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Sample records for culture religion sex

  1. Religion and Culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sabih, Joshua

    group breaks totally with the existing Arabic Bible translations that they were in the habit of using. In this translation, the previously strenuous relationship between culture and religion is flattened in a binary sets of oppositions between an unaltered Devine message preserved in ancient Bible...... translation of the Holy Scriptures, and address how an originally-American Christian group re-constructs the relationship of religion –universality of one truth and its embodiment in one community of faith – and culture; and specifically, Arabic culture. Culture, in its manifold forms -Jehovah’s witnesses...

  2. Homosexuality, Religion, and the Family: The Effects of Religion on Americans' Appraisals of the Parenting Abilities of Same-Sex Couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitehead, Andrew L

    2018-01-01

    Although a growing body of research focuses on Americans' attitudes toward same-sex couples as parents, very few include measures of religion, and those that do fail to capture its multidimensional nature. Furthermore, many past studies relied on convenience samples of college students, or samples gathered outside the United States. Multivariate analyses of the 2012 General Social Survey-a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States-reveal that a slim majority of Americans still do not believe same-sex couples can parent as well as male-female couples, and the religious beliefs, behaviors, and affiliations of Americans are significantly and at times differentially associated with appraisals of same-sex couples' parenting abilities. It appears that although religion is generally associated with more negative appraisals of the parenting abilities of same-sex couples, it is not uniformly so. Americans' immediate religious and cultural context can shape their appraisals of homosexuality in diverse ways.

  3. Psychology of religion: perspectives from cultural psychology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belzen, J.A.

    2010-01-01

    After a brief introduction, this paper tries to establish what type of psychology the psychology of religion is. Having introduced cultural psychology in general, some theories applicable in research on religion are presented, and some examples of cultural psychological research of religious

  4. Teaching Religion and Material Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carp, Richard M.

    2007-01-01

    Because religions discipline and interpret bodies; create and define sacred spaces; generate, adore and study images in all media; regulate the intake of food; structure temporal experience; and in general interpenetrate and are permeated by the cultural landscapes in which they exist, religious studies must engage material religion and religious…

  5. Reflections on the differences between religion and culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonney, Richard

    2004-01-01

    Culture may be thought of as a causal agent that affects the evolutionary process by uniquely human means. Religion, on the other hand, is considered a process of revelation and contains the concept of the "faithful" who receive the message of revelation. Culture permits the "self-conscious evaluation of human possibilities" and therefore presents a device for increasing human control over species change. There are dangers, however, in accepting cultural relativism without any constraint, such as respect for human life and dignity. In this article, the author attempts to clarify the boundaries between religion and culture and acknowledges that further research is needed on the religion/culture dichotomy.

  6. Predicting civil religion at a cross-cultural level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lavrič Miran

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The concept of civil religion has caught major attention among scholars studying the junction of religion and politics (J.-J. Rousseau, E. Durkheim, R. Bellah. The notion focuses on the phenomenon of cultural contents sacralizing and ritualizing the ruling political institutions of a society, extending support to the integration of the political and social system at a cultural level. The notion of civil religion has recently been operationalized crossculturally, but light has not been shed upon its predictors. In this paper authoritarianism is tested as a predictor of civil religion cross-culturally. Four student samples of Bosnian, Serbian, Slovenian and US students were analyzed. Very strong, significant associations between authoritarianism, as operationalized by a modified Lane scale, and civil religion were found in all cases. Moreover, upon introducing femininity, anxiety and gender into the analysis, a strong, dominant and significant impact on the part of authoritarianism was still found when civil religion was observed crossculturally. When the same predictors were applied to explaining general religiosity, authoritarianism fell short of being a significant predictor in most of the environments observed. Such results suggest an especially close link between civil religion and authoritarianism.

  7. Prejudices in Cultural Contexts: Shared Stereotypes (Gender, Age) Versus Variable Stereotypes (Race, Ethnicity, Religion).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiske, Susan T

    2017-09-01

    Some prejudices share cross-cultural patterns, but others are more variable and culture specific. Those sharing cross-cultural patterns (sexism, ageism) each combine societal status differences and intimate interdependence. For example, in stereotypes of sex and age, lower status groups-women and elders-gain stereotypic warmth (from their cooperative interdependence) but lose stereotypic competence (from their lower status); men and middle-aged adults show the opposite trade-off, stereotypically more competent than warm. Meta-analyses support these widespread ambivalent (mixed) stereotypes for gender and age across cultures. Social class stereotypes often share some similarities (cold but competent rich vs. warm but incompetent poor). These compensatory warmth versus competence stereotypes may function to manage common human dilemmas of interacting across societal and personal positions. However, other stereotypes are more variable and culture specific (ethnicity, race, religion). Case studies of specific race/ethnicities and religions reveal much more cultural variation in their stereotype content, supporting their being responses to particular cultural contexts, apparent accidents of history. To change stereotypes requires understanding their commonalities and differences, their origins and patterns across cultures.

  8. Who's Afraid of Sex at School? The Politics of Researching Culture, Religion and Sexuality at School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Louisa; Rasmussen, Mary Lou; Quinlivan, Kathleen; Aspin, Clive; Sanjakdar, Fida; Brömdal, Annette

    2014-01-01

    This paper explores the methodological politics of researching at the intersections of sexuality, culture and religion in secondary schools. It draws on experiences during a project concerned with how to address cultural and religious diversity in sexuality education in Australia and New Zealand. The paper focuses on two methodological sticking…

  9. [Sexuality of Tunisian women: Involvement of religion and culture].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben Thabet, J; Charfeddine, F; Charfi, N; Baati, I; Zouari, L; Zouari, N; Maâlej, M

    2015-04-01

    Culture and religion carry several prohibitions and taboos, especially in the Arab-Muslim societies, and are therefore involved in the sexual behavior and its perception, particularly that of women. To assess the married population's knowledge and opinion about female sexuality, and to estimate the impacts of religious and cultural factors on women's life experience and sexual practice in the Tunisian society. Our study is in an inquiry. We targeted 55 men and 55 women agreeing to participate in the study. They responded to an anonymous self-administered questionnaire comprising 18 items related to the influence of religion and culture on female sexuality. Among these items, some were binary responses (yes or no) assessing knowledge about female sexuality in the Tunisian religious and cultural context; 8 others explored the opinions of participants about female sexuality. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (15th version). Pearson's chi-square test and Fisher's exact association test were used for comparative study (Psexual pleasure, like men. Men recognized this right less often than women did (Psexual practices with his wife. This response was significantly more frequent in males (Psexuality, the percentage of those who thought that women might simulate orgasm was 70.9%. Women thought more frequently than men that such a behavior could be justified to avoid hurting the man's pride (Psexuality within the Tunisian population is hampered by the prohibitions related to religion and culture, at least in some of its aspects. The reasons for that may be the ignorance of religious texts or their misinterpretation and the biased cultural transmission not followed by questioning or seeking deeper knowledge. The introduction of sex education in school programs could play a crucial role in the fight against the obstacles surrounding sexuality, in order to promote the welfare of woman, and thereby, that of the couple and the family. Copyright © 2013 L

  10. 29 CFR 34.4 - Specific discriminatory actions prohibited on the ground of race, color, religion, sex, national...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, political affiliation or belief, citizenship, or..., religion, sex, national origin, age, political affiliation or belief, citizenship, or participation in JTPA. (a) For the purposes of this section, prohibited ground means race, color, religion, sex, national...

  11. At the intersection of culture and religion: a cultural analysis of religion's implications for secondary control and social affiliation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sasaki, Joni Y; Kim, Heejung S

    2011-08-01

    Religion helps people maintain a sense of control, particularly secondary control-acceptance of and adjustment to difficult situations--and contributes to strengthening social relationships in a religious community. However, little is known about how culture may influence these effects. The current research examined the interaction of culture and religion on secondary control and social affiliation, comparing people from individualistic cultures (e.g., European Americans), who tend to be more motivated toward personal agency, and people from collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asians), who tend to be more motivated to maintain social relationships. In Study 1, an analysis of online church mission statements showed that U.S. websites contained more themes of secondary control than did Korean websites, whereas Korean websites contained more themes of social affiliation than did U.S. websites. Study 2 showed that experimental priming of religion led to acts of secondary control for European Americans but not Asian Americans. Using daily diary methodology, Study 3 showed that religious coping predicted more secondary control for European Americans but not Koreans, and religious coping predicted more social affiliation for Koreans and European Americans. These findings suggest the importance of understanding sociocultural moderators for the effects of religion.

  12. 13 CFR 113.3-1 - Consideration of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, handicap, or national origin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., religion, sex, marital status, handicap, or national origin. 113.3-1 Section 113.3-1 Business Credit and... of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, handicap, or national origin. (a) This regulation does not prohibit the consideration of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, handicap, or national...

  13. Religion as dialogical resource: a socio-cultural approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baucal, Aleksandar; Zittoun, Tania

    2013-06-01

    William James proposed a psychological study of religion examining people's religious experiences, and to see in what sense these were good for them. The recent developments of psychology of religion moved far from that initial proposition. In this paper, we propose a sociocultural perspective to religion that renews with that initial stance. After recalling Vygtotsky's core ideas, we suggest that religion, as cultural and symbolic system, participates to the orchestration of human activities and sense-making. Such orchestration works both from within the person, through internalized values and ideas, and from without, through the person's interactions with others, discourses, cultural objects etc. This leads us to consider religions as supporting various forms of dialogical dynamics-intra-psychological dialogues, interpersonal with present, absent or imaginary others, as well as inter-group dialogues-which we illustrate with empirical vignettes. The example of religious tensions in the Balkans in the 90's highlights how much the historical-cultural embeddedness of these dynamics can also lead to the end of dialogicality, and therefore, sense-making.

  14. Cultural Consonance, Religion and Psychological Distress in an Urban Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William W. Dressler

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals approximate prototypes encoded in cultural models. Low cultural consonance is associated with higher psychological distress. Religion may moderate the association between cultural consonance and psychological distress. Brazil, with substantial variation in religion, is an important society for the examination of this hypothesis. Research was conducted in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, using a mixed-methods design. Measures of cultural consonance were derived using ethnographic methods and then applied in a survey of 271 individuals drawn from four distinct social strata. Low cultural consonance was associated with higher psychological distress in multiple regression analysis ( B = -.430, p < .001. Members of Pentecostal Protestant churches reported lower psychological distress independently of the effect of cultural consonance ( B = -.409, p < .05. There was no buffering effect of religion. Implications of these results for the study of religion and health are discussed.

  15. The cultural evolution of prosocial religions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norenzayan, Ara; Shariff, Azim F; Gervais, Will M; Willard, Aiyana K; McNamara, Rita A; Slingerland, Edward; Henrich, Joseph

    2016-01-01

    We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history: (1) the rise of large-scale cooperation among strangers and, simultaneously, (2) the spread of prosocial religions in the last 10-12 millennia. We argue that these two developments were importantly linked and mutually energizing. We explain how a package of culturally evolved religious beliefs and practices characterized by increasingly potent, moralizing, supernatural agents, credible displays of faith, and other psychologically active elements conducive to social solidarity promoted high fertility rates and large-scale cooperation with co-religionists, often contributing to success in intergroup competition and conflict. In turn, prosocial religious beliefs and practices spread and aggregated as these successful groups expanded, or were copied by less successful groups. This synthesis is grounded in the idea that although religious beliefs and practices originally arose as nonadaptive by-products of innate cognitive functions, particular cultural variants were then selected for their prosocial effects in a long-term, cultural evolutionary process. This framework (1) reconciles key aspects of the adaptationist and by-product approaches to the origins of religion, (2) explains a variety of empirical observations that have not received adequate attention, and (3) generates novel predictions. Converging lines of evidence drawn from diverse disciplines provide empirical support while at the same time encouraging new research directions and opening up new questions for exploration and debate.

  16. Age, sex, education, religion, and perception of tattoos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yang

    2002-04-01

    Tattooing has become more acceptable in the mainstream American culture in recent years. Based on a survey with face-to-face interviews of 335 nontattooed adults randomly selected from a city with a population of 444,000, this study explored the relationship of individuals' demographic variables, attitudes toward religion, and their perceptions of tattoos. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that age and attitude toward religion were associated with individuals' perception of tattoos.

  17. Religion, culture and political corruption in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhikru A. Yagboyaju

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available For so long, development theories and practices have either deliberately neglected or simply overlooked the possible interconnections between religion, culture and the attainment of development goals. Against this background, this article reviews the literature on corruption, as a major factor of underdevelopment in Nigeria, particularly as it relates to religion and culture in the country. In its analysis, this article argues that corruption in Nigeria, especially in view of the country’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious status, must be conceived as a phenomenon transcending legal, political and economic boundaries. The study adopts an interpretative and descriptive methodology for its analysis.

