Religiously conservative Americans consistently demonstrate lower scientific literacy than other Americans. Some argue, however, that Americans’ scientific literacy is contingent on subcultural conflict, showing differences in scientific literacy that emerge only on religiously contested scientific claims. Building on these insights, we find that the most salient factor explaining Americans’ divergence on contested (though not on uncontested) scientific claims is not religious commitment or conservatism per se, but an ideology that seeks political—and consequently epistemic—dominance: Christian nationalism. National data show that Christian nationalism is unassociated with Americans’ answers on questions about uncontested scientific knowledge. However, Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of incorrect answers on questions about religiously contested scientific claims. Contemporary “culture war” debates over science have little to do with outright ignorance of science, nor are they strictly about religiosity or theological conservatism. Rather, disputes over science and religion reflect politically motivated denials of scientific facts that threaten Christian nationalism’s claims to epistemic and cultural authority.

This thesis intends to revise and update devoted actor theory (DAT) by introducing a neglected dataset—female suicide bombers. DAT provides one such theoretical framework for understanding extremist group behavior and, to a lesser extent, suicidal bombing. DAT is largely satisfying: its claims and conclusions address relevant issues and provide compelling answers to critical questions. However, it is not without its analytical and empirical gaps. Crucially, DAT does not explicitly account for the narratives and characteristic motives of female suicide bombers—which often differ in logic, content, and tone from those of their male counterparts. In addition, DAT assumes that people who are fused with extreme groups are willing to self-sacrifice for their group, but the theory does not account for how this fusion process transpires. Therefore, I propose two amendments to DAT that not only address theoretical issues, which arise partially from the lack of female terrorist accounts, but also creates a narrative that bridges the gap that would explain how an individual progresses from bonding to a group to making the decision to die for it. Accordingly, I also propose to theorize a psychosocial process that links the way in which individuals, specifically females, become fused to a group and edge closer to the most extreme of extremist decisions: to annihilate their bodies and selves, while at the same time annihilating or wreaking havoc upon the lives of others whom they have deemed enemies of themselves or their group.

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This thesis provides the first comprehensive study of an eminent but oft-overlooked Victorian polymath, with the overarching aims of assessing his contributions to nineteenth-century intellectual life and of exploring the mutual relations between science and religion in his work. One of the towering figures of the Victorian scientific establishment, William Carpenter (1813-1885), F.R.S, was a famous physiologist and public figure. He is most remembered for his concept of 'unconscious cerebration' which contributed to the emergence of the disciplines of neurology and modern psychology, but Carpenter was also noted amongst his peers for his evolutionary approach to the study of the unicellular marine invertebrates known as the foraminifera. As a lifelong practicing Unitarian, Carpenter's outspoken support for evolutionary theory made him an exemplary advocate of the compatibility between rational thought and Christian belief amidst the Victorian debate about science and religion. As the Registrar of the University of London during its formative years, Carpenter also had a nationwide impact on the fortunes of scientific education and secondary education as a whole. Finally, as a populariser of science and public moralist, "Dr. Carpenter" was also well known to the Victorian public as one of the most outspoken critics of spiritualism, alleged paranormal phenomena, and superstition more generally. Nevertheless, no systematic study of Carpenter's work had until now been carried out, and the commonly held view that he lacked originality as a scientist had not been fully questioned. The current study therefore aims to review Carpenter's achievements and trace his intellectual legacy. As an intellectual biography, it argues that focusing on the now lesser-known members of the British intelligentsia can shine new light on the context of the professionalization of science in Victorian Britain. In its focus on science and religion, this thesis argues that a deeper understanding of Carpenter's Unitarianism must feature at the heart of any endeavour to analyse his work. Previous references to Carpenter either bypassed Unitarianism and its nineteenth-century transformations, or reduced Unitarian thought to certain core tenets that fell short of uncovering Carpenter's philosophical pursuits. Carpenter's Unitarianism is still often equated with the rationalism and mortalism that defined late eighteenth-century Unitarianism, and this failure to recognise how much Carpenter's own faith had departed from earlier strands of Unitarian belief has led to some misinterpretations of his motives. The current thesis therefore offers fresh interpretations of Carpenter's work, based on new archival material and recent historical studies of the shifting priorities shaping the more romantic and emotional spirituality of nineteenth-century Unitarianism. Taking an integrative approach to Carpenter's various projects makes it possible to show how seminal many of his ideas were, and how his Unitarianism, both in its social and spiritual dimensions, influenced his professional, political and intellectual choices. The biographical angle taken in this thesis also makes it possible to uncover a degree of epistemological coherence underpinning Carpenter's thought, and to argue that Carpenter's efforts to transcend conflicting viewpoints partook of his wider social and metaphysical aims.

