Investigation of How Students View Religion (A Model Based on Grounded Theory, Case Study: Students of University of Isfahan)

Religion influences the society in an interactional process with it and it can be considered as an important part of culture and among the most important factors affecting individuals’ behaviors and actions. Commitment to religion can be drawn in to general belief and behavioral parts. In other words, we consider a person as religious when he has accepted belief issues and founds his behaviors based on his beliefs. Therefore, any deficit in each of these two dimensions can influence the other. Festinger names the deep gap between beliefs and ritual behaviors as cognitive discordance.
The present study has tried to investigate the cognitive dissonance about religion using a social interpretivism. Using the grounded theory, a situational, particular, and deductive model of participants’ understanding. This model in fact has been the reflection of evaluation and understanding of participants from the direction of the gap between theory and practice about religion. In the present study, the researcher based on the logic that the qualitative methodology is only an instrument for extracting and categorizing that which is occurring in the field of the study.
The methodology of the present study is qualitative and the method of grounded theory has been used. The data collection technique is the semi-structured interview, and to select participants, the convenient and theoretical sampling methods were used.
Discussion, results and In the present study, what has been considered as the first point was that the degree of Iranian youth’s religiosity has not been trapped in a critical situation and the youth have deeply believed in basic religious beliefs. According to this issue, it seems that the process of religious socialization can comprehensively transfer the genuine religious beliefs to the younger generation because most participants had firm beliefs about principles of the religion such as belief in God, acceptance of the day of Doom, and imamate (the Imam of the Age). Accordingly, it can be said that the society has been able to act appropriately in terms of internalizing this dimension, i.e. deepening basic beliefs of the religion among the younger generation.
Regarding the ritual dimension, it can be said that the youth are oriented towards private religion and the selective reactions to religion. It means that regarding some of the religion aspect (ritual dimension), they acted totally subjective. The other issue is that the youth due to their own mental capabilities, cannot tolerate merely imitative religion. They reject religious beliefs which have been induced imitatively and are to accept that religion consistent with their thoughts.
The other issue is the acceptance of pluralism in religion. In fact, students do not tend to imitate a particular type of customs and principles.
The results of the present study indicate that young participants in the dimension of basic beliefs have confirmed beliefs by religion, but in other dimensions, particularly in the ritual dimension of participants, they re-conceptualize issues in this field and based on their understanding, and even in case of contradiction with religion, they adopted some methods. From among the reasons of the discontinuation based on grounded and mediator conditions, the weakness of textbooks contents, religious experts, incompatibility of promises and practices of claimers of religion, and family-environmental atmospheres can be referred to.
Participants of the present study can be divided into two groups: The first group are those individuals who have no intellectual coherency in the attitudinal dimension (ritual and ethical beliefs) and are involved with tensions in each field.
The second group are those individuals who enjoy intellectual coherency and integrity in each of the attitudinal fields, but their attitudinal and behavioral dimensions have no compatibility with each other.
But regarding the approach adopted by the studied students, the three following groups can be considered:Those who after confusions and crises, achieve a firm understanding and belief about their religion
Individuals who suffer from incoordination and have not been able to cope with this incoordination and
Those who change their attitudinal dimension and avoid religion in one way or another in order to be free of their internal tensions.
In case of temporal sections when individuals face incoordination, it should be noted that in ages from 15-18 years old, i.e. years of high school, individuals face questions and doubts in their religious beliefs and are meant to answer questions and find their own ambiguities, but unfortunately, they face more frustration. As a result, the weakness of the individuals who are considered as religious experts and missionaries is another reason of the youth’s aversion of religion. Not only these individuals have not been able to answer uncertainties of the young generation, but also their repulsiveness causes the aversion from religion among some of the youth and the confusion of some others due to their inappropriate behaviors as well as weaknesses in their own knowledge.
Our religious books, whether that set which are taught as general courses in universities or those which are sold in markets are not appropriate for doubts and questions of the new generation. Repetitive and old subject matters, shallow thoughts and failure to be unbiased in arguments have caused that these intellectual thoughts practically lose their own effectiveness in educating this generation. In addition, in most text books and non-academic books in the field of religion emphasize more the emotional and sensual dimensions rather than rational and logical aspects and this issue has caused that the youth see the issue of religion as a merely peripheral subject.