  18. Interactions among sex, ethnicity, religion, and gender role expectations of pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defrin, Ruth; Eli, Ilana; Pud, Dorit

    2011-06-01

    Sex, gender, ethnicity, and religion are powerful factors that may affect pain experience. Recently, gender role expectations of pain (GREP) were suggested to account for some of the differences in pain perception between men and women. However, the interaction between GREP and ethnicity and religion was not examined. This interaction was studied with regard to pain sensitivity, pain endurance, and willingness to report pain. Our objective was to study the interaction among GREP, sex, and ethno-religious belonging. Participants (548 healthy men and women) of 3 different ethno-religious groups (341 Jews, 105 Muslim-Arabs, 102 Christian-Arabs) completed the GREP questionnaire; pain sensitivity, pain endurance, and willingness to report pain were analyzed. Men of all 3 ethno-religious groups perceived themselves and other men as less sensitive and less willing to report pain than typical women. Women of all 3 ethno-religious groups perceived themselves and other women as more sensitive and more willing to report pain than men. Ethno-religious differences were observed in the attitudes towards typical men and women, with Christian men and women exhibiting stronger stereotypical views regarding pain sensitivity and pain endurance. Individual's perceptions of pain regarding one's self compared with the same or opposite sex were similar regardless of ethno-religious belonging and were related to sex. However, attitudes on pain of typical men and women seemed to be influenced by ethno-religious belonging. This differential effect of ethno-religion on GREP with relation to sex suggests that these factors should be considered when pain perception is evaluated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Religion and the rainbow struggle: does religion factor into attitudes toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions in Brazil?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogland, Curtis P; Verona, Ana Paula

    2014-01-01

    The provision of civil liberties to LGBT persons has become part of a global movement in societies across the world. In Brazil, a recent judicial ruling for the first time established the right for homosexual couples to enter into civil unions, despite the presence of widespread disapproval of homosexuality among the population and opposition from prominent religious groups. Picking up on this issue, the following study examines whether religion may factor into the attitudes Brazilians hold toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions. Using data from the Brazilian Social Research Survey, we find that the most restrictive views toward homosexuality and the strongest opposition to same-sex civil unions are most prevalent among devoted followers of historical Protestant, Pentecostal, and Catholic faith traditions, whereas adherents of Afro-Brazilian and spiritist religions, as well as those with no religious commitment, are inclined to assume a more tolerant moral posture toward such issues. The findings point to religion as a potential influence in future public policy initiatives and social movements involving LGBT issues in Brazil.

  20. Islamic World Unity Through Developing Cross-Culture Communication and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Arfah Shiddiq

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Every one in every religion needs unity, peace and security in their daily life, especially in performing worship peacefully on this earth. It is not only for special worshipping, but also forinteraction among human beings. The objective of this paper is to explore the development of cross-culture communication and religion.It is of human innate nature to possess skills in comunication with others. The experts on communication are really appreciative of thecommunication skills of human being because it very important to develop self-existence for continuous life, to acquire happiness, to avoid threat, especially in developing communication between culture and religion.

  1. 'It's my inner strength': spirituality, religion and HIV in the lives of young African American men who have sex with men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Michael L; Arnold, Emily; Rebchook, Gregory; Kegeles, Susan M

    2011-10-01

    Young black men who have sex with men account for 48% of 13-29-year-old HIV-positive men who have sex with men in the USA. It is important to develop an effective HIV prevention approach that is grounded in the context of young men's lives. Towards this goal, we conducted 31 interviews with 18-30-year-old men who have sex with men in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. This paper examines the roles of religion and spirituality in men who have sex with men's lives, which is central in the lives of many African Americans. Six prominent themes emerged: (1) childhood participation in formal religious institutions, (2) the continued importance of spirituality among men who have sex with men, (3) homophobia and stigmatisation in traditional black churches, (4) tension between being a man who has sex with men and being a Christian, (5) religion and spirituality's impact on men's sense of personal empowerment and coping abilities and (6) treatment of others and building compassion. Findings suggest that integrating spiritual practice into HIV prevention may help programmes be more culturally grounded, thereby attracting more men and resonating with their experiences and values. In addition, faith-based HIV/AIDS ministries that support HIV-positive men who have sex with men may be particularly helpful. Finally, targeting pastors and other church leaders through anti-stigma curricula is crucial.

  2. Influence of culture and religion on HIV and sexuality education ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Influence of culture and religion on HIV and sexuality education among South African ... the prevailing religious and cultural tolerance sexuality education is receiving. ... was mainly driven by their own cultural and religious values and beliefs.

  3. Religion, Culture, and Tax Evasion: Evidence from the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wadim Strielkowski

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Our paper analyzes the impact of culture and religion on tax evasions in the Czech Republic, which represents one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and a very interesting example of attitudes to the church and religion, as well as the influence of religion on the social and economic aspects of everyday life. Our results suggest that, in the Czech Republic, religion plays the role of tax compliance, but only through a positive effect of visiting the church. National pride supports tax morality while trust in government institutions and attitudes towards government are not associated with tax compliance. These results suggest that the Czech Republic is no different from other countries regarding the relationship between religion and tax compliance. Moreover, the role of government as the authority for improving tax compliance is different from what is observed in other countries.

  4. Religion as culture: religious individualism and collectivism among american catholics, jews, and protestants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Adam B; Hill, Peter C

    2007-08-01

    We propose the theory that religious cultures vary in individualistic and collectivistic aspects of religiousness and spirituality. Study 1 showed that religion for Jews is about community and biological descent but about personal beliefs for Protestants. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity were intercorrelated and endorsed differently by Jews, Catholics, and Protestants in a pattern that supports the theory that intrinsic religiosity relates to personal religion, whereas extrinsic religiosity stresses community and ritual (Studies 2 and 3). Important life experiences were likely to be social for Jews but focused on God for Protestants, with Catholics in between (Study 4). We conclude with three perspectives in understanding the complex relationships between religion and culture.

  5. What is Religion?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jeppe Sinding

    which can be analysed and compared across time and cultures, What is Religion? brings the most up-to-date scholarship to bear on humankind’s most enduring creation. The book opens with a brief history of the idea of religion, then divides the study of religion into four essential topics - types......Religious belief is one of the most pervasive and ubiquitous characteristics of human society. Religion has shadowed and illuminated human lives since primitive times, shaping the world views of cultures from isolated tribes to vast empires. Starting from the premise that religion is a concept......, representations, practices, and institutions – and concludes with a final, eye-opening chapter on religion today. Packed with case studies from a wide range of religions, past and present, What is Religion? offers a very current, comprehensive, yet intellectually challenging overview of the history, theories...

  6. Multiculturalism on the Back Seat? Culture, Religion, and Justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jocelyn Maclure

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Alan Patten’s Equal Recognition is a major contribution to the normative literature on minority rights. I nonetheless suggest that liberal culturalism as a normative theory, even in Patten’s sophisticated version, is ill suited to deal with the challenges related to the status of religion in the public sphere that are so prevalent in contemporary democracies. In addition, I submit that Patten did not supply a fully convincing answer to the argument that liberal egalitarianism, well understood, is capacious enough to secure fair terms of social cooperation for members of cultural minorities, making the (allegedly burdensome language of “cultural rights” and “cultural recognition” superfluous.

  7. When did religion, cognition and culture emerge?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2015-01-01

    Et bidrag om religion, kognition og kultur i evolutionistisk perspektiv ved en Engelsberg konference om "Religion" afholdt i Avesta, Sverige i 2014.......Et bidrag om religion, kognition og kultur i evolutionistisk perspektiv ved en Engelsberg konference om "Religion" afholdt i Avesta, Sverige i 2014....

  8. Culture (and religion in constitutional adjudication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C Rautenbach

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available The faculty of law of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in corroboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stifttung embarked on a study on Politics, Socio-Economic Issues and Culture in Constitutional Adjudication. The aim of the project is twofold. The first aim is to analyse the influence of political, socio-economic and cultural considerations on the constitutional court’s interpretation and application of the Bill of Rights. The second aim is to develop practical guidelines (based on the findings during the analysing process for South African courts confronted with issues of a political, socio-economic and cultural nature. This article is concerned with initiating discussions of the decisions of the constitutional court with regard to cultural and religious rights.Before we can explore the role of political, socio-economic and cultural (and religious rights in the decisions of the constitutional court it is important to discuss a few preliminary issues. In this article the meaning of culture and religion within the South African context receives some attention. Secondly, some preliminary comments regarding constitutional protection of culturally and religiously based rights will be made.We are well aware that this is a daunting task, not only in view of the seemingly abysmal gap between the applicable constitutional rights and values enshrined in the 1996 Constitution that, in some instances over centuries, brought about customs and practices within “traditional” communities which, seemingly, infringe on certain constitutional values and rights.

  9. Religion and HIV Sexual Risk Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Stephen W; Zhang, Zheng; Li, Dongliang; Carpiano, Richard M; Schechter, Martin T; Ruan, Yuhua; Spittal, Patricia M

    2016-12-01

    Religion can profoundly impact the sociocultural contexts that shape sexual HIV vulnerability among men who have sex with men (MSM). However, the relationship between religion and HIV vulnerability remains poorly understood for MSM in China, where religious affiliations and practices are rapidly increasing. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in Beijing and Tianjin, China, from 2013 to 2014 (n = 400), this study tests 3 hypotheses regarding religion and HIV sexual risk: (1) HIV vulnerabilities and testing patterns among religiously affiliated MSM are lower than for areligious MSM, (2) religiosity is inversely associated with HIV vulnerabilities and testing, and (3) the magnitude of inverse association between religiosity and HIV vulnerabilities/testing will be stronger among Christian and Muslim MSM than Buddhist and areligious MSM. Compared with areligious participants, Buddhists had higher odds of reporting unprotected anal intercourse [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13 to 3.75] and more male sex partners (AOR: 1.95, 1.16-3.27), whereas Muslims had lower odds of reporting unprotected anal intercourse (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.15 to 0.73) and higher odds of reporting male circumcision (AOR: 3.04, 95% CI: 1.45 to 6.40). Reporting of forced sex was associated with more frequent participation in social religious activities (AOR: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.52) and private religious activities (AOR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.61). Among Christians, participation in private religious activities was associated with lower odds of reporting anal intercourse (AOR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.88). The sustained growth of multiple religious traditions in China appears to have important implications for HIV vulnerability among religious minority MSM.

  10. Religion and attitudes toward same-sex marriage among U.S. Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellison, Christopher G; Acevedo, Gabriel A; Ramos-Wada, Aida I

    2011-01-01

    Objectives. This study examines links between multiple aspects of religious involvement and attitudes toward same-sex marriage among U.S. Latinos. The primary focus is on variations by affiliation and participation, but the possible mediating roles of biblical beliefs, clergy cues, and the role of religion in shaping political views are also considered.Methods. We use binary logistic regression models to analyze data from a large nationwide sample of U.S. Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Forum in late 2006.Results. Findings highlight the strong opposition to same-sex marriage among Latino evangelical (or conservative) Protestants and members of sectarian groups (e.g., LDS), even compared with devout Catholics. Although each of the hypothesized mediators is significantly linked with attitudes toward same-sex marriage, for the most part controlling for them does not alter the massive affiliation/attendance differences in attitudes toward same-sex marriage.Conclusions. This study illustrates the importance of religious cleavages in public opinion on social issues within the diverse U.S. Latino population. The significance of religious variations in Hispanic civic life is likely to increase with the growth of the Latino population and the rising numbers of Protestants and sectarians among Latinos.

  11. Religion and health in Europe: cultures, countries, context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanderWeele, Tyler J

    2017-10-01

    Much of the research on the relationships between religious participation and health comes from the United States. Studies in other geographic regions or cultural contexts is more sparse. Evidence presented by Ahrenfelt et al., and that from other research studies, is reviewed concerning the associations between religion and health within Europe and world-wide. The evidence within Europe suggests protective associations between various forms of religious participation and lower depression, lower mortality, and better self-rated health. Methodological challenges in such research are reviewed, and discussion is given as to whether a person-culture-fit explanation suffices to account for the existing data and to what other mechanisms might be operative.

  12. Jaina Religion and Psychiatry*

    OpenAIRE

    Gada, Manilal

    2015-01-01

    Jaina religion has existed for thousands of years. Lord Mahavir was the last of the 24 Tirthankaras, 23 having preceded him. The principals of Jaina religion teach us: (1) Self-control, which includes: (a) Control over physiological instinct of hunger and sex; (b) control over desires; (c) control over emotions; (2) meditation; (3) introspection; (4) concentration; and (5) healthy interpersonal relationship. The principles of Jaina Religion can contribute to Positive Mental Health.

