CHAPTER II

A. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

FOREIGN LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter represents the relevant literature and studies of our topic Religion and
Atheism: How religious beliefs affects social behavior of Grade 11 HUMSS students at Arellano
University Juan Sumulong Campus. It gives a clearer understanding and the importance of the
study.

An Overview of Religion and Atheism

A religion can broadly be viewed as a system of designated behaviors and practices,
morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations that
provide humanity with connections to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements;
however, there is no scholarly consensus on what exactly defines a religion (Morreall, John;
Sonn, Tamara 2013). Religions often have sacred histories and narratives that are preserved in
sacred scriptures, as well as symbols and holy places that give meaning to life. Religions may
contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that may also attempt
to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena. Traditionally, faith, in addition
to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs (Swindal, 2010). 
James, Paul & Mandaville, Peter (2010) stated that, different religions may or may not
contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, a supernatural being or
supernatural beings or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and
power for the rest of life". Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or
veneration (of deities and/or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary
services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other
aspects of human culture.
According to Smart (2017), atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general
form is the belief that at least one deity exists. Since conceptions of atheism vary, accurate
estimations of current numbers of atheists are difficult (Zuckerman, 2007). Departing even more
radically from the norm in philosophy, a few philosophers and quite a few non-philosophers
claim that “atheism” shouldn’t be defined as a proposition at all, even if theism is a proposition.
Instead, “atheism” should be defined as a psychological state: the state of not believing in the
existence of God (Draper, 2021).
Roles of Religion

Religion gives meaning and purpose to life. Many things in life are difficult to understand.
That was certainly true, as we have seen, in prehistoric times, but even in today’s highly
scientific age, much of life and death remains a mystery, and religious faith and belief help many
people make sense of the things science cannot tell us (Mirola et al, 2011). Religion reinforces
social unity and stability. This was one of Durkheim’s most important insights. Religion
strengthens social stability in at least two ways. First, it gives people a common set of beliefs and
thus is an important agent of socialization (Mirola et al., 2011).
Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a source of
comfort to people in times of distress and by enhancing their social interaction with others in
places of worship. Many studies find that people of all ages, not just the elderly, are happier and
more satisfied with their lives if they are religious. Religiosity also apparently promotes better
physical health, and some studies even find that religious people tend to live longer than those
who are not religious (Moberg, 2008 cited by Barkan 2016).
Throughout this section, foreign policy is defined as the formal policies of a state that
affect its relations with other countries and nonstate actors in a variety of areas, such as military,
economic, humanitarian, social, and cultural terms. Religion’s influence in the interactions of
states is one of the great and least understood security challenges of the twenty-first century
(Huntington,1993 cited by Warner et al, 2011). Religion’s role in international politics also
presents an intellectual challenge to scholars of international relations and religion and politics.
While religion has emerged as a significant factor in some analyses of international relations,
controversial and unexplored questions remain concerning the role of religion in the foreign
policies of states (Haynes 2008 et al, 2008; Shaffer 2006).
The opinions of adherents of various religions about foreign policy have been studied in
many empirical studies (Grim and Finke 2007; Barker et al, 2008; Haynes 2008).  In addition to
religion, our topic is also a complex phenomenon (Bellin, 2008). As Fox and Sandler (2004:176-
7) suggest, religion plays various roles in peoples’ lives: it is a source of world views and values,
as well as a source of identity and legitimacy, and is also ‘‘associated with formal institutions.’’
This conceptualization complements Bruce Lincoln’s definition of religion, which recognizes
that religion is a set of collectively held spiritual beliefs articulated in a discourse, perpetuated
and interpreted by institutions, communities, and associated practices (Lincoln 2003). Much
attention regarding the role of religion in international politics has been paid to religion as a set
of beliefs or theology, an attribute of a culture, and a source of values (Philpott et al, 2007).
According to Javanmard (2013) studies, many studies have discovered that religious
beliefs have a positive effect on a variety of characteristics. Studies on resilience, on the other
hand, have linked this trait to other psychological variables. The goal of this research was to look
at the relationship between religious beliefs and academic resilience in pupils. Several studies
indicated the positive relationship between the practice of religious beliefs and different variables
such as mental health, happiness, and marital satisfaction (Rohani & Manavipoor, 2009), anxiety
and depression (Mir Kheshti, 1997), low suicidal thoughts, lack of tendency to crime (Chavda &
Tap, 1993), and lack of y also indicated that with the increase of faith and life after death belief,
anxiety level will reduce and relaxing feeling will continue to increase.

