A Review of Research/Think Tanks Related to Spirituality & Religion

A Review of Research/Think Tanks

Related to Spirituality & Religion

Daniel A. Zepp Boston College

www.DanielZepp.com @DannyZepp

Class Outline

  Review of Research/Think-Tanks   UCLA Spirituality Survey

  Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)

  Social Science Research Council (SSRC)

  National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)

  Baylor Religion Survey

  The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

  Discussion & Analysis

  Small Group Activity

Questions to Consider

1.  How does this data challenge our assumptions?

2.  Does this data reflect the experience of our students?

3.  How might this data inform our practice?

UCLA Spirituality Study

  UCLA Higher Education Research Institute (HERI)

http://spirituality.ucla.edu/

  Seven-year study examining the role that college plays in facilitating the development of students’ spiritual qualities

  Focus on higher education and college student experience

  Spirituality is associated with enhanced college student outcomes in academic performance, psychological well-being, leadership development, and satisfaction in college

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJswcR0Brwo

Distinguishing Spiritual & Religious

Spiritual

  Equanimity

  Spiritual Quest

  Ethic of Caring

  Charitable Involvement

  Ecumenical Worldview

Religious

  Religious Commitment

  Religious Engagement

  Religious/Social Conservatism

  Religious Skepticism

  Religious Struggle

Center for Applied Research in

the Apostolate (CARA)   Georgetown University

  Focus on Catholicism and the Catholic Church

  Three major dimensions to mission   To increase Church’s self-

understanding

  To serve the applied research needs of Church decision-makers

  To advance scholarly research on religion, particularly Catholicism

Catholicism on Campus: Stability & Change in Catholic Student

Faith by College Type   Focus

  Beliefs and attitudes about social and political issues

  Religious behaviors

  Changes from freshman to juniors years   UCLA sources

  Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) – Freshmen

  College Student Beliefs & Values (CSBV) – Juniors

  Catholic vs. other institution types   No significant secularizing trend among Catholic students

attending Catholic colleges

  Response to Cardinal Newman Society criticism regarding the negative impact of Catholic colleges and universities

Social Science Research Council

  Focusing on informing social reform, public policy

  The Immanent Frame: Secularism, religion, & public sphere

http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/

http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/publications/

National Study of Youth & Religion (NSYR)

  Christian Smith and colleagues

  Center for Study of Religion and Society at Notre Dame

  National longitudinal mixed-methods study   Wave 1 (2003)

  13-17 year olds

  Wave 2 (2005)   16-21 year olds

  Wave 3 (2007-2008)   18-24 year olds

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

1.  A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

2.  God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

3.  The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4.  God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

5.  Good people go to heaven when they die.

Lost in Transition?

  Morality adrift

  Captive to consumerism

  Intoxication’s “Fake Feeling of Happiness”

  The Shadow Side of Sexual Liberation

  Civic and Political Disengagement

Six Major Religious Types

1.  Committed traditionalists (15%)

2.  Selective adherents (30%)

3.  Spiritually open (15%)

4.  Religiously indifferent (25%)

5.  Religiously disconnected (5%)

6.  Irreligious (10%)

http://youtu.be/Fn_2AuOocRs?t=53m30s

Questions to Consider

1.  How does this data challenge our assumptions?

2.  Does this data reflect the experience of our students?

3.  How might this data inform our practice?

Baylor Religion Survey

  Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion

  Multi-year study of religious values and behaviors, with a specific focus on the consumption of religious goods and services

  Focus on religious commitment and devoutness

  “Losing My religion? No, Says Baylor Religion Survey”

http://www.baylorisr.org/programs-research/global-studies-of-religion/surveys-of-religion/

The “Four Gods”

  Authoritarian God – 31.4% of respondents   Very judgmental and engaged

  Benevolent God – 25% of respondents   Not judgmental but engaged

  Distant God – 23% of respondents   Completely removed

  Critical God – 16% of respondents   Judgmental but not engaged

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

  Pew Research Center   A nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues,

attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world

  Religion & Public Life Project   Seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the

intersection of religion and public affairs   Examines shifting religious composition, influence of religion on

politics, government and social restrictions on religion, and social issues (e.g. abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, church-state controversies)

  Sources http://www.pewforum.org/about/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp8LfFRiU8E

“Nones” on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation

(Funk & Smith, 2012, p. 9)

Religion Among the Millennials

(Pew Research Center, 2010, p. 1)

Questions to Consider

1.  How does this data challenge our assumptions?

2.  Does this data reflect the experience of our students?

3.  How might this data inform our practice?

Discussion & Analysis

  What narratives about spirituality and religion do you hear?   How do these narratives relate to spirituality, religion, and the

college student experience?

  What is missing from the conversation?   How could research and analysis of spirituality, religion, and

the college student experience be improved?

College Student Experience?

  Limited research focusing on spirituality, religion, and the college student experience   UCLA Spirituality Study, CIRP (freshmen), CSBV (juniors)

  CARA study of Catholic student experience based on CIRP and CSBV data

  Limited theological base, distinguishes spiritual and religious

  Others focus on:   Young/emerging adults & Millennial generation

  NSYR

  Religious commitment and devoutness   Baylor Religion Survey

  Religion & society   SSRC

  American religious landscape   Pew Forum

Spiritual & Religion = Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors?

  Majority of research focuses on values, attitudes, and behaviors   Does this adequately capture spirituality, religion, and the

college student experience?

  Does this data reflect the experience of our students?

  How could research on spirituality and religion be improved?

Small Group Activity

1.  Two colleges/universities in the Boston area

2.  Identify campus initiatives related to spirituality and religion   Use Promising Practices (Lindholm et al., 2011) as your guide

3.  Programmatic analysis

4.  Institutional analysis

5.  Connect to readings and today’s lecture

6.  Provide recommendations for future growth