The goals of citizenship education are often contested in Protestant schools with an ethnically heterogeneous population of pupils in multicultural European societies today. This is connected to the tension between the inclusive goal of citizenship for a pluralistic world and the exclusive goal of education in the Christian faith. This paper…

This study aims to define the extent of, and causes for, the decline of the Wesleyan educational effort in England in the twentieth century. In 1902 the Church had 738 schools, but these rapidly declined throughout the century, with only 28 remaining in 1996. The establishment of these schools during the nineteenth century had been largely for the…

A long tradition of research demonstrates that divorce is a risk factor for depressive symptoms. Although a growing literature examines links between religious factors and marital quality and stability, researchers have neglected the role of religion in successful or problematic coping following divorce. Building on Pargament's seminal work on…

Northern Ireland has achieved political stability and its devolved government is now tackling public policy issues neglected during periods of sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the prevailing political optimism, one legacy of the conflict is a deeply divided society. This is particularly manifest in the education system where around 90% of…

Clergy spouses have long been considered unpaid partners in two-person single careers, but a number of social forces may have begun to challenge that, including the ordination of women and increasingly accepted alternatives to traditional family forms. This study surveyed more than 3,000 United Methodist clergy spouses to assess the status of that…

Religious education (RE) is a persistently "hot topic" in contemporary Spain. Although nominally Catholic, majority Spanish society tends to be sharply divided with regard to the issue of religion in education: more conservative and Church-attending parents approve of the still overwhelming presence of Catholic teachers, trained and…

It is often assumed that the religious culture of a state can shape policies within the state, particularly concerning morality issues such as abortion or homosexuality. However, the precise manner in which religion shapes these policies has not been clearly specified. Drawing from social movements and policy literature, we argue that the…

Understanding the impact of political violence on child maladjustment is a matter of international concern. Recent research has advanced a social ecological explanation for relations between political violence and child adjustment. However, conclusions are qualified by the lack of longitudinal tests. Toward examining pathways longitudinally,…

School sector differences have been the subject of much debate in the literature, but there is limited data that allows careful consideration of differences within the religious school sector. The extensive Catholic school effects literature focuses on issues of school climate, especially an emphasis on persons-in-community, or communal…

Despite the fact that Baptists originated in 17th-century Europe, until recently Baptists had never established a liberal arts college or university in Europe. This essay explains what events took place to change this situation in Romania, the country where the first European Baptist university recently originated. It then undertakes a case study…

Although much research has examined the relationship between religion and abortion attitudes, few studies have examined whether religion influences abortion behavior. This study looks at whether individual and school religiosity influence reported abortion behavior among women who become pregnant while unmarried. Hierarchical Logistic Models are…

This article presents the findings of a large-scale survey (n = 1049) of ethnic awareness and attitudes among three to four-year-old children in Northern Ireland. In drawing upon and applying Bourdieu's notion of habitus, the article demonstrates how, even at this age, the children are already beginning to embody and internalize the cultural…

The use of corporal punishment to discipline children remains a perennial focus of controversy. Several studies published in the 1990s linked support for, and use of, corporal punishment with religious factors, particularly core doctrines of conservative (i.e., evangelical and fundamentalist) Protestantism. This study reexamines the relationships…

The majority of the US population is affiliated with faith-based organizations (FBO). Health and wellness activities (HWAs) within FBOs have great potential for reach, though the factors influencing faith-based HWA are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine individual faith leader and institutional influences on HWAs offered…

In this paper we discuss the results of an investigation aiming at mapping the conceptions of nature of protestant biology preservice teachers in a Brazilian university, State University of Feira de Santana, and elucidating their strategies to manage the coexistence of scientific and religious knowledge. We employ naturalistic semi-structured…