  13. ‘It’s my inner strength’: Spirituality, religion and HIV in the lives of young African American men who have sex with men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Michael L.; Arnold, Emily; Rebchook, Gregory

    2014-01-01

    Young black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) account for 48% of 13–29 year old HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in the USA. It is important to develop an effective HIV prevention approach that is grounded in the context of young men’s lives. Towards this goal, we conducted 31 interviews with 18–30 year old YBMSM in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. This paper examines the roles of religion and spirituality in YBMSM’s lives, which is central in the lives of many African Americans. Six prominent themes emerged: (1) childhood participation in formal religious institutions; (2) the continued importance of spirituality among YBMSM; (3) homophobia and stigmatisation in traditional black churches; (4) tension between being an MSM and Christian; (5) religion and spirituality’s impact on men’s sense of personal empowerment and coping abilities; and (6) treatment of others and building compassion. Findings suggest that integrating spiritual practice into HIV prevention may help programmes be more culturally grounded, thereby attracting more men and resonating with their experiences and values. In addition, faith-based HIV/AIDS ministries that support HIV-positive YBMSM may be particularly helpful. Finally, targeting pastors and other church leaders through anti-stigma curricula is crucial. PMID:21824017

  14. Religion and Politics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bandak, Andreas

    2018-01-01

    Religion and politics provide an interesting juxtaposition. On the one hand, both may initially come across as rather self-evident categories, with religion dealing with human perceptions and what people hold as sacred, and politics addressing the control and governance of fellow human beings....... Nonetheless, such a simple opposition should only work as a starting point for an interrogation of both terms and how they have come to look and function as empirical and analytical categories. Focusing on the ways that religion is played out in relation to politics reveals different historical and cultural...... constellations and positions, which can be highlighted as variations of religion as politics, religion in politics, religion out of politics, and religion not politics....

  15. Continuing Bonds in Bereaved Pakistani Muslims: Effects of Culture and Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhail, Kausar; Jamil, Naila; Oyebode, Jan; Ajmal, Mohammad Asir

    2011-01-01

    This study explores the bereavement process and continuing bond in Pakistani Muslims with the focus on how culture and religion influence these processes. Ten participants were interviewed and their transcribed interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three main domains were identified from the narratives expressed by the…

  16. Transposing Brazilian Carnival : Religion, Cultural Heritage, and Secularism in Rio de Janeiro

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oosterbaan, Martijn

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the rise of evangelical carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro in relation to spectacular carnival parades that feature Afro-Brazilian religious elements. The article exposes divergent intersections of religion and cultural heritage in Brazilian carnival. The first intersection

  17. Gender inequality in education : political institutions or culture and religion?

    OpenAIRE

    Cooray, Arusha; Potrafke, Niklas

    2010-01-01

    We investigate empirically whether political institutions or culture and religion underlie gender inequality in education. The dataset contains up to 157 countries over the 1991-2006 period. The results indicate that political institutions do not significantly influence education of girls: autocratic regimes do not discriminate against girls in denying educational opportunities and democracies do not discriminate by gender when providing educational opportunities. The primary influences on ge...

  18. The Effects of Gender, Race, Religion, and Political Orientation on the Sex Role Attitudes of College Freshmen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lottes, Ilsa L.; Kuriloff, Peter J.

    1992-01-01

    Examined effects of gender, race, religion, and political orientation on 4 sex role measures among 556 first-year college students. Liberals as compared to conservatives and Jews as compared to Protestants were less traditional in their attitudes toward female sexuality, less accepting of male dominance and negative attitudes toward homosexuality,…

  19. Methodological remarks on studying prehistoric Greek religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petra Pakkanen

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a methodological approach to the study of Greek religion of the period which lacks written documents, i.e. prehistory. The assumptions and interpretations of religion of that time have to be based on archaeological material. How do we define religion and cultic activity on the basis of primary archaeological material from this period, and which are the methodological tools for this difficult task? By asking questions on the nature and definition of religion and culture scholars of religion have provided us with some methodological apparatus to approach religion of the past in general, but there are models developed by archaeologists as well. Critical combination of these methodological tools leads to the best possible result. Archaeology studies the material culture of the past. History of religion studies the spiritual culture of the past. In the background the two have important theoretical and even philosophical speculations since they both deal with meanings (of things or practices and with interpretation.

  20. Religion and morality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Ryan; Whitehouse, Harvey

    2015-03-01

    The relationship between religion and morality has long been hotly debated. Does religion make us more moral? Is it necessary for morality? Do moral inclinations emerge independently of religious intuitions? These debates, which nowadays rumble on in scientific journals as well as in public life, have frequently been marred by a series of conceptual confusions and limitations. Many scientific investigations have failed to decompose "religion" and "morality" into theoretically grounded elements; have adopted parochial conceptions of key concepts-in particular, sanitized conceptions of "prosocial" behavior; and have neglected to consider the complex interplay between cognition and culture. We argue that to make progress, the categories "religion" and "morality" must be fractionated into a set of biologically and psychologically cogent traits, revealing the cognitive foundations that shape and constrain relevant cultural variants. We adopt this fractionating strategy, setting out an encompassing evolutionary framework within which to situate and evaluate relevant evidence. Our goals are twofold: to produce a detailed picture of the current state of the field, and to provide a road map for future research on the relationship between religion and morality. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  1. Advance care planning, culture and religion: an environmental scan of Australian-based online resources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira-Salgado, Amanda; Mader, Patrick; Boyd, Leanne M

    2017-04-20

    Objectives Culture and religion are important in advance care planning (ACP), yet it is not well understood how this is represented in ACP online resources. The aim of the present study was to identify the availability of Australian-based ACP websites and online informational booklets containing cultural and religious information. Methods An environmental scanning framework was used with a Google search conducted from 30 June 2015 to 5 July 2015. Eligible Australian-based ACP websites and online informational booklets were reviewed by two analysts (APS & PM) for information pertaining to at least one culture or religion. Common characteristics were agreed upon and tabulated with narrative description. Results Seven Australian-based ACP websites were identified with varying degrees of cultural and religious information. Seven Australian-based ACP informational booklets were identified addressing culture or religion, namely of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (n=5), Sikh (n=1) and Italian (n=1) communities. Twenty-one other online resources with cultural and religious information were identified, developed within the context of health and palliative care. Conclusions There is no comprehensive Australian-based ACP website or informational booklet supporting ACP across several cultural and religious contexts. Considering Australia's multicultural and multifaith population, such a resource may be beneficial in increasing awareness and uptake of ACP. What is known about the topic? Health professionals and consumers frequently use the Internet to find information. Non-regulation has resulted in the proliferation of ACP online resources (i.e. ACP websites and online informational booklets). Although this has contributed to raising awareness of ACP, the availability of Australian-based ACP online resources with cultural and religious information is not well known. What does this paper add? This paper is the first to use an environmental scanning methodology to identify

  2. Extraordinary sex ratios: cultural effects on ecological consequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferenc Molnár

    Full Text Available We model sex-structured population dynamics to analyze pairwise competition between groups differing both genetically and culturally. A sex-ratio allele is expressed in the heterogametic sex only, so that assumptions of Fisher's analysis do not apply. Sex-ratio evolution drives cultural evolution of a group-associated trait governing mortality in the homogametic sex. The two-sex dynamics under resource limitation induces a strong Allee effect that depends on both sex ratio and cultural trait values. We describe the resulting threshold, separating extinction from positive growth, as a function of female and male densities. When initial conditions avoid extinction due to the Allee effect, different sex ratios cannot coexist; in our model, greater female allocation always invades and excludes a lesser allocation. But the culturally transmitted trait interacts with the sex ratio to determine the ecological consequences of successful invasion. The invading female allocation may permit population persistence at self-regulated equilibrium. For this case, the resident culture may be excluded, or may coexist with the invader culture. That is, a single sex-ratio allele in females and a cultural dimorphism in male mortality can persist; a low-mortality resident trait is maintained by father-to-son cultural transmission. Otherwise, the successfully invading female allocation excludes the resident allele and culture and then drives the population to extinction via a shortage of males. Finally, we show that the results obtained under homogeneous mixing hold, with caveats, in a spatially explicit model with local mating and diffusive dispersal in both sexes.

  3. International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grim, Brian J.; Finke, Roger

    2014-01-01

    The study of religion is severely handicapped by a lack of adequate cross-national data. Despite the prominence of religion in international events and recent theoretical models pointing to the consequences of regulating religion, cross-national research on religion has been lacking. We strive to fill this void by developing measurement models and indexes for government regulation, government favoritism, and social regulation of religion. The indexes rely on data from an extensive coding of the 2003 International Religious Freedom Report for 196 countries and territories. Using a series of tests to evaluate the new data and indexes, we find that the measures developed are highly reliable and valid. The three indexes will allow researchers and others to measure the government’s subsidy and regulation of religion as well as the restrictions placed on religion by social and cultural forces beyond the state. PMID:25484633

  4. Interactive Effects of Culture and Sex Hormones on Sex Role Orientation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belinda ePletzer

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Sex role orientation, i.e. a person’s masculinity or femininity, influences cognitive and emotional performance, like biological sex. While it is now widely accepted that sex differences are modulated by the hormonal status of female participants (menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptive use, the question, whether hormonal status and sex hormones also modulate participants sex role orientation has hardly been addressed previously. The present study assessed sex role orientation and hormonal status as well as sex hormone levels in three samples of participants from two different cultures (Northern American, Middle European. Menstrual cycle phase did not affect participant’s masculinity or femininity, but had a significant impact on reference group. While women in their follicular phase (low levels of female sex hormones determined their masculinity and femininity in reference to men, women in their luteal phase (high levels of female sex hormones determined their masculinity and femininity in reference to women. Hormonal contraceptive users rated themselves as significantly more feminine and less masculine than naturally cycling women. Furthermore, the impact of biological sex on the factorial structure of sex role orientation as well as the relationship of estrogen to masculinity/femininity was modulated by culture. We conclude that culture and sex hormones interactively affect sex role orientation and hormonal status of participants should be controlled for when assessing masculinity and/or femininity.

  5. Religion and Culture Encounters in Misool Raja Ampat: Marine Ritual Practice of Sasi Laut

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suardi Wekke, Ismail; Aghsari, Diah; Evizariza, Evizariza; Junaidi, Junaidi; Harun, Nurlaila

    2018-05-01

    The acculturation of religion and culture in such a way are gradually accepted without causing the loss of the native culture in one community will influence the social process. When religion and culture arise and merged into one, it can be clear to be found in their rituals. This ethnography study on qualitative in nature was conducted to see how the existence, practices, and acculturation between local culture and Islam in, Sasi marine rituals in Misool Raja Ampat in West Papua Indonesia. Data collection was done through observation, in-depth interview including library research on community manuscript and local government database. Using snowball sampling technique, this study is able to gain solid information from native people in Misoo that willing to take part as the informants. The informants in this study were found as influences native people in Misool community e.g; the head of Fafanlap village, community figures, female figures and youth figures. This study considers Misool community which still strongly maintains their cultures including sasi laut as a sign to start and stop harvesting the specific sea resources to maintain the sustainability of nature. The acculturation between the culture of Islam runs smoothly in changing the native mindset to eliminate the things that can cause syirik but did not eliminate the characteristics and the main part of the ritual of sasi laut.

  6. Islamic Art as Tool to Convergence and Dialogue between Religions- A new Siege Perspective for Cultural and Peace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prof. Amer Salman

    2013-06-01

    The research methodology focused on symmetry patterns in particular, which has been classified to architectural designs and geometrical religions symbols, then sort the common or similar patterns who have at least two background cultures through symbol religions analysis and constructed indicators based on the shape, interpretation, content and current existing place of the patterns.

  7. Religion in Chinese Education: From Denial to Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nanbu, Hirotaka

    2008-01-01

    In China, from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, it was thought that religion would disappear with the development of society and the freedom not to believe in religion was stressed. During the Cultural Revolution religion became the object of oppression. However, from the end of the…

  8. Rethinking the Space for Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    What happens to people’s sense of belonging when globalization meets with proclaimed regional identities resting heavily on conceptions of religion and ethnicity? Who are the actors stressing cultural heritage and authenticity as tools for self-understanding? In Rethinking the Space for Religion...... as a political and cultural argument. The approach makes a nuanced and fresh survey for researchers and other initiated readers to engage in....

  9. Religion and family planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinter, Bojana; Hakim, Marwan; Seidman, Daniel S; Kubba, Ali; Kishen, Meera; Di Carlo, Costantino

    2016-12-01

    Religion is embedded in the culture of all societies. It influences matters of morality, ideology and decision making, which concern every human being at some point in their life. Although the different religions often lack a united view on matters such contraception and abortion, there is sometimes some dogmatic overlap when general religious principles are subject to the influence of local customs. Immigration and population flow add further complexities to societal views on reproductive issues. For example, present day Europe has recently faced a dramatic increase in refugee influx, which raises questions about the health care of immigrants and the effects of cultural and religious differences on reproductive health. Religious beliefs on family planning in, for example, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism have grown from different backgrounds and perspectives. Understanding these differences may result in more culturally competent delivery of care by health care providers. This paper presents the teachings of the most widespread religions in Europe with regard to contraception and reproduction.

  10. Extraterrestrial intelligence and human imagination SETI at the intersection of science, religion, and culture

    CERN Document Server

    Traphagan, John

    2015-01-01

    The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) represents one of the most significant crossroads at which the assumptions and methods of scientific inquiry come into direct contact with—and in many cases conflict with—those of religion. Indeed, at the core of SETI is the same question that motivates many interested in religion: What is the place of humanity in the universe? Both scientists involved with SETI (and in other areas) and those interested in and dedicated to some religious traditions are engaged in contemplating these types of questions, even if their respective approaches and answers differ significantly. This book explores this intersection with a focus on three core points: 1) the relationship between science and religion as it is expressed within the framework of SETI research, 2) the underlying assumptions, many of which are tacitly based upon cultural values common in American society, that have shaped the ways in which SETI researchers have conceptualized the nature of their endeavo...

