Beyond the West:Religious Beliefs, Religiosity, and the Sense of Mastery in Modern Taiwan
Eric Y. Liu
Baylor University
ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the associations between religious beliefs, religiosity,
and the sense of mastery in Taiwan. Using data from a national representative sample of
Taiwanese adults, I found that: 1) belief in karma and belief in one omnipotent God were
associated negatively with the sense of mastery; 2) however, the estimated net effect
of personal piety on mastery appeared to be strong, positive, and statistically significant
for the Taiwanese. The implications of this study are discussed.
Sociologists have long been interested in studying the impact of religion on
individuals’ inner lives (Weber [1922] 1963; Durkeim [1897] 1951; Marx [1852] 1983).
According to symbolic interactionism, the content of self-concept, such as the sense of
mastery, is attributable to multidimensional religious beliefs and behavior (Mead 1934;
Cooley 1902; James [1890] 1981). In particular, since humans have the capacity to
imagine themselves as “spiritual or moral being[s]” (Gecas 1982:3), individuals’ beliefs
in the supernatural remain central to personal functioning (Stark 2001, 2007; Schieman
et al. 2005; Schieman et al. 2003; Greeley 1995; Ellison 1993).
Recently, increased scholarly attention has been paid to the effect that religiosity
has on personal mastery, a basic dimension of self-concept (Schieman et al. 2005; Shek
2001, 2004, 2005; Schieman et al. 2003; Shek 2003 et al.; Jacobson 1999; Ellison 1993;
Jackson and Coursey 1988; Pargament et al. 1988; Tebbi et al. 1987; Friedberg and
Friedberg 1985). According to Pearlin and Schooler (1978), personal mastery refers to
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the self-perceived ability of an individual to control life events and outcomes. Persons
with a lower sense of mastery may deny their own control over life adversity that
happens to them, because they believe that life events are due to divine power, while
individuals with a higher sense of mastery perceive themselves as “Captain on the boat”
(Schieman et al. 2003). The sense of mastery is critical for good mental and physical
health, as well as many forms of worldly accomplishments (see Pearlin 1999).
Despite the growing body of literature on the associations between religiosity and
personal mastery, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on whether religious beliefs
and practices may influence personal mastery, for at least three reasons. First, the
importance of the topic has been somehow understated (Schieman et al. 2003). Second,
although prior research has employed an array of sampling designs and measures, some
of it has been subjected to methodological issues (for a review see Schieman et al. 2003).
Third, more importantly, nontheisitc religions have been largely neglected in the past
analyses of mastery, with the research scope being confined to the Western societies
dominated by the Judeo-Christian tradition (with a few exceptions: see in Shek 2001,
2004, 2005 and Shek 2003 et al.).
This study may contribute to the existing literature on religion and mastery in four
ways. First, it focuses on only one particular aspect of self-concept: the sense of mastery.
Second, this paper assesses the effects on personal mastery of religious beliefs and
religiosity. Third, this work extends the research scope beyond the Judeo-Christian
tradition in the Western context to include Chinese religions in Taiwan, an Eastern
society. In the reminder of the article, I present my findings and discuss the implications
of these findings for future research.
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PREVIOUS LITERATURE
Schieman et al. (2005) have recently sorted out two competing theses with regard
to religiosity and the sense of mastery: the personal empowerment thesis and the
relinquished control thesis. Specifically, the personal empowerment thesis suggests a
positive relationship between faith, religiosity, and mastery. For example, the belief in an
omnipotent supernatural being may enhance feelings of personal potency and reduce
uncertainty, as individuals collaborate with God to solve problems (Gorsuch and Smith
1983; Ellison 1993; Pargament et al. 1988). Because the belief in divine beings may be
the ultimate enabler for personal feelings of mastery, individuals, particularly the
powerless, need not rely on alternative sources for internal mastery (Jackson and Coursey
1988; Koenig 1994; Schieman et al. 2005). In addition to beliefs, religious practices may
underscore role-taking activities in which the faithful identify life problems by
referencing to the God role or biblical figures (Ellison 1991; Sharot 2001; Schieman et al.
