Thesis advisor: Mark Massa / Thesis advisor: John Baldovin / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

The confrontation with difference is an especially large challenge when it comes to religion and religious beliefs. Because religion is integral to so many, it becomes a sticking point in negotiations, conversations, and policy development. Even for those without particularly strong religious convictions, religion must be considered in their interactions with those who do. It is precisely that interaction that I seek to further understand. Engaging in dialogue with those of different faiths or value systems brings to the surface myriad difficulties, chief among which is the challenge of simply coming together to begin the conversation. The most appealing approach to that challenge is often to find some sort of common ground on which everyone can agree, a foundation upon which relationships can be built. That common ground, however, can be just as harmful to the end-goal of dialogue as not having dialogue in the first place. Common ground approaches focus on similarities, ignoring or discounting the differences which both make us who we are and make conversations difficult to have. In ignoring differences, participants are forced to relegate salient aspects of their beliefs to a private (unseen) arena, where they may wither away, dulled from disuse, eventually no longer relevant as an identifier. The foremost question I seek to answer, then, is the following: How can religious identity be maintained in light of such approaches to dialogue?

Many young Muslims in Britain are becoming more confident about asserting a specifically religious identity. This desires to be 'Muslim' is reflected in the social, cultural and educational activities they participate in and other aspects of their behaviour are strongly influenced by the increasing importance of Islam in their lives. The role of the media, especially Muslim media, in the development of Muslim identities is increasingly evident. As this media form develops it provides a rich resource for the construction of British Muslim identities and presents Muslim communities with a platform from which to communicate amongst themselves as well as to wider society. The processes of globalisation have impacted on the development of media and the information available to young Muslims has become more varied in content, which influences how they see themselves not only as British Muslims but as part of a wider global umma. In order to investigate the relationship between media culture and social landscapes in which Muslims find themselves and articulations of their identity, this research examines the lives of young Muslims in two Midlands cities. Whilst examining how they interact with media and how their social lies are structured, the study also explores other concepts which may potentially shape their experiences, including ideas of family, community, gender relations and global events, and locates media within the wider framework of these influencing factors. To contextualise their media consumption, an analysis of Muslim publications is undertaken, offering a political economy of Muslim media in Britain. The aims and objectives of editors are analysed giving an insight into how they see themselves as contributing to a knowledgeable society.

Recently, teachers and administrators have found it difficult to address issues concerned with religious beliefs and practices for fear of offending either students or the community. As a result, whatever is deemed religious in nature is rarely discussed or practiced in school classrooms. In earlier decades, teachers generally had little difficulty relating to students on a religious level because the majority, both teachers and students in this city were from a predominantly Christian orientation. As the demographics of the population of Saskatchewan changed because of immigration and the waning of religious beliefs, public schools also had to change to reflect the beliefs of the population and become more inclusive. This research, employing narratives, is based on Grounded Theory and explored students’ experiences with religious content and issues as they attended public high schools. Students were asked what their experiences were and if their experiences and beliefs about religion affected their subsequent education, and lives. The findings of this study suggest that more sensitivity needs to be given to students’ religious identities in the classroom. Negative comments about religion and religious beliefs made by teachers or students can greatly affect an individual’s school experience. These negative experiences can be addressed by discussing religions and religious beliefs in the classrooms of public high schools. This would lead to a greater understanding of others and then in turn, students of all backgrounds will have an increased feeling of acceptance and a sense of belonging to the schools they attend.

This research addresses the paradoxical beliefs and conceptualizations about money and stewardship among young adult Mormons and its consequences for the Mormon identity. The findings for this paper are based on 12 in-depth interviews with Brigham Young University students, recently graduated students, and, when applicable, their spouses, totaling 20 interviewees between the ages of 20 and 31. The data suggest that unique beliefs surrounding money have emerged from the Mormon culture as remnants of their early Mormon values still lingering in contemporary Mormon culture clash with the individualistic and consumer culture surrounding the interviewees. Interviewees demonstrate cognitive dissonance as they attempt to combine the contradictory concepts of stewardship and consumerism into their financial attitudes and behaviors. The connection between money and their Mormon identity was articulated often as a need to stay out of debt and avoid extravagance.

