Religious Worldviews, Beliefs, Doctrines, and Theologies

As is noted in Chapter 1, social scientists study human behavior and political scientists focus on political behavior. In this chapter I focus on some of the most important religious influences on human behavior: religious worldviews, beliefs, doctrines, and theologies. These aspects of religion provide a lens through which people can understand the world around them. Religions also include explicit instructions on how to behave. These qualities of religion potentially have profound influences on political behavior.