scholarly journals The openness of religious beliefs to the influence of external information

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darin Freeburg

Religious beliefs have important and wide-reaching impacts on society. They also tend to be viewed as impervious to the influence of information external to a religious setting. Eight focus groups were held with attendees of two United Church of Christ congregations. Participants were asked about their core religious beliefs, and transcripts were qualitatively coded for the interplay of belief and information. Analysis found that beliefs that were focused on people, processes and events external to the congregation showed the characteristics of being more open to external information. Specifically, the breadth of these external beliefs allowed for a wider set of external information to be considered relevant; these beliefs were less biased, allowing participants to be more open to disconfirming information from outside the congregation; and these beliefs were held with less certainty, making it more likely that this disconfirming information would be attended to. This study provides suggestions for religious practitioners wishing to make the information behaviour of their organisations more open.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Rodionov ◽  
Andrey Zaytsev ◽  
Evgeniy Konnikov ◽  
Nikolay Dmitriev ◽  
Yulia Dubolazova

The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to the self-isolation of people and the transformation of many economic and social processes into an electronic version thus contributing to the digitalization of all spheres. Being part of this environment, enterprises generate information resources to develop their desired image, which may vary according to the factors characterizing the information environment. Information capital is a comprehensive characteristic of an enterprise and determines its effectiveness and sustainability. The purpose of this study is to develop a toolkit that allows one to assess the information capital of an enterprise, reflecting its perception within the digital information environment. It is necessary to develop the methodology for the formation of such tools. As a result, a fuzzy-plural approach has been developed to evaluate the index of external information capital. This model allows us to assess the external information capital and to simulate its changes caused by various kinds of information events. The study of key elements, for example, the stability and tonality indices, index of target perception made it possible to systematize chaotic changes in the external environment and describe them using the Chen–Lee attractor model. The results of this study can be useful for researchers in the field of digital information analysis, in particular for the comparative analysis of enterprises and the assessment of their information capital.


1972 ◽  
Vol os-19 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Delbert Rice

Traditionally, decisions among the iKalahan (North Luzon, Philippines) are made by the entire community in open conference. Elders, chosen for maturity, civic-mindedness, activity, memory, good public relations, cooperativeness, and dependability, formulate community decisions and assist in settling disputes. Mutual moral support is strong, and community disapproval and removal of support is a powerful means of social control. When the United Church of Christ in the Philippines came on the scene (1954), it brought its own Western-type Book of Government. But the prescribed representative structures were rejected by the iKalahan in favor of open congregational meetings; church officers are task oriented and do not exercise much authority. Congregational nurture, as distinct from making decisions, is the province of specialists, which is in accord with tradition. Means of social control are also being evolved along traditional lines.


1960 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Addison J. Eastman ◽  
Richard B. Poetig ◽  
Frank W. Price

The Reverend Addison J. Eastman has been a missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society in Burma, and is now Director of the Missionary Personnel Program in the Division of Foreign Missions, NCCC-USA. The Reverend Richard B. Poetig has been sent by the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to serve as Minister for Industrial Evangelism, in the United Church of Christ, Manila, The Philippines. Frank W. Price is Director of the Missionary Research Library


Worldview ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
Frank Patton

American Protestantism, long something of a sacred cow in American life and politics, now finds itself seriously threatened by government on several fronts. The battle is shaping up over church tax exemptions, and the stakes, for both church and society, are breathtakingly high.In July, 1909, the Communications Office of the United Church of Christ announced that it intended to testify before a Senate subcommittee on legislation regarding the renewal of television licenses. Two weeks later the good churchmen received notice from the Internal Revenue Service that “substantial” efforts to influence legislation could “jeopardize” the church's tax exemption.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie MacDonald ◽  
Peter Bath ◽  
Andrew Booth

Objectives: To gain insight into the information behaviour of healthcare services managers as they draw on information while engaged in decision making unrelated to individual patient care. Objectives – The purpose of this research project was to gain insight into the information behaviour of healthcare services managers as they use information while engaged in decision-making unrelated to individual patient care. Methods – This small-scale, exploratory, multiple case study used the critical incident technique in nineteen semi-structured interviews. Responses were analyzed using ‘Framework,’ a matrix-based content analysis system. Results – This paper presents findings related to the internal information that healthcare services managers need and use. Their decisions are influenced by a wide variety of factors. They must often make decisions without all of the information they would prefer to have. Internal information and practical experience set the context for new research-based information, so they are generally considered first. Conclusions – Healthcare services managers support decisions with both facts and value-based information. These results may inform both delivery of health library services delivery and strategic health information management planning. They may also support librarians who extend their skills beyond managing library collections and teaching published information retrieval skills, to managing internal and external information, teaching information literacy, and supporting information sharing.


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