The College Student’s Religious Tattoo: Respect, Reverence, Remembrance

ABSTRACT

Tattoos are now a generally socially accepted means of expressing one’s thoughts, beliefs, and affiliations. Using two types of data – interviews (N = 11) and survey responses to an open-ended prompt (N = 85) – this article focuses on the meanings, motivations, and rationales that young college student adults have for their self-identified religious tattoos. We found that their responses generally fell into three categories: respect, reverence, and remembrance. Additionally, we divided the respondents’ self-described motivations and descriptions into two subcategories that described the uses those tattoos had for respondents. We discovered that even tattoos that do not appear to be religious to an observer may actually have varying religious meanings and uses for respondents – even for respondents who describe themselves as a-religious or atheists. We also find that the more public the body placement, the more likely the respondent wishes to use the tattoo for evangelical and group affiliation purposes.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the E.A. Franklin Charitable Trust for their generous grant in support of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the E.A. Franklin Charitable Trust.

Notes on contributors

Patricia Maloney

Patricia Maloney is assistant professor of sociology at Texas Tech University. Her primary research interests are qualitative methodology, culture and morality, and pedagogy and science. Her published work includes research examining character formation in charter schools, immigrant students, and the teachers of immigrant students. She’s currently working on a monograph on how charter school students learn what it means to be a good person. Dr. Maloney is a professional educator and has received six awards for teaching and mentoring. Her latest research on education in engineering is being funded by a substantial grant from the National Science Foundation. She can be reached at [email protected] or 806-742-2400.

Jerome Koch

Jerome Koch is professor of sociology at Texas Tech University. His primary research interests are religion, health and well-being, and body modification. He and his research team have published extensively on the social correlates and meaning of tattoos and piercings. Much of his other research examines the relationship between religion and health, and he is coauthor of the book, The Continuing Challenge of AIDS: Clergy Responses to Patients, Friends, and Families. Dr. Koch has also won multiple teaching awards and is a Presbyterian minister. Funding for the research published here was provided by a generous grant from the E.A. Franklin Charitable Trust. He can be reached at [email protected] or 806-742-2400.