2005). Through practices, individuals may find meanings on what God would expect of
them in times of adversity (Wikstrom 1987), and acquire positive outcomes of inner
feelings of control (Maton 1984; Pargament et al. 1990).
The relinquished control thesis, on the contrary, expects religiosity to be
associated negatively with mastery (Schieman et al. 2005). It has been argued that ceding
control to divine others undermines personal mastery, as the divine beings take over the
role in dictating individuals’ life events and outcomes (Spilka and Schmidt 1983; Jackson
and Coursey 1988). This perspective seems to be consistent with Sigmund Freud’s
([1900] 1976) psychological diagnosis of religion as “self-protective fiction” and
“institutionalized mass neurosis” that lures believers into a state of dependency, and with
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Marx’s ([1844] 1970) famous claim that religion is “the opium of the people”, a sigh of
“the oppressed creature”, and “a heart of a heartless world”. Moreover, reliance on
divine intervention may erode self-efficacy, since it can detract from personal efforts at
problem solving (Ellison 1993). When encountered with stress, religious forms of coping
may diminish feelings of self-potency by attributing the causes and consequences of
stress to an omnipotent deity (Ellison and Taylor 1996).
Previous empirical research examining the associations between faith, religiosity,
and mastery has been primarily in the Western cultures, particularly the U.S. and Canada.
Most of it has investigated particularized population subgroups, thus far with inconsistent
results. For instance, there seemed to be little significant effect of religiosity on mastery
among African Americans (Ellison 1993; Jackson and Coursey 1988), adolescent cancer
patients (Tebbi et al. 1987), and college undergraduates (Friedberg and Friedberg 1985).
However, divine control had a negative effect on mastery among elderly white persons
(Schieman et al. 2005). Similarly, Sechieman et al.’s study (2003) of 1,393 adult
residents in Toronto, Canada showed a negative SES-contingent effect of religiosity on
mastery. In addition, mastery varied across some Christian denominations, which differ
widely in biblical teachings about divine authority, power, and God’s will (Ellison 1993;
Ellison et al. 2001; Ferraro and Kelley-Moore 2000; Jacobson 1999; Pargament et al.
1988). When God was actively involved in individual problem-solving processes,
religiosity and mastery were associated negatively with one another; but when God was
indirectly involved in the processes, the direction of the relationship was reversed
(Pargament et al. 1988).
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RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND MASTERY IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE CULTURE
Religions divide into two broad categories: theistic (godly) and non-theistic
(godless) traditions. Theistic beliefs are based on conscious divine beings, who serve as
objects of human worship, sacrifices, or supplications for blessings and rewards (Stark
2001). In contrast, non-theistic beliefs are based on unconscious, inactive supernatural
essences or forces, which govern human life but are not regarded as suitable partners of
human relationship of exchange and therefore can only inspire meditation, ritual, and
magic (Stark 2001). Godless religions in traditional Chinese culture, typically including
orthodox Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, all teach that the truth is discerned
within the “natural” order, rather than revealed by supernatural beings (Weber 1951;
Yang 1961) (see Note 1).
Karma, for instance, is the basic concept of orthodox Chinese Buddhism, which
defines that deeds by all forms of sentient beings create life circles and consistently
influence past, present, and future experiences (Ch’en 1964). Because “karma” functions
as a chain of causes and effects, orthodox Buddhism places a central emphasis on
personal responsibility for life outcomes, without references to god or gods (Eberhard
1966). In his analyses of Chinese Buddhism, Eberhard notes: “If a person is reborn in
human shape, fate determines only the social starting point and his physical and mental
endowment, not his whole life. Man has a chance to change his fate through morally
good or, for that matter, bad actions…even as a prostitute, the person can strive to
improve her fate.” (Eberhard 1966:152-53) Meditation and precept practices are
common techniques for orthodox Buddhists to pursue higher life quality in this world and
an “other” world.