  11. Contested Normative Cultures. Gendered Perspectives on Religions and the Public/Private Divide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Hanne

    2012-01-01

    The article considers religious and secular normative cultures from a gendered perspective focusing on gender and the class and gender privileges linked to the introduction of a public/private divide. It finally discusses issues concerning 'gender display' and gender performance in the 21st century...... as a field, where 'religion', 'public', 'private' and 'gender' overlap, interact, and possibly take on new forms and new meanings and changes all involved actors....

  12. Crime fiction and mediatized religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kim Toft

    Scandinavian media where religion has become mediatized. Consumers of popular culture no longer endorse confidence in institutionalized religion, but that does not mean that people are losing faith: Faith only seems to adjust itself and tiptoe into popular media and popular fiction. Hence, this paper seeks...

  13. Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kim Toft

    Scandinavian media where religion has become mediatized. Consumers of popular culture no longer endorse confidence in institutionalized religion, but that does not mean that people are losing faith: Faith only seem to adjust itself and tiptoe into popular media and popular fiction. Hence, this paper seeks...

  14. La religione una risorsa formativa?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlo Nanni

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The text aims to show how religion can contribute to the achievement of the human person. Religion, connected to the social and cultural framework, joins the individual world in its complexity. Is godlinesses a possible teaching resource? Yes, when read according to a pedagogical perspective, which support human advancement, historical and cultural being. The dialogue, good practice for any learning, it poses as a means to fight the life fragmentation in the discovery of common traces to all humanity.

  15. The cultural life script of Qatar and across cultures: effects of gender and religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ottsen, Christina Lundsgaard; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2014-01-01

    Cultural life scripts (CLS) are culturally shared cognitive representations of the expected order and timing of important life events in a prototypical life. Through three studies data from Qatar were analysed and compared to previously collected data from Denmark, Turkey, and the US. In Study 1 we examined the CLS of Qatar in order to determine whether the clear segregation of men and women as well as the centrality of religion in this society would influence the CLS. A total of 55 Qatari undergraduates completed the standard CLS task, imaging a Qatari infant of their own as well as the opposite gender. In Study 2 important personal life story events were collected from 83 Qatari undergraduates in order to explore the overlap between remembered life events and CLS events. Study 3 was a reanalysis of CLS data from Denmark, Turkey, and the US. There was a considerable overlap of events across cultures, but we also found that the Qatari CLS showed more gender differences and contained more religious and positive events compared to the other three countries.

  16. The religion under the rule of aesthetics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto da Silva Moreira

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the modern process of aestheticization of culture and religion as consequent unfolding of the expansion of market rationality to the subjective life and the libidinal sphere of subjects. Its main objective is to inquire about the future of religion under the impact of sensation seeking culture and the inflation of aesthetics. Firstly, with the help of Türcke, Welsch, Foucault and Schultze´s investigate the aestheticization process of of social life, its causes and characteristics; Secondly, following Dufour, Türcke Leiss, Kline, Jhally e Welsch, it asks how the dynamics of aesthetical impacts the daily life and the bio-psychic economy of people; thirdly, it applies the results obtained to the analysis of what is happening with religion under the regime of aesthetics and sensational culture. Finally, it asks about the possible emancipatory potential of aestheticized own religious experience and tries to draw some further consequences for religion in the aesthetic field.

  17. Communicating with the coroner: how religion, culture, and family concerns may influence autopsy decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, Belinda; Adkins, Glenda; Barnes, Michael; Naylor, Charles; Begum, Nelufa

    2011-04-01

    Based on coronial data gathered in the state of Queensland in 2004, this article reviews how a change in legislation may have impacted autopsy decision making by coroners. More specifically, the authors evaluated whether the requirement that coronial autopsy orders specify the level of invasiveness of an autopsy to be performed by a pathologist was affected by the further requirement that coroners take into consideration a known religion, culture, and/or raised family concern before making such an order. Preliminary data reveal that the cultural status of the deceased did not affect coronial autopsy decision making. However, a known religion with a proscription against autopsy and a raised family concern appeared to be taken into account by coroners when making autopsy decisions and tended to decrease the invasiveness of the autopsy ordered from a full internal examination to either a partial internal examination or an external-only examination of the body. The impact of these findings is briefly discussed.

  18. Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Contributions on religion and computer-mediated communication cohere around the question: how will core religious understandings of identity, community and authority shape and be (re)shaped by the communicative possibilities of Web 2.0?...

  19. Clients' Willingness to Incorporate Religion or Spirituality in Counseling: A Brief Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diallo, Abdoulaye

    2013-01-01

    A total of 84 individuals with addiction issues (e.g., drugs, sex, weight, food, and codependency) were asked about their willingness to incorporate religion or spirituality in their counseling. These respondents expressed willingness to deal with religion or spirituality in counseling if the counselor was knowledgeable about their religion or…

  20. RELIGION IN FREUD’S APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mukrimin Mukrimin

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This article aimed to examine the essence of religion by using Sigmund Freud’ psychoanalysis. It looks at the Freud’s theories: “the ontogenic” and “the phylogenenic”. The origins of religious and belief traditions, as Freud had mapped, are neurosis, precarious future, and religion’s masculine roots. Freud’s realist approach on religion brought a controversy on the study of religion, i.e., by associating his patients and order cultural phenomena (art, literature, and philosophy. His falsification over religion mad Freud as the most controversial man in his time. For Freud, the truth-value of religious doctrines does not lie within the scope of the present enquiry. It is enough for us, as Freud asserts that we have recognized them as being, in their psychological nature, illusions. Key Words: religion, Freud, philosophy, psycho-analysis.

  1. Influences of religion and culture on continuing bonds in a sample of British Muslims of Pakistani origin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussein, Hanan; Oyebode, Jan R

    2009-11-01

    This study considered the nature of continuing bonds with deceased relatives in a sample of Pakistani Muslims living in the United Kingdom. Ten participants were interviewed following a cultural psychology approach and transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Dreaming, talking with others about the deceased, following the deceased's example, keeping memories and mementos, and doing actions thought to help the deceased were forms of continued relationship found. These were intertwined with the process of grieving and were influenced by the family, culture, and religion. Religion was a strong influence on the prominence given by participants to finishing well and on the notion of doing actions thought to help the deceased. Cultural mores, such as the community, and collectivist ethos and the expectation that emotion would be expressed around the time of death, were found to be supportive for some but sources of tension for other participants. Expressing a continuing bond through following the deceased's example so as to make them proud or happy seemed to be reinforced by cultural roots in respect for elders. Participants gave instances of tensions in areas such as expression of emotion and communality versus individualism that arose as a result of their position between two cultural frameworks, some illustrating how assimilation into the host culture set up conflict with the expected norms of their family/ancestral culture. The study highlights how understanding different cultural and religious influences may enrich the concept of continuing bonds.

  2. Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Naqvi, Rahat; Morahan, Page; Dornan, Tim

    2016-05-01

    Cross-cultural education is thought to develop critical consciousness of how unequal distributions of power and privilege affect people's health. Learners in different sociopolitical settings can join together in developing critical consciousness-awareness of power and privilege dynamics in society-by means of communication technology. The aim of this research was to define strengths and limitations of existing cross-cultural discussions in generating critical consciousness. The setting was the FAIMER international fellowship program for mid-career interdisciplinary health faculty, whose goal is to foster global advancement of health professions education. Fellows take part in participant-led, online, written, task-focused discussions on topics like professionalism, community health, and leadership. We reflexively identified text that brought sociopolitical topics into the online environment during the years 2011 and 2012 and used a discourse analysis toolset to make our content analysis relevant to critical consciousness. While references to participants' cultures and backgrounds were infrequent, narratives of political-, gender-, religion-, and other culture-related topics did emerge. When participants gave accounts of their experiences and exchanged cross-cultural stories, they were more likely to develop ad hoc networks to support one another in facing those issues than explore issues relating to the development of critical consciousness. We suggest that cross-cultural discussions need to be facilitated actively to transform learners' frames of reference, create critical consciousness, and develop cultural competence. Further research is needed into how to provide a safe environment for such learning and provide faculty development for the skills needed to facilitate these exchanges.

  3. Religion as a solvent: a lecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antônio Flávio Pierucci

    Full Text Available Contrary to Durkheim, for whom the role of religion is to reconnect the individual with the society to which he belongs, this essay argues that nowadays religion's social power lies in its capacity to dissolve old religious bonds and lineages. Taking Max Weber's work as its base, the text maintains that the universal religion of individual salvation, the religious form that tends to predominate above all others, works as a device that disconnects people from their mother-culture.

  4. Global migration and the selective reimagining of religions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Beyer

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract It is a commonplace in discussions of immigrant religion to speak of how religion aids in the adjustment of migrants to a new culture and society; how it serves as a dimension of continuity in the process of integration. This article examines theoretical foundations for reconsidering this perspective in the context of globalization in general and global migration in particular. In a global society, it is far less useful to think of migrants as leaving one society to join another, especially insofar as this optic tends to assume a that the new “host” culture remains comparatively unaffected while the immigrants culture faces the dilemma of assimilation versus ethnic preservation; and b that the culture of origin simply loses a few members without much effect by the migrants back onto their cultures of origin. By contrast, the article argues that the consequences of migration are to help (redefine religions in all areas where they are represented; and thus to make distinctions between “core” and “diaspora” far less salient. Instead, different areas where religious traditions are represented are better seen as centres for creating different options for the authentic construction of the same religion; options that are very often in communication with each other.

  5. Islamic Art as Tool to Convergence and Dialogue between Religions- A new Siege Perspective for Cultural and Peace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prof. Amer Salman

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Based on the principles of the Holy Qur'an and religion of Islam, a religion of moderation and tolerance, it has given by the custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud particularly important in light of the challenges facing world crises, that require cooperation, concerted and complementary steps to make this planet in all its oasis of peace and contentment, an oasis which co-exist where the followers of religions, doctrines and philosophies cooperate and respect each other. If we want this historic co-existence is to succeed it must go to the commonalities that bring people together and renounce the crossfire and focus on the differences and exaggerated. The research has answered the following fundamental question: What are the patterns that have common blueprint among diversity religions, sects and philosophies? The research invent a mechanism to identify these patterns. It has made it clear the possibility of focusing on such patterns at universal scientific studies in educational institutes, and how they are used in building construction and architectural designs in different parts of the world because of their impact on the convergence between the various people. The Study has gathered hundreds of patterns and decorations from widely divergent cultures known as Islamic and non-Islamic, in addition to their geometrical symbols, These designs were studied from various aspects such as technical features, structural fittings and their existing that direct to figure out their properties for finding common denominator, these are used to interact with for spreading the spirit of dialogue and peace establishment. The research methodology focused on symmetry patterns in particular, which has been classified to architectural designs and geometrical religions symbols, then sort the common or similar patterns who have at least two background cultures through symbol religions analysis and constructed indicators based on

  6. Sex: a sensitive issue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-01-01

    Health care workers and educators may need to improve their skills in discussing sensitive issues in order to elicit and understand what influences people's attitudes toward sex. While the health worker may be bent upon preventing HIV infection, advising on family planning, or teaching youth about sexual relationships, his or her audience may have other priorities. A good counselor/teacher must learn what people's concerns are and discuss sexual health within that context. It can be difficult talking about sex because sex is a private concern and many people are embarrassed discussing it. Even sex partners often find it difficult to talk to each other about sex. Appropriate communication techniques vary depending upon the situation. It depends upon whether one is addressing people on an individual basis or in groups, which people are being addressed, which organization one is representing, and what one's role is. Good communication is a two-way sharing of information. The different stages of life, common beliefs and myths, culture and religion, relationships between men and women, reasons for having sex, and sex practices are discussed.

  7. Disentangling Religion and Culture: Americanizing Islam as the Price of Assimilation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JOHN H. MORGAN

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This essay is an exploration into the social inevitabilities of culture shifts within the American Muslim community’s self-understanding of their faith. Rather than a theological explication of the reasons why and why not Islam may or can or will not assimilate in America, our approach will be strictly sociological thereby side-stepping the intricate dialectic of theological niceties in deference to the social realities of culture change. As a social psychologist, my duty is to acknowledge the inevitabilities of behavioral shifts brought about due to social and cultural pressures resulting from immigration into an alien cultural weltanschauung, i.e., worldview. Therefore in this essay, we will explicate the meaning and nature of de-ethnicization and re-enculturation as we endeavor to disentangle religion from culture, recognizing that much of what goes under the flag of religious orthodoxy is really culturally-mandated behavior and worldview. The assimilation process, however, will bear heavily upon the necessity for Muslim clergy in America to become professional by Western standards and we will in the process explore the complexities of religious secularism as a way of becoming an “American” Muslim. Finally, we will suggest liturgical and architectural “adjustments” to Western modes of public worship while indicating linguistic niceties which will prove helpful in the assimilation process which we have chosen here to call the “Islamicization of America”.

