Environmental Justice Activism: A Transformative, Contemporary Nature Religion

Deal, Paul J.; O’Grady, Kari A.

doi:10.1007/s13644-020-00409-y

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Qualitative studies could also help elucidate for whom sanctification is relevant. For example, Deal & O'Grady, 2020 found links between the nontheistic sanctification of nature and psychosocial functioning for nontheist environmental justice activists despite these same participants endorsing a neutral score on the sacred adjectives scale (Deal & Magyar-Russell, 2018). Finally, researchers need to report the correlation between theistic and nontheistic scales if both are used, and offer a clear rationale for their choices in selecting the subscale(s) used.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification of diverse aspects of life and psychosocial functioning: A meta-analysis of studies from 1999 to 2019.

Mahoney¹,

Wong²,

Pomerleau³

et al. 2022

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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Starting with a study on the sanctification of marriage (Mahoney et al., 1999), Pargament and Mahoney developed two psychological scales to assess whether viewing an aspect of life as a manifestation of God (i.e., theistic sanctification) and/or imbued with sacred qualities (i.e., nontheistic sanctification) was tied to better psychosocial functioning. The current study used meta-analytic techniques to summarize the strength of correlations between sanctification and psychosocial functioning across diverse aspects of life (e.g., human body, strivings, work, marriage, and parenting). We included data from 1999 to July 2019 that were published in peer-reviewed journals (N = 49) and dissertations that had not been published (N = 14). Across these sources, we identified 66 independent cases involving positive outcomes and 43 independent cases with negative outcomes. Greater sanctification was consistently associated with greater positive psychosocial adjustment (r = .22; 95% CI = .17-.25) and less negative functioning (r = −0.10; 95% CI = −.15to −.06). We also compared the sanctification of close interpersonal relationships (r = 0.24, 95% CI = .20-.29) and other aspects of life (r = .16, 95% CI = .11-.22) for positive adjustment, and for negative adjustment (respective r's = −.12 and −.09, with 95% CIs of −.18 to −.06 and −.14 to −.04). Overall, these findings establish sanctification as a promising new construct for the psychology of religion and spiritually, one that holds significant implications for psychosocial functioning within multiple domains of life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sanctification of diverse aspects of life and psychosocial functioning: A meta-analysis of studies from 1999 to 2019.

Mahoney¹,

Wong²,

Pomerleau³

et al. 2022

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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“…This nontheistic sacred has also been referred to as the 'secular sacred' (Knott, 2013;Bennett, 2014). Despite this theoretical work in expanding the notion of the sacred beyond the religious sphere and the contested difficulties that stem from that expansion (Deal & Magyar-Russell, 2018), there hasn't been much empirical exploration of how different or similar the nontheistic sacred might be in the context of a secular culture, particularly its psychological functions, with the exception of recent work (Deal et al 2022;Deal & O'Grady, 2020) that looked at the sanctification of nature for environmental activists, which evidenced a transformative role of the nontheistic sacred for identity, coping, and participation in society that is emotionally intense. A potential negative consequence of such functions is that when the value of the sacred is breached, such as when aspects of nature that are perceived as sacred as violated or destroyed, so is its meaning-making and comforting function, leading to negative psychological effects.…”

Section: The Nontheistic Sacred: Psychological Functions Of Metal Mus...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nontheistic Sacred: The Psychological Functions of Metal Music and Artifacts

Messick

Jong

Mulukom

et al. 2023

The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion

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The psychological functions of the nontheistic sacred in a secular context (metal music culture) were examined for their consistency with previous studies of the sacred in religious contexts using two studies. The first experiment examined music as a form of nontheistic sacred through a comparison of death metal fans (n=89) listening to death metal or hard rock. The second experiment examined how some metal cultural artefacts were perceived as sacred by metal fans (n=52), and how their loss or defilement was experienced when compared to non-sacred artefacts. The first experiment found that the death metal music was perceived as more sacred than hard rock music to the metal community, it promoted higher levels of positive affect, and it was associated with significantly higher levels of prosocial behavioural intentions, social relatedness, mood maintenance, and self-awareness, with no differences in empathy and negative affect. The second experiment found that acts of desecration of sacred items, when compared to non-sacred items, led to a higher state of anger and the loss of the items led to significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety. The two experiments present evidence that the nontheistic sacred is experienced within the secular context of metal music in terms of functions and effects consistent with previous literature exploring the sacred in religious contexts.

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“…This paper is one part of a larger project investigating the dynamics of nature as sacred for nontheists (Deal & Magyar-Russell, 2018; Deal & O’Grady, 2020). The aim, herein, is to address two gaps in the sanctification literature: (a) how do perceptions of the sacred develop and (b) how does the theory of nontheistic sanctification compare with the actual experiences of nontheists.…”

Section: The Present Study and Its Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

Deal¹,

Magyar‐Russell²

2022

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

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Sanctification theory describes the process by which objects are perceived as sacred and has been a relatively recent focal point for research in the psychology of religion and spirituality. Quantitative research has examined sanctification extensively across multiple life domains. Yet, a fundamental question remains unresolved: what does the process of sacred-making actually look like? Hints exist for theism, but there remains a gap where nontheism is concerned. Sanctification theory needs to be examined insofar as it is able to generalize to nontheist groups. Through a narrative phenomenological approach, this study addressed these questions by examining how twelve participants arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience to protect and preserve nature came to experience nature as sacred. Findings suggest that sanctifying the earth is enacted through five inter-related themes: early experiences of imprinting, experiences of immanent transcendence, connecting crisis to sociocultural norms, skeptical and seeking, and interconnection and integration. The discussion brings the themes into dialogue with sanctification theory, provides insights regarding sanctification for nontheist individuals, and describes how to integrate these ideas into clinical work and applied settings.

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Environmental Justice Activism: A Transformative, Contemporary Nature Religion

Cited by 4 publications

References 45 publications

Sanctification of diverse aspects of life and psychosocial functioning: A meta-analysis of studies from 1999 to 2019.

Sanctification of diverse aspects of life and psychosocial functioning: A meta-analysis of studies from 1999 to 2019.

The Nontheistic Sacred: The Psychological Functions of Metal Music and Artifacts

A qualitative study of sanctification: How nature becomes sacred for nontheistic environmental activists.

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