5
When it comes to Confucianism and the orthodox belief in heavenly fate, C.K.
Yang (1961) observes that “[w]hile relying on the concept of fate to steel themselves in
the face momentous crises or to help them resolve conflict in life situations, the
Confucians reserved for an important role in the shaping of fate. In this reservation lay
the realism and positive spirit of Confucian mentality toward life, making the Confucians,
and the Chinese people in general, different from members of cultures in which there is a
distinctly negative quality and in which the whole course life is resigned to the control of
supernatural agents…” (Yang 1961:272) The exaltation of the high position of man in
the cosmic order also leads to the idea that man himself, though subordinate to Heaven,
has the power to ward off evil spirits and life adversities, as long as he remains morally
qualified (Yang 1961: 273-74).
Similar with the Buddhist and Confucian beliefs, Tao as an orthodox Taoist
concept refers to the eternal order of the cosmos and the paramount force behind the
order that keeps the universe and life ordered and balanced (Weber 1951). “Tao is the
one unchangeable element and therefore it is the absolute value…it is the divine All-One
of which one can partake…” (Weber 1951:181-82) Taoists believe that instead of being
created by divine others, things in the universe behave as they do, being based on their
intrinsic interdependent relationship with the existential pattern of all life (Needham
1956). Thus, the aim of Taoists is not to carry out plans laid out for them by god(s), but
to live in harmony with the Tao through practicing qi and thereby avoid falling into the
extremes of yin and yang (Coward 1996).
Thus far, there only exist a few studies examining the effect on the sense of
mastery of specific Chinese religious-cultural beliefs exclusively among adolescents in
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Hong Kong. From a cross-sectional study of 1,519 Hong Kong youths, for example,
Shek (2004) reported that the adolescents with stronger parental endorsement of positive
Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist beliefs about life adversity showed a greater sense of
mastery, better school adjustment, and less delinquent behavior. In particular, the belief
effect on mastery appeared to be stronger among the adolescents with economic
disadvantages than among others. In several additional studies based on smaller samples,
similar patterns were found among Hong Kong adolescents whose families experienced
economic disadvantages: positive religious beliefs about life adversity enhanced internal
feelings of mastery (Shek 2001; Shek et al. 2003), and such influences seemed to be time
persistent (Shek 2005).
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Whereas the supernatural occupies a central place in the personal empowerment
and relinquished control explanations of personal mastery, beliefs in supernatural
essences or forces have been largely ignored in previous theory and research. Of course,
previous studies in Hong Kong discussed the influence of specific Chinese cultural
beliefs about adversity on mastery for adolescents (Shek 2005, 2004, 2001; Shek et al.
2003), but the religious origin of the beliefs seemed ambiguous (e.g., the sayings
“hardship increases stature” “diligent is an important factor to overcome poverty” “man
is not born to greatness, he achieves it by his own effort”). Although some of the beliefs
are explicitly said to be shaped by religious thoughts (e.g., the Confucian belief “if you
work hard enough, you can turn an iron rod into a needle”, and the Buddhist/Taoist belief
“poverty stifles ambition”), they are concerned primarily with secular achievements,
rather than directly linking to the core ideas of karma, fate, or Tao.
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The goal of primary interest in this paper, therefore, is to investigate how and to
what extent mastery may be associated with nontheistic beliefs in the Chinese cultural
settings. In addition, this study examines the relationships between other dimensions of
religiosity and the sense of mastery across religious traditions.
As noted earlier, the Buddhist belief in Karma, the Confucian belief in heavenly
fate, and the Taoist belief in Tao each serve as a stark contrast with the idea that divine
beings create humans, lay out plans for them, and keep intervening in their affairs.