  8. Religion and covenantal praxis in first century Judeanism

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    p1243322

    This article indicates how the two cultural features of religion and covenantal praxis .... and the home, introduced Judeans into a world where religion and covenantal ... states that Judeans from Mesopotamia made “dedicatory offerings” to the.

  9. Religion and bioethics: toward an expanded understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brody, Howard; Macdonald, Arlene

    2013-04-01

    Before asking what U.S. bioethics might learn from a more comprehensive and more nuanced understanding of Islamic religion, history, and culture, a prior question is, how should bioethics think about religion? Two sets of commonly held assumptions impede further progress and insight. The first involves what "religion" means and how one should study it. The second is a prominent philosophical view of the role of religion in a diverse, democratic society. To move beyond these assumptions, it helps to view religion as lived experience as well as a body of doctrine and to see that religious differences and controversies should be welcomed in the public square of a diverse democratic society rather than merely tolerated.

  10. The Relationship Between Death and Religion in Cultural Scripts on Death and Dying Among the Sample of Tehran Residents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sare Mazinani Shariati

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article aims at understanding ordinary Tehran residents’ attitudes towards Death and Dying and recognizes the relationship between Death and Religion in their thoughts. Using Grounded Theory as method and semi structured interview as a technique, we reached to nine different Cultural scripts of death and dying among interviewees, including: fatalistic death, resurrection-oriented death, martyrdom-oriented death, mystical death, secular death, aesthetic/nihilistic death, agnostic death, and ambiguity-oriented death. Furthermore, we recognized religious and non-religious cultural scripts besides the rationalization and individualization of religion among them. According to our findings, there is no accordance between some interviewees’ thoughts and beliefs with their behavior and lifestyle so that one cannot guess people’s attitudes towards death and dying from their behavior or their appearance. In other words, we face no structural Homology between their ideas and their lifestyle. Moreover, most interviewees had mixed ideas and beliefs about death and dying, and it can indicate the social and cultural complexity of Tehran society.

  11. On religion and hospitality cultures in economic relations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greve, Anni

    Recently prominent scholars (as Beckford 2003, Casanova 2004, Habermas 2008) have offered an argument for integrating the sociology of religion into the corpus of sociology and to rethink religion sociologically. This has given rise to questioning the fact that after the European Enlightenment th...... the role of these intermediaries in disseminating the rules of the marketplace from other port cities with direct access to the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. And it takes a closer look into how these rules have structured particular ‘spaces of hospitality’ in the city of Copenhagen....

  12. Multiculturalism and inconsistency in the perception of sex education in Australian society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almahbobi, Ghanim

    2012-01-01

    A group of individuals who share common beliefs form a culture in which they communicate their values and attributes about certain aspects of society. Sex education remains one of the early teachings that humans experience irrespective of the race or level of development of a given society. However, different cultures perceive sex education differently due to differences in attitudes and beliefs, leading to significant diversity in the management of sex education among different societies across the globe. Many studies have found that in a traditional society with a homogeneous culture, the foremost reason for the different approaches to sex education is related to traditional values, in addition to other factors such as religion and political belief. In order to improve sex education, and consequently, sexual health in a modern multicultural society such as Australia, it becomes imperative to identify the inconsistency in beliefs about sex education among individuals with different cultural backgrounds in the Australian population. In this report, the author highlights similarities and differences in the methods employed by certain cultures of the Australian population. The report considers the different cultural environments of specific societies, the prevalence of sex education in these societies and how culture influences the prevalence. The concluding thoughts reflect on the success of the education programs in Australia, based on the idea that resolving the problems of sex education needs support from a number of bodies within Australian society.

  13. Traumatised between culture and religion: Women’s stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina Landman

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The majority of churches in South Africa offer some form of healing, be it diaconal, ritual or faith healing. Western and township views on healing differ significantly in terms of the natural and supernatural causes of and cures for illnesses. This article tells the stories of township women who were trapped between the binaries presented by Western, cultural and township healings, and their choicelessness in terms of abortion, adoption, abuse, death and sex. Through narrative counseling, based on social construction theories, the women experienced healing by exploring the healing spaces between the binaries of cultural contexts and Western medicine, through the liberty afforded them by the perspective of a preferred way of being.

  14. Introduction to the Culture, Health & Sexuality Virtual Special Issue on sex, sexuality and sex work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allman, Dan; Ditmore, Melissa Hope

    2016-05-18

    This article provides an editorial introduction to a virtual special issue on sex work and prostitution. It offers a brief history of sex work studies as published in the journal Culture, Health & Sexuality; reflects on the breadth and scope of papers the journal has published; considers the contribution of the journal's papers to the wellbeing and sexuality of people who sell sex; and envisions future areas of inquiry for sex work studies. As authors, we identify major themes within the journal's archive, including activism, agency, context, discourse, hazard, health, legalisation, love, place, power, race, relationships, stigma and vulnerabilities. In particular, we reflect on how HIV has created an environment in which issues of culture, health and sexuality have come to be disentangled from the moral agendas of earlier years. As a venue for the dissemination of a reinvigorated scholarship, Culture, Health & Sexuality provides a platform for a community of often like-minded, rigorous thinkers, to provide new and established perspectives, methods and voices and to present important developments in studies of sex, sexuality and sex work.

  15. The religion of thinness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Lelwica

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the almost religious-like devotion of especially women in pursuing the goal of a thinner body. The quest for a slender body is analysed as a ‘cultural religion’, which the author calls the ‘Religion of Thinness’. The analysis revolves around four observations. The first is that for many women in the US today, the quest for a slender body serves what has historically been a ‘religious’ function: providing a sense of purpose that orients and gives meaning to their lives, especially in times of suffering and uncertainty. Second, this quest has many features in common with traditional religions, including beliefs, myths, rituals, moral codes, and sacred images—all of which encourage women to find ‘salvation’ (i.e., happiness and well-being through the pursuit of a ‘better’ (i.e., thinner body.Third, this secular faith draws so many adherents in large part because it appeals to and addresses what might be referred to as spiritual needs—including the need for a sense of purpose, inspiration, security, virtue, love, and well-being—even though it shortchanges these needs, and, in the long run, fails to deliver the salvation it promises. Fourth, a number of traditional religious ideas, paradigms and motifs tacit­ly inform and support the Religion of Thinness. More specifically, its soteri­ology resurrects and recycles the misogynist, anti-body, other-worldly, and exclusivist aspects of patriarchal religion. Ultimately, the analysis is not only critical of the Religion of Thinness; it also raises suspicions about any clear-cut divisions between ‘religion’, ‘culture’, and ‘the body’. In fact, examining the functions, features, and ideologies embedded in this secular devotion gives us insight into the constitutive role of the body in the production and apprehension of religious and cultural meanings.

  16. Objects of Worship in South Asian Religions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Objects of worship are an aspect of the material dimension of lived religion in South Asia. The omnipresence of these objects and their use is a theme which cuts across the religious traditions in the pluralistic religious culture of the region. Divine power becomes manifest in the objects and fo...... objects of worship, the book contributes to an understanding of the central significance of these objects in the religious and social life of South Asia. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Religious Studies and South Asian Religion, Culture and Society....

  17. [Civic religion, civil religion, secular religion. a historiographical investigation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boucheron, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    Because of its conceptual plasiticity, the term civic religion is now widely used by historians, particularly historians of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this article suggests, historians would do well to interrogate the relationships (which can be hidden) that this term bears to similar concepts such as Greek Roman civic religion, Enlightenment civil religion or even the secular religion that emerged in the work of 20(th) century thinkers.

  18. Influences of Gender, Religion, Dietary Patterns, and Mixed-sex Education on Aggressiveness in Children: A Sociodemographic Study in Municipal Primary Schools of South Delhi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jain, Khushbu; Sharma, Schweta; Prajna, Samani Chaitanya; Jain, Viney

    2018-01-01

    Increasing antisocial and violent behaviors in adolescents and young adults present serious challenges for public health. Children with persistent high levels of aggressiveness are often associated with developing conduct disorders later in life. Early detection of highly aggressive children and sociodemographic risk-modifying factors are important for developing effective preventive strategies. The present study was undertaken to assess levels of aggressiveness for detecting highly aggressive children in sample populations of primary school children in an urban setting and determine significant biosociocultural risk-modifying factors in this scenario. The study was conducted during August-September, 2015 in 5 primary schools of South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Sociodemographic data on 2080 students were collected. Overall aggressiveness scores (OA-Scores) were estimated using a self-report questionnaire in Hindi. Categorizing students according to their OA-Scores, the data revealed that highly aggressive children constituted 4.3% of the study population. Analysis showed significant influence of (a) gender: boys displayed higher levels of aggressiveness compared to girls; (b) dietary pattern: omnivores showed higher aggressiveness than vegetarians; and (c) school environment: boys in mixed-sex (coeducational) schools displayed lower aggressiveness than from single-sex schools. Statistically significant influences of religion (Hindu/Muslim) and family type (joint/nuclear) on aggressiveness profiles were not noticeable. Vegetarian diets and mixed-sex education act as protective factors in the development of aggressiveness in children, especially among boys. Extending investigations to populations differing in geography and cultural backgrounds are warranted to verify present results.

  19. Differential Effects of Family Structure on Religion and Spirituality of Emerging Adult Males and Females.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handal, Paul J; Lace, John W

    2017-08-01

    This study examined measures of religion and spirituality in a sample of male and female emerging adult college students whose parents were either divorced or intact using the Personal Religious Inventory, the Duke University Religion Index, the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, and the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale. Data were collected online, and 66% of participants received extra credit for participating. A main effect of sex was found, as females reported significantly higher scores than men on all but one measure of religion and spirituality, and the dataset was separated by sex. No differences were found between males from divorced and intact families. However, females from intact families scored significantly higher on all religion and spirituality measures than females from divorced families. This study suggests that females may respond differently than males to their parents' divorce in the context of religion and spirituality, and discusses possible reasons.

  20. ethics, religion and humanity: rethinking religion in 21 century africa.

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Admin

    cause of all human predicaments; that it provides viable and abundant fuel for ... have its older roots in Marx and Lenin, however, the condemnation it has received in recent times is ... beings, it is not out of place to say that his .... religion functions in the culture of a people; ..... zombies and robots having no freedom and.

  1. The appropriation of a religion: The case of Zoroastrianism in contemporary Russia

    OpenAIRE

    Stausberg, Michael; Tessmann, Anna

    2013-01-01

    This paper distinguishes between the (ontological) creation, (historical) emergence and (legal) ‘making’ of religion. Many religions claim plausibility by invoking long chains of (invented) traditions, while some post-modern religions positively affirm their invented character. The case of Zoroastrianism in contemporary Russia is discussed as an example of a cross-cultural ‘appropriation’ of religion, rather than a transfer of an extant religion through, for example, migration. This means tha...

  2. GENDER JUSTICE AND CULTURAL DIMENSION OF RELIGION, A PROPOSAL TO APPLY THE PROPHETIC TRADITION (THE HADITH IN PROMOTING GENDER JUSTICE AMONG INDONESIAN MUSLIMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available By arguing that religion as interpretative culture of people in their context, suggested by Clifford Geertz, this paper proposes an interpretation-oriented approach to the texts of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad rather than a critical-deconstructive approach. The interpretation-oriented approach focuses on positive reading towards the hadith that advocates issues of gender justice; whether through selecting classical methods of interpretation or applying contemporary methods suggested by progressive Muslims. As this approach does not challenge the authority of the hadith, which is accepted culturally by majority of Muslims as second source after the Quran, cultural works for gender justice are assumed to be relatively more flexible and can be further maximized. By doing so, I argue that this cultural dimension of religion –accepting its sources and working on the field of interpreting them-should be considered in promoting gender justice among Indonesian Muslims.

  3. Harmony of Coastal Community Regarding Its Ethnic Religion and Cultural Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aghsari, Diah; Suardi Wekke, Ismail; Abbas, Nurlaelah

    2018-05-01

    West Papua is often known to be the miniature of Indonesia. The diversity of ethnicity, religion and culture embraced by the people of West Papua is very much like the concept of Bhinneka and Tunggal Ika. However, there is a negative stigma towards the people of West Papua, namely in its underdevelopment and conflicts. This research was conducted in West Papua using the observation method, library research and interview. This study aimed at providing an overview of West Papua using emic and etic approaches. The people of West Papua have an ingredient to maintain harmony, namely through local wisdom such as the term “One Stove Three Stones”, “One House Four Doors” and the principle of brotherhood that is held firmly. Ultimately, this forms a culture of understanding in the community and establishes religious harmony. Apparently, the negative stigma of outsiders about West Papua is formed by the mass media as well as films containing negative elements about West Papua. Therefore, there is a misperception about the people of West Papua.

  4. Religion, Sexuality, and Internalized Homonegativity: Confronting Cognitive Dissonance in the Abrahamic Religions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meladze, Pikria; Brown, Jac

    2015-10-01

    This research was aimed at investigating how religious beliefs and internalized shame predicted homonegativity. An online survey, which consisted of a self-report questionnaire assessing religious orientation, internalized shame, and internalized homonegativity, was completed by 133 Caucasian and Asian gay men. The respondents also were asked to write a short answer in which they had to explain how they integrated their religion and sexual practices. The quantitative analyses of data demonstrated no significant difference in internalized homonegativity among the two cultural groups. Internalized homonegativity was predicted by the main Abrahamic faiths (i.e. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) and internalized shame. Qualitative analysis showed that gay men who adhere to a monotheistic religious faith follow a different path to reconciling their religion and homosexuality compared to gay men who adhere to Philosophical/New Age religions or to gay men who have no religious faith. The implications of these findings as well as directions for future research studies were discussed.

