Religion Deviance and Social Control

Does religion have the power to regulate human behavior? If so, under what conditions can it prevent crime, delinquency, suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, or joining cults? Despite the fact that ordinary citizens assume religion deters deviant behavior, there has been little systematic scientific research on these crucial questions. This book is the first comprehensive analysis, drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary data, and written in a style that will appeal to readers from many intellectual backgrounds. Chapter 1 Religion and the Moral Order: An Introduction; Part 1 Religion and Deviance; Chapter 2 Religion and Suicidefn2_a/We thank Daniel P. Doyle and Jesse Lynn Rushing who contibuted to an essay on which a portion of this Chapter is based.; Chapter 3 Durkheim's Suicide: An Inquest; Chapter 4 Rediscovering Moral Communitiesfn4_a/Danicl P. Doyle, Lori Kent, Robert Crutchfield, and Roger Finke contributed to essays on which portions of this Chapter are based.; Chapter 5 Religion as Context: Saving a “Lost Cause”; Chapter 6 Drugs and Alcohol; Part 2 Religion as Deviance; Chapter 7 Religious Cults; Chapter 8 Religion and Mental Illness; Chapter 9 Social Control in Utopian Communities; Chapter 10 Brief Reflections on a Research Agenda;