New Scientist: Religion alters visual perception

New Scientist just published a report on a study by Leiden University’s Bernhard Hommel, in which he shows that Dutch Calvinists are able to pick out shapes from a confusing background quicker than athiests of similar cultural backgrounds.

“This could reflect a greater focus on self than external distractions for Calvinists, says Hommel. He suggests it may even be a cognitive consequence of their religion and speculates that Calvinists might be more inward looking than atheists because they have lived their whole lives with an emphasis on minding their own business.

Hommel plans to give the same test to Catholics, as well as Muslims and Jews, but he must first figure out how to eliminate other cultural differences that could mask any insights. ‘It doesn’t make any sense to compare Iranian Muslims with Dutch atheists,’ he says.”

Does this mean that religious people see things more clearly?  You be the judge.

Dave

Religious Diversity Forum – impressions

I’ve been in Auckland the last couple of days at the New Zealand Diversity Forum, of which the Religious Diversity Forum was part. It was really great to see such great commitment from the NZ Government, top down from the Prime Minister Helen Clark, who gave a moving speech to the plenary celebrating the strength of diversity in New Zealand’s changing demographic landscape. An Australian delegation, led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma also attended the forum.

About 200 people attended the first half-day Diversity Forum in 2005, which was held after two Jewish cemeteries were desecrated in Wellington. It has since grown to attract more than 1,000 people in an event that spans several days.

At the Religious Diversity Forum, Prof Paul Morris gave a good talk on religious communities’ right to safety and security, and went into some depth into research he’d carried out into religious perspectives on the issue. In the last few years, “minor events” of harassment (ie, where nobody was seriously injured) tend not to have been followed up so as to starve the perpetrators of the “oxygen of publicity” that they often seek in committing such acts. Paul suggests that it’s time to change this policy, and adopt zero-tolerance for attacks on religious communities.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Rob Pope responded with a prepared speech, but I felt that he didn’t have a grasp of the issues. More specifically, Rob seemed to conflate the concepts of race, nationality, ethnicity, and religion into a single entity – which is understandable, but also unhelpful getting to the crux of religious discrimination. I suspect that one of the key reasons for this is that the Human Rights Act covers race, gender, ethnicity and so on, but not religion. Pope also made reference to the Police’s Community Liaison Officers whose roles are modeled on Iwi Liaison Officers, but I’m unaware of any officers specifically dedicated to religious communities (in contrast to ethnic communities). Furthermore, in the recent Police action against Tuhoe, Māori liaison officers were left out of the loop; that’s not a particularly good model! Bottom line: the Police still have a long way to go before they’re asking the right questions, let alone providing the right answers. That said, they appear to be genuinely concerned, and they should be given some points for effort.

Anjum Rahman gave an account of discrimination against Muslim women – but says that things seem to be improving. Verpal Singh also gave an overview of the Sikh community in New Zealand, and highlighted the problem of people misunderstanding the kirpan. A further session addressed New Zealand’s considerable contribution to the UN’s Alliance of Civilisations programme.

The Religious Diversity Forum is where religious communities and the interfaith movement have the chance to interact with Government. That’s great, but the question of representation is a sticky one. Real progress happens at the grassroots, and there is a yawning gap between grassroots religious adherents and the religious elite and diehard interfaith junkies like myself who attend these fora. The Diversity Forum is relatively well funded, resourced, and backed by government agencies, but activities on the ground are performed by volunteers, generally self-funded on a shoestring budget. Real progress will require broader engagement. This need not be expensive or extensive, but it will need to have more consideration applied than is being done at present.

Dave

Religion / spirituality is good for you: a study of health-related outcomes

The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence recently published a literature review by Byron Johnson that examined a wide array of health-related outcomes for children, youth, and adults (with the preponderance of the research being with adults).

The results are published in Authoritative Communities: The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child.

Johnson catalogues a broad range of evidence linking religious beliefs and practices that are nurtured across time (what he calls “organic religion”) to positive outcomes for a wide range of populations.

