Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise WASHINGTON Adolescents who attend religious services with one or both of their parents are more likely to feel greater well-being while romantic partners who pray for their significant others experience greater relationship commitment, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

These were among the findings of studies published in two special sections of APAs Journal of Family Psychology looking at how spiritual beliefs or behaviors have appeared to strengthen generally happy marriages and how a persons religious and/or spiritual functioning may influence that of his or her family members.

These studies exemplify an emerging subfield called relational spirituality, which focuses on the ways that diverse couples and families can rely on specific spiritual beliefs and behaviors, for better or worse, to motivate them to create, maintain and transform their intimate relationships, according to Annette Mahoney, PhD, of Bowling Green State University, and Annamarie Cano, PhD, of Wayne State University, who edited special sections in the December and October issues of the journal. Hopefully, publishing these articles will spur more research on ways that religion and spirituality can help or harm couples and families relationships and encourage more interchange between family psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality.

The December issue features five studies that offer novel insights into how religiosity or spiritualism affect childrens development and influence the importance of religion in their own lives.

The October section comprises four studies that focus on the ways that couples can draw on religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviors to transform their unions and help them cope with adversity. Each of the studies in the October special section moves beyond general measures of peoples involvement in organized religion or spirituality and investigates specific spiritual beliefs or behaviors that appear to influence marital adjustment and human development, according to APA President Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, editor of the Journal of Family Psychology. All the studies present rigorous research into the roles that religion and spirituality can play in enhancing family well-being.

Articles in the December issue:

Religious Socialization in African-American Families: The Relative Influence of Parents, Grandparents, and Siblings by Ian A. Gutierrez, MA, University of Connecticut; Lucas J. Goodwin, MA, New York University; Katherine Kirkinis, MA, Teachers College, Columbia University; and Jacqueline S. Mattis, PhD, New York University. Looking at three generations, the researchers found that mothers have the most consistently positive influence on the religious lives of their children because they are socialized to transmit critical values, beliefs and practices across generations, and because they embrace norms of femininity that reinforce such roles. Additionally, grandparents especially grandmothers play a significant role in the religious socialization of grandchildren in African-American families, according to this research. Contact: Ian Gutierrez at ian.gutierrez@uconn.edu

Neighborhood Disorder, Spiritual Well-Being and Parenting Stress in African American Women by Dorian A. Lamis, PhD, and Christina K. Wilson, PhD, Emory University School of Medicine; Nicholas Tarantino, MA, Georgia State University; Jennifer E. Lansford, PhD, Duke University; and Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, Emory University School of Medicine Low-income African-American women who were primary caregivers of children between 8 and 12 and lived in disorderly neighborhoods experienced lower levels of parenting stress if they exhibited existential and/or religious well-being, according to this study. Contact: Nadine Kaslow at nkaslow@emory.edu

See the rest here:
Religion or Spirituality Has Positive Impact on Romantic/Marital Relationships, Child Development, Research Shows

Aging may also come with new and different challenges, like the loss of independence or a debilitating illness. Research suggests that spirituality can help. At a recent meeting for the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), KALWs Rachel Dornhelm spoke with Lydia K. Manning, associate professor of Gerontology at Concordia University in Chicago, about spirituality and aging in older adults. Dornhelm produced this interview through a Journalism Fellowship from New America Media and GSA, supported by AARP.

RACHEL DORNHELM: How did you get interested in the subject of aging?

LYDIA MANNING: I had an experience when I was young. I was very close to my grandmother who ended up in a nursing home when I was seven. So from the ages of seven to about 14 or 15, I spent a lot of time visiting with her. As a result I had many friends who were actually residents in the nursing home. I realized early on that I had a connection, interest, and a fondness for being around and working with older adults.

DORNHELM: So what was your dissertation topic and what are you researching now?

MANNING: For my dissertation topic I interviewed women in late, late life. All of the participants were over 85 years old. I was very interested in their spiritual experiences and how that factored into late, late life and approaching death. How they were making meaning as they approached their end of life? From that, I realized there was something happening with spirituality and resilience. The women I talked to described having the ability to withstand profound hardship and adversity, particularly in late, late life. In many ways their spirituality was a buffer and a tool.

