INSIDE in a Friendly Letter to 3 an Experience with Skeptics and Atheists I Also Psychology of Compare State Populations

P SYCHOLOGYOF R ELIGION

A N M IO E T R A I CI CA O N SS PS A YCHOLOGICAL AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION DIVISION 36 VOLUME 34 NO 4 DI 6 VISION 3 EWSLETTER N SPRING 2010

EFFECTS OF RELIGIOSITY POPULATION SECULARITY AND INDIVIDUAL RELIGIOSITY PREDICT HUMAN FLOURISHING

DAVIDMYERS,PH.D. HOPECOLLEGE

s religion “dangerous” and associated with dysfunctionality, misery, and bigotry (as the Inew atheists have argued) or is it associated with health, joy, and altruism? I know, I know—in various times and places it has been associated with both; religion comes in both healthy and toxic forms. But on balance, is religious engagement more strongly associated with human degradation or human flourishing? I have been fascinated of late by two striking and paradoxical findings: religiosity is negatively correlated with well-being across populations, and positively correlated across individuals. I have observed this repeatedly, in different data sets with different well-being measures. Perhaps the most striking example comes from harvesting new Gallup survey data from the first-ever survey of the entire human populations (some 350,000 people in 152 countries). As the adjacent figure illustrates, countries where most people say that religion is not an important part of their daily life and where most people have not attended religious services in the last week, tend to be countries where people re- port high quality of life. INSIDE In A Friendly Letter to 3 An Experience with Skeptics and Atheists I also Psychology of compare state populations. Religion The Southern states all have 4 Healing Hypothesis higher religious-adherence Announcement rates than do the West 5 Coast states. They also have 6 President’s Column slightly higher divorce rates, 8 Div. 36 Candidate and much higher crime, Statements teen birth, and smoking 11 Call for Award rates. So, by some measures, Nominations it again looks like the least religious places are the 12 Mid-Year healthiest and most civil. Conference Flyer 13-14 Announcements 15 Division Application 16 Div. 36 Mission PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 2

DAVID MYERS,PH.D. States and countries vary in many ways, including not only religiosity but also literacy [ FROM PAGE 1] and education, culture and ethnicity, and income and financial security. My psychologist friend Ed Diener, who has noticed the same negative religiosity-well-being correlation across populations, tells me it disappears when controlling for income. The Princeton economist Angus Deaton is also mining the Gallup data, and similarly finds that the cross-country correlation essentially vanishes when controlling for education. Moreover, the great irony is that the correlation reverses when computed across individuals. Religiously engaged individuals tend to be happier, healthier, more generous, less crime-prone, and less often involved with premature sexuality and pregnancy. Consider happiness. “Religious people have higher life satisfaction in most every na- tion,” Diener tells me. So it is in the countries for which I have examined data, as dramatically evident in the National Opinion Research Center’s surveys of 47,909 Americans (see figure). Likewise, the most religiously engaged Americans have been half as likely as never- attenders to be di- vorced and about one-fourth as likely to smoke or been ar- rested (despite highly religious states have substantially higher divorce, smoking, and arrest rates). These data—and additional positive correlations between religious engagement and health, generosity, and volunteerism— do not validate religion. But they do, methinks, challenge the anecdote-fueled new atheist argument that religion is an overriding force for evil (a point also made by Bruce Sheiman’s recent book, An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off with Religion Than Without It.) That said, it remains for people at a higher analytical pay grade than mine to sort through the ironic findings that population secularity and individual religiosity predict human flourishing. Hope College social psychologist David Myers would be happy to share additional findings via e-mail, and to welcome advice and comment.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 3

AN EXPERIENCE SHARE FROM LIABILITY TO ASSET: MY EXPERIENCE WITH PSYCHOLOGY’S GROWING OPENNESS TO THE TRANSCENDENT

NATHANIELWADE,PH.D.