Psychological research suggests that children acquire cultural concepts through early developing cognitive mechanisms combined with specific cultural learning. An understudied area of cultural acquisition is children’s understanding of non-human minds, such as God. This thesis gives evidence that young children need not anthropomorphize non-human minds in order to understand them. Instead, children have a general “theory of mind” that is tailored through experience to accommodate the various important minds in their cultural environment. The intuitive default is toward super-attributes, making children naturally inclined or “prepared” to acquire god concepts. Four empirical studies were conducted with 75 British and 66 Israeli preschool-aged children. In Study 1, children participated in an ignorance-based theory-of-mind task and were asked to consider the mental states of human and supernatural agents. Children at all ages attributed correct knowledge to the supernatural agents and ignorance to the human agents. In Study 2, children participated in two perception-based theory-of-mind tasks and were asked to consider the perspective of two super-perceiving animals, God, and two human agents. Three-year-olds attributed knowledge to the animals and God and, by age four, children could distinguish among agents correctly. Also, by age four, children recognized that aging limits the perception of human agents but not God’s. In Study 3, children participated in a memory-based theory-of-mind task in which they were asked to consider the memory of God and differently aged agents Children at all ages responded that God would remember something that the children themselves had forgotten. By age five, children responded that a baby and granddad would have forgotten. These results propose that preschool-aged children regard individual constraints when considering mental states. Study 4 focused on children’s notions of immortality. Cultural differences were found. British children attributed immortality to God before correctly attributing mortality to human agents, and Israeli children attributed immortality to God and mortality to humans more consistently than did British children. Collectively, these studies indicate that children do not have to resort to anthropomorphism to reason about non-human agents but instead have the cognitive capacity to represent other types of minds because of early cognitive capacities. It appears that concepts vary in their degree of fit with early-developing human conceptual systems, and hence, vary in their likelihood of successful cultural transmission.

The thesis is a multimedia document, including a documentary video and audio recordings, that catalogues and unpacks the cross-disciplinary project Score for the Big Bang. On April 13, 2012, thirty-six vocalists sang the sound of the Big Bang in a historic church in downtown Richmond. For this project I worked with an astronomer, composer, choral director and organist to translate the primordial sound into musical notation. This is the universe as voice, through humans, recreating what we have come to understand was present at its birth.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valeska Freman B Freitas Silveira.pdf: 2808653 bytes, checksum: a813c715649ba7ac8e350029973c6cf5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This present work is a didactic transposition exercise of Science of Religion for Religious Education. Based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of the Science of Religion, we analyzed four Collections of confessional Religious Education textbooks written to the elementary school, published in São Paulo, after 2000. The choice for the Science of Religion has been done, because this understand the religious as an object of knowledge, drawing on an epistemology that does not favor one religion over the others, because it is based on the principles of respect and appreciation of religious plurality, so we think that this could be applied in our confessional Religious Education Collections as it does not offend religious principles. Our goal was to identify the proximity between the theory of the Science of Religion and the contents of the textbooks of Religious Education. We researched if confessionality material compromised the knowledge of religions, it is threatening a proposal for Religious Education aimed at promoting a culture of peace and respect for plurality and religious tolerance. The analysis of Collections showed that the confessionality does not necessarily commits the understanding of religions, or a formation based on values of respect for differences. What sets the commitment to these issues is a coherent proposal by authors and publishers of the speeches and the material that actually produce. The relations between the Science of Religion theory and textbooks of Religious Education are still very fragile, we identified some opening initiatives for the acceptance of religious plurality without fear of considering it a threat to confessionality / Este presente trabalho é um exercício de transposição didática da Ciência da Religião para o Ensino Religioso. Partindo dos pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos da Ciência da Religião, analisamos quatro coleções de livros didáticos confessionais de Ensino Religioso voltados para o Ensino Fundamental I, publicados em São Paulo após o ano de 2000. A escolha pela Ciência da Religião se fez porque esta entende o religioso como objeto de conhecimento, valendo-se de uma epistemologia que não privilegia uma religião em detrimento das outras, pois se baseia nos princípios do respeito e da valorização da pluralidade religiosa, de tal modo que consideramos que esta poderia ser aplicada às nossas coleções de Ensino Religioso confessional, uma vez que não ofende os princípios religiosos. Nosso objetivo foi identificar as proximidades entre a teoria da Ciência da Religião e os conteúdos dos livros didáticos de Ensino Religioso. Pesquisamos se a confessionalidade do material comprometia o conhecimento das religiões, se ameaçava uma proposta de Ensino Religioso voltada para a promoção de uma cultura de paz e respeito à pluralidade e tolerância religiosas. A análise das coleções evidenciou que a confessionalidade não necessariamente compromete o entendimento das religiões ou uma formação baseada em valores de respeito às diferenças. O que define o compromisso com estas questões é uma proposta coerente por parte de autores e editores entre os discursos e o material que de fato produzem. As relações entre a teoria da Ciência da Religião e os livros didáticos de Ensino Religioso ainda são muito frágeis. Identificamos algumas iniciativas de abertura para a aceitação da pluralidade religiosa, sem receio de considerá-la uma ameaça à confessionalidade