People’s behavior towards Theist and Non-theist

According to Dawkins (2019), even though atheists do not believe in anything

supernatural, they are accused of worshipping Satan, especially if they live in America or other
Islamic nations. Aspects of Christianity resemble polytheism. It is said that 'Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit' are three in one and one in three. Throughout history, many interpretations of what
this implies have been debated, sometimes violently. Catholics also believe that we are already
born sinners, that the moment we are born, we already have sinned. People in other countries
imitate their parents and believe in their own country's god or gods. He said that these beliefs are
incompatible, thus they can't all be correct.
Atheists are usually stereotyped as persons whose lives are less meaningful or lacking in
moral compass (Baker and Smith, 2009, cited by Wright, 2014). Atheists have been positioned as
less trustworthy than other faiths, ethnicities, or races because of moral and symbolic reasons
(Edgell et al., 2006). In terms of the correlation between religiosity and in-group morality, it has
been shown that religiosity is positively associated with a reduction in argumentative behavior
and an indirect reduction in the likelihood of fighting (Kerley, 2006). A meta-analysis of 60
studies shows a moderate correlation between religious behavior and belief and the deterrence of
crimes (Baier, 2001).
Brown-Iannuzi et al (2014), in their study, the extreme divergence between stereotypes of
theists and atheists suggests that mental images of the two groups may also diverge. Spontaneous
mental images of theists may reflect positive attributes, such as trustworthy and moral, whereas
mental images of atheists may reflect negative attributes, such as untrustworthy and immoral.
Human beings are particularly motivated to identify trustworthy individuals (e.g.,
Simpson, 2007). As social animals, humans need to cooperate in order to gain the benefits that
the group produces, even if cooperation comes at a cost for the individual. Relatedly, people
need to identify potential defectors because defectors may gain the benefits of the group without
contributing to the group, and defectors can ultimately end up eroding group cohesion and
cooperation (e.g., Sober & Wilson, 1998). Together, group living motivates finding trustworthy
individuals who will cooperate with the group. Religiosity may be a proxy for trustworthiness
because religious believers may fear punishment (now or in the afterlife) for social norm
violations (Norenzayan et al., 2014).
In addition to their study, atheism may be heuristically associated with immorality and
untrustworthiness. Atheists are individuals who do not believe in a supernatural agent(s). Since
atheists do not believe in a watchful God who punishes social norm violators, theists often
conclude that atheists have less incentive to contribute to the group and thus treat atheists with
suspicion (Gervais, 2013). Relatedly, many theists feel that belief in God is a necessary
component of morality (e.g., Gervais, 2013, 2014a; Norenzayan & Gervais, 2013). As a result,
the lack of belief in God may signal distrust, immorality, and group defection to theists (Cook,
Cottrell, & Webster, 2015). Atheists are widely perceived as untrustworthy (Gervais, 2013,
2014a; Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, 2011). In fact, atheists and rapists are equally as
distrusted in the U.S. on at least one indirect measure (Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, 2011).
This extreme distrust is also associated with explicit discriminatory desires.