Nevertheless, none of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism explicitly argues that man
has total control over life events and affairs in this world. In fact, the orthodox religious
beliefs all teach that man must accept what happens to them in his life, either success and
happiness or failure and adversity, as a result of being dictated by the metaphysical laws
of the natural order in the universe (Weber 1951; Yang 1961). In view of this, one would
expect from the relinquished control perspective that regardless of religious affiliation,
the belief in the supernatural will lead to lower levels of personal mastery. State it as a
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1- The sense of mastery will be weaker for those who believe in God
and karma than for others, other things being equal. (See note 2)
On the other hand, however, orthodox Buddhists, Confucians, and Taoists all
emphasize on man’s self-responsibility for life events and outcomes and his ability to
acquire self-potency by action. After all, man can plan and do his utmost to change his
life course and solve his own life problems through religious activities, including
meditation, reading sacred texts, practicing qi, and visiting temples. This perspective,
then, is somewhat similar to the Christian idea that man will be endowed with a stronger
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sense of mastery as he acts upon God’s will by knowing Him better and/or collaborating
with Him based on personal piety, such as prayer, fasting, reading scriptures, and
frequently attending religious services. Hence, the second hypothesis from the personal
empowerment perspective:
Hypothesis 2- The sense of mastery will be stronger for individuals with higher
levels of religiosity than for others, other things being equal.
DATA & METHOD
Data
Data come from the 2004 “Taiwan Social Change Survey” (TSCS) (see Note 3).
The TSCS is believed to be the largest survey series among all of the general social
surveys in the world. It is a cross-sectional representative survey that tracks the longterm trend of social changes in Taiwan since 1985. The survey series have followed 5year cycles that rotate selective modules for various topics, such as religion, family,
politics, stratification, lifestyle, and mass communication. As of 2006, the TSCS had
already accumulated 37 surveys. Recently, the richness and high quality of the TSCS
data have appealed to Western scholars’ attention and become open for the public use
through the Association of Religion Data Archives. For original information about data
collection and sampling procedures, refer to http://www.ios.sinica.edu.tw
Dependent variable: The sense of mastery
The conventional measure of the sense of mastery deals with a person’s selfperceived control over several crucial aspects of life: life in general, important events,
adversity, helplessness, powerlessness, and future uncertainty (see Schieman et al. 2003,
2005; Ellison et al. 2001; Turner and Lloyd 1999). In the TSCS, there are a number of
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items tapping on these dimensions of personal mastery. For instance, respondents were
asked to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with the following statements “You
control your own life”; “Your life is controlled by rich and powerful persons”; “Your life
is controlled mostly by coincidences”. Responses for each of the items ranged from
“Strongly agree” (coded 1) to “Strongly disagree” (coded 4).
In addition, respondents were further asked about their self perceived control over
life adversity, hopelessness, and uncertain events, such questions including “People often
say that accidents happen anytime; do you worry that catastrophe will strike suddenly?”
“Do you often feel that you are very lonely?” “Do you often feel uncertain about your
personal affairs?” Responses were scored from low (1= often) to high (4= never). Also
included were items asking “Do you feel uncertain about future?” “Do you feel that there
are lots of misfortunes in life?” “Do you believe at the end of life is vanity?” Responses
were coded 1=yes and 2=no.
These items were recoded, standardized, and summed so that higher scores
indicate higher levels of personal mastery. The wording of the items included in this
mastery index is close to, if not identical with, that of the most commonly used measure
in the Western tradition. The different wording is essential because it is more suitable for
tapping personal mastery in Taiwan where the traditional Chinese culture has been well
preserved. For instance, loneliness and helplessness in an adverse situation are regarded
by the Chinese as the two sides of a coin (e.g., gu li wu yuan). Similarly, the notion of
life vanity connotes a Chinese person’s pessimistic, hopeless, and powerless feeling
about life outcomes and destiny (e.g., ren sheng ru meng). Cronbach’s reliability
coefficient is 71.93.