Iowa State University

n my Psychology of Religion class I like to do a little historical overview in the first cou- Iple days of the class. This includes a discussion of how publications in the psychology of religion and spirituality have expanded dramatically in mainstream psychology. Just last week I showed them an advertisement from APA Press that included over 10 books on religion and spirituality and 7 instructional videos on integrating religious or spiritual issues in therapy (many of them authored by Division 36 members). I tell them that I am even old enough (just barely) to have experienced this tectonic shift in the zeitgeist. I recall for them my interview for graduate school in 1997 with our esteemed Division 36 president, Ev Worthington. Nervous and uncertain, I answered his questions as best I could. Then he floated me a softball, one I had prepared for… “What do you want to study, what are your research interests?” I launched into my prepared answer about my passion for the intersection between psychology and religion, the value I saw in psychology for helping understand religious experience, and how I would like to explore the ways that religion could be integrated into psychological practice. Really, it was a great answer. Then Ev responded, “Well, if you were to come and work with me, you wouldn’t do any of those things…” My heart sunk. I now knew that I had a better chance of meeting William James in person than being admitted to this graduate program. Ev went on to explain that he still saw a pervasive skepticism toward psychological studies of religion, a skepticism that might lead to discrimination on the job market.“You’d be wise to study something more mainstream,”he advised. As the story unfolds, I did get admitted to the program at VCU to work with Ev and despite what he said at the in- IT IS A GOOD TIME TO BE IN THIS terview, I did end up doing psychological exploration of FIELD OF STUDY... religion, even in my first month of graduate school. We worked together on several projects related to religion and spirituality, but my central research area was forgiveness, particularly in counseling and therapy settings. I was also able to teach a Psychology of Religion class during the sum- mer months, which gave me even more experience in this taboo field. During my internship year, I embarked on a national job hunt. One promising offer was from Iowa State University. Being an east-coaster I wasn’t so sure where Iowa even was, let alone Iowa State University (my apologies to my Midwesterner colleagues). Later, after I had taken the job, I learned that one of the reasons I was sought out by Iowa State was because I had research interests and experiences in religion and specifically had taught the Psychology of Religion. Prior to my arrival, the Psychology department had found that one of the areas they were lagging behind other peer institutions was the of- fering of a Psychology of Religion class. In six short years, my scholarly interests in religion and psychology had gone from a liability to an asset. Although this is just anecdotal, there is excellent evidence to suggest that mainstream psychology in the U.S. is more open to the psychological study of religion than perhaps ever before (or at least since the time of William James). It is a good time to be in this field of study and I am glad that Ev had both the foresight to warn me about studying the psychology of religion and the wisdom to let me do it anyway.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 4

HEALING HYPOTHESIS PSYCHOLOGY OF HEALING: A HYPOTHESIS

CARLBEGLEY,PH.D.

