The Religio-Spiritual Context of Lifestyle Practices and Health Behaviors 3
spirituality may be conceptualized (e.g., Forsyth, O’Boyle, Jr., and
McDaniel 2008; Jung 1969a; Hill, Pargament, Hood, et al. 2000), or the his-
torical influence of deism and science after Darwin (e.g., Byrne 2013;
Thomson 2007), or other controversies (e.g., epistemological conflict; Evans
and Evans 2008), this text seeks to illuminate the contextual features (e.g.,
ideologies, social norms, attributional frames, etc.) of various religious
and spiritual worldviews, and the healthy ways of living that are embodied
within these worldviews. Thus, across the various religious and spiritual
worldviews described in the chapters that follow, a characterization of the
tenets of faith, communal values, and social forces that are contextually
present and expressed will be provided. This is accompanied by a delinea-
tion of living habits that suggest positive health interventions that indi-
viduals and healthcare workers may utilize (e.g., the embrace of religious
creeds, suggestive religious exhortations to avoid or limit alcohol or drug
use so as to prevent addiction; Blakeney, Blakeney, and Reich 2005; Hazel
and Mohatt 2001), as well as potentially negative outcomes that may occur
(e.g., fasting rituals that may produce negative health effects; Cherif,
Roelands, Meeusen, and Chamari 2016; Farooq, Herrera, Almudahka,
and Mansour 2015). Further, as Smith (1991) points out, while there are
certainly differences to be found between various religious and spiritual
orientations, there are also many commonalities to be recognized. For
example, all religions and spiritualities provide a powerful form of
connection to an Ultimate Truth, and espouse values and ethics that
influence health behaviors and lifestyle practices of individuals and their
communities (e.g., Kumar et al. 2015; Modell, Citrin, King, and Kardia
2014; Whitbeck 2006; Yalom 2002). Without emphasizing a better-or-worse
comparison between different religious and spiritual orientations, a fur-
ther goal of this text is to promote an awareness of these commonalities,
and of the shared communal health values that may inspire individuals to
live healthfully, offer potential to prevent illness and find healing, and
enhance positive management of disorders and diseases.
CONCEPTUAL RELATIONSHIPS AND DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN
RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND ASSOCIATED CONSTRUCTS
There is a growing awareness within the social sciences of the importance
of religion and spirituality, and their influence on the individual and soci-
ety (e.g., Dillon 2003; Furness 2016; Gorsuch 1988; Idler 2014; Saroglou
2013). Indeed, considered from a psychological perspective, a person’s
religio-spiritual orientation is suggested to reveal a repository of uncon-
scious motives (Jung 1933, 1938) that arouse an awareness of personal
responsibility (Frankl 1963), and that offer a means for attaining wholeness,