DORNHELM: Were these people who always self-identified as spiritual?

MANNING: The women I talked to for my dissertation were all 85 and over, and for most of them spirituality reflected some kind of continuous narrative in their lives.

DORNHELM: Im curious how you define spirituality in your work.

MANNING: With the women I interviewed, I came to the table with a broad definition rooted in the [social-science] literature. It was:

1. Intense awareness of the present;

Read the rest here:
Can Spirituality Help You Age More Gracefully?

Our Torah portion tells the story of Jacobs return to the land of Israel. In harmony with the rabbinic dictum of maasee Avoth siman lebanim (the chronicles of the patriarchs reflect the fate and destiny of future generations), our parasha also reflects our own path from exile, back to modern-day Israel, in more recent times. Jacobs story is our story, the story of modern Jews and the respective dilemmas and policies that we have been facing and pursuing for the last several centuries.

Like us, Jacob experienced existential dread in an alarmingly increasing anti-Israel environment. Therefore, Jacob decided to split his camp into two distinct and separate entities, reasoning, should [the enemy] attack one camp and destroy it, then at least the other camp will survive (Genesis 32:9).

Astonishingly, Jacobs strategy here is nothing less than a prophetic summation of our entire historical dynamic as a people for the last 2 1/2 millennia. Ever since the sixth century BCE, the Jewish people have always maintained two chief global centers. First it was Babylonia and Israel, and then it was Persia and Israel. Centuries later, the two main camps became Europe and North Africa, then Spain and Western Europe, then Europe and the United States, and currently it is Israel and North America.

How astonishing it is that even today, Jacobs biblical rationale is still alarmingly valid and pertinent. God forbid, should Israels worst existential fears materialize, or should assimilation utterly consume and annihilate the Diaspora, then at least the other camp will survive, as Jacob wisely discerned millennia ago.

In our parasha, Jacob also prepares for the eventuality of war, as he heads back to the Promised Land. For the first time, Jacob is willing to take matters into his own hands and militarily confront those who wish the Children of Israel ill.

This reflects the Zionist approach of the patriarchs descendants, centuries thereafter. The key prophetic verse here is Genesis 32:8: And Jacob became afraid and aggrieved. Rashi explains that Jacob was afraid of dying, and that he was also grieving in light of the gloomy prospect of having to kill others in order to protect his very existence.

This verse reflects the geopolitical sensibilities of modern-day Israel. Recall how, when David Ben-Gurion declared Israels independence, he explicitly pleaded with the Arabs to desist from hostilities and to live side by side peacefully with the Jewish state. Recall Abba Ebans diplomatic odyssey to Europe and the United States on the eve of the Six-Day War, in order to desperately try and avoid bloodshed. And recall also how, even today, Israel goes out of its way like no other nation on Earth to warn civilians of impending attacks by dropping leaflets from the sky, text messaging and making phone calls.

Just like the original Israel, we, too, are afraid for our own physical well-being as a people. But we are also greatly aggrieved by the inevitability of inflicting casualties on others.

After preparing for war, Jacob prays fervently. He expresses profound gratitude to the Almighty and also pleads to be saved from the looming threat of genocidal terror, as the enemy has no qualms about murdering mothers with their children (Genesis 32:12). Here, too, biblical Israels terror mirrors our own terror, as we face the murderous nature of radical Islam.

In addition to Jacobs proto-Zionist taking of arms, he also plans to shower with gifts the hostile non-Jewish environment, in order to alleviate intolerance and persecution. This strategy reflects another modern Jewish approach to dealing with the societal virus of anti-Semitism.

Go here to read the rest:
Torah portion: Israels story

Religion and sustainability now theres an oxymoron, joked Rev. Steve Runholdt of Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church, one of three clergy who sat on the Nov. 19 panel Religion & Sustainability: Views from the Bridge.The presentation was part of thethird annual Taste of Bioneers Conference held at the Lenoir-Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies of Ashevilleseries hosted in November.

