Body Modifications, Sexual Activity, and Religious Practices

2010 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark G. Rivardo ◽  
Colleen M. Keelan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Body Modification ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Body Modifications

Relations among body modifications (i.e., tattoos and piercings), sexual activity, and religious practices and beliefs were examined. In previous studies, Koch and colleagues found the type of body modification seemed to interact with sex to predict sexual activity; but only weak, negative correlations were found between tattoos and religious beliefs and practices. In a sample of 236 students ( M age = 20.1 yr.) from a small Catholic liberal arts college, numbers of tattoos and sexual partners were correlated statistically significantly. Other results differed by t sex: men with piercings were more likely to have had premarital intercourse, and women who had had premarital intercourse had more piercings than women who had not. There were no statistically significant correlations among body modifications and religious variables.

The Delphic Oracle: Belief and Behaviour in Ancient Greece—and Africa

1965 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Modern Trend ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Real ◽  
Cultural Institution

Until comparatively recently writers on religion were absorbed by questions concerning the origins of religious beliefs and practices. They endowed primitive man with a kind of rational logicality in his belief, or, like Frazer, they saw his religious practices as simply the application of erroneous reasoning. The modern trend is to try to view the religious or cultural institution as an essential part of society, existing because of the needs of that society. This is the theme, for instance, of Malinowski when he says that “religion is not born out of speculation or reflection, still less out of illusion or misapprehension, but rather out of the real tragedies of human life, out of the conflict between human plans and realities.”

scholarly journals Cultural and Religious Beliefs and Practices Abusive to Children With Disabilities in Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
A. T. Mukushi ◽  
J. C. Makhubele ◽  
V. Mabvurira
Keyword(s):  
Support Groups ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Frontline Workers

This study sought to explore religious practices and beliefs that violate the rights of children with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The authors employed a qualitative approach in exploring cultural and religious beliefs and practices abusive to children with disabilities. Authors used exploratory-descriptive case study design and purposive sampling in selecting participants. Data collection took place in Dzivarasekwa, a high-density suburb in Harare among children who were receiving rehabilitation services at Harare Hospital and their caregivers. The study established that children with disabilities who come from some apostolic families are disadvantaged, as their parents believe that demonic spirits causes disability. This then leads to heightened levels of discrimination. The study also found out that there are remedial but harmful cultural and religious practices. The study recommends that rigorous awareness raising is needed for communities to support people with disabilities, formation of support groups amongst people with disabilities themselves, introducing holistic interventions that address issues of cultural and religious beliefs and continuous training for frontline workers to keep in touch with current best practices, policies and laws around disabilities.

Engaging with the Guru

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 201-224
Author(s):  
Kristina Myrvold
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Social World ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spiritual Authority ◽  
Sacred Scripture

The Sikhs have perhaps taken the concept of a sacred scripture much further than any other religious community by treating the Guru Granth Sahib as a living guru. This essay analyzes various religious beliefs and practices by which contemporary Sikhs construct and maintain conceptions of their scripture as a guru with spiritual authority. A distinction is made between religious practices that serve to mediate and interpret the semantic content of the scripture, performative acts that are enacted to transform the social world, and rituals that aim to give the scripture a careful ministration and celebrate different stages of its worldly life. The various ritualized uses of Guru Granth Sahib can be approached as external strategies by which the Sikhs personify their scripture and make it socially alive as a living guru.

Differences in Personality Attributions Toward Tattooed and Nontattooed Virtual Human Characters

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Wohlrab ◽  
Bernhard Fink ◽  
Peter M. Kappeler ◽  
Gayle Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Partner ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Body Modification ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Virtual Human ◽  
Body Modifications ◽  
Personality Attributions

Individuals with body modifications, such as tattoos, have been shown to differ from nonmodified individuals in sensation-seeking personality characteristics and sociosexuality. This study examined possible differences in people’s attributions of those characteristics toward virtual human characters varying in body modification. Some 287 participants rated tattooed and nontattooed bodies of avatars on aspects of sensation seeking and number of previous sexual partners. Tattooed stimuli were rated as more experience, thrill, and adventure seeking as well as more likely to have a high number of previous sexual partners and as less inhibited when compared to nontattooed stimuli, and this was particularly true for male stimuli. It was concluded that people with body modifications, such as tattoos, are perceived differently compared to nontattooed individuals in terms of sensation seeking and previous sexual partner number, this being particularly true for men. Findings are discussed with reference to the evolutionary model of human sexual selection.

Religious Orientations in the Lives of Indian Entrepreneurs: Three Case Studies

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
ALINA BAKUNINA
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Religious Orientations ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
Urban Indian ◽  
Business Setting ◽  
Religious Elements

AbstractThis paper aims to demonstrate how ‘the religious’ is conceptualized and practiced among urban Indian entrepreneurs. It investigates a continuum of religious sentiment and practice, including non-religious elements, rather than a fixed repertoire of belief and ritual. These religious orientations range from the incorporation of certain Hindu religious practices into the business setting to a denial of any substantive role religion may play in the lives of entrepreneurs and the imbuing of religious dispositions with secular meaning. I argue in this paper that the religious and quasi religious practices of India's new social and economic elite are geared primarily towards the enhancement of their ‘flexible’ lifestyles. The study also makes a claim that modern urban Hinduism accommodates hybrid secular-sacred religious beliefs and practices.

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