Although the past decade has witnessed increased usage of ecological data to map the community-level effects of religion, the vast majority of studies in this body of scholarship continue to be plagued by two key shortcomings. First, ecological research on religion is often conducted in an atheoretical manner, one that privileges the structural character of religion while failing to demonstrate sensitivity to the substance of collectively held religious beliefs and values. Second, ecological scholarship often employs crude methodological techniques that overlook noteworthy distinctions within large religious collectivities (e.g., variants of conservative Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism). This study charts new theoretical and methodological directions in the use of ecological data by exploring the complex linkages between religious ecology and mortality in the United States. We hypothesize that the other-worldly theology and individualistic orientation found in conservative Protestantism dampens this faith tradition's commitment to population health, thereby leading to demonstrably different outcomes in mortality by denominational families. Also, drawing on previous work that criticizes the "monolithic bloc" depiction of conservative Protestantism, we hypothesize that important distinctions in mortality will be found when sub-groups of conservative Protestants (evangelicals, Pentecostals and fundamentalists) are compared because each of these factions exhibits distinct degrees of other-worldliness. Using

An impressive research literature has emerged that identifies linkages between religion and a wide range of attitudes, behaviors, and life events. One of the recurrent themes in this literature is that religion may operate as a force both for reducing antisocial behaviors and for increasing prosocial behaviors. We build upon this research by examining survey data of inmates at a large southeastern prison facility to determine whether religiosity can reduce the odds of frequent inmate arguing and fighting. Overall, our results indicate that religiosity directly reduces the likelihood of arguing and indirectly reduces the likelihood of fighting. We conclude that the efficacy of religiosity and religious programs for individuals in prison rests on whether they can promote basic prosocial behaviors.

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Important questions remain about religion-based variations in the propensity to trust. A new perspective on the religion-trust nexus is proposed by examining Protestant theological conservatism as a moral framework reflected in personal convictions about scripture (the authoritativeness of the Bible), sin (beliefs in human depravity and the existence of hell), and salvation (the need for a born-again experience to be saved). Findings indicate that personal commitment to this framework is negatively related to the propensity to trust unknown others, net of other religious factors (religious affiliation and involvement). Commitment to this moral framework also suppresses the positive relationship between religious attendance and generalized trust among Christians. The findings highlight a considerable negative relationship between Protestant theological conservatism and generalized trust, while further underscoring the crucial importance of analyzing belief systems, when investigating complex linkages between religious participation, faith, and civic life.

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In this paper we test the hypothesis that local economic concentration is associated with decreased levels of civic participation. We define economic concentration as a social context in which a small number of corporate establishments or industries dominate a local economy. We argue that economic concentration leads to a monolithic power structure and generates civic apathy because the needs of the corporation override those of the local population. To test this hypothesis, we employ combined data from the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Survey and the County Business Patterns. Our findings indicate that local economic concentration is negatively associated with traditional electoral participation and protest activities. We conclude by discussing implications for current theoretical work on civic community, embedded within the empirical decline in U.S. civic engagement over the past three decades.

Traditional students are often introduced to unfamiliar subcultures for the first time on the college campus. Recent high school graduates find themselves transitioning from an atmosphere in which homophobia is likely to be tolerated and possibly even expected to an educational setting in which diversity is promoted. Research shows that the college years are influential in the re-socialization of core values, yet very little work focuses on the ideological shifts that may take place in attitudes toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) population. The research presented in this study includes a modified version of LaMar and Kite's Component Measure, which has been broken down into 6 distinctive components of tolerance. In addition to examining religion, gender, and race--factors that have been correlated in past research with differing levels of tolerance toward the LGBT community--this study adds politics, sexual orientation, academic class standing, and college of major--variables that have received little or no attention in this literature. Higher levels of LGBT tolerance are consistently observed across the indexes among women, more liberal Christian traditions, non-Christian faiths, the non-religious, and those who self-identify as LGBT. The distinctive contribution of this study is that students in the College of Arts and Sciences and students further along in their college careers are also more tolerant. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for inter-college curriculum changes that integrate students in all disciplines and students of all classifications.

The prison industry in the United States has experienced an unprecedented period of growth during the past three decades. Growing dissatisfaction with the monetary investment in the criminal justice system, state-level budget constraints, and high recidivism rates have led many criminal justice professionals to rethink issues of offender resocialization and rehabilitation. Faith-based prison programs are increasingly being used as inexpensive methods for potentially improving the institutional behavior of inmates and reducing their likelihood of postrelease arrest. Unfortunately, however, there is little systematic research on this issue. Using data from Mississippi's largest state prison, the authors explore the relationship between participation in the faith-based prison event, Operation Starting Line, and subsequent experience of negative emotions and incidence of negative behaviors. Descriptive results suggest modest, yet positive, effects of attendance at the event. The article concludes with comments about the potential efficacy of faith-based prison programs and suggestions for future research.