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Independent variables: Religious beliefs
Two items asked respondents to what extent they believe “an ominipotent God in
the universe” or “the laws of karma”, respectively. Responses were rated on an
ascending scale (1=very much, 4=not at all). I recoded them into dichotomous variables
(1=yes, 0=no): belief in one God, and belief in karma. The original items did not permit
me to separate those who were uncertain about the existence of God from the
nonbelievers.
Religiosity
Personal piety Respondents were asked “Would you view yourself as a devout
believer”. Responses were recoded as appropriate (1= yes, 0= no). Missing in the 2004
TSCS is an item on religious salience, a frequently used measure of subjective religiosity
(Ellison 1993; Schiemean et al. 2003). Fortunately, the survey had this question on
personal piety. Piety seems an ideal substitution for religious salience, since it has been
the best single measure of personal religiosity (Stark 2002; Stark and Glock 1968),
emphasized on the affective aspect of religiousness (Sullins 2006), and successfully used
in prior studies for which a composite religiosity index is difficult to create because of
data limitations (e.g., Barro and McCleary 2003; Stark 2002; Acevedo 2008).
Frequency of religious participation Respondents were asked “How often do you
go to temple, the altar, or church?” Response choices included “Every day”, “Twice or
more every week”, “Once a week”, “Once every two weeks”, “Once every month”,
“Several times a year”, “Seldom”, and “Never”. Based on this item, I created a measure
of frequency of religious participation on a 7-point ascending Likert scale (1= seldom, 7=
everyday), with “never” as the reference category.
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Private religiosity measures Several survey items listed various kinds of private
religious practices including meditation, chanting Buddha names, chanting mantras,
practicing Qi, reading religious texts, prayer, watching religious TV programs and etc.
Respondents were asked to indicate if they engaged in any of these practices. Responses
were coded as dummy variables (1=yes, 0= no). The common measures of private
religiosity in the West are frequency of prayer and Bible reading (Ferraro and KelleyMoore 2000). The culture-specific measures of private religiosity in this study, however,
are superior for studying mastery in modern Taiwan with high levels of religious
pluralism and media communications.
Control variables
Demographic variables used in my analyses included age (measured in years),
gender (1= female), and marital status (1= married). The justification for the use of these
demographic background variables has been well documented in prior research (Ellison
1993; Schieman et al. 2003, 2005). Socioeconomic status controls were educational
attainment (highest grade completed), employment status (1= employed), and monthly
household income (categories ranging from 0= no income to 20= above 200,000 in
Taiwanese currency). Following Schieman et al. (2003), I imputed the median household
income category for the respondents who had missing values on this item, and created a
“missing income” category (1= missing, 0= non-missing) to adjust potential bias for
missing values in the analyses.
This study also controlled for religious affiliation/tradition preference I created a
set of dummy variables (1= specific religious tradition, 0= other) to represent the
following groups (1) Buddhist, (2) Taoist, (3) Christian (i.e., Protestant and Catholic),
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and (3) other religions (e.g., Muslim, popular faiths, and others). Respondents who
reported no religion were the reference group in my analyses. This control would be
useful for investigating whether the effect of religious beliefs on personal mastery may be
a potential artifact of religious affiliation. Moreover, I created measures of the controls
for life stressors: divorced (1= yes), widowed (1= yes), and poor health (1= unable to live
a normal life for more than a month due to injuries or sickness). Past research indicates
that stressful life events and chronic illness are relatively strong negative predictors of the
perceived ability to control one’s affairs (Ellison 1993). Table 1 presents the variables
used in this study.
Analytic strategy
I used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques to model the
hypothesized linkages between religious beliefs, religiosity measures, and personal
mastery. This study proceeded in three steps. First, since the primary focus of this paper
was on the associations between mastery and theistic/non-theistic beliefs, I regressed
mastery on belief in karma and one God alone in Model 1, before adjusting for other
religious and control variables. In the next model, religiosity measures were included:
personal piety, frequency of participation, and muitidimensional private religiosity. In
this second step, the focal interest is not only in the estimated net effects of religiosity on
mastery but in whether the correlations between beliefs and mastery, if any, would hold
after adjusting for the religiosity measures. Finally, demographic, SES, religious
affiliation preferences, and life stress controls entered into the model so as to perform a
stricter test of mastery’s relationships to religious beliefs and religiosity.