Private Practice, Jacksonville, Florida

n some religious teaching, belief (faith) is alleged to affect personality and healing in Ithis life. The spiritual efficacy of some spiritual beliefs (e.g., belief in intercessory prayer) may be beyond the reach of the discipline of psychology. The observations and meas- urements of the psychological strength of these beliefs can, however, be measured and investigated scientifically. At a religious service a number of years ago I witnessed a “healing” that was surpris- ingly meaningful to me as a psychologist. My observations were hands on and up close. I was asked to stand behind and catch a person to be healed. The healer laid his hands on the forehead of a woman and said a few unintelligible words. She fell backwards. With my hands under her arms, it felt as though she were unconscious or dead. I was taken off balance and nearly dropped her on the terrazzo floor. I was, however, barely able to catch her and let her down safely. She lay on the floor with eyes closed for several minutes. If you watch religious television programs you may observe something very similar to what I have described here. The apparent total absence of muscle tension (a rare condition) tells us something important about the psychology of this kind of healing and suggests a hypothesis about the role of the person being healed (the healee). Before he became psychotic, Wilhelm Reich (1933) wrote the book, Character Analy- sis, which is still respected in its field. In it, he equated muscle tension, which he called character armor, with psychological defensiveness. His equating of the two is consistent with clinical observations and research, such as might be done during electromyogra- phy (EMG) biofeedback. With one type of biofeedback training, readings of muscle tension are taken from electrodes attached to the forehead (frontalis muscle) and fed back to the patient in the modality of a tone (high for tension—low for relaxed) or by a meter viewed by the patient. When we are preparing for flight or fight in an emer- gency, we tighten our muscles. More sub- THE APPARENT TOTAL ABSENCE OF MUSCLE TENSION (A RARE CONDITION) tly, when we are psychologically defensive TELLS US SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT or holding back we again tighten up our THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THIS KIND muscles. On the other hand, when we are OF HEALING… relaxed, as is a person who trusts and be- lieves in a healer, our muscles are soft with little or no tonus. As shown by research with biofeedback, a complete lack of muscle tonus is rare and almost never observed. Reich’s ideas suggest a hypothesis which was re- ported by Begley (1984) to help explain the psychological aspect of the healing phenom- enon. Following is a summary of the hypothesis. Having assumed muscle tension represents psychological defensiveness, we can say the healee that I caught at the moment of healing dropped all her defenses, allowing her character armor to melt and no longer protect her from penetration by outside powers of persuasion. She freely chose to trust, be totally passive and defenseless, thereby opening herself to outside influence. In many situations, such a choice is risky. People, guided by common sense, are aware of risks, and have a natural defensiveness. We might wonder what would have happened had the healer been a malevolent person and said at the moment of expected healing something damaging. Of course, the healing I observed took place in a trustworthy setting, where there was no danger of this kind of curse.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 5

HEALING HYPOTHESIS Research of this hypothesis would have theoretical and practical implications. A re- [ FROM PAGE 4] searcher could attach electrodes or other sensing devises to the frontalis muscle or other locations and measure and eventually control muscle, neurological or other physiologi- cal processes during a healing event. This line of research could be especially interesting in view of new imaging and related brain research (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimula- tion). ______

Note: This hypothesis is adapted from a forthcoming book, Afraid to Believe in Free Will by Carl Begley.

REFERENCES Begley, C. E. (1984). Some observations of Charismatic Christians as patients. Psychotherapy in Private Practice, 2, 69-72. Reich, W. (1972). Character Analysis, New York: Simon and Schuster.

ANNOUNCEMENT

A Biblical Approach to Mental Health Course

A Biblical Approach To Mental Health Course is a 36-hour, 12-week continuing education course—all online—for health professionals currently working in the mental health field, including psychologists, physicians, social workers, and others. It is taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Medicine (www.rsmh.org), sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. The next session will begin on May 3, 2010. This course highlights the intersection between spirituality and mental health. One of the hallmarks of Dr. Kalman Kaplan’s work is comparing the Greek narratives, on which traditional psychology and psychotherapy are built, with selected Biblical narratives. The Greek narratives are overwhelmingly tragic, deterministic and fatalistic, with little possibility for change, whereas the Biblical narratives (although showing family dys- function and conflict) have a hope-filled component and a positive outlook towards life. The Biblical narratives have opportunity and possibility for change and redemption, with the hand of a loving, caring Divine Therapist/Creator available. To find out more, check out the course website at www.rsmh.org .

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 6

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN PRESIDENT’S COLUMN, MARCH 1, 2010

EVERETTL.WORTHINGTON,JR.

