Sam Harris

Sam Harris is well known for his criticisms of religion and Christianity. He maintains a high profile on the internet, and with books such as The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and Letter to a Christian Nation he has become a prominent atheist.

You may not know that he is also working on his Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA. Harris has apparently been making progress on his research, despite his writing on religion. In fact, the current issue of Time reports that he is publishing a paper in the Annals of Neurology, a very highly-regarded journal in the field. The publication reports on his research studying the brains of 14 people as they consider sentences indicating varying degrees of objectivity and subjectivity. Apparently the distinction between objective and subjective may not be as clear-cut as we would like to think.

More interesting to psychologists of religion is what the article says of Harris's next study. He plans to examine whether religious beliefs differ from other types of beliefs. He hopes to learn whether religious belief and faith are treated differently by the brain than are beliefs regarding more mundane things, such as beliefs about cars.

If you are interested in psychology and religion, the Time article on Harris is worth a quick visit.

Announcement: IACSR conference, May 2008

A call for papers on "Religious Ritual, Cognition and Culture" has been announced by the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion 28-30 May 2008 in Aarhus, Denmark. It will be followed by a two-day workshop titled "Religion and Cognition in Context".

An email from Armin Geertz says that they seek papers from all "disciplines that address the dynamics of religious ritual, cognition and culture. Both empirical and theoretical papers are welcome." Papers (30 minutes in length) and brief papers (20 minutes) are welcome. The proposal deadline is April 1; details will be posted in January at the IACSR website.

Spirituality and Mindfulness

Stacy Louk, a Ph.D. candidate at Loyola in Maryland, has posted a study online to examine the role of spirituality and mindfulness in well-being. She is conducting her research with Joe Ciarrocchi and Sharon Cheston. Stop by to visit her project, and tell others who might be interested in this subject.

The Roots of Fear

Newsweek magazine has an article, The Roots of Fear, that you may find interesting. The article does a good job of describing research on fear, and its ability to overpower reason. It is cast in the context of politics, but it is relevant to other areas of psychology as well.

Announcement: Duke Postdoc and Research Opportunities

The Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University has two opportunities in psychology and religion:

1- a Postdoc to pursue research in the area and to facilitate work in spirituality & health;

2- a summer workshop series to help people new to the study of religion/spirituality and health.

Announcement: British Association of Christians in Psychology

The BACIP has announced a call for papers for its Summer 2008 conference. It will be held April 4 - 6, 2008, at the London School of Theology. The conference theme is "A Sword Between the Sexes: C.S. Lewis and the Psychology of Gender". Abstracts for paper submissions are due February 1st; abstracts for poster submissions are due March 15.

The Immanent Frame

The Social Science Research Council has a blog that may interest you. The Immanent Frame discusses secularism and religion in public life. Be sure to stop by there if you are interested in religion's place in the US.

(I am behind on updating the blog's announcements, so there will be several others appearing shortly. Sorry for the deluge! The past semester was busy.)

Announcement: Society for Spirituality, Theology & Health - Call for papers

The Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health has issued a call for papers and posters for their first annual meeting, to be held June 25 - 27, 2008, at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2008. The theme of the conference is “Spirituality, Health and Human Flourishing: Meaning? Measurement? Implications?” More information is available at their website.

Dec. 10, Human Rights Day

Fifty-nine years ago today, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It sets forward the ideals that people have inherent rights and that countries should respect those rights. The declaration consists of 30 articles, or brief paragraphs outlining the basic rights of all people.

Religion is prominent in the document. Article 2 states that the rights listed in the document are held regardless of one's religion. Article 16 states the right to marry and have a family, regardless of one's religion. Article 26 states that education shall promote understanding among groups that frequently are divided, including various religious groups.

But it is Article 18 that emphasizes religion most strongly. It states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance." Article 19 is closely related, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Psychology generally supports those rights, although this is not always true. Religion, too, offers mixed support of human rights, as evidenced by the stir the Universal Declaration of Human Rights caused among countries with high populations of Muslims. The result of that commotion was the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. Still, whether you find the UN or the Cairo declaration more to your liking, I think you will agree that if people everywhere lived by the ideals in those documents, the world would be a better place. We would have less genocide & war, better education for all people, and less exploitation.

Whether or not Human Rights Day receives much attention where you live, take a moment to consider basic rights, and the roles that psychology and religion play in them. Then do something, even a small thing, in remembrance of the fact that the world falls short of these ideals. Every action counts.

Scientology to be banned in Germany?

CNN reports that the interior ministers of Germany's 16 states are working to ban Scientology from the country because they consider it to be incompatible with the constitution and it "threatens the democratic peaceful order." Scientology's response focuses on court decisions by Spain and the European Court of Human Rights in favor of Scientology's assertion that it is a religion.

Anyone who has studied religion knows that Scientology has had a controversial history, and this recent story does nothing to change that fact. It does interest me, however, because I recently received an email from Scientology, announcing that they were about to send a set of L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology's founder) basic writings and lectures to me, to other academics and to research libraries. The shipment arrived just a few days ago-- four boxes containing 18 books and somewhere between 100 - 200 audio lectures by Hubbard, with titles such as The Thetan as an Energy Unit. I don't know when I'll have time to explore these materials, but at some point I'll read/listen to some of them. What I am curious about, however, is just how widespread this effort is. If you received a similar shipment, send me an email or leave a comment.

I am not interested in discussing the merits of Scientology; I frankly have better things to do than moderate a discussion on its merits and problems. But if you received a similar correspondence from Scientology, I'd like to compare notes with you.