scholarly journals Unbuckling the Bible Belt: A State-level Analysis of Religious Factors and Google Searches for Porn

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew L Whitehead ◽  
Samuel L. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Church Attendance ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
State Level ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Pornography Consumption ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Pornography Use ◽  
Evangelical Protestants ◽  
Religious Factors ◽  
Lower Frequencies

While the link between individual religious characteristics and pornography consumption is well established, relatively little research has considered how the wider religious context may influence pornography use. Exceptions in the literature to date have relied on relatively broad, subjective measures of religious commitment, largely ignoring issues of religious belonging, belief, or practice. This study moves the conversation forward by examining how a variety of state-level religious factors predict Google searches for the term “porn,” net of relevant sociodemographic and ideological controls. Our multivariate findings indicate that higher percentages of evangelical Protestants, theists, and Biblical literalists in a state predict higher frequencies of searching for “porn,” as do higher church attendance rates. Conversely, higher percentages of religiously unaffiliated persons in a state predict lower frequencies of searching for “porn.” Higher percentages of total religious adherents, Catholics, or Mainline Protestants in a state are unrelated to searching for “porn” with controls in place. Contrary to recent research, our analyses also show that higher percentages of political conservatives in a state predicted lower frequencies of “porn” searches. Our findings support theories that more salient, traditional religious influences in a state may influence residents—whether religious or not—toward more covert sexual experiences.

Evaluating the return on religious capital in the Russian labor market

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1671-1694
Author(s):  
R.M. Mel'nikov
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Church Attendance ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Religious Capital ◽  
The Impact

Subject. The article addresses the impact of religious confession on wages and the likelihood of unemployment in Russia. Objectives. The aim is to test the hypothesis that religious faith and high church attendance are accompanied by an increase in employment earnings. Methods. Using the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey data, I estimate the Mincer's extended equation with variables that characterize the respondent’s religious commitment. To assess the impact of religious identity and the activity rate of attendance at religious services on the likelihood of unemployment and life satisfaction, I use probit models. Results. The estimates demonstrate that the Russian labor market rewards men with moderate and high degree of religious commitment; their wage growth reaches seventeen percent of the level of non-believers with comparable education and work experience. However, faithful Muslim women are employed in the lowest paid areas. Religious faith and regular church attendance have a positive effect on satisfaction with life (significant for Orthodox Christian women). Conclusions. Positive impact of religious capital on income and employment can be attributed to the development of business qualities that are rewarded in the labor market, the mutual support of religious network participants. Therefore, it possible to consider religious capital, along with educational capital and health capital, as a component of human capital and a factor of socio-economic development.

scholarly journals “Varii errores qui ab origine mundi emerserunt”. The semantic scope of the term “heresy” in Philastrius’ of Brescia Diversarum hereseon liber

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 315-325
Author(s):  
Mariusz Szram
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Rule Of Faith ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Semantic Scope

The bishop of Brescia, Philastrius, author of the first Latin catalogue of he­resies, written between 380 and 388, presented in his treaty an extremely large number of heterodox movements: 28 within Judaism and 128 in early Christianity. This comes as a result of a wide understanding of the term heresis. For Philastrius this term was synonymous with the term error, recognized as any deviation from the universal truth in the history of the world, inspired by Satan as “the father of lies”, ocurring primarily in Judaism and Christianity. Among the early Christian views defined by the bishop of Brescia as heresy five groups can be distinguished. The first group includes mainly the erroneous views on fundamental theological questions contained in the rule of faith, such as the concept of a creator God and saviour Jesus Christ. The second set of he­resies, closely related with the previous one, contains the erroneous doctrines of anthropology, such as questioning the resurrection of the human body or the view of the materiality of the human soul. The third group includes the views related to the misinterpretation of Scripture, especially exaggerated literal interpretations of the texts of the Old Testament, as well as the cosmological views which do not agree with descriptions contained within the Bible. The fourth group contains the moral issues related to the based on laxism or rigorism way of life, as well as to the attitude of lack of deference to the laws of the Church, but non-threatening the primary truths of the Christian faith. The fifth group of heresies includes the movements defined by the authors of the late patristic period as a schizm, while the term schisma is not at all used by the bishop of Brescia in his work. The semantic scope of the term heresis in Philastrius’ treaty went beyond the noncompliance with the regula fidei. According to the bishop of Brescia each offense – whether in doctrinal teaching or practice of life, as well as with regard to the understanding of the text of Scripture – is a heresy because it offends God and the Church. Therefore, in Philastrius opinion one should not differentiate between superior and minor error, but equally condemn them as attitudes directed against God as the Father of Truth.