n the previous Division 36 Newsletter, I challenged you to share some dramatic science Iadventures in your own research experience. Today, I want to share a few of my experiences in the hope of encouraging others to tell their stories. I did my graduate training in 1974–8, and in those days, Religious/Spiritual (R/S) interventions were few and far between. At the University of Missouri-Columbia, we had numerous counselors on internship who were interested in R/S issues. In fact, I led a weekly meeting concerned with faith and counseling and psychotherapy practice. But there was a secular Zeitgeist that I can only liken to the (Evil) Empire in the Star Wars trilogy (that would be the first trilogy, Episodes IV,V, and VI). Religion and spirituality, esepcially in psychotherapy (and very especially among intern trainees) was seen as po- tentially dangerous and off-limits. The Empire was a faceless force—white-armored storm troopers—which I and my graduate student colleagues in those days considered the dark side of the force. There wasn’t even an identifiable figurehead Darth Vader to focus on, though occasionally Albert Ellis would take that role on himself. Doing R/S intervention research or event participating in psychology of religion research was often like declaring oneself a target of the (Evil) Empire’s Death Star. Power- ful laser beams focused, and zap! There goes the pre-tenured professor’s fledgling career. What we needed were Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Which clinician-researchers would step forward and fly into the bowels of the Death Star and deliver the colon cleans- ing laser bomb? Sure, we had some people who did isolated studies or even had amassed limited programs of research. Larry Beutler’s research on value convergence (see Beutler & Bergan, 1991) and Stanley Strong’s (1977) Christian counseling come to mind among the mainstream psychology journals. But Luke Skywalker emerged in the form of Allen Bergin. Allen rocked the establishment with a major article challenging the Zeitgeist, which was published in 1980 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Allen blasted a path open into secular mainstream journals. Many of us have since followed that path. I was privileged to be asked in 1984 by Rod Goodyear, then editor of the Journal of Counseling and Development, to review research on R/S interventions (Worthington, 1986). Those studies were sparse and mostly were pastoral counseling studies rather than psychotherapeutic studies. By 1996, there were more intervention studies (Wor- thington, Kurusu, McCullough, & ALLEN [BERGIN] ROCKED THE ESTABLISHMENT Sandage, 1996). But not many more. WITH A MAJOR ARTICLE CHALLENGING THE ZEITGEIST, In 2002, Worthington and Sandage re- ... PUBLISHED IN 1980 .... viewed the research on R/S matching of client and counselor as a relationship factor in John Norcross’ Psychotherapy Relationships that Work. By 2007, Smith, Bartz, and Richards, conducted a meta-analytic review of the research. This year, Hook, Worthing- ton, Davis, Gartner, Jennings, & Hook (in press) evaluated several interventions as meeting the criteria for being designated an empirically supported treatment. Finally, Worthington, Hook, Davis, and McDaniel (in press), meta-analyzed 68 effects from 61 studies. Ten of those studies met the gold standard of being a randomized clinical trial

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 7

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN that compared an intervention tailored to R/S clients with the same standard effective [ FROM PAGE 6] intervention with no mention of religion or spirituality. This remarkable growth in R/S intervention research studies is, of course, partly due to a death of the Zeitgeist of the Empire, which crumbled under the multicultural move- ment. Nevertheless, that decay could have taken decades were it not for the vision and course of one of my scientific heroes in this adventure of the scientific study of the psychology of religion—Allen Bergin.

References

Bergin, A. E. (1980). Psychotherapy and religious values. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 95–105.

Beutler, L. E., & Bergan, J. (1991). Value change in counseling and psychotherapy: A search for scientific credibility. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38, 16–24.

Hook, J. N., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Davis, D. E., Gartner, A. L., Jennings, D. J., II, & Hook, J. P. (2010). Empirically supported religious and spiritual therapies. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66(1), 46–72.

Smith, T. B., Bartz, J., & Richards, P. S. (2007). Outcomes of religious and spiritual adaptations to psychotherapy: A meta-analytic review. Psychotherapy Research, 17, 643–655.

Strong, S. R. (1977). Christian counseling. Counseling and Values, 20, 151–160.

Worthington, E. L., Jr. (1986). Religious counseling: A review of empirical research. Journal of Counseling and Development, 64, 421–431.

Worthington, E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., McDaniel, M. A. (in press). Religion and spirituality. In John C. Norcross (Ed.), Relationships that work, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Worthington, E. L., Jr., Kurusu, T. A., McCullough, M. E., & Sandage, S. J. (1996). Empirical research on religion and psychotherapeutic processes and outcomes: A 10-year review and research prospectus. Psychological Bulletin, 199, 448–487.

Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Sandage, S. J. (2002). Religion and spirituality. In John C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapists relational contributions to effective psychotherapy (pp.371–384). New York: Oxford University Press.

ALLEN [BERGIN] BLASTED A PATH OPEN INTO SECULAR MAINSTREAM JOURNALS.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 8

CANDIDATE STATEMENTS FOR DIVISION 36 OFFICES

Elections for division officers will begin April 15 and end June 1. You should receive your ballots from APA prior that time with instructions on voting.

DIVISION 36 PRESIDENT

Jamie D.Aten, Ph.D. As an early career psychologist myself, I am in the process of transi- tioning from a junior to a senior academic appointment. I believe I would bring a Jamie D. Aten, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. He will soon join Wheaton College as the unique perspective to the division presidency. If elected, my primary initiative Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of would focus on mentoring students and early career psychologists. Mentoring has Psychology and Heartland Counseling. He is the co-editor of two long been highly valued within the division. My hope would be to build on the books, including Spirituality and the Therapeutic Process (APA momentum of the current presidential initiative by facilitating additional avenues Books). He’s also the co-editor of three forthcoming books, in- for mentorship that may help grow the division, strengthen relationships across cluding Spiritually Oriented Interventions for Counseling and Psy- chotherapy (APA Books) and Psychology of Religion and the division, and advance the division. I would form a mentoring task force, which Spirituality for Clinicians (Routledge). His psychology of religion would help carry out this initiative by possibly developing campus student repre- research on disaster issues has been supported by over $1.3 mil- sentative opportunities, a formal mentor-mentee program, and contributions on lion in funding. He currently serves as Division 36’s Newsletter mentorship to the division newsletter and conferences. I am indebted for the Editor. mentoring I have received within the division, and want to ensure others similar opportunities.

Chris J. Boyatzis, Ph.D. Div. 36 is a professional “home” for me and I’d like to create a more open, inclusive home. As president, I’d enhance student involvement and men- Chris J. Boyatzis, currently Member-At-Large for the division, is Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. toring of graduate and undergraduate students. I’d also work on high-level issues One of his major interests is the association between women’s by convening “presidential symposia” on issues such as methodological challenges, body image and eating behavior and their religiosity and spiri- new forms of scientist-practitioner synergy, and various types of bias and preju- tuality. As a developmental psychologist, he specializes in child dice in our field. I’d build connections by asking members to serve as liaisons to and adolescent religious and spiritual development. He has or- other divisions. I appreciate many of the collaborations this division has offered ganized and edited four special issues on religious and spiritual development, including Review of Religious Research (2003), In- me. I’ve attended every Mid-Year conference, bringing undergrads to present ternational Journal for the Psychology of Religion (2006), and Re- papers with me, and I collaborate with scholars at many Christian colleges search in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (2008). Since 2001 (Wheaton, Messiah, Gordon, Grove City) on young adults’ religiosity and vari- he has organized a pre-conference on religious/spiritual devel- ous forms of well-being. I’m eager to work with our members—veterans and opment at the Society for Research in Child Development, and is rookies—to help our excellent division grow. regularly asked to write chapters on child/adolescent religious and spiritual development for handbooks: Paloutzian & Park (2005), the Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (2006), and the upcoming Handbook of Spiritual De- velopment (L. Miller, editor) and APA Handbook on Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (K. Pargament, editor). He is an Asso- ciate Editor of the division’s journal (Psychology of Religion & Spirituality) and is on the editorial board of four other journals including The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. If elected, he would be the first developmental psychologist to serve as division president.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 9

CANDIDATE STATEMENTS (continued)

COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE (SLATE 1)

These nominees are running for a 2-year term on APA Council. The term is shortened from the typical 3-year length to allow our two council representatives to have staggered terms. We have historically tried to maintain staggered terms so that we avoid a situation wherein both representatives are new to council at the same time.

Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Ph.D. I have been involved with APA since my student days, and have found a home in Division 36, benefiting from contact with colleagues who share Elizabeth Lewis Hall received her Ph.D. (1996) in Clinical Psy- chology at Biola University. After working for two years in a an interest in spirituality and religion. As both a clinician and an academician, I clinic in Tucson, she returned to Biola, where she is currently a strive as a council member to ensure that both groups within Division 36 are rep- tenured associate professor. Dr. Hall is licensed in California, resented well in APA ’s governing body. My desire is to continue serving the Divi- and maintains a small private practice. She served as Program sion in its task of emphasizing to the membership of APA the importance of the Chair (2002), and Member-at-Large (2003-2006) for Division spiritual dimension, in all its diversity, for a comprehensive understanding of per- 36, and is currently Council Representative for the division. Her current research focuses on women’s issues in religious settings, sons as well as for clinical intervention. I would be honored and excited to con- and on the application of clinical psychology in religious continue serving Division 36 as council member. texts, and she has contributed numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. Her experiences as a bicultural individual have led to an interest in cultural issues, particularly as these in- tersect with religious issues.

Donald F.Walker, Ph.D. I am honored to be nominated for the office of Council representative. Consistent with our ethical code, I think it is important for all psychologists Donald F. Walker received his MA in theology as well as his MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fuller Theological Semi- to seriously treat religion and spirituality as aspects of client diversity. If I were nary. While at Fuller, he was mentored by Dr. Richard Gorsuch elected to the office, it would be my goal to vigorously represent the division in all and Dr. Siang Yang Tan. He is currently an assistant professor at matters, but particularly in matters pertaining to professional training and prac- Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta, GA, where he has tice. taught in the counseling program for the past three years. His work has appeared in both integrative journals such as the Jour- nal of Psychology and Theology, Journal of Psychology and Christi- anity, and Counseling and Values, as well as APA journals such as Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, and Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (in press). He is the co-editor of a forthcoming book under contract with APA enti- tled Spiritually-oriented interventions in child and adolescent psychotherapy, co-edited with Dr. William Hathaway. His current research is devoted to understanding changes in personal faith during and after recovery from childhood abuse, as well as spiritually integrative trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy with children and adolescents.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 10

CANDIDATE STATEMENTS (continued)

COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE (SLATE 2)

These nominees are running for the full 3-year term on APA Council.

William L. Hathaway,Ph.D. I have been encouraged to see the growth in the psychology of religion over the last quarter of a century. I have sought to contribute to psychology William L. Hathaway received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at of religion’s continued evolution from niche sub-discipline to a recognized do- Bowling Green State University and a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical child psychology at University of Massachusetts Med- main of mainstream psychology throughout my professional career. It has been ical Center. His research focused on the psychology of religion my privilege to serve our division in various roles and to contribute to its domain and coping under Ken Pargament’s mentorship. His has given as a researcher, clinician, and educator. APA divisions often maintain a senior rep- numerous workshops on the clinical psychology of religion and resentative on council to facilitate participation in important APA committees, spiritual at wide variety of venues including continuing educa- networking and other governance roles of interest to those divisions. We have tion programs for the APA convention, the Division 36 midyear conference, state psychological associations, medical schools, and been very fortunate to have had Mary Reuter serve in such roles for many years. military workshops. He has served on the Virginia board of psy- She has sadly decided not to seek another term. I am hoping to return to council chology and as program chair, membership chair, council repre- to build on her legacy and to pursue the next step for some division initiatives sentative, and president for division 36. that I have been spearheading. I would use the term to advocate for adoption by council of the religious/spiritual practice guidelines our division committee has been developing. In my prior division roles, I was able to serve as a consult- ant/contributor on psychology of religion topics for the various committees, working groups, and other elements of APA governance such as the presidential working groups on Anti-Religious and Religion-Derived Prejudice, Anti-Semi- tism, Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Same Sex Attraction, and in the for- mulation of APA’s input to the Obama administration on the Provider Conscience Rule. I will continue to work to expand our division’s influence in psychology with your support.