  5. Religion and Suicide Risk: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Ryan E; Oquendo, Maria A; Stanley, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Although religion is reported to be protective against suicide, the empirical evidence is inconsistent. Research is complicated by the fact that there are many dimensions to religion (affiliation, participation, doctrine) and suicide (ideation, attempt, completion). We systematically reviewed the literature on religion and suicide over the last 10 years (89 articles) with a goal of identifying what specific dimensions of religion are associated with specific aspects of suicide. We found that religious affiliation does not necessarily protect against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts. Whether religious affiliation protects against suicide attempts may depend on the culture-specific implications of affiliating with a particular religion, since minority religious groups can feel socially isolated. After adjusting for social support measures, religious service attendance is not especially protective against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts, and possibly protects against suicide. Future qualitative studies might further clarify these associations.

  6. Arts, Religion and the New Social Order: Emerging Trends in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Arts, Religion and the New Social Order: Emerging Trends in Mediation in an Age ... and religion as culturally interactive phenomena may not be strange, but the ... things upon the mastery of applied elements of visual, performing and media ...

  7. The religion paradox: if religion makes people happy, why are so many dropping out?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diener, Ed; Tay, Louis; Myers, David G

    2011-12-01

    As we estimate here, 68% of human beings--4.6 billion people--would say that religion is important in their daily lives. Past studies have found that the religious, on average, have higher subjective well-being (SWB). Yet, people are rapidly leaving organized religion in economically developed nations where religious freedom is high. Why would people leave religion if it enhances their happiness? After controlling for circumstances in both the United States and world samples, we found that religiosity is associated with slightly higher SWB, and similarly so across four major world religions. The associations of religiosity and SWB were mediated by social support, feeling respected, and purpose or meaning in life. However, there was an interaction underlying the general trend such that the association of religion and well-being is conditional on societal circumstances. Nations and states with more difficult life conditions (e.g., widespread hunger and low life expectancy) were much more likely to be highly religious. In these nations, religiosity was associated with greater social support, respect, purpose or meaning, and all three types of SWB. In societies with more favorable circumstances, religiosity is less prevalent and religious and nonreligious individuals experience similar levels of SWB. There was also a person-culture fit effect such that religious people had higher SWB in religious nations but not in nonreligious nations. Thus, it appears that the benefits of religion for social relationships and SWB depend on the characteristics of the society.

  8. Access to health care and religion among young American men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillum, R Frank; Jarrett, Nicole; Obisesan, Thomas O

    2009-12-01

    In order to elucidate cultural correlates of utilization of primary health services by young adult men, we investigated religion in which one was raised and service utilization. Using data from a national survey we tested the hypothesis that religion raised predicts access to and utilization of a regular medical care provider, examinations, HIV and other STD testing and counseling at ages 18-44 years in men born between 1958 and 1984. We also hypothesized that religion raised would be more predictive of utilization for Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanic Black Americans than for non-Hispanic White Americans. The study included a national sample of 4276 men aged 18-44 years. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were used to assess the hypotheses using data on religion raised and responses to 14 items assessing health care access and utilization. Compared to those raised in no religion, those raised mainline Protestant were more likely (p Religion raised was not associated with testicular exams, STD counseling or HIV testing. In multivariate analyses controlling for confounders, significant associations of religion raised with insurance coverage, a physician as usual source of care and physical examination remained which varied by race/ethnicity. In conclusion, although religion is a core aspect of culture that deserves further study as a possible determinant of health care utilization, we were not able to document any consistent pattern of significant association even in a population with high rates of religious participation.

  9. Editorial. The 'Beauty Fallacy' Religion, science and the aesthetics of knowledge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arianna Borrelli

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between science and religion has been, and still is, the subject of much discussion, both among scholars of religion and among historians and philosophers of science. Despite the cultural and historical complexity of the issue, since the nineteenth century the question of the interaction between science and religion has been constantly framed in the rather simple terms of their mutual ‘compatibility’ or ‘exclusion’. The historical roots of such discussions are entwined with the emergence both of modern science as a practice and an ideal, and of the field of the cultural study of religion. It was in the modern period that the assertion of the existence of a ‘conflict’ between science and religion emerged and a series of binary oppositions were constructed, such as those between ‘rational’ scientific knowledge and ‘irrational’ religious belief, or between an ‘objective’ scientific representation of reality and the poetic imagination allegedly characteristic of religious traditions and mythology.

  10. American religion: diaspora and syncretism from Old World to New

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aisha Khan

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available [First paragraph] Nation Dance: Religion, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. PATRICK TAYLOR (ed.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. x +220 pp. (Paper US$ 19.95 Translating Kali 's Feast: The Goddess in Indo-Caribbean Ritual and Fiction. STEPHANOS STEPHANIDES with KARNA SINGH. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000. xii + 200 pp. (Paper US$ 19.00 Between Babel and Pentecost: Transnational Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America. ANDRÉ CORTEN & RUTH MARSHALL-FRATANI (eds.. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. 270 pp. (Paper US$ 22.95 Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions. STEPHEN D. GLAZIER (ed.. New York: Routledge, 2001. xx + 452 pp. (Cloth US$ 125.00 As paradigms and perspectives change within and across academie disciplines, certain motifs remain at the crux of our inquiries. Evident in these four new works on African and New World African and South Asian religions are two motifs that have long defined the Caribbean: the relationship between cultural transformation and cultural continuity, and that between cultural diversity and cultural commonality. In approaching religion from such revisionist sites as poststructuralism, diaspora, hybridity, and creolization, however, the works reviewed here attempt to move toward new and more productive ways of thinking about cultures and histories in the Americas. In the process, other questions arise. Particularly, can what are essentially redirected language and methodologies in the spirit of postmodern interventions teil us more about local interpretation, experience, and agency among Caribbean, African American, and African peoples than can more traditional approaches? While it is up to individual readers to decide this for themselves, my own feeling is that it is altogether a good thing that these works still echo long-standing conundrums: the Herskovits/Frazier debate over cultural origins, the tensions of assimilation in "plural societies," and the

  11. THE SPATIAL-CULTURAL CONFIGURATION OF SEX WORK IN GOA INDIA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bailey, Ajay; Hutter, Inge; Huigen, Paulus P. P.

    2011-01-01

    Geographers have largely ignored the socio-spatial aspect of sex work in the non-Western context. Theorisation on place, sex and gender will aid in spatially situating sex work in the domain of geography. We present an empirical study to describe the spatial-cultural configuration of sex work as

  12. Theology of religions: Models for interreligious dialogue in South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Test

    be segregated in terms of their traditions, places of worship and cultures, they .... Theology of Religions that by its very nature the concept of interreligious dialogue is .... religions lead to salvation, one is faced with the issue of relativism, meaning that if all .... 'Towards a Global Ethic articulated several of the moral and ethical ...

  13. Religion, Ethnicity and Geography: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Demand for Education in Ghana

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blunch, Niels-Hugo

    2003-01-01

    Most cross-cultural research of demand behavior is focused at cross-country studies. For Sub-Saharan Africa, however, the fact that the borders were more or less arbitrarily drawn by the colonial powers suggests that demand behavior - including the demand for education - in this context are more...... affected by within country factors such as ethnicity, geographical location and religion. On this premise, we analyze the demand for education in Ghana from a cross-cultural perspective. A substantial share of Ghanaian youth and young adults has never attended school. As education is an important vehicle...... for economic development this is (or should be) a point of concern to both the national government and international development organizations. On this background, this study analyzes the demand for education in Ghana to try to understand the main factors underlying this. The focus is on cross...

  14. Dualism of Social Conditions: Religion, Morality and Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rasa Levickaitė

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the topic of social dualism through religion, morality and science. The paper refers to one of the most original works uncovering the social roots of religion – The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Emile Durkheim (1858–1917 who is considered to be the founder of modern sociology. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life develops the coherent theory of religion as well as ventilates different aspects of the religious life. The message of the paper is: is religion the generative essence of social aspect, does a state of constant dependence stimulate a sense of religious piety, is a moral social order able to stabilize dualism of human energy. The paper proposes an assertion that science as a social phenomenon reflects knowledge and the values of its perception which are impacted by imagination and classified codes of cultural forms. As a result a thesis is proposed – a cultural (influenced by environment and a personal (influenced by internal factors desire for differentiation and its provoked conflict is of a social character. The second part of the paper deals with relation between science and social phenomena with inherent dualism. A short discussion is presented on L’ Année Sociologique (a group of scientists initiated by Durkheim representing a new sociological paradigm, the beginning of scientific social culture giving sense to cooperation of sociological theory and practice. 

  15. Happiness in Economics as Understood Across Ism and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Ghafar Ismail

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The concept of happiness has been discussed long time ago by economists. Recently, it became the most related and important thing to be studied because of its impact in societies. Discussion about happiness basically interprets within two separate views. First, happiness related with economic variable, for instance, how money can create happiness. Second happiness is discussed within the context of religion. However, the discussion did not combine both contexts, economic variable and religion, to interpret happiness. Therefore, it is important to highlight the concept of happiness in a different way such as in this article. Different cultures will have their own perspective on the determination of happiness. From just “individual perspective” of happiness, they then formed an ism through involvement of a big society from the same culture. Some isms such as hedonism and materialism are synonyms in characterizing the concept of happiness in this modern world. At the same time, the isms are actually working with the economic and non-economic indicators as elements to strengthen the ism itself. On the other hand, the concept of happiness from the perspective of religion will also be a part of discussion in this article. Therefore, this article will reveal that the meaning of happiness is different in terms of religion and ism. So, to carry out both ism and religion simultaneously in shaping a more intrinsic value of happiness is not an easy task. Furthermore, religion is always associated with spiritual value that makes it hard for some people to practice religion and their isms at the same time. Thus, this article will propose that the right interpretation of isms based on their faith in religion can contribute to the concept of genuine happiness.

  16. Bulletproof Love : Luke Cage (2016 and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derry, Ken

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available There are many ways to think about religion and popular culture. One method is to ask where and when we see what might be commonly understood as “religious tradition(s” explicitly on display. Another is to think about superhero narratives themselves as “religious”, using this term as a conceptual tool for categorizing and thereby better understanding particular dimensions of human experience. This article takes a variety of approaches to understanding religion in relation to the recent television series LUKE CAGE (Netflix, US 2016. These approaches take their hermeneutical cues from a range of disciplines, including studies of the Bible; Hip Hop; gender; Black Theology; African American religion; and philosophy. The results of this analysis highlight the polysemic nature of popular culture in general, and of superhero stories in particular. Like religious traditions themselves, the show is complex and contradictory: it is both progressive and reactionary; emphasizes community and valorizes an individual; critiques and endorses Christianity; subverts and promotes violence. Depending on the questions asked, LUKE CAGE (2016 provides a range of very different answers.

  17. Religion and Science: What Can Anthropology Offer?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skalník Peter

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This short tribute to Ján Podolák comments on the space between two extremes: pure science and blind belief. If religion is not susceptible to scientific proof because it is a belief in an invisible world inhabited by spirits who influence human existence on earth then science in its strictest sense is the opposite of religion because it is not based on any beliefs but solely on provable facts. However, the anthropology of science should be based on the pluralism of knowledge and the seeking of truth in different cultural settings around the world. Everything human, also science, is a social and cultural phenomenon. This means that rationality is not a preserve of the Western mind only and that without falling into the trap of postmodernist excessive relativism, we should admit that rationality is not only universal but also not hierarchized evolutionistically or qualitatively by giving preference to its Western brand. Science thus ceases to be the only realm of rational knowledge. Religion in its turn is a kind of non-scientific knowledge.

  18. Sex Reversal and Analyses of Possible Involvement of Sex Steroids in Scallop Gonadal Development in Newly Established Organ-Culture Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otani, Ayano; Nakajima, Tadaaki; Okumura, Tomomi; Fujii, Shiro; Tomooka, Yasuhiro

    2017-04-01

    Many molluscs perform sex reversal, and sex hormones may be involved in the process. In adult scallops, Patinopecten yessoensis, gonadotropin releasing hormone and 17β-estradiol (E 2 ) are involved in male sexual maturation, however, little is known about the effects of E 2 and testosterone (T) on the gonadal differentiation in young scallops. In the present study, scallop gonadal development was analyzed to determine the sex reversal stage in Funka bay, and effects of E 2 and T were examined. In Funka bay, almost all scallops were male at month 12. Scallops equipped with ambiguous gonads were 61.1% at month 16 and disappeared at month 18. Therefore, sex reversal in Funka bay occurs at around month 16. For establishment of organ culture systems for bivalves, Manila clam gonads were cultured in 15% L-15 medium diluted with HBSS containing 10% KSR on agarose gel at 10°C, and the gonads survived for 14 days. Scallop gonads were also able to be cultured in 30% L15 medium diluted with ASW containing 10% KSR on agarose gel for seven days. At mature stage, Foxl2 and Tesk were predominantly expressed in ovary and testis, respectively. When scallop gonads at sex reversal stage were organ-cultured, sex steroid treatment decreased Tesk expression in the majority of scallop gonads at sex reversal stage. However, no obvious change in Foxl2 and Tesk expression was detected in mature gonads in response to either E 2 or T in culture, suggesting sex steroid treatment might affect gonadal development at sex reversal stage.

