Women's employment decisions in Malaysia: Does religion matter?

Religion may influence female employment decisions because different religions specify different life styles. This study investigates whether religion is a significant determinant of married and single women's paid-work and full-time employment in Malaysia. Using the Second Malaysian Family Life Survey and a sequential logit approach, this paper finds that religion is less influential in urban areas than in rural areas.     

How culture influences foreign trade: evidence from the U.S. and China

Using a gravity model of trade and the U.S. and Chinese panel data, I present evidence that supports the views that linguistic links have become more important in foreign trade than geographical proximity and that linguistic influence on trade is more significant in China than in the U.S. The estimated result based on a broad panel of economies shows little overall relation between religious similarity and foreign trade in both the U.S. and China. But there is an indication that the religious dissimilarity tends to retard foreign trade with poor countries and regions and to encourage foreign trade with richer places. I also found that, although religious retardation on foreign trade is more significant in China than in the U.S., religious dissimilarity tends to retard the US export more than that of China; by contrast, it tends to retard the Chinese import more than that of the U.S. At last, the socio-economic implications of the estimated results are discussed.     

西方宪政的文化底蕴

踏入西方宪政的文化历程 ,追寻西方宪政的文化源头 ,解悟西方宪政的文化底蕴 :其中 ,基督教的性恶论是西方宪政的文化根基 ;社会契约的政治化是西方宪政文化的逻辑起点 ;人本主义的崛起是西方宪政的文化内核 ;法治传统的近代转型是宪政理想的实证标志。     

《日出》与基督教精神

本文所研究的是曹禺早期作品《日出》中反映的基督教精神 ,以八段引文分析作品思想。陈白露的悲剧是所有人类的悲剧 ,八段引文是阐释“日出”意义的积极因素。《日出》的思想内涵包含在八段引文中 ,它概括了《日出》的主题 ,交代了作品的题材、剧作者写《日出》的动机、所要表达的思想及作者所追求的理想世界等。     

国际基督教工会联合会与早期欧洲一体化

第二次世界大战后 ,作为欧洲压力集团之一的基督教工会通过其国际组织———国际基督教工会联合会 ,以个人活动和参与欧洲机构正式协商机制的方式 ,试图在欧洲早期一体化进程中维护基督教工会和工人的权利及利益。该组织的活动虽然取得了一定成就 ,但从总体上讲 ,其对欧洲经济政治一体化的影响仍然十分有限     

Neighborhood conditions,religious coping,and uncontrolled hypertension

The purpose of this study is to see whether God-mediated control beliefs moderate the relationship between living in rundown neighborhoods and uncontrolled hypertension. God-mediated control refers to the belief that God will help people handle the stressors that arise in life. Data are provided by a nationwide survey of adults (N = 1919). Three ways of assessing uncontrolled hypertension are examined: a binary format contrasting people with and without uncontrolled hypertension, systolic and diastolic blood pressure scored continuously, and a four ordinal category scheme recommended by the American Heart Association. The data suggest that stronger God-mediated control beliefs moderate the relationship between neighborhood conditions and uncontrolled blood pressure when blood pressure is scored continuously and when the American Heart Association scheme are used as outcomes.     

Feminist Christian Realism

While Christianity and feminism may seem at odds with one another, both make normative claims about justice and addressing the needs of those on the margins of power. This article explores what feminism contributes to Christian realism. The current revival of Niebuhrian Christian realism highlights how much it still has to offer as a theoretical underpinning for policy and governance. However, Christian realism remains wedded to masculinist abstractions and power structures, such as the balance of power, that are ultimately harmful to those on the margins. Thus, this article uses feminism to argue for a greater acceptance of vulnerability and obligation in Christian realism.     

Leaving my religion: Understanding the relationship between religious disaffiliation,health, and well-being

Religious disaffiliation—leaving the religious tradition in which one was raised for no religious affiliation in adulthood—has become more common in recent years, though few studies have examined its consequences for the health and well-being of individuals. We use an innovative approach, comparing the health and subjective well-being of religious disaffiliates to those who remain affiliated using pooled General Social Survey samples from 1973 through 2012. We find that religious disaffiliates experience poorer health and lower well-being than those consistently affiliated and those who are consistently unaffiliated. We also demonstrate that the disadvantage for those who leave religious traditions is completely mediated by the frequency of church attendance, as disaffiliates attend church less often. Our results point to the importance of the social processes surrounding religious disaffiliation and emphasize the role of dynamics in the relationship between religious affiliation and health.     

Reaching Isolated Older People

In the second part of a paper reporting a unique single day a week adult day program, the service methodologies developed in the program are described as well as a study of outcomes in four areas: success in reaching the target group, attendance, length of participation, and resolution of psychosocial and health related problems. Outcomes, illustrated by statistical and case material, indicate success in achieving the overall goal of maintenance and enhancement of the participant's life and functioning as a whole. Such a resource is recommended as a vital one for the target population of isolated older people described in the paper.     

The Nuns of Lepers: Compassion,Discipline and Surrogate Parenthood in a Former Leper Colony of Vietnam

This paper focuses on a Christian model of leprosy care overseen by Catholic nuns in Quy Hòa, a leprosarium in South Central Vietnam, from 1929—when the leper colony was established—until 1975, when the American-backed Southern regime collapsed and all of Quy Hòa’s foreign nuns were forced to leave. Drawing on recollections of elderly residents of the former leprosy colony, it describes the close and loving attention that the nuns offered to inmates, an attentiveness that was informed by the nuns’ ethic of Christian sacrifice. The nuns at Quy Hòa successfully built a quasi parent–child relationship with leprosy-afflicted inmates. Their striking devotion to the ‘lepers’ resembles substitute motherhood. However, these recollections of that era also shed critical light on an approach to leprosy care that was premised on hierarchy, strictly enforced segregation from the wider community and pronounced paternalism towards all those who came under the nuns’ rule of care.