Religious beliefs towards People

According to Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom, and Gizem Arikan (2013), In a priming experiment
conducted among Turkish Muslims and Israeli Jews, the effects of religious belief and religious
social behavior on support for democracy are studied. When the question order of World Values
Survey (WVS) items, which measure religious belief and religious social behavior, was changed,
it was discovered that priming religious social behavior facilitates support for democracy while
priming religious belief hinders it, as compared to a control group with no prime. These findings
were independent of participants' religious intensity or frequency of religious social behavior,
and they were consistent across religious affiliations and political situations for the most part.
Saroglou, V. (Ed.). (2014), for centuries, even thousands of years, within each society,
individuals have differed from one another in attitudes and behavior about religion. Some have
been very religious, some moderately so, whereas others are not interested in religion at all or
may oppose it. Additionally, within believers and non-believers, there have been different ways
of expressing positive or negative attitudes towards religion. From a personality and individual
differences psychological perspective, this raises at least two questions. Similarly, social
psychology is interested in understanding the situational factors that may have an impact on
individuals' religious attitudes and behaviors: how personal experiences (e.g., life events), and
social events (e.g., 9/11 terrorist attacks) may impact on religious attitudes and behaviors, at
personal and group levels. Also, social psychology is interested in whether religion (religious
ideas, texts, feelings, symbols, images, figures, and groups) has an influence on people's
cognitions, emotions, and acts relative to other, non-religious, domains.

Lanman (2010), in his study as he speaks with non-theists and attending various meetings of
atheist-humanist groups in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, as well as
conducting a large online survey, He have found it quite easy to elicit discussion on what non-
theists do and do not believe about the existence of supernatural agents and about the positive,
negative, or neutral influence of religion in the world. The term “belief” is frequently employed
in such discussions, whether prompted through his use of the term in his questions or not. In his
internet survey, for instance, he asked self-identified atheists to offer their own definitions of the
term “atheism.” Of the 1389 self-identified atheists, 1137 used the words “belief” or “believe” in
their definition of atheism. The responses varied widely, from the positive atheism that asserts
that no God or gods exist (Martiin, 2007): “Atheism is a belief that no God or gods exist;” “A
belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world;” “A belief that there is no god, supernatural
or spirit,” to the negative atheism which merely entails the lack or absence of such a belief: “lack
of belief in gods or any supernatural beings;” “Lack of belief in God;” “the absence of belief in
the existence of any higher power.”

To summarize, this review of related literature and studies involving Religion and
Atheism is relevant to the study because this elaborate the current misunderstanding between
Religion and Atheism in the society. The article and studies mentioned above helps support the
study and widen the significant knowledge in each article. It includes the overview of Religion
and Atheism, by how society and philosophers defined them. Then followed by the Roles of
Religion in different aspects, such as in life, well-being, foreign policy, and on academic
performances of students. This helps our study classify the roles of religion on an individual’s
life.
People’s behavior towards theist and non-theist, is the main topic of our study. It tackles
about the attitude and behavior of theist and non-theist person. Using the following literature and
studies, researchers will be able to comprehend how theist and non-theist people are treated in
our society. This part also mentioned the comparison of theist and non-theist in other countries.
It shows how stereotypes happen when someone mentioned their beliefs.
Lastly, the religious belief and religious behavior. This tackles how beliefs affect people
in our society. The following literature mentioned above support our study as it talks about the
religious beliefs of theist and non-theist. It includes expressing themselves in social gathering
and interactions.

 DEFINITON OF TERMS

The following are defined operationally and conceptually:

 Transcendental - being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief;

supernatural. It inspires joy, faith in humanity, and for many, carries a transcendental
quality.

(William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986)

 Commemoration - something intended to honor and remember an important person or

event

(Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 2010)

 Polytheism - the belief in many gods. Polytheism characterizes virtually all religions
other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common tradition of
monotheism, the belief in one God.

(Smart, Ninian, 2020)

 Religious affiliation - assesses the religious composition of the population and can be
used with a range of variables to measure cultural diversity

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016)

 Divergence/diverse - an act or instance of diverging.

(Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, 2010)

 Heuristics/Heuristically - the Judgment of Probability and Frequencies: Availability,

Representativeness, and Anchoring and Adjustment

(Ralph Hertwig, Peter M. Todd, 2002)

 Affiliation/affiliated - connected with or joined to (a larger group etc) as a member.

(Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, 2006-2013)

 Philosopy - philosophy comes from the Greek philo (love) and sophia (wisdom) and
so is literally defined as “the love of wisdom”.

(Joshua J. Mark published, 2020)

 Humanitarian - One who is devoted to the promotion of human welfare and the
advancement of social reforms.

(American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2016)