  19. Sexual Stratification and Sex-Role Socialization

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanFossen, Beth Ensiminger

    1977-01-01

    Data on sex-role values of a sample of college women are examined to ascertain the effect of family structure, social class, and religion on sex-role values, and to support a structural theory of sex-role socialization. (Author)

  20. A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian women's views of religion and feminism in their lives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Saba Rasheed; Mahmood, Amina; Moel, Joy; Hudson, Carolyn; Leathers, Leslie

    2008-01-01

    This qualitative investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of cultural diversity: feminism and religion in the lives of religiously diverse women. More specifically, structured interviews were used to investigate views of religion, women's issues, gender roles, culture, and feminism for a small group of Muslim and Christian women living in the United States. The data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings indicated a complex relationship between feminism, gender roles, culture, and religion for these women with the majority of the Muslim women reporting that their religion supports feminist principles and identifying themselves as feminist. Christian women were less willing to endorse the feminist label. Implications for multicultural feminist practice are discussed. 2008 APA

  1. Redefining Womanhood (?: Gender, Power, and the “Religion of Thinness”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Lelwica

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available Ce travail examine la manière dont les femmes utilisent les régimes amincissants comme moyen de surmonter les normes culturelles dominantes concernant les genres, aux Etats-Unis, au cours des dernières décennies. Bien que les femmes qui se consacrent à la perte de poids ne constituent pas un « groupe religieux » dans l’acception traditionnelle du terme, les symboles, rituels et croyances qui accompagnent leur quête de la minceur finissent par fonctionner exactement comme une religion. A partir de discours de femmes aux prises avec leur nourriture et l’image de leur corps, ainsi qu’avec toute une série d’images, rituels et croyances de la culture populaire, je mène l’analyse de cette religion séculière, que je nomme « la Religion de la Minceur » ; je vise à éclairer la manière dont les femmes s’en servent pour tenter d’obtenir le type de pouvoir et de visibilité qui est longtemps demeuré l’apanage des hommes. Enfin, je soutiens que la Religion de la Minceur ressuscite les dynamiques d’une religion patriarcale, dans laquelle le « salut » (libération de la femme passe par son sacrifice et son obéissance aux normes sociales dominantes.This paper examines women’s use of dieting as a means for negotiating dominant cultural gender norms in the United States during the past few decades. Although women who are devoted to losing weight do not constitute a “religious” group in the traditional sense of the word, the symbols, rituals, and beliefs surrounding their pursuit of thinness have come to function much like a religion. Drawing on women’s narratives about their struggles with food and body image, as well as a variety of popular cultural images, rituals, and beliefs, I analyze this secular religion, which I call the “Religion of Thinness,” highlighting how it serves as a vehicle through which women seek the kind of power and visibility that has historically been the prerogative of men. In the

  2. Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kim Toft

    2011-01-01

    connect this with what has been dubbed mediatized religion and a more general, philosophical explanation of why we see this development: The project of modernity is, as a result of cultural changes, at the moment transgressing its own epistemological boundaries opening up into what has been called...

  3. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riis, Ole

    2004-01-01

    En sociologisk indgang til religion, som individuel religiøsitet, som organisation af et trossamfund og som samfundsinstitution. Religion betragtes både im- og eksplicit, og som både samlende og splittende for sociale fællesskaber.......En sociologisk indgang til religion, som individuel religiøsitet, som organisation af et trossamfund og som samfundsinstitution. Religion betragtes både im- og eksplicit, og som både samlende og splittende for sociale fællesskaber....

  4. Reign and Religion in Palestine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lykke, Anne

    and the political messages they wished to communicate. As religion was a highly complex aspect of the Jewish interrelations with other cultures, the utilization of sacred iconography is not only a precise indicator of cultural-religious affiliation, but also of cultural-religious changes occurring in the Jewish...... political messages. Accordingly, the visual appearance of the coinage was subject to continuous alterations. In this book, the iconography of the Jewish coinage as a whole and especially its sacred content is examined in order to shed light on the identities of the issuing authorities, their motivation...

  5. Preservice Teachers and Religion: Serious Gaps in Religious Knowledge and the First Amendment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Melissa J.; Binkley, Russell; Daly, James K.

    2014-01-01

    Recognizing the influence of religion on people's worldview and daily lives, we wondered if elementary and secondary social studies preservice teachers knew enough about religions not only to be culturally responsive in a classroom but also whether they knew enough to teach about these religions within the appropriate curriculum. We used questions…

  6. First Handbooks on History of Religion and Comparative Religion Abroad

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barashkov Viktor

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the important aspects of institutionalization of the religious studies in 1870– 1910s was the publishing of the fi rst handbooks on history of religion and comparative religion. The aim of the paper is to analyze methods and approaches of religious studies, as they described in these handbooks. The main characteristic of religion for the historians of religion was its universality. The most important methods, according to them, were historical approach, comparative approach, using of the notion «development». It is important, that we deal foremost with the «history of religion» in these handbooks, not with the «history of religions». Primitive religions were usually excluded from these handbooks, because they «have not history». First handbooks on history of religion often were edited in the series of theological handbooks, that’s why Christianity was described in them quite often as «higher» religion. Researches on comparative religion were based upon the history of religion. One of the main principles of comparative religion was that it should not deal with religious values, but only with a comparison of facts. The author concludes that scholars of religion nowadays should not only collect the facts, but also realize projects on the general history (theory of religion.

  7. Are Religion or "Faith" Necessary for a Moral Sexual Ethos?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Marty

    2011-01-01

    Credit the editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education for inviting an article on whether religion or faith is necessary for a moral sexual ethos. Credit organized religion for creating a global cultural narrative in which this question would even be asked. Most articles answer a central question. This article challenges the central…

  8. Mediality and Materiality in the History of Religions. A Medieval Case Study about Religion and Gender in In-Between Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses possible terminologies for labelling historical materials. Drawing on the history of the city of Cairo around the 12th century – to the Fatimid era and to later Ayyubid times – it looks at the documents of three religions on religious infrastructure donated by women. This reveals women’s ability to shape the public sphere. At least to a certain extent, the segregation of the sexes and the concept of the harem are questionable. This topic requires the reconstruction and re-reading of fragmental materials. Methodological reflections are helpful for dealing with different sources, mostly combinations of texts and archaeology, embedded in the current debate about material culture and media as well as materialization and mediation. It might seem anachronistic, but to specify these categories it is useful to compare this example with a contemporary study by Mia Lövheim on female Internet bloggers. In both cases we find women as self-confident agents in public spaces.

  9. The relationship of religion, religiosity, and parental communication in the sexual behaviors of Filipinos aged 18-25 years in the United States and the Philippines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivy C. Tuason

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This cross-sectional survey research aims to explore and compare the relationship of religion, religiosity, and parental communication to the sexual behaviors of Filipinos aged 18-25 years in the United States and the Philippines. The Duke University Religion Index and Parent-Teen Sexual Risk Communication Scale-III was used to measure religiosity and parental communication. There were 130 participants living in the United States and 247 living in the Philippines included in this study. Among respondents from the Philippines, low levels of parental communication were associated with an increased report for the lack of condom use during the last intercourse. Catholics had a decreased likelihood of alcohol or illicit drug use before intercourse, having had multiple sex partners, and engaging in casual sex. Those who had low levels of religiosity were associated with reports of having had casual sex. Among the United States respondents, those who engaged in alcohol or illicit drug use before sexual intercourse were associated with decreased organizational religious activities. The findings of this study confirmed the need for comprehensive and culturally appropriate approaches to health promotion programs that incorporate religious and familial factors appropriate for Filipinos.

  10. Appropriating religion: understanding religion as an object of science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donald Wiebe

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the author focuses on the study of religion as a scientific project, for it is the scientific interest in religion which has constituted the grounds for admitting the study of religion into the curriculum of the modern Western university. Despite that academic legitimation, however, the study of religion in the setting of the modern research university is not held in high esteem relative to the other sciences. It if the scientific study of religion is to be legitimately ensconced in the modern research university, the notion of religion will have to be wholly appropriated by science; only then will we be able to establish a conceptual foundation from which to make valid knowledge claims about religion on a level commensurate with the pronouncements of the natural and social sciences. Indeed, to go one step further, given the hold on the concept of religion by those committed to the humanistic study of religion, we might need to talk here not of the appropriation but of expropriation of religion by science—that is, of wresting ownership of the concept from the humanists by using it solely as a taxonomic device to differentiate and explain a peculiar range of human behaviour demonstrated in religious practices.

  11. Das unsichtbare neue Zeitalter : "New Age", privatisierte Religion und kultisches Milieu

    OpenAIRE

    Knoblauch, Hubert

    1989-01-01

    As modernity is usually called disenchanted, new religious movements, New Age and occultism are taken to mark a u-turn in the social development of religion. They are regarded as indicators of a "postmodern" religion. It is suggested that these movements follow the pattern of the invisible religion observed by Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. They are syncretistic and individualistic as an "esoteric culture"; their structure, the "cultic milieu", can be characterized by a low degree of...

  12. The Role of Comparative Religion Curricula in Intra-Inter Civilizational Dialogue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibrahim, Haslina; Khambali @ Hambali, Khadijah Mohd; Sintang, Suraya; Senin, Nurhanisah; Shaharud-din, Suhaida; Ahmad, Mahmud; Nor, Mohd Roslan Mohd; Kadir, Nor Adina Abdul

    2013-01-01

    Comparative Religion is seen as an important curricula because it could serve as a mechanism for enhancing cross-cultural religious communication. The authors seek to examine the role of Comparative Religion as an important science for enhancing dialogue skills. Such a communication skill, however, must be developed from both intra- and…

  13. Cross-cultural dataset for the evolution of religion and morality project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purzycki, Benjamin Grant; Apicella, Coren; Atkinson, Quentin D; Cohen, Emma; McNamara, Rita Anne; Willard, Aiyana K; Xygalatas, Dimitris; Norenzayan, Ara; Henrich, Joseph

    2016-11-08

    A considerable body of research cross-culturally examines the evolution of religious traditions, beliefs and behaviors. The bulk of this research, however, draws from coded qualitative ethnographies rather than from standardized methods specifically designed to measure religious beliefs and behaviors. Psychological data sets that examine religious thought and behavior in controlled conditions tend to be disproportionately sampled from student populations. Some cross-national databases employ standardized methods at the individual level, but are primarily focused on fully market integrated, state-level societies. The Evolution of Religion and Morality Project sought to generate a data set that systematically probed individual level measures sampling across a wider range of human populations. The set includes data from behavioral economic experiments and detailed surveys of demographics, religious beliefs and practices, material security, and intergroup perceptions. This paper describes the methods and variables, briefly introduces the sites and sampling techniques, notes inconsistencies across sites, and provides some basic reporting for the data set.

  14. POST-RELIGION: TRADITIONALISTS’ ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirill M. Tovbin

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Aim of the study is to describe the phenomenon of post-religion as a specific spiritual sphere of the Post-modernity. Methodology. In the introduction analyzed a variety of methodological approaches, opening his inadequacy applied to the spiritual sphere of Post-modernity: «classic» religious studies, religious studies of traditional spiritual movements and the post-modern religious studies, partly produced Traditionalist school, could - according to the author's hypothesis - become a methodological basis for the most complete analysis of post-religion. Scientific novelty. In the main part of the article crystallized the authorized concept of post-religion, its relation with traditional and religious spiritual realms. Post-religion is positioned as the top of secularism enshrined in the departure from the straight and aggressive secularism of the Modernity, but without recourse to Tradition. Post-religion a simulation spirituality, skillfully imitating the outer areas of traditional spirituality and creates a planar religiosity, radically preventing attached to the vertical line of Traditions. In this regard, are the main artificially selected parameters of post-religion: deconstruction, splitting, virtualization, and collage. Deconstruction is a transformation of spirituality in semiotic set for egocentric selectivity of modern believer. Post-religion’s splitting is deprivation of spirituality center, destruction of sacral Center and the transformation of spirituality in the plane on which the intellectual and sensual wandering post-believer from one semiotic island to another. Virtualization is a displacement field of spiritual tension in a completely virtual area, isolated from the natural conditions of existence and created as his replacement, network discussion sites and galleries. Collage is an arbitrary combination of different semiotic pieces of Tradition with the aim of creating a believable picture of tradition; it is collage leads

  15. Appropriating religion: understanding religion as an object of science

    OpenAIRE

    Donald Wiebe

    1999-01-01

    In this paper, the author focuses on the study of religion as a scientific project, for it is the scientific interest in religion which has constituted the grounds for admitting the study of religion into the curriculum of the modern Western university. Despite that academic legitimation, however, the study of religion in the setting of the modern research university is not held in high esteem relative to the other sciences. It if the scientific study of religion is to be legitimately ensconc...

