Hans-Georg Ziebertz

The Relationship Between Religion and Happiness Among German Students

A sample of 331 students completed German editions of the Oxford Happiness Inventory and the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity, together with the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. These data provide no evidence for a relationship between religiosity and happiness among German students, contrary to the conclusions of recent studies that have employed the same indices in the UK and in the USA.

Intercultural Identity — Religion, Values, In-Group and Out-Group Attitudes

The current study examines the mediating role of adolescents’ values in the relationship between religion and adolescents’ self-reported positive and negative out-group and in-group attitudes. 1790 adolescents (among them 1102 Christians and 372 Muslims, mean age = 15, 17 years) completed assessments of their religious denomination, individual values and perception of in-groups and out-groups. The self/other perception was represented by way of the constructs ethnocentrism and patriotism (perception of the in-group) on the one hand and the concepts discrimination, acceptance and tolerance (perception of out-groups) on the other. Referring on social identity theory, religion as a social categorisation was expected to have an impact on the self/other perception. Muslim and Christian adolescents were therefore assumed to differ in their in-group and out-group attitudes. T-tests yielded significant differences between Muslim and Christian adolescents, in line with the hypotheses, with regard to discrimination, acceptance and tolerance. Regression analyses and simple mediation models suggested that the values family and solidarity mediated the relationship between religion and adolescents’ out-group attitudes of discrimination and acceptance. In addition, the impact of religion on the in-group attitude of patriotism was shown to be mediated by solidarity and family. Solidarity was also found to mediate the effect of religion on tolerance. The current study has important implications for (inter)religious education.

Europe: A Post-secular Society?

Abstract In this essay, the authors review and analyze the phenomena identified with secularity and the concept of post-secularity as they are expressed and theorized in Europe. The essay makes a theoretical distinction among the concepts of non-secular, secular, and post-secular, and the authors explore how far these concepts relate to the secularisation debate in Europe when religion is seen not only as an individual practise but also as a public phenomenon. The analysis reveals that religion is related to the social dynamics of European societies in complex ways. Christian religions cannot be reduced to a privately spiritual dimension, but are also related to the public sphere. Practical theologians are challenged to understand these multi-faceted relationships of religion and society, and to explore the possibilities and limitations for religious practice. Zusammenfassung In ihrem Beitrag beschreiben und analysieren die Autoren die Phänomene, die mit dem Begriff der Säkularisierung und dem Konzept der Post-Säkularisierung erfasst und in Europa verfasst und reflektiert werden. Der Aufsatz differenziert in theoretischer Hinsicht diejenigen Ansätze, die die Begriffe nicht-säkular, säkular und post-säkular führen. Dabei erkunden die Autoren, inwiefern diese Konzepte im Zusammenhang mit der Säkularisierungsdebatte in Europa stehen, wenn Religion nicht nur als individuelle religiöse Praxis, sondern auch als öffentliches Phänomen in den Blick gerät. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Religion in komplexen Beziehungen zu sozialen Prozessen der europäischen Gesellschaften steht. Christliche Religionen sind dabei nicht einfach auf die Dimension privater Spiritualität zu reduzieren, sondern zeigen ebenfalls vielfache Verbindungen in den öffentlichen Raum. Praktische Theologen sind deshalb dazu herausgefordert, diese vielseitigen Beziehungen von Religion und Gesellschaft zu verstehen sowie die Chancen und Grenzen religiöser Praxis in dieser Situation auszuloten.

A nine‐country survey of youth in Europe: selected findings and issues

A nine‐country survey of the life orientations, values and institutional trust of 8948 young people at the upper end of the secondary school age range was set up at the University of Würzburg in the year 2000. Key findings demonstrate that these young people value personal autonomy and are orientated to success in their professional lives and that they especially trust human rights and environmental groups. Religion is associated positively with humanitarianism and in some countries negatively with modernity. These findings provide an indication of the typical life stances of future opinion‐formers and illustrate methodological issues thrown up by international research.

Tensions within and between Religions and Human Rights

This volume contains four theoretical and four empirical articles that aim at conceptual clarification and descriptive and causal exploration on data from 14 countries about historical and current tensions within and between religions, Christiantity and Islam, and human rights in various contexts.

Displeasure at plurality and fear of strangers? An empirical study among Youth in Germany and The Netherlands

A comparison between the Netherlands and Germany concerning religious, cultural and ethnic plurality provides interesting insights. Germany has never defined itself as a multicultural society, as was historically the case in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the research are somewhat surprising. Dutch pupils – especially boys – are more negative about plurality than their German contemporaries are. Belonging to a church in Germany appears to be connected to a positive attitude to migrants, while in the Netherlands this is not important at all.

A Key to the Future: The Attitudes and Values of Adolescent Europeans.

Based on original empirical data collected from adolescents in Europe (N = 9003) this paper focuses the lifeworlds of young people. It analyses negative and positive patterns of attitude and combines them with further concepts: personal life perspectives, various key values and political attitudes. Technically, the attitude towards Europe acts as the dependent variable whereas the remaining concepts are used as independent variables. The empirical results show Turkish and Polish adolescents are more critical towards Europe than adolescents living in ‘old’ Europe. Furthermore, the data show that those who hold negative expectations about their personal futures are likely also to be Eurosceptical.

The relationship between personality and religion among undergraduate students in Germany

A sample of 311 undergraduate students in Germany completed German translations of the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The data demonstrated that psychoticism is fundamental to individual differences in religiosity, while religiosity is independent of both extraversion and neuroticism. These findings are consistent with those from a series of studies employing the same measure of religiosity among school pupils, students and adults in the UK.

Religious Education in a Multicultural Society

This paper begins with a presentation of three concepts of pluralism found in the works of Francois Lyotard, Jurgen Habermas and Charles Taylor respectively. These concepts are compared and evaluated and their implications for religious education in a multicultural society are developed. On the basis of Taylors “process of encounter” three strategies for religious education are proposed: adopt new theologies of dialogue; prove its dialogical character by turning productively to the world of the pupils, and include a relativizing self-examination in the treatment of the Christian religion.

Religious Pluralism and Religious Education

When thinking of alternatives for denominational religious teaching, it always includes answering the question about the relating discipline. In this contribution, the question is which theological horizon justifies the established type of denominational teaching as practised in Germany, and which theological justifications for alternative concepts of teaching are involved. In addition, it is also necessary to investigate the actual importance of distinctions between types of teaching and explanatory contexts in practice, that is, in the minds of teachers.