Within the context of the Duthc civil religion and the diverse reactions to it by contemporary Catholic believers, this book investigates the extent to which religious attitudes, i.e. attituted towards God, Jesus, Spirit, salvation, and church, . have an effect on ethnocentrism

Religion can play a dual role with regard to conflict. It can promote either violence or peace. Religion and Conflict Attribution seeks to clarify the causes of religious conflict as perceived by Christian, Muslim and Hindu college students in Tamil Nadu, India. These students in varying degrees attribute conflict to force-driven causes, namely to coercive power as a means of achieving the economic, political or socio-cultural goals of religious groups. The study reveals how force-driven religious conflict is influenced by prescriptive beliefs like religious practice and mystical experience, and descriptive beliefs such as the interpretation of religious plurality and religiocentrism. It also elaborates on the practical consequences of the salient findings for the educational process.

Why study atheism among scientists? -- "Tried and found wanting" : how atheist scientists explain religious transitions -- "I am not like Richard:" modernist atheist scientists -- Ties that bind : culturally religious atheists -- Spiritual atheist scientists -- What atheist scientists think about science -- How atheist scientists approach meaning and morality -- From rhetoric to reality : why religious believers should give atheist scientists a chance.

How might we transform a folk category - in this case religion - into a analytical category suitable for cross-cultural research? In this volume, the author addresses that question. He critically explores various approaches to the problem of conceptualizing religion, particularly with respect to certain disciplinary interests of anthropologists. He argues that the concept of family resemblances, as that concept has been refined and extended in prototype theory in the contemporary cognitive sciences, is the most plausible analytical strategy for resolving the central problem of the book. In the solution proposed, religion is conceptualized as an affair of "more or less" rather than a matter of "yes or no," and no sharp line is drawn between religion and non-religion.

This volume presents multidisciplinary perspectives on the role of cultural values and religious beliefs in adolescent development.

Previous studies reveal that religion, despite its ideal of solidarity, hospitality and compassion, has been the primary origin of ethnocentrism. However, other researches dispute this sweeping claim by indicating several other factors that affect this complex relationship. This empirical-theological study is an endeavour to dig deeper into these factors by examining the extent to which a number of religious images which are culled from five religious themes, namely, God, Jesus, Spirit, salvation and church, contribute to ethnocentrism. It situates these religious attitudes within the framework of the Dutch civil religion, and the different reactions to it by contemporary Dutch catholic believers.