Ones initial reaction, as Runholdt notes, is that religion and sustainabilityare like oil and water they dont mix.

So whats the relationship? Religion is too concerned with transcendence to concern itself with sustainability; sustainability is too scientific to concern itself with religion.

Runholdt acknowledged that his religious tradition has a historically bad record of dealing with the environment and sustainability, often rooted in what he described as an interpretation of a verse in Genesis that exhorts humans to exercise dominion over other life. However, he emphasized, things are changing.

Communities of faith are one of the most immediate, primed resources who are passionate about this out there, [and] denominations of all kinds are issuing formal statements on climate change. Formal statements on the need to practice better environmental stewardship. D enominations are devoting offices specifically to creation care, parish organizations are springing up all over the place Interfaith Power and Light, Green Faith, Blessed Earth, Evangelical Environmental Network, and right here in WNC (which Im very closely aligned with), the Creation Care Alliance.

Runholdts presentation during the Novemberpanel discussion was a collaborative effort between Lenoir-Rhyne University and Asheville Green Drinks. In addition to Runholdt, the panel included clergy Rabbi Justin Goldstein of Congregation Beth Israel, High Priestess Byron Ballard of Mother Grove Goddess Temple, Dr. Adam Powell of Lenoir-Rhynes Masters in Religious Studies program.

Each panelist contributed unique insights, giving the audience multiple perspectives and evidence that the pairing of religion and sustainability is anything but an oxymoron but religion leaders must play and integral role in creating a sustainable world.

Independent of any theological, dogmatic or even liturgical tenets and habits, Runholdt said, religious communities are primed and ready to take a key role. A passionate contingent of the population that he sees as potentially indispensible to accomplishing what needs to be done for a susainable future, he said.

And hes right: Historically, religious communities have played a massive role in facilitating social and political change. Why?

For Dr. Powell, looking at religion from a psychological and sociological standpoint offers a wealth of insight into how religion can and does influence societal change. He pointed to the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, who said, Give me a place to stand and I can move the world. In other words, Powell elaborated, this Archimedean Point is this transcendant position, or orientation to the world, that by virtue of its location outside of that world, allows for great change within that world. And for nearly a century, various social scientists have recognized that religious belief is one of the most salient of those Archimedean points.

Originally posted here:
Asheville Bioneers discuss religion and sustainability

Deepak Chopra has an app. And that's about the least of the famed spiritual guru/physician/alternative-medicine advocate/friend of Oprah's technological ambitions.

Chopra, who's written over 80 books to date and runs the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California, also has a wearable in the works, and is building a wellness site he hopes will become "the largest social network in the world." It is all, by Chopra's own admission, a rather naked play for reaching a younger demographic. He's done with the baby boomers, or as he cheekily explains: "It's my focus these days because my generation, people are so fixed in their habits that, you know as they say, we're changing things one funeral at a time. I gave up on my generation."

Unsurprisingly, Chopra's first foray into the mobile-app space, The Non Local, combines the meditative poetry of 13th century mystic Rumi with relaxing music to foster a transcendent state of well-being in the listener. The app's even named after a controversial concept of quantum physics, a favorite of Chopra's. Nonlocality, in simple terms, refers to the ability of two particles to communicate outside of space and time; it's what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance."

It's also why Chopra chose to partner with audio-solutions company DTS to bring its Headphone:X surround sound to the 12 tracks of poetry (voiced by Chopra) and soothing music contained within The Non Local. The idea behind this, he says, is that the immersive audio of Headphone:X "very accurately recreates the original sound environment." And thus it should mirror the meditative feeling of existing beyond the perceived constraints of space and time.

It's part of a larger research initiative into the effects of sound on the human brain that's underway at the Chopra Center in conjunction with various scientists at the University of California, San Diego; University of California, San Francisco; Harvard University; Mount Sinai Hospital; Duke University; and the Scripps Translational Science Institute.

