studies that all have used Fowler's faith development instrument or a variation thereof; this review pays attention to the instruments that have been proposed for quantitative research in faith development, but especially to the empirical studies that have already included narrative-and content-analytical approaches. The article concludes with a proposal for a revised research design that integrates attention for structure, content, and narrative and suggests a coherent methodological procedure for future research in faith development.Within the relatively short time period of 20 years, James Fowler's (1981) theory of faith development has attracted attention and inspired empirical research both in the United States and worldwide. The growing reputation of faith development theory had its beginning in the Center for Faith Development at Emory University 1 -which, however, never claimed to be the sole faith development re-

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“…As Hunsberger, Alisat, Pancer and Pratt (Bruce. Hunsberger, Alisat, Pancer, & Pratt, 1996) indicate, fundamentalists were shown to have less doubt about God or religion per se than the less fundamentalist believers. Friedman and Rholes (2008) also show that religious fundamentalism can "serve a protective function against existential anxiety."(p.…”

Section: Prediction Of Life Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Protestant Spirituality and Religious Community on the Well-Being of People in Hong Kong

Ng¹,

Fisher²

2011

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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While the literature demonstrates that the relationship between religion and wellbeing is generally positive, detailed information about the context where the religion is based is rarely given. Drawing on multi-dimensional perspectives of spirituality, the present study regards spirituality as an integral dimension of a person's religious beliefs, practices and experiences within a given context. The manifestation of spirituality can be viewed from personal, interpersonal and social dimensions. The primary objective of the study is to examine whether, how and why the spirituality and religious community of Protestant tradition can affect the well-being of people in the context of Hong Kong.In the first phase of the study, 324 Chinese from four Protestant communities, representing four major kinds of Protestant spirituality, and one non-religious comparison group in Hong Kong were recruited. MANOVA results showed that religious community exerted a significant impact on people's spirituality and sense of community, which enhance their well-being -manifested in life satisfaction, social trust and civic participation. The different religious contexts exhibited different dimensions of spirituality and well-being, suggesting that the impact is not only direct but also dependent on and intertwined with the religious setting. Path analyses demonstrated the complex relationship between spirituality and well-being variables. While some of the spirituality-related variables may directly predict civic participation, the relationship between such variables and life satisfaction and social trust are mainly mediated through mental health and sense of community.The second phase of the study incorporated a field study (participant observation, interview and documentary analysis). Activity setting analysis was used as the interpretive framework, to unpack the elements of the various religious settings and to identify the present and absent conditions that help explain the variety and diversity of well-being outcomes manifested in the survey section. The data showed that immediate religious settings affect people's emotions, cognitions and behavioural patterns, through relational, ideational and even material aspects of the social environment, which finally lead to various kinds of well-being. Results also demonstrate that not only may the different religious settings enhance different kinds of well-being, but that they also provide different pathways to enhance a certain kind of well-being. These findings iii suggest that religious impacts on people's well-being are diverse and intricate. The present study thus confirms the important role of religion in people's well-being, but further signifies the intricate relationship between the various dimensions of religion and well-being. Moreover, when studying the effects of religion, both the subjective and the community context of a person's spirituality cannot be overlooked when drawing any conclusion on the costs and benefits of religion. iv v

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Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Doubts: Content, Connections, and Complexity of Thinking

Cited by 101 publications

References 13 publications

Religious Doubt and Mental Health Across the Lifespan

Religious Doubt and Mental Health Across the Lifespan

THEORY: "Faith Development Research Revisited: Accounting for Diversity in Structure, Content, and Narrativity of Faith"

Impact of Protestant Spirituality and Religious Community on the Well-Being of People in Hong Kong

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