American Evangelicalism in Hypermodernity

2020 ◽  
pp. 230-250
Author(s):  
Brad Vermurlen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural System ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Preceding Argument ◽  
American Evangelicalism

The concluding chapter takes stock of what the preceding argument entails for American Evangelicalism today. It begins with evaluations from Evangelical leaders themselves about the state and health, or lack thereof, of Evangelicalism in the United States. It then addresses two frequently asked questions: “What’s new about the New Calvinism?” and “What are the boundaries of the Evangelical field?” Not able to identify any definitive boundaries, the chapter moves on to an exploration of what Evangelicalism in the United States centers on (the Bible? Jesus? The Gospel? Mission? Politics?). As with boundaries, it is argued this religious tradition lacks any coherent, agreed-upon, substantive center. American Evangelicalism is increasingly fragmented and incoherent. The chapter—and the book—ends by suggesting a new vision of secularization not as declining belief or practice but as dissolution or “cultural entropy,” a process by which an entire religious cultural system falls apart.

scholarly journals SPIRITUALITY IN CHRONIC PAIN SELF-MANAGEMENT: LOWER USE BUT EQUAL IMPORTANCE IN OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S394-S394
Author(s):  
Staja Booker
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Church Attendance ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Christian Literature

Abstract Spirituality is a key social determinant of health for African Americans (AAs) and strongly impacts management of chronic pain. Older AAs (average age 68± 12.37) from urban and rural communities completed questionnaires (N= 110) and audio-recorded, semi-structured individual interviews (N= 18) describing osteoarthritis pain self-management. Prayer was used by 42% of AAs, with substantially fewer attending church (23.6%), watching religious television or reading the Bible/Christian literature (20.9%), listening to gospel music (18.2%), and laying of hands (8.2%). Interestingly, prayer and church attendance were the only pain strategies rated by more participants as very helpful. Regardless of religiosity, most AAs believed that spirituality was “an important aspect, whether we realize it always or not”. Specifically, prayer was considered “number one… ‘cause I know it’s gonna be all right once I do pray…prayer help heal the pain”. Spiritual strategies remain integral for chronic pain self-management despite lower than expected use among AAs.

Rights, Reflection, and Reciprocity: Implications of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate for Tolerance and the Political Process

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 630-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Djupe ◽  
Andrew R. Lewis ◽  
Ted G. Jelen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Political Process ◽  
State Level ◽  
Culture War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Group Boundaries ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Evangelical Protestants

AbstractContentious battles over state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Acts suggest a fundamental refashioning of the “culture war” clashes in American politics. Conservatives — particularly religious conservatives — have come to champion a politics of rights, using “liberal weapons” (rights) to win battles or at least stave off loses. This raises important questions about the long-run effects of making rights claims. Does rights claiming lead to balkanization and reinforce group boundaries or is rights claiming an education in the democratic process that promotes tolerance? Drawing on evidence from an experimental design, we find that exposure to rights claims made by clergy regarding exemptions from participation in same-sex ceremonies acts as a prime to boost tolerance of selected least-liked groups, an effect particularly potent for evangelical Protestants.

scholarly journals Can pornography be addictive? An fMRI study of men seeking treatment for problematic pornography use

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateusz Gola ◽  
Małgorzata Wordecha ◽  
Guillaume Sescousse ◽  
Michał Lew-Starowicz ◽  
Bartosz Kossowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Sensitivity ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Pornography Consumption ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Anticipatory Processing ◽  
Pornography Use ◽  
Behavioral Motivation ◽  
Reported Data ◽  
Behavioral Mechanisms