Mark M. Leach, Ph.D. My interest in being a Council Representative stems from my belief that Division 36 needs to continue to increase its voice in APA and abroad. The role of religion in clinical work, training, research, and service, and as a social jus- tice factor, leads me to seek this position. As background, I am the Director of Training of the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Louisville. I am an Associate Editor for the division journal, Psychology of Religion and Spir- ituality, recently co-edited a book called Spirituality and the Therapeutic Process, and was guest editor for a special section on Muslim Mental Health in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion. Most of my research and teaching involves diversity issues, including religious diversity. My research in comparative ethics in psychology has increased my international interests and much of my work is cross-cultural. I am a member of multiple editorial boards, and past program chair for two divisions including Division 36. I am a Co-Chair of the Interna- tional Section of Division 17, a member of the Executive Committee of Division 16 (Counseling Psychology) of the International Association of Applied Psychol- ogy, and a member of APA divisions 17, 36, 45 and 52.

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 11

CALL FOR 2011 AWARD NOMINATIONS

Please submit nominations for the following awards for the year 2011 (selected in 2010) to: Crystal L. Park, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269; email: [email protected] or [email protected] . Your nomination should include the name and contact information (including email address) for the nominee and a brief paragraph regarding the nominee’s qualifications for the award.

Nomination DEADLINE

1. William C. Bier Award March 31

This award is offered annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution through publication and professional activity to the dissemination of findings on religious and allied issues or who has made a notable contribution to the integration of these findings with those of other disciplines, notably phi- losophy, sociology, and anthropology. The recipient is presented with a plaque at the Division’s annual meeting.

2. Distinguished Service Award March 31

This award is offered to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to Division 36 through service and leadership. Recipients are presented with a plaque at the Division’s annual meeting.

3. Margaret Gorman Early Career Award March 31

The award is offered to an individual whose innovative research in the psychology of religion is marked by scholarly excellence and has implications for theory, practice, or further research. The recipient of the award must have completed the doctoral degree within ten years of the submission deadline. The recipient will be presented with a plaque at the Division’s annual meeting.

4. Virginia Sexton Mentoring Award March 31

This award is offered to individuals who have contributed to the psychology of religion by mentoring individuals who themselves have become active in the field. Recipients are presented with a plaque at the Division’s annual meeting.

5. Research Seed Grant June 30

This grant is awarded to provide recognition and assistance to scholars in the psychology of religion who are in the early stages of their careers. Applicants should be engaged in graduate study or have completed the Apply directly to doctoral degree or terminal master’s degree within the past five years. The proposed research should ad- the President of dress a significant issue in the psychology of religion, show sophistication in research methods and the Division, design, and promise to make a contribution to theory, further research, or practice. Proposals must be no Ev Worthington longer than 10 double-spaced typed pages and should indicate the purpose of the proposed study and its [email protected] significance for the psychology of religion. They should also describe the research design and indicate how the grant, if awarded, will be used. Awards up to $1000 will be granted and winning proposals will be described in the Division 36 Newsletter.

CONTENTS MYC

8th Annual Mid-Year Conference on Religion & Spirituality

March 26 & 27, 2010

Pre-Conference

March 25, 2010

Loyola University Maryland Department of Pastoral Counseling & Division 36 (Psychology of Religion) of the American Psychological Association