Thesis advisor: Eva M. Garroutte / Biomedicine has become a gatekeeper to numerous social opportunities and has gained power through the ritual inscription of individual bodies. Bodies serve as intermediaries between personal identities and biomedicine; individuals can reclaim bodies as sites of "identity projects" (Giddens 1991) to resist biomedical power. This project examines the intersection of the societal preoccupations with biomedicine, bodies, and identity through the lens of the religious and healing tradition of Christian Science. Christian Science theologically rejects biomedicine in favor of spiritual healing treatment. Christian Science is an especially appropriate venue for exploring relationships between biomedicine, bodies, and identities because its teachings require not only belief in the ineffectiveness of biomedicine but also embodied resistance to it. Drawing on the work of Foucault (1977), Giddens (1991), and Frank (1995) and using information gleaned from semi-structured interviews--averaging 1.5 hours in length--with 12 Christian Scientists, I argue that Christian Scientists use religious identities to (1) evade biomedical risk society, (2) resist external authority and reclaim bodies as sites of knowledge and power, and (3) build spiritual community. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

As the majority of Americans identify with a religious affiliation, the religious context is an important backdrop upon which identity development occurs. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and allied (LGBTQA) youths, the process of development may be complicated in a religious context due to denominational positions on same-sex sexuality. While recent researchers highlighted the importance of contextual influences on LGBTQA developmental processes, few studies have examined LGBTQA sexual and religious identity development. The goal of the current study was to gain a better understanding and appreciation of LGBTQA adolescent and young adult experiences of religious and sexual identity development. Eight adolescents (15-18 years) and 11 emerging adults (19-24 years) who identified as both LGBTQA and having been raised in an active Christian religious tradition participated in the study. The study included three phases: face-to-face individual interviews, journal writings, and focus groups. In each phase of the study, participants were asked to reflect on their experiences of sexual and religious identity development across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (if applicable). Findings from the current study supported three broad themes and several subthemes. Early in their development, participants described a behavioral religious participation and early awareness of their same-sex attractions. The young adult participants also shared a tendency to deny their attractions. During their middle phase of experiences, participants often self-labeled as LGBTQA. Religiously, participants shared they questioned their beliefs yet continued their religious participation. A proportion of the participants indicated experiencing guilt, conflict, and mental health difficulties, which many participants related to their emerging sexual orientation and religious involvement. The late experiences, which often coincided with sharing a same-sex attracted label with friends and/or family members, was marked by a religious disengagement, social consequences, self-acceptance, and personal values clarification. Using the participants’ own words these findings are presented, along with possible implications and suggestions for future research.

ABSTRACT In loosely structured narrative interviews, individuals discussed their personal religious life stories in the context of their lives, from childhood to the present. They ended up creating coherent narratives that encompassed much more than their religious traditions. The coherency of their stories was through the use of dispositions. Dispositions are the common themes, people, or other narrative schema which the narrator used consistently throughout the story, and are identified by narrative elements that repeat and anchor the narrative. Dispositions found in interviews for the Religious Life Stories Project by the GSU Religious Studies Department include familial, outlier, socioeconomic, contributive, influential, obedient, somatic, and traveler. Analysis of the dipositions in the context of these narratives illuminates the variety of ways traditional religion manifests in individuals’ lives. Furthermore, dispositions provide a theoretical basis for studying individual religion comparatively across doctrinal religious traditions.

This thesis examines how Muslims in Canada negotiate perceptions in their interactions with non-Muslims and other Muslims. What strategies do Muslims in Canada use to combat these perceptions? How do perceptions of Islam and Muslims impact Muslims’ constructions of identities? In order to answer these questions a case study was conducted in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Interviews with Muslims living in St. John’s explored how they respond to perceptions of Islam and how they negotiate their identities in everyday life. This study found that perceptions of Islam and Muslims played an important role in the construction of Muslims’ identities despite the low incidence of Islamophobia. Perceptions of Islam and Muslims often led to an increase in knowledge of Islam, an increase in affiliation with their Muslim identities and increase in religiosity. However, an alternative impact was a distancing from Islam. Participants used numerous strategies to combat negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims including taking up an educator role and becoming representative. Further, many participants separated culture and religion, creating a ‘true’ Islam and contributing to islamophilia. However, other participants challenged philic and phobic accounts of Islam by voicing their lived practices and presenting multiple and dynamic Islams.

Religious identity, self-concept, and resilience are considered the three main components that contribute to adolescents' life developmental tasks. The purpose of the current study is to examine the effect of psycho-educational group intervention on religious identity, self-concept, and resilience among 94 Malaysian female orphan adolescents. Participants, aged between 14 and 17 years (early adolescence), were selected from four different orphanages in Malaysia. Using a quasi-experimental design, these participants completed two sets of pretests and post-tests on demographic information, the Muslim Religious Personality Inventory (MRPI), the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 (TSCS-2), and the Singaporean Youth Resilience Scale (SYRESS). The data was analyzed using both Pearson Correlation and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). Findings found a positive relationship among three constructs--religious identity, self-concept, and resilience. Given the types of orphans in this study, there was no significant difference between true and social orphans on their religious identity, self-concept, and resilience scores. The results also showed that the psycho-educational group intervention did have a significant effect on the treatment group's score of religious identity, self-concept, and resilience tasks over a four-week session. The change of religious identity, self-concept, and resilience suggests that this intervention group is sufficient to be effective in female orphans who are participating in this study while providing new perspectives for group worker practitioners, caregivers, institutional principals, and Pertubuhan Kebajikan Anak Yatim Malaysia (PEYATIM).