About us
The Group for the Study of Religion, Humanity, and Social Change is based in the Sociology Department of Western Michigan University and works in close collaboration with scholars in the U.S. and abroad. The group’s research focuses on the relationships of religion and spirituality with altruism, interfaith and interethnic tolerance, conflict and peace in the context of societal and global change. We comparatively assess these relationships across nations, cultures and traditions.

Current directions of our research include:

• National and cross-national studies of religious, spiritual, psychological, and social roots of interfaith and interethnic tolerance and openness for dialogue and peaceful coexistence;
• Comparative studies of religious and spiritual sources and dimensions of support for civil liberties and human rights;
• Comparative studies of the dimensions and manifestations of religiosity, spirituality, altruism and tolerance in the context of various religious, cultural, and national traditions;
• National and cross-national studies of the role of educational institutions in promoting the understanding and coexistence of various religious and spiritual traditions; and
• Comparative studies of the relationships among religiosity, spirituality, self-actualization, and self-transcendence across cultures and religious traditions.

Research projects
This work builds on accomplishments of our previous and current studies. Since 2004, we carried out the following research and educational projects:

• Orthodoxy, Islam, and Religious Intolerance in Russia, a survey-research project (2,972 interviews) funded by the U.S. National Council for Eurasian and East European Research;
• Religiosity,  Spirituality, Altruism, and Tolerance, research project funded by the Fetzer Institute and based on the national data from the NORC General Social Survey;
• Terrorism, Islam, and Civil Liberties, a survey of university students (N=1650, funded by the Leonard C. Kercher Endowment) focusing on religious and educational foundations of interfaith trust and tolerance in the era of terrorist threats; and
• Religion, Tolerance and Education after Atheism, an international symposium held at Western Michigan University and funded by the Kercher Center.

In 2008, the group developed a grant proposal entitled Islam, Religious Intolerance, and Militancy on Civilizations’ Frontiers and Contested Territories. The proposal involved collaboration with researchers from the US, UK, France, Israel, Russia, and other countries. The proposal won the first round of a national competition for funding from the US Department of Defense.

Publications
In addition, in two years after its creation, the group established an excellent record of publication that includes books and articles in prestigious journals in the sociology of religion. Most of this research and publication is genuinely collaborative, and by now we have over a dozen conference papers co-authored by faculty and graduate students, and five such papers are being prepared for submission to journals. A detailed list of publications will soon be posted on our website.

Program development
The group has also contributed to graduate program development. Dr. Karpov has recently offered a three-course sequence in comparative sociology of religion. The sequence’s seminars became an important forum for enthusiastic discussions of theoretical, methodological, and substantive issues relevant to the Group’s collaborative research. Coordinated with the seminars was the Kercher Symposium lecture series that included leading authorities in comparative studies of religion (Drs. Paul Freston, Daniel Olson, Christopher Marsh, and Corwin Smidt). Presently, several of the Group members preparing for an area exam in Comparative Sociology of Religion.

People:
Graduate Strudents:
Jacob Armstrong
David M. Barry
Jessica Edel
Yevgeniya Leontyeva
Lori Jo Verspoor
Cynthia Vischer 
Jon Van Wieren

Faculty:
Georgios Loizides (presently at University of Wisconsin –Stout)
David Hartmann
Vyacheslav Karpov (Director)
Elena Lisovskaya
Yuan-Kang Wang