Protecting Against Risks
Religious and spiritual practices are beginning to be acknowledged as a key protective factor that buffers or shields youth and adults from harmful outcomes.

• Injury—Religious commitment is significantly associated with a lower likelihood of adolescent unintentional and intentional injury.
• Hypertension—Seventy-six percent of the studies found that religious activities or involvement tend to be linked with reduced levels of hypertension.
• Depression—People who are frequently involved in religious activities and who highly value their religious faith are at reduced risk for depression. Religious involvement seems to play an important role in helping people cope with the effects of stressful life circumstances.
• Suicide—Religious involvement (for example, measured by frequency of religious attendance, frequency of prayer, and degree of religious salience) is associated with less suicide, suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation, as well as less tolerant attitudes toward suicide.
• Promiscuous sexual behaviors—Those who are religious are less likely to engage in premarital sex or extramarital affairs or to have multiple sexual partners.
• Alcohol and other drug use—The greater a person’s religious involvement, the less likely he or she will initiate alcohol or drug use or have problems with these substances if they are used.
• Delinquency—Religious involvement may lower the risks of a broad range of delinquent behaviors, including both minor and serious criminal behavior. Religious involvement may also have a cumulative effect throughout adolescence and thus may significantly lessen the risk of later adult criminality.

Increasing Prosocial Factors
In addition, religious and spiritual practices are beginning to be acknowledged as a key promotional factors that foster positive developmental outcomes and thriving.

• Longevity—Higher levels of religious involvement have a sizable and consistent relationship with greater longevity.
• Civic engagement—Religious and spiritual commitment are associated with increased civic engagement and service to others.
• Well-being—The vast majority of studies on well being report a positive association between religious involvement and greater happiness, life satisfaction, morale, positive affect or some other measure of well-being.
• Hope, purpose, and meaning in life—Religious involvement or commitment is associated with having hope or a sense of purpose or meaning in life, greater optimism, larger support networks, more social contacts, and greater satisfaction with support.
• Self-esteem—Sixty-five percent of studies analyzed conclude that religious commitment and activities are related to increases in self-esteem.
• Educational attainment—Religiosity is positively correlated with improved educational attainment.

SOURCE: Johnson, B. R. (2008). A tale of two religious effects: Evidence for the protective and prosocial impact of organic religion. In Kline, K. K. (Ed.), Authoritative Communities: The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child. New York: Springer Books.

[Note: most of the content in this post comes from a summary on Search Institute's web site.]

Dave

Curing global migraine by counteracting ethnic disintegration

Many years ago, I suffered from regular migraine headaches. After a particularly debilitating series, I consulted our family doctor at the time, Dr Rosemary Dodd. She helped me solve my problem without any medication, by determining that I only got my headaches if the following three conditions were true: (a) overtiredness, (b) overexertion, and (c) not enough water. Bingo, now I drink lots of water, and I haven’t had a migraine since. Fresh water, the elixir of life, that increasingly scarce resource they tell us we’ll be fighting wars over in the near future. Control one factor, and you can solve the problem.

In the Long Now Foundation’s recent Seminar on Long-Term Thinking (podcast), Niall Ferguson posits (from his book The War of the World) that the outbreak of large-scale lethal violence usually results from a combination of three factors: (1) economic volatility, (2) empires in decline, and (3) ethnic disintegration. Like my migraines, such violence can be avoided by seizing control of one of the factors. Ordinary people have little control over the first two factors, but one thing for which we can all work is ethnic harmony. Religion has often been used as a tool in ethnic violence, and vice-versa.

We can all contribute to controlling ethnic disintegration by be being courageous and refusing to participate in or support the incendiary elements within our religions and ethnic groups. Say no to violence, and say it loudly. We can also act positively by reaching out to others who are different from ourselves. But it will only work if we’re all working in this together.

It’s more than our best hope for the future, it’s our only hope.