Research On Religion » paranormal

Chris Bader on the Paranormal

tonygill — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 08:00:20 +0000

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Who believes in the ghosts, UFOs, and Bigfoot? And why? This has been the topic of investigation of Prof. Christopher Bader, a professor of sociology at Chapman University, for over two decades. As Chris was one of our very first guests on this podcast, we invite him back to discuss the second edition of his book Paranormal America, co-written with Joseph Baker and Carson Mencken. Few scholarly books receive such an honor as to be published in a second edition, but the popularity of this work combined with a great deal of new data and fieldwork made the decision easy for NYU Press. Prof. Bader notes that nearly 75% of the content of this work is new and updated material. Our discussion begins with one of Chris’s new tales — an account of a haunted classroom in Smith Hall on the campus of Chapman University. Chris found it exciting to be at the “ground floor” of this “making of a ghostly legend,” and he details how the professor involved and his students investigated the strange footsteps that several people heard. After another tale of a night spent at a haunted coffee house, Chris explains what falls under the scope of “paranormal” and provides some of the basic demographics for who is most likely to be attracted to beliefs in different phenomenon. He emphasizes the point that his work is about how such beliefs affect the behavior of individuals holding these ideas, and that he is not out to prove whether such things as ghosts or UFOs exist. We also discuss how beliefs in the paranormal relate to both religion and science, with Chris noting that paranormal beliefs fall between those two realms and are “doubly damned.” Getting into the sociology of religion, Chris explains how religious organizations that are fairly strict will often see the paranormal as a main competitor to their faith tradition and spend a great deal of time denouncing such beliefs, whereas individuals who do not have strong attachments to strict religious traditions will often dabble in a portfolio of beliefs. We further explore the reasons why many individuals are drawn to the paranormal, with Chris laying out two major reasons — a search for meaning in one’s life and/or a thrill of being in on a discovery of something new. He peppers the discussion with examples of each, including his visit to various psychic fairs and a conversation with a women who claims to be abducted by extraterrestrials. Over conversation also covers the extent to which such paranormal beliefs can find an organizational representation and what the future holds for such beliefs, particularly in an era when the religiously non-affiliated (or “nones”) appears to be increasing. We finish off with a brief discussion on Chris’s new research on fear in society and what he has learned over the course of his two decades investigating these topics. Recorded: October 3, 2016.

Joseph O. Baker on American Secularism

tonygill — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:00:36 +0000

The biggest trend in American religiosity in the past two decades has been the increase in “religious nones,” individuals who do not proclaim an affiliation with any particular denomination or faith tradition. We invite Prof. Joseph O. Baker, assistant professor of sociology at Eastern Tennessee State University, to talk about this phenomenon in light of his recent book (with Buster Smith) entitled American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems. After a brief chat about his work on the paranormal and other fringe religious movements, we dive into the topic of secularism and Prof. Baker provides a nuanced definition of that term. He actually notes that there are secularisms (plural) and explains what that means. Four categories of individuals with a non-religious cosmic belief system are identified including atheists, agnostics, non-affiliated believers, and cultural religionists. Joseph reveals that you could break these down into more nuanced categories, but sticks with these four basic types for the purposes of our conversation. We then break down the demographics of American secularism. Joseph points out that non-theists tend to be found in the upper social classes and have higher levels of education. Younger individuals tend to fall into the four basic groups of secularists, more so than older generations. Racially, whites and Asians tend to be the most secular, with second generation Asians being the least religious, but 3rd generation Asians looking more religiously similar to whites. African-Americans are the least secular of the major racial categories. Prof. Baker also notes that individuals often shift between categories in a more fluid manner than one might predict, often moving between different identities even within one year’s time. We then review the history of American secularism dating back to Thomas Paine, through the Freethought period of the early 19th century, evolutionary agnosticism coming in the late 1800s, and then seeing a subsiding of secularism during the middle part of the 20th century, with the 1950s being the high-water mark of American religiousness. We then explore the origins of what Joseph calls the Great Abdicating (a term he and Buster Smith hopes sticks). We see a gradual decline in religiousness in the 1960s and ’70s and then becoming more pronounced in the ’90s and early part of the 21st century. Several explanations for this trend are advanced, including political polarization, changes in family structure (e.g., later marriages), and a change in the concept of what “religion” is. This is followed by some of the social and political implications that might arise from increasing secularism. We conclude with some of Prof. Baker’s surprises in this study, including how diverse the category of “secular Americans” really is. Recorded: June 24, 2016.

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs and the Paranormal

tonygill — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:00:59 +0000

How pervasive is belief in UFOs, Bigfoot and the paranormal in America? Christopher Bader — professor of sociology and resident scholar at ISR at Baylor University — discusses his extensive research into this topic. Our podcast begins with an examination of the survey data, demonstrating that belief in the paranormal is wider than many have supposed. We examine various demographic patterns related to these beliefs. Interestingly enough, dabbling in the paranormal is not exclusively the purview of the uneducated. Chris describes how conventional religious belief has a curvilinear relationship with interest in the paranomal — individuals who are marginally associated with mainstream religions are more likely to be adherents to belief in one aspect of the paranormal, whereas those in strict religion or those with no interest in religion typically have no interest in UFOs, ghosts, astrology or other such things. We also find out that adherents to the paranormal are average, everyday kind of folks. In the second half of the podcast, Chris discusses his in-depth field work into this area, including participation in Bigfoot hunts, attending UFO abduction sessions, having his aura photographed at paranormal conferences and spending the night in a haunted coffee house. You won’t want to miss these stories!

We finish the podcast with discussion of The Association of Religious Data Archives (housed at Penn State University). Prof. Bader is the manager of web development at The ARDA and tells us what a great resource this is for scholars, students, homeschoolers and anyone interested in religion. In addition to having an extensive collection of databases, The ARDA also has several features that makes it easy for anyone to explore what people believe in the cities that they live in. Give it a try! Recorded: September 28, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Chris Bader’s website at Baylor University.

Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and other Curiosities in Religion and Culture by Christopher Bader, F. Carson Mencken, and Joseph Baker.

Website for Paranormal America.

The Association of Religious Data Archives (www.TheARDA.com).