Table 1 about here
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RESULTS
Table 2 presents the three OLS regression models estimating the net effects on
mastery of religious beliefs, religiosity, religious affiliation, and other relevant covariates.
Each of the models showed greater improvement in model fit than its predecessors. The
religious measures altogether explained about 6.94% variance in the sense of mastery
among the Taiwanese.
Model 1 began to assess the estimated net effects on mastery of religious beliefs.
The negative, significant coefficients for belief in one God and belief in karma indicated
that the theistic and non-theistic faiths both tended to lower a person’s feeling of selfcontrol over life events and outcomes. In addition, believers in one God reported a
stronger sense of mastery than believers in karma. The results seemed to be consistent
with the prediction of the first hypothesis that beliefs in karma and one God boost a sense
of personal efficacy. In short, regardless of theological differences in belief, the
preliminary findings reported in the first regression model appeared to be favorable to the
relinquished control thesis.
Next, in model 2, I examined the total association between religious beliefs and
mastery, holding constant personal piety, frequency of religious participation, and private
religiosity measures. As it turned out, the negative effect of belief in one God gained
robust, significant increases in absolute value by about 71.4%. The effect of belief in
karma remained unchanged. Moreover, the measure of personal piety appeared to be
positively and significantly associated with mastery, controlling for other explanatory
factors. The sense of mastery was substantially greater for devout adherents than for
others. Chanting mantras displayed a marginal, negative effect on personal mastery as
14
well. Frequency of religious attendance and other measures of private religiosity,
however, showed negative, nonsignificant estimated net effects, a finding parallel with
prior studies that in societies dominated by low risk religions, levels of public religiosity
also tended to be low (e.g., Miller 2000; Miller and Stark 2002). Thus, the second
hypothesis was partially confirmed that religiosity contributes to an individual’s inner
feeling of mastery.
Table 2 about here
In Model 3, demographic controls, religious affiliation preferences, and life
stressors were added in the analyses. Although the initial negative association between
mastery and belief in God declined appreciably in magnitude, it retained the statistical
significance, after adjusting for the confounding influences of the covariates. The
estimated net effect on mastery of belief in karma increased slightly. This indicated that
the observed influence of religious beliefs seemed not to be an artifact of religious
affiliation. Among the control variables, poor health showed a fairly strong, negative,
and statistically significant association with mastery, while the estimated net effects of
other explanatory variables appeared to be nonsignificant. This may reflect the pattern
suggested in prior research that religious persons engage in religious involvement more
frequently when coping with health problems (Ellison 1993).
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
As debates about the positive and negative implications of religiosity for personal
mastery have continued, previous research has yet to draw a definite conclusion
(Schieman et al. 2003, 2005; Jacobson 1999; Ellison 1993; Jackson and Coursey 1988;
15
Pargament et al. 1988; Tebbi et al. 1987; Friedberg and Friedberg 1985). The aim of this
paper was to investigate the associations between godly/godless beliefs, religiosity, and
mastery. This study began by extending the scope of the personal empowerment and the
relinquished control theses so as to include nonthesitic faiths in Eastern societies (e.g.,
orthodox Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism). It then continued to derive two
specific hypotheses. The first hypothesis predicted a stronger sense of mastery for
believers in Buddhist karma and one God than for others. The second hypothesis stated a
positive relationship between the religiosity measures and mastery.