This doctoral thesis comprises a critical comparison of the theme of concursus, the way in which God and humanity interact, in the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions. The comparison is literature-based / similarities and differences in the theological literature of each tradition are compared in order to determine the extent of compatibilities and incompatibilities. The hypothesis is that similarities in the literature sufficiently leverage differences. The first chapter includes a statement of the problem, namely that the global expansion of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements necessitates interaction with more academically and philosophically oriented theological traditions such as Process- Relational theology. The second chapter comprises an historical survey of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements, including key dogmas and practices. Chapter three comprises an historical survey of Process-Relational theology, including its philosophical, metaphysical, and scientific orientations. Seminal Process- Relational theists such as Whitehead, Hartshorne, and Cobb are surveyed. Chapter four consists of a broad historical survey of the theological theme of concursus, including the notions of causation, free will, and determinism in both philosophy and theology. Further, the fourth chapter includes a broad historical survey of pneumatology, which is framed as the basis for a comparison of concursus. Chapters five and six comprise surveys of concursus in the Pentecostal- Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions respectively. Chapter seven entails an extensive analysis of differences and synthesis of similarities between the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational notions of concursus. Four differences and four similarities are identified. Differences and similarities are ranked and compared for compatibility...

This doctoral thesis comprises a critical comparison of the theme of concursus, the way in which God and humanity interact, in the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions. The comparison is literature-based / similarities and differences in the theological literature of each tradition are compared in order to determine the extent of compatibilities and incompatibilities. The hypothesis is that similarities in the literature sufficiently leverage differences. The first chapter includes a statement of the problem, namely that the global expansion of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements necessitates interaction with more academically and philosophically oriented theological traditions such as Process- Relational theology. The second chapter comprises an historical survey of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements, including key dogmas and practices. Chapter three comprises an historical survey of Process-Relational theology, including its philosophical, metaphysical, and scientific orientations. Seminal Process- Relational theists such as Whitehead, Hartshorne, and Cobb are surveyed. Chapter four consists of a broad historical survey of the theological theme of concursus, including the notions of causation, free will, and determinism in both philosophy and theology. Further, the fourth chapter includes a broad historical survey of pneumatology, which is framed as the basis for a comparison of concursus. Chapters five and six comprise surveys of concursus in the Pentecostal- Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions respectively. Chapter seven entails an extensive analysis of differences and synthesis of similarities between the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational notions of concursus. Four differences and four similarities are identified. Differences and similarities are ranked and compared for compatibility...