ABSTRACT
Are we unable to choose our ethnicity but able to choose our religion? Research shows that being religious or atheist, and belonging to a specific religious denomination, is partly but importantly determined by factors preceding individuals and their religious trajectories. This chapter integrates evidence coming mainly from four research areas: socialization, personality and men/women differences, behavioral genetics, and conversion and de-conversion. It appears that being a believer or an atheist, or a particular kind of believer, and showing life span stability or change in these convictions, results from the interaction of three kinds of factors. These include (1) environmental influences, particularly those coming from the family; (2) personality characteristics, cognitive style, and corresponding genetic influences – with interesting similarities and differences, for instance, between fundamentalists, the nonreligious but spiritual, and paranormal believers; and (3) life events that are central to the self, be they negative and asking for a restoration, or positive and enhancing self-transcendence.