Findings, based on data from the 2004 TSCS, were interesting. First, belief in
karma and belief in one omnipotent God were both associated negatively with the sense
of mastery (Table 2). Whereas previous literature has firmly stressed personal
responsibility and promotes self-efficacy in orthodox Buddhism (Eberhard 1966; Yang
1961), evidence reported in my analyses suggested that this non-theistic belief also had
substantial negative impact on mastery. Clearly, the relinquished control hypothesis
received support from this study. In addition, self-reported piety, the best single measure
of personal religiosity (Stark and Glock 1968), was found to be strongly, positively, and
significantly correlated with mastery, controlling for other independent variables and
covariates. Indeed, among the religious measures, personal piety had the greatest
influence on an individual’s feeling of control over life events and outcomes. The
personal empowerment hypothesis on the positive association been religiosity and
mastery, therefore, was partially confirmed.
This study may contribute to the existing literature on religion’s associations with
self-perception in general and mastery in particular. Theoretically, it attempted to
16
distinguish different roles played by theistic and nontheistic beliefs, respectively, in
influencing mastery from comparative perspectives of religion. Previous theories, either
the personal empowerment or the relinquished control theses, have been built solely on
the Judeo-Christian tradition in the West, and thus ultimately failed to conceptualize
linkages of nontheistic beliefs and mastery. By introducing the core beliefs of Chinese
religions, particularly the Buddhist concept of karma, the Confucian belief in heavenly
fate, and the Taoist idea of Tao, this study may enlarge the scope of and enhance the
explanatory power of the current theoretical framework for accounting for cross-cultural
variations in personal mastery.
Empirically, this work may be among the first to test the personal empowerment
and the relinquished control theses in the context of Taiwanese society, and add to our
general knowledge about religion and mastery among Asian persons. For example, the
findings of this study suggested that the personal empowerment and the relinquished
control explanations may be mutually complementing rather than exclusive from one
another, because whether or not they hold depends much on belief and religiosity,
respectively. On one hand, beliefs in the supernatural automatically reject that man has
total control over life events and outcomes; on the other hand, man is given freedom by
the supernatural to engage in activities of creating future life, thus enhancing the feeling
of certainty and mastery.
The author acknowledges that the sample on which this paper was based is crosssectional. Therefore, an alternative explanation of the negative relationship between
religious belief and mastery may be that individuals with a low sense of mastery would
tend to seek out supernatural beliefs that offer cosmological explanations of life events
17
and adversities. This line of reasoning seems plausible but may also take a high risk in
underestimating the tremendous social and psychological consequences of religion which
have been long recognized since the founders and repeatedly confirmed by contemporary
social scientists. Of course, it might also be the case that those with higher levels of
personal mastery would be inclined to become more pious. The author, however, cannot
think of any rational motivations for such direction of the relationship. After all, humans
have no total control over certain aspects of life (e.g., death), and religion exists to meet
these basic human needs and desires (Stark 2004).
Further research should further examine whether belief in one God and belief in
many gods may have different relationships with mastery. Monotheism and polytheism
differ in many aspects. In particular, smaller gods are limited in scope, power, and virtue
(Shahar and Weller 1996), and omnipotent God possesses the ultimate authority to shape
and influence personal attitudes and psychological orientations (Stark 2001). Moreover,
there is evidence showing that variations in image of God may lead to different social
consequences (Greeley 2003; Bader and Froese 2005). Last but not least, while Taiwan
represents an Eastern society dominated by Buddhism, Taoism, and popular religions, the
associations between religion and mastery in other Oriental societies also merit serious
research, such as in Hindu India, Shinto Japan, and communist mainland China, since
each of them presents a unique religious-cultural setting.
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Notes
1. Popular forms of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism embrace a pantheon of
gods and deities. However, these functional gods and deities are only peripheral in the
doctrines, being subordinated to karma, heavenly fate, and Tao (Weber 1951).
2. Due to data limitations on beliefs in heavenly fate and Tao, this study was
restricted to the Buddhist belief in karma.
3. Retrieved from http://www.thearda.com The Association of Religion Data
Archives
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