AbstractPornography consumption is highly prevalent, particularly among young adult males. For some individuals, problematic pornography use (PPU) is a reason for seeking treatment. Despite the pervasiveness of pornography, PPU appears under-investigated, including with respect to the underlying neural mechanisms.Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined ventral striatal responses to erotic and monetary stimuli, disentangling cue-related ‘wanting’ from reward-related ‘liking’ among 28 heterosexual males seeking treatment for PPU and 24 heterosexual males without PPU. Subjects engaged in an incentive delay task in the scanner, in which they received erotic or monetary rewards preceded by predictive cues. BOLD responses to erotic and monetary cues were analyzed and examined with respect to self-reported data on sexual activity collected over the 2 preceding months.Men with and without PPU differed in their striatal responses to cues predicting erotic pictures, but not in their responses to erotic pictures. PPU subjects when compared to control subjects showed increased activation of ventral striatum specifically for cues predicting erotic pictures but not for cues predicting monetary gains. Relative sensitivity to cues predicting erotic pictures versus monetary gains was significantly related to the increased behavioral motivation to view erotic images (suggestive of higher ‘wanting’), severity of PPU, amount of pornography use per week and number of weekly masturbations.Our findings suggest that, similar to what is observed in substance and gambling addictions, the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate importantly to clinically relevant features of PPU. These findings suggest that PPU may represent a behavioral addiction and that interventions helpful in targeting behavioral and substance addictions warrant consideration for adaptation and use in helping men with PPU.

scholarly journals A review of pornography use research: Methodology and results from four sources

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Gmeiner ◽  
Joseph Price ◽  
Michael Worley
Keyword(s):  
Rank Order ◽  
State Level ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
Us States ◽  
New Family ◽  
Online Pornography ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Pornography Use ◽  
Per Capita

The widespread electronic transmission of pornography allows for a variety of new data sources to objectively measure pornography use. Recent studies have begun to use these data to rank order US states by per capita online pornography use and to identify the determinants of pornography use at the state level. The aim of this paper is to compare two previous methodologies for evaluating pornography use by state, as well as to measure online pornography use using multiple data sources. We find that state-level rankings from Pornhub.com, Google Trends, and the New Family Structures Survey are significantly correlated with each other. In contrast, we find that rankings based on data from a single large paid subscription pornography website has no significant correlation with rankings based on the other three data sources. Since so much of online pornography is accessed for free, research based solely on paid subscription data may yield misleading conclusions.

Is Pornography Consumption a Risk Factor for Condomless Sex?

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 273-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S Tokunaga ◽  
Paul J Wright ◽  
Laurens Vangeel
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Sexual Risk ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Condomless Sex ◽  
Pornography Consumption ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Pornography Use

Abstract This paper presents meta-analytic findings on the association between pornography consumption and condomless sex. Results were based on 45 reports spanning two decades. Data from 18 countries, with a participant total of over 35,000, were located. Higher levels of pornography consumption were associated with an elevated likelihood of engaging in condomless sex. A model-based meta-analysis did not support the viewpoint that the pornography use–condomless sex association is spurious and confounded by sensation seeking. Instead, a path analysis suggested that pornography use energizes consumers' sensation seeking desires, in turn making them more likely to engage in condomless sex. Although the results indicated homogeneity of effect sizes across most contexts tested, the type of pornography content consumed moderated the pornography use–condomless sex relationship. Viewing pornography that does not show condoms was associated with an increased risk for having sex without condoms, whereas consuming pornography showing condoms was unrelated to sexual risk.

scholarly journals Affection substitution: The effect of pornography consumption on close relationships

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 3887-3907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Hesse ◽  
Kory Floyd
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Relational Satisfaction ◽  
Coping Mechanism ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
Pornography Consumption ◽  
Pornography Use ◽  
The Relationship

Scholars have stated that humans have a fundamental need to belong, but less is known about whether individuals can use other resources to substitute for close relationships. In this study, 357 adults reported their level of affection deprivation, their weekly pornography consumption, their goals for using pornography (including life satisfaction and loneliness reduction), and indicators of their individual and relational wellness. We hypothesized that individuals might consume pornography as a coping mechanism (either adaptive or maladaptive) to deal with affection deprivation, with affection deprivation relating to the goals for using pornography and consumption potentially moderating the relationships between affection deprivation and the outcome measures. As predicted, affection deprivation and pornography consumption were inversely related to relational satisfaction and closeness, while being positively related to loneliness and depression. Affection deprivation was positively related with most stated goals for pornography use (although the relationship between affection deprivation and pornography consumption was nonsignificant). The moderation hypothesis, however, showed little evidence, yielding a moderating effect only on the relationship between affection deprivation and depression (with nonsignificant effects for relational satisfaction, closeness, and loneliness). Overall, there is some evidence that pornography consumption is used as a form of affection substitution (dealing with the perception of affection deprivation). However, there is no evidence of consumption being either adaptive or maladaptive when it comes to relationship satisfaction, closeness, and loneliness, although it is possibly maladaptive in terms of depression.

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