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 13

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Journal Offers

In addition to receiving Psychology of Religion and Spirituality as part of your membership (beginning in the Spring of 2009), the following offers are available to Division 36 members. • The Division has signed a contract with Taylor & Francis to offer subscriptions to their journal Mental Health, Religion, & Culture at a discount. The subscription rate is £38/US$65 for the 6 issues of the 2007 volume and £48/US$80 for the 8 issues of the 2008 volume. The standard rate for 2008 will be $276, so this is a sub- stantial discount. • Lawrence Erlbaum Associates is pleased to offer members of Division 36 and members of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion a special discounted subscription to The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. The discount is 20% off the regular price and includes online access as well as print. For more information about the journal, log on to: https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=1050-8619. This webpage does not mention the discount — in order to make sure you receive it, contact the publisher at either [email protected] or by phone at (800) 926- 6579. • Brill Academic Publishers is pleased to similarly offer a discount of 25% to members of Division 36 off the regular price of the Archive for the Psychology of Reli- gion (Archiv fur Religionspsychologie): Yearbook of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion. Mention code 43620 when ordering; contact [email protected]; or [email protected] for orders from North America.

Check Out Division 36 Website Changes

If you have not already, please be sure to check out the new division website. www.division36.org

CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 14

ANNOUNCEMENT

2010 FUNDING PRIORITY How Does Spirituality Promote Health?

On February 1, the John Templeton Foundation re-opened its doors to new funding requests after restructuring its application process and grantmaking calendar.

April 15 is the next deadline for submitting an Online Funding Inquiry (OFI), which is an abbreviated application that we use to decide whether to invite a full proposal. As usual, we welcome proposals that address our Core Funding Areas, including the full range of topics in my portfolio in the Human Sciences within the Core Funding Area, Science & the Big Questions.

I would also like to draw your attention to a new feature of our grantmaking, the 2010 Funding Priorities, which allocate some of our grantmaking to speciﬁc Big Questions that would have been of particular interest to our founder, Sir John Templeton.

I am responsible for the 2010 Funding Priority on “How Does Spirituality Pro- mote Health?” Our intention with this topic is to encourage researchers to de- velop new questions in existing data sets, either by adding better health questions to spirituality research, or better spirituality questions to health research, that have the potential for new discoveries in this ﬁeld.

This special opportunity is available for the April 2010 funding cycle only. If you’ve had a research or education proposal in mind that addresses any of the questions posed in the 2010 Funding Priority on How Does Spirituality Promote Health, now is the time to send it to us.

Online Funding Inquiries for both the Core Funding Areas and the 2010 Funding Priorities will be accepted until April 15, 2010. There is an FAQ that addresses the most common questions that arise. We will invite successful OFI applicants to submit Full Proposals, which will be due in September, with funding decisions an- nounced by December 2010.

Click here to begin an application.

Kimon Sargeant Vice President, Human Sciences

CONTENTS Application for Division 36: Psychology of Religion American Psychological Association

Please photocopy and distribute to those interested in joining Division 36

Name: (Last, First, M.I.) ______

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Status Sought in Division 36: ___ Member ___ Associate ___ Student Affiliate ___Professional Affiliate

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Briefly summarize your interest in Division 36:

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Return this Application and your $17 (US) Application Fee to:

Division 36 Administrative Office American Psychological Association 750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242

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CONTENTS PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER – APA DIVISION 36 – VOL.34, NO.4 16

Our Mission ...

Division 36 – Psychology of Religion,

• promotes the application of psychological research methods and interpretive frameworks to diverse forms of religion and spirituality;

• encourages the incorporation of the results of such work into clinical and other applied settings;

• and fosters constructive dialogue and interchange between psychological study and practice, on the one hand, and religious perspectives and institutions on the other.

The division is strictly nonsectarian and welcomes the participation of all persons, without regard to personal faith, who view religion as a significant factor in human functioning.

The division’s quarterly Newsletter contains original articles, book reviews, announcements, and news of interest to division members.

PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Jamie D. Aten, Ph.D., The University of Southern Mississippi

The Newsletter is the official publication of the American Psychological Association Division 36, Psychology of Religion. The Newsletter invites articles, interviews, book reviews and announcements relevant to the interdisciplinary focus of psychology and religion.

Editorial inquiries should be addressed to: Jamie D. Aten, Ph.D., Editor Email: [email protected] Phone: (601) 266-6246

CONTENTS