"We look at brainwaves, but now we are correlating that with other things that we are doing as I said at the center: gene expression," he says. "We are looking at the microbiome. We have a program going on right now called Self-directed biological transformation initiative (SBTI). We are looking at a combination of technologies, including vibrational medicine, music and mantras, and binaural beats in combination with massage and other techniques."

Though the iOS app (an Android version is coming soon) is free and comes bundled with two tracks, it does support in-app purchases for any additional meditations, all priced at $1.99. Chopra says he could release up to 50 new tracks (some free) this year, each set to his own healing meditations and backed by binaural beats or ultrasound, with plans to amass "a big library." It might seem like a blatant cash grab. After all, it's quite a common business practice for a boldface name like Chopra to profit from endorsements. Just look at Kim Kardashian's incredibly popular mobile game and its addictive mini-transactions. But unlike that transparent ploy for consumers' dollars, Chopra's The Non Local has a simple goal: "to explore music and sound therapy as a modality of healing."

More:
Deepak Chopra: the spiritualist as technologist

When you are diagnosed with cancer, or blindsided by a stroke, a health crisis can turn into a dark night of the soul.

Many patients torment themselves, asking, What did I do to make my body turn against me? And if months of agonizing treatments stretch ahead, with no guarantee of a complete recovery, the burning question may be, What is the meaning of all this suffering?

In addition to prescribing medication to help with physical symptoms, health-care professionals are increasingly tuning in to their patients spiritual needs.

For the past year at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, outpatients have been able to book a 20-minute session of non-denominational support from a spiritual-care provider before or after a chemo treatment. Occupational therapists in Canada have enshrined spiritual care in their guidelines, making it their job to help patients who may be physically or cognitively impaired tap into life-affirming sources of personal meaning, such as nature or the arts.

The new approach to spiritual care is not the same as religious counselling or the healing response associated with the placebo effect. Rather, it is based on the idea that everyone has the need for hope, meaning and purpose in life, and that connecting to ones spirit, the essence of the self, can be a powerful motivator in healing.

Researchers in the emerging field of spirituality in medicine argue that science alone cannot meet the needs of aging populations who increasingly suffer from depression, social isolation and chronic diseases such as diabetes and dementia, which tend to worsen over time.

Physicians and nurse practitioners should not only prescribe pills or recommend psychotherapy, researchers say, but also support patients through compassion and mindfulness.

Patients want much more than a cold doctor, said Dr. Christina Puchalski, a palliative-care physician and founder of the GW Institute for Spirituality and Health at George Washington University in Washington.

In the past two decades, more than 75 per cent of U.S. medical schools have integrated spirituality-related topics into their training.

Puchalski noted that a growing number of health-care workers, including doctors, are participating in group discussions and reflective writing exercises designed to enhance their own self-awareness.

Go here to see the original:
Reclaiming medicines spiritual roots: Treating people, not just diseases

I first became acquainted with the Enneagram 16 years ago, in the midst of an existential crisis brought on by the sudden death of a family member. Distraught and looking for solace, I enrolled in a course called Jewish Spirituality. Although I dont remember the exact description, the basic idea was that we would study nontraditional, non-God-oriented ways in which Jews connect with an experience of transcendence, something I desperately needed. Whatever the wording in the brochure, it was most assuredly not a description of the actual course.

The actual course, it turned out, was about whatever the teacher felt like talking about that night. A charismatic rabbi with a devoted following, he taught the course continually, in an unending loop of eight-week sessions attended by an enthusiastic group of regulars, many of whom both wrote down and made an audio recording of everything the rabbi said while he discoursed freely on whatever happened to be on his mind. And what was on his mind during that eight weeks was the Enneagram.

I sat there, reeling from loss, hardly able to take in what I was hearing or, rather, seeing, which was this drawing:

Get it? Neither did I. But according to legend, in the early 1900s, the famous Armenian choreographer Gurdjieff drew it on the walls of a cave where he had retreated to enjoy hallucinogens for a bit and study mysticism, emerging to bring to the world the Enneagram drawing, a secret code that implied a deep truth.

