Religious Identity, Moral Cooperation, and Perceptions of Moral Decline - Clifton Guthrie

Summary:

The goal of this project is to investigate the moral psychological differences between US residents who identify as the religious “dones” and those who no longer identify, or never have identified as religious. Via an online questionnaire and ANOVA analysis, it will look for differences between these groups’ endorsement of fundamental moral domains as described in Morality as Cooperation (MAC) theory, spiritual well-being (using the SHALOM scale) and perception of moral decline in society. Carrying out this project will require a significant increase in skills required of me as the PI, not only to develop a line of related research, but also to bring together strands of my experience and background, and to contribute to the field of ethics’ engagement with the psychology of religion. It is especially appropriate for my setting at a small university in central Maine, one of the least religious states of the United States, but with remaining pockets of strong religious identity (mostly French Catholic and Christian Evangelical).