Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion

Patrick McNamara on visitation dreams

The Tulsa World recently ran an article featuring IBCSR co-director Patrick McNamara's research on visitation dreams. Visitation dreams are exceptionally vivid dreaming experiences in which deceased friends or loved ones make an appearance, usually looking as they did before they became sick or began the dying process. More of the senses are involved than in normal dreaming; for example, one might smell the loved one's perfume or feel the press of a hug. Such dreams could be inspiration for many cross-cultural beliefs in afterlives and the continuation of consciousness after death. See the article here.

Video games associate religion with violence

A graduate student at the University of Missouri has found that video games are increasingly depicting religion as violent. Studying five highly popular games ranging from Assassin's Creed to the most recent installation of the well-known Final Fantasy series, Ph.D. student Greg Perreault found that religion was connected with violence and adversity in all five games. Examples included enemies who were religious fundamentalists and main characters' struggles with religious guilt.

Number of U.S. mosques up 74% since year 2000

A new report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research has found that the number of mosques in the United States rose by 74% between 2000 and 2010, ballooning from 1,209 to 2,106 in ten years' time. Happily, most mosque leaders claim that the United States is not hostile to Islam and believe that all American Muslims should be involved in civic and and social institutions. This data suggests that, in spite of anti-Muslim sentiments following the terrorist attacks of 2001, Muslim communities are making headway into the American mainstream.

New blog: Science On Religion at Patheos

As of February 2012, select articles from ScienceOnReligion.org (IBCSR.org), along with unique opinion pieces by the staff of IBCSR, will be appearing on our new blog at Patheos.com. This relationship represents an exciting new step forward for the Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion as it strives to facilitate greater public dialog on science, culture, and religion.

Less-educated white Americans leaving religion at a rapid clip

A new USA Today report suggests that lower-income white Americans are fleeing religion faster than their middle- or upper-income counterparts. From the 1970s to today, the lowest-income white Americans showed a 15 percent drop in church attendance, compared with a drop of only four percent among the most educated whites. This finding backs up other surveys that have shown relatively greater interest in religion among upper-income Americans.

Highly educated more likely to be churchgoers

A new poll by a researcher at the University of Nebraska has found that highly educated people are more likely to attend religious services than the uneducated. This finding contradicts the commonly held belief that intellectuals are often atheists or agnostics. The pro-religious effect of education isn't just limited to attending services, either – people with more education are also more likely to read the Bible, believe in a higher power rather than a traditional anthropomorphic God, and to switch to one of the mainline Protestant denominations. Read more here.

Founding Directors of IBCSR profiled in Boston University magazine

It's not only dedicated researchers who get excited about science and religion – the general public is starting to take an interest, too. See here for an in-depth article in BU Today that profiles Doctors Wesley Wildman and Patrick McNamara, Founding Directors of IBCSR, for their work on the interdisciplinary study of religion.

Smithsonian founds committee on religious questions for evolution exhibit

The Washington, D.C.-based Smithsonian Institution has unveiled a new exhibit, "What Does It Mean to Be Human?", an interactive display of artifacts and knowledge about human evolution. To accompany the exhibit, Smithsonian leaders established a Broader Social Impacts Committee comprised of experts from different religious traditions, whose goal is to provide targeted, philosophically literate responses to visitors who have questions of a philosophical or religious nature. Read more here.

Dalai Lama donates to Wisconsin meditation research center

The Dalai Lama, the leader of Tibet's exiled government, has announced a donation of $50,000 to the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin. The center researches the effects of meditation on the well-being of adults and children. See the New York Times article here.

New office for Metanexus

Metanexus has moved to a new office at 1616 Walnut Street, Suite 1112, Philadelphia, PA 19103.