Now, I have a nearly physical aversion to non-logical (to put it mildly) theories like this. As soon as people start talking about ancient secrets and codes and mysticism, its just a hop, skip and a jump to Dan Brown and the Illuminati. For Gurdjieff and his adherents, on the other hand, the thing was a work of genius, a profound utterance that could not be expressed otherwise. It wasnt until about 30 years later, around the middle of the 20th century, that South American psychologists Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo worked the shape into their theories of psychology, a set of ideas that later became codified as the Enneagram personality types.

This theory is now expressed in wildly different ways by a variety of warring psychologists, each of whom claim their version is correct. But as I understand it, basically, the theory is that all of us are splinters of a larger cosmic whole, which, when it broke apart, created life. According to the Enneagram, our personality type is determined by the particular manner in which our own splinter longs for reunion with that wholeness. These types are described generally as:

1.The Reformer or Idealist, motivated by perfection

2.The Helper or Giver, motivated by generosity

3.The Achiever, motivated by ambition

4.The Artist, motivated by self-expression and beauty

See original here:
Why I am obsessed with the Enneagram Personality Test

In Vrindavan, work is on to build the world's tallest religious structure, a new temple for Krishna by ISKCON-Bangalore. The planned 700-feet tall structure intends to take visitors on a spiritual experience, says Veenu Sandhu

The capsule elevator will rise up the steel belly of the skyscraper. On its 700-feet journey, it will take visitors past the various universes of Hindu mythology: Svarga Loka, that transitory place for righteous souls; Vaikuntha Loka, the abode of Vishnu; and finally Goloka Vrindavan, the eternal abode of Krishna.

At each stop, visitors will get a three-dimensional, light-and-sound experience of these planetary systems as described in the Vedic scriptures. From here, the elevator will move further up to the viewing gallery at the very top that will have telescopes through which visitors can see the Yamuna, Mathura, Govardhan, Nandgaon and, on a clear day, even the Taj Mahal, 70 km away.

The 70-storey, 210-metre-high Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir will be nearly three times the height of Qutub Minar and taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Conceptualised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness -- Bangalore, this sprawling 65-acre project intends to put Vrindavan on the world map.

About 2 km from the bustling temple town, on the highway to Mathura, work on the mammoth project, which is shaped like a peacock feather, has started. The foundation stone was laid on March 16, and last week President Pranab Mukherjee performed puja here. Over the next five years, here is how ISKCON aspires to transform what is today a vast stretch of barren land.

The architecture will be a fusion of western and traditional styles. The intended end result is a skyscraper temple. The skyscraper is a concept from modern architecture and requires modern technology, says Chanchalapathi Dasa, project president and vice-president, ISKCON-Bangalore. And the shikhar, mandap and other structures will be built in the traditional Nagara architectural style which was prevalent in northern India. The use of marble and glazing in the central structure also reflects this fusion.

While the temple will occupy about 5,00,000 square feet, close to 7,00,000 square feet will be meant for education. As ISKCON believes in salvation through devotion to Krishna, as exemplified by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 15th and 16th centuries, the emphasis will be on the knowledge of Krishna that has been assimilated into local cultures across India and represented in dance, art, music, literature, architecture and even cuisine.

The KrishnaHeritageMuseum will preserve and showcase these varied expressions. The Science and Spirituality Pavilion will present contemporary scientific discoveries and concepts and try to correlate them with some of the concepts present in Indian Vedic literature -- the bugbear of modernists. For example, the Bhagavad Gita Expo will offer students an expositional tour and concepts of the Gita in a way that is appealing to the scientific temper of young people, says Chanchalapathi.

The organisation is relying heavily on technology to introduce younger children to Krishna. The days when grandmothers told stories to children are gone. YouTube and 3D experiences have taken over, says an ISKCON devotee. This is where multi-sensory environmental story-telling experiences will play a key role. The complex will have a climate-controlled, covered KrishnaLeelaPark spread across 200,000 square feet where children will get 3D experiences of the many acts Krishna performed as a child. An internally reconstructed Yamuna creek with boats will meander through this park.

Link:
Heavenward bound: ISKCON to construct 700-ft high temple at Vrindavan

A Book Made Me Question Everything

The Heresy: The book that almost changed Avi Shafrans mind.

A cottage industry of memoirs detailing their writers journeys from restrictive ultra-Orthodox upbringings into the embrace of resplendent enlightenment and freedom has sprung up in recent years. Reading samples of the genre always reminds me of my own abandonment of the Jewish religious tradition in which I had been raised. I was 12.

My apostasy didnt last. But some of the same things that pushed the Ortho-leavers in the directions they came to take bothered me greatly, too, at the time: scientific facts, social mores at radical odds with those of the observant Jewish world, non-Jew-centric world events and, more prosaic but no less discomfiting, things like dress codes, in my case it was a looming post-bar mitzvah black hat and jacket.

I would never presume to condemn anyone who has left the Orthodox way of life. Some who have fled their communities have recounted witnessing or experiencing harrowing abuse and, often, others denial of the crimes. Judaism requires us not to judge another until you have reached his place that is to say, walked in his or her shoes. Outrages like those some have described would be powerful challenges to any sensitive soul. And so I feel no ill will toward the honest memoirists, only pain both for their experiences and for what they are missing.

But enough about them. This is all about me.

I remember my first exposure to a resolutely secular perspective, my first brush with illumination. It took the form of a book. I was working summers in my uncles Jewish bookstore, which carried not only holy texts but also a broad assortment of literature with only tenuous connections to Jewishness. The store wasnt a busy one, at least not as busy as my tween mind, and I took the opportunities that my job servicing customers afforded me to peruse some of the volumes. There were Jewish joke books and books about famous Jews. There were even copies of Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique (erroneously shipped by a wholesaler from whom we had ordered Ernest van den Haags The Jewish Mystique).

But what captivated me most was a volume by Lewis Browne called This Believing World, a deliciously condescending look at religions, including Judaism, and their evolutions.

The book was just what a cynical kid with a contrarian streak would savor. I lapped it up and realized or so I thought that surely the Judaism in which I had been raised and schooled was but a contemporary sort of magical thinking, different from primitive belief systems (and from other religions) in its particulars, but not in its essence.

Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are Brownes intellectual heirs (or reincarnations, perhaps, if one subscribes to such things). I imagine that, young or otherwise, uninformed people reading those contemporary writers atheistic fare today feel the same sort of heady supremacy that I felt as a 12-year-old enlightened intellectual.

Originally posted here:
When I Drifted Off the Path

Modi hasn't raised or encouraged the raising of slogans such as 'Jai Sri Ram' at public meetings. G Sreedathan reports

Claiming much of the credit for the election of a Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal said his organisation, along with other Hindu forces in the country, had achieved the objective of creating an "invincible Hindu society" with the installation of a regime that believed in Hindu swabhimaan, 800 years after the defeat of Delhi ruler Prithviraj Chouhan at the hands of "Muslim invaders".

As such, the comment rules out the previous NDA government, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as one that restored Hindu swabhimaan.

Singhal's comment, likely to kick up a nationwide row, was made on Friday at the World Hindu Congress, organised by the World Hindu Foundation, an affiliate of the VHP.

The comment is a contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on governance rather than Hindutva as the guiding principle of his government.

Modi hasn't raised or encouraged the raising of slogans such as 'Jai Sri Ram" at public meetings.

Without naming Modi, Singhal said the establishment of the new government should be a matter of "great pride" for Hindus, as after British rule, successive governments had neglected Hindu interests.

Recounting the alleged atrocities by these governments, he said one government (the one led by former prime minister Indira Gandhi) had ordered firing on an assembly seeking a ban on cow slaughter. "A previous government even told a court it was not sure whether Lord Ram was born in India at all," he said.

Singhal listed the demolition of the Babri Masjid as one of the VHP's achievements.

Here is the original post:
VHP is doing something in Delhi that Modi never has