  16. Teaching religions in Indonesia Islamic Higher education: from comparative religion to Religious Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Media Zainul Bahri

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on how the study of Comparative Religion conducted in Indonesian Islamic higher institutions, i.e. on both UIN Yogyakarta and Jakartasince the beginning of the New Order (1960s to Reform era (2014. The focus of the study was on models/approaches and main issues. In general, for more than half a century, the comparative study of religion is not been done for academic purposes an sich. Just within the new last decade that theoretical studies of Comparative Religion began developed. Another important thing that the study of Comparative Religion in Indonesia, although mostly referring to the methodological sources of the West and the Middle East, but ithas always been associated with religious and cultural context of Indonesia.Therefore, the study on both UIN Yogyakarta and Jakarta always deliver courseson religions that live in Indonesia alongside with Indonesian contemporary issues. In the reform era, though still using Comparative Religion’s term, butit looks religious studies such as used in the West. Thus, its “form” or “clothes”is Comparative Religion but it is religious studies. Artikel ini fokus pada bagaimana studi Perbandingan Agama yang dilakukan di lembaga-lembaga pendidikan tinggi Islam Indonesia, yaitu pada UIN Yogyakarta dan Jakarta sejak awal Orde Baru (1960 Reformasi era (2014. Fokus penelitian adalah pada model/pendekatan dan isu-isu utama. Secara umum, selama lebih dari setengah abad, studi perbandingan agama tidak dilakukan untuk tujuan akademik an sich. Hanya dalam dekade terakhir studi teoritis Perbandingan Agama mulai dikembangkan. Hal lain yang penting bahwa studi Perbandingan Agama di Indonesia, meskipun sebagian besar mengacu padasumber-sumber metodologi Barat dan Timur Tengah, tetapi selalu dikaitkan dengan konteks agama dan budaya Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, penelitian pada kedua UIN Yogyakarta dan Jakarta selalu memberikan kursus tentang agamayang hidup di Indonesia bersama dengan isu

  17. Is Buddhism the low fertility religion of Asia?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vegard Skirbekk

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The influence of religion on demographic behaviors has been extensively studied mainly for Abrahamic religions. Although Buddhism is the world's fourth largest religion and is dominant in several Asian nations experiencing very low fertility, the impact of Buddhism on childbearing has received comparatively little research attention. Objective: This paper draws upon a variety of data sources in different countries in Asia in order to test our hypothesis that Buddhism is related to low fertility. Methods: Religious differentials in terms of period fertility in three nations (India, Cambodia and Nepal and cohort fertility in three case studies (Mongolia, Thailand and Japan are analyzed. The analyses are divided into two parts: descriptive and multivariate analyses. Results: Our results suggest that Buddhist affiliation tends to be negatively or not associated with childbearing outcomes, controlling for education, region of residence, age and marital status. Although the results vary between the highly diverse contextual and institutional settings investigated, we find evidence that Buddhist affiliation or devotion is not related to elevated fertility across these very different cultural settings. Conclusions: Across the highly diverse cultural and developmental contexts under which the different strains of Buddhism dominate, the effect of Buddhism is consistently negatively or insignificantly related to fertility. These findings stand in contrast to studies of Abrahamic religions that tend to identify a positive link between religiosity and fertility.

  18. La psychologie de la religion au regard de la psychologie culturelle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belzen, J.

    2011-01-01

    After clarifying what specific type of psychology the psychology of religion is, this paper introduces cultural psychology as a promising approach for research on religious phenomena. The paper distinguishes three variants in cultural psychology, reviews contemporary research in cultural psychology,

  19. Shortcomings of the Human Brain and Remedial Action by Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reich, K. Helmut

    2010-01-01

    There is no consensus as to whether, and if so, in which regard and to what extent science and religion is needed for human survival. Here a circumscribed domain is taken up: the sovereignty and sufficiency of the human brain in this context. Several of its shortcomings are pointed out. Religion and other aspects of culture are needed for remedial…

  20. RELIGION AND HUMANITIES: PRACTICING RELIGION WHILE CELEBRATING DIFFERENCES

    OpenAIRE

    Nur Syam

    2007-01-01

    Religion is a human phenomenon which often determines human behaviour. Apart from the divinity, religion is related to man and humanity. But man often differentiate between themselves on religious grounds and come into conflict in the name of religion although the root cause of such conflicts is social misunderstanding, crime or politics. This article examines the religious conflicts in Indonesia during the last two decades as had erupted in Poso, Ambon and Sambas and argues how religion had ...

  1. From Mystics to Modern Times: A History of Craniotomy & Religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, W Christopher; Chivukula, Srinivas; Grandhi, Ramesh

    2016-08-01

    Neurosurgical treatment of diseases dates back to prehistoric times and the trephination of skulls for various maladies. Throughout the evolution of trephination, surgery and religion have been intertwined to varying degrees, a relationship that has caused both stagnation and progress. From its mystical origins in prehistoric times to its scientific progress in ancient Egypt and its resurgence as a well-validated surgical technique in modern times, trephination has been a reflection of the cultural and religious times. Herein we present a brief history of trephination as it relates religion, culture, and the evolution of neurosurgery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Geology and religion in Portugal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carneiro, Ana; Simoes, Ana; Diogo, Maria Paula; Mota, Teresa Salomé

    2013-01-01

    This paper addresses the relationship between geology and religion in Portugal by focusing on three case studies of naturalists who produced original research and lived in different historical periods, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Whereas in non-peripheral European countries religious themes and even controversies between science and religion were dealt with by scientists and discussed in scientific communities, in Portugal the absence of a debate between science and religion within scientific and intellectual circles is particularly striking. From the historiographic point of view, in a country such as Portugal, where Roman Catholicism is part of the religious and cultural tradition, the influence of religion in all aspects of life has been either taken for granted by those less familiar with the national context or dismissed by local intellectuals, who do not see it as relevant to science. The situation is more complex than these dichotomies, rendering the study of this question particularly appealing from the historiographic point of view, geology being by its very nature a well-suited point from which to approach the theme. We argue that there is a long tradition of independence between science and religion, agnosticism and even atheism among local elites. Especially from the eighteenth century onwards, they are usually portrayed as enlightened minds who struggled against religious and political obscurantism. Religion—or, to be more precise, the Roman Catholic Church and its institutions—was usually identified with backwardness, whereas science was seen as the path to progress; consequently men of science usually dissociated their scientific production from religious belief.

  3. Religion or Citizenship? Beyond the Binary; Lessons after a Century of Disagreement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caride, Ezequiel Gomez

    2018-01-01

    This article describes how different approaches to religion (institutional and cultural) lead to startlingly different conclusions when analyzing how religion shapes the republican citizen. Through a genealogical discourse analysis, I examine educational reports issued by Argentinean authorities in the early twentieth century that made the Jew out…

  4. RELIGION, CULTURE AND LOCAL WISDOM IN THE DEATH RITUAL OF PONTIANAK MALAY SOCIETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumarman Muhammad Djar’ie

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Death is inevitable and will occur to every living creature, including humans no mater what religion or belief they have; however, no one knows for sure when it happens. Humans can only predict death based on indicators that can be seen before it occurs. Still until now, there are many people who attempt to oppose death, even though in the end they have to admit that Allah is the Almighty. Therefore, no wonder if the death is still considered a tragedy rather than the culmination of happiness when humans finally harvest of deeds they have done all their life. In this light, death rituals are often accompanied by the tears of the family of the deceased, even some cry hard to express their pain as someone they love is gone, coupled with the arrival of relatives and acquaintances who mourn, and condolences as well as the phrase “inna lillâh wa inna ilaihi raji’ȗn”. A day of joy has turned into a day of sorrow, although it always ends with kendurian (gathering for remembering the dead, whose excitement is like that of selamatan (communal feast and syukuran (celebration of thankfulness. This paper tries to present the infiltration of religion and culture in the death ritual in Pontianak Malay community as an object of discussion of local wisdom by using mafhȗm mukhâlafah approach, to provide a new understanding of the meaning of death.

  5. The Art of Pushkin Interpreted by Russian Religious Philosophers in the Context of the Problematic Interrelation of Philosophy, Literature and Religion in Russian Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktor Gidirinskiy

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Serious and profound reflection is needed when probing the problem of the manysided rapport between philosophy and the social-religious culture of Russia. In the first place, this entails an examination of the relationship between religion and literature. In this article, an attempt is made at defining the major methodological principles guiding such research. However, such an analysis demands concrete examples although the study of them may yield differing results. The author is sure of this basic principle having applied himself to the study of Pushkin, who would seem to be one of the best models for this type of research. Finally the author ends with his own question: What is the best method (reception, approach, the mechanics of study for discovering and elucidating the complicated interrelationship linking religion, philosophy, and literature in Russian culture?

  6. Diffused Religion and Prayer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Cipriani

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available It is quite likely that the origins of prayer are to be found in ancient mourning and bereavement rites. Primeval ritual prayer was codified and handed down socially to become a deep-rooted feature of people’s cultural behavior, so much so, that it may surface again several years later, in the face of death, danger, need, even in the case of relapse from faith and religious practice. Modes of prayer depend on religious experience, on relations between personal prayer and political action, between prayer and forgiveness, and between prayer and approaches to religions. Various forms of prayer exist, from the covert-hidden to the overt-manifest kind. How can they be investigated? How can one, for instance, explore mental prayer? These issues regard the canon of diffused religion and, therefore, of diffused prayer.

  7. Religion as a means to assure paternity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strassmann, Beverly I; Kurapati, Nikhil T; Hug, Brendan F; Burke, Erin E; Gillespie, Brenda W; Karafet, Tatiana M; Hammer, Michael F

    2012-06-19

    The sacred texts of five world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism) use similar belief systems to set limits on sexual behavior. We propose that this similarity is a shared cultural solution to a biological problem: namely male uncertainty over the paternity of offspring. Furthermore, we propose the hypothesis that religious practices that more strongly regulate female sexuality should be more successful at promoting paternity certainty. Using genetic data on 1,706 father-son pairs, we tested this hypothesis in a traditional African population in which multiple religions (Islam, Christianity, and indigenous) coexist in the same families and villages. We show that the indigenous religion enables males to achieve a significantly (P = 0.019) lower probability of cuckoldry (1.3% versus 2.9%) by enforcing the honest signaling of menstruation, but that all three religions share tenets aimed at the avoidance of extrapair copulation. Our findings provide evidence for high paternity certainty in a traditional African population, and they shed light on the reproductive agendas that underlie religious patriarchy.

  8. On the Origin of Ethics: is Ethics Dependent on Religion?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mindaugas Briedis

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the historical and intellectual linkage between two fundamental spheres of culturereligion and ethics. The theistic ethical perspective and its most radical “supranaturalistic” form are explored. On the other hand, the atheistic position is also revised and the notion of anti-theism is introduced. After that critical analysis is presented on a substantial question concerning the kind of relation between religion and ethics: subordination, assimilation, complementarity or opposition. This question, in turn, demands a careful observance of various religious and secular perspectives, concerning the sources of morality, and poses the problem of faith and knowledge in a new light. Ethical norms constitute crucial part of various religious doctrines and to a certain degree correlate with major shifts in the history of secular culture. However, are these historical and theoretical testimonies sufficient for maintaining that ethics depends on religion and if so, what kind of dependence is it? In the last part of the paper the author formulates a sketch of an answer to a major theoretical concern on the way of reconciling religion and ethics beyond subordination or assimilation. 

  9. Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Del Pozo, Pablo; Fins, Joseph J

    2005-07-01

    The globalization of medical science carries for doctors worldwide a correlative duty to deepen their understanding of patients' cultural contexts and religious backgrounds, in order to satisfy each as a unique individual. To become better informed, practitioners may turn to MedLine, but it is unclear whether the information found there is an accurate representation of culture and religion. To test MedLine's representation of this field, we chose the topic of death and dying in the three major monotheistic religions. We searched MedLine using PubMed in order to retrieve and thematically analyze full-length scholarly journal papers or case reports dealing with religious traditions and end-of-life care. Our search consisted of a string of words that included the most common denominations of the three religions, the standard heading terms used by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL), and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used by the National Library of Medicine. Eligible articles were limited to English-language papers with an abstract. We found that while a bibliographic search in MedLine on this topic produced instant results and some valuable literature, the aggregate reflected a selection bias. American writers were over-represented given the global prevalence of these religious traditions. Denominationally affiliated authors predominated in representing the Christian traditions. The Islamic tradition was under-represented. MedLine's capability to identify the most current, reliable and accurate information about purely scientific topics should not be assumed to be the same case when considering the interface of religion, culture and end-of-life care.

  10. The idea of Santa Claus in terms of Cognitive Sciences. Cultural persistence and interference with the Christian Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PhD. Paul SCARLAT

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The idea of Santa Claus is a universal one, which has been carried on for generations despite many obstacles. Although related to fantasy and imagination, he belongs to all cultures and for children he maintains a real presence. Cognitive Science examines the idea of this