Liberal Arts and Sciences
Peterson Lab
Led by Anna Peterson · Religion
What we study
Recent student projects in this lab have studied religion and society, including British missionaries and the opium trade, religion and reproductive health laws, and the Qubaysiat, a women-led Islamic revival movement from Syria.
What working here is like
- Surveys & interviews
- Reading, writing & theory
- Human participants
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 5
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Project Thoughts and Prayers: The Role of Religion in the Aftermath of School Shootings
The lab looks at how people use the phrase “thoughts and prayers” after school shootings and how religion is involved. It examines how religious language can comfort people, give meaning, or influence political debates about gun control. The study explores both the helpful and harmful effects of religion in these situations.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 564
“Implicitly Restricting Education”: Exploring Florida’s Western Canon Laws and Its Consequences for Higher Education Humanities
This project studies how Florida’s law that requires Western canon books in humanities courses affects teaching and learning. It uses interviews and data analysis to see how the law shapes course content and student perspectives.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 260
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Women’s Ethical Agency and Syrian Islamic Revivalism: Transnationalizing the Qubaysiat
The project studies the Qubaysiat, a women-led Islamic revival movement from Syria: how it is organized, how its traditional teachings empower women, and how it has spread abroad, including to the United States.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 65
Religion and Reproductive Health Legislation
The research examines how religious beliefs shape laws about IVF and abortion. Students review legislation and religious arguments to see how faith influences lawmakers and public policy.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 44
Christian Missionaries & the Indo-Chinese Opium Trade
This project looks at how British Christian missionaries opposed the opium trade in China, showing they sometimes acted against their own government’s interests to protect Chinese people.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 39
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Scientific Objectivity and the Pursuit of the Public Good
2026 · Science and Engineering Ethics
Asks scientists how they balance objective research with public impact and outreach.
- Ideas, Activism, and Social Change
2024 · Radical Philosophy Review
Explores how religious ideas shape progressive social movements and activism.
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- Association of Religious End Time Beliefs with Attitudes toward Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss
2023 · Sustainability
Checks if end-time beliefs affect attitudes toward climate change and biodiversity.
- The Zoological Marx
2022 · Capitalism Nature Socialism
Uses Marxist ideas to analyze animal exploitation and oppression.
- Religion and the Possibility of a Materialist Environmental Ethic
2022 · Environmental Ethics
Shows how religion divides nature into sacred and profane, arguing environmental ethics must reject this view.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Anna Peterson hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.