Who has “Mercy”? A Quantitative Analysis of Metaphysical Religious Cosmology

• In Event: 2329 - Section on the Sociology of Religion Referred Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 11. Secularism and Religious Theory

Abstract

Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey’s third wave, collected in 2010, I construct a scale of religious belief focused on concepts related to metaphysical religious cosmology (MRC). The analytical sample consists of 1,102 cases. Using three key independent variables, gender, religious tradition, and religious attendance, this study finds no significant bivariate relationship between gender and predicted MRC scores. Religious attendance and religious tradition are found to have a significant relationship with MRC score. When interacted with gender, Abrahamic religious traditions and those who attend services often behave in expected ways, but among those who are not religiously affiliated and those who never attend religious services, women are found to have higher predicted MRC scores than men. This study contributes to the ongoing work on religious belief and adds a new perspective to addressing religious belief outside of an Abrahamic context, especially among a growing population of those engaging in new religious movements.

Author

• Tonya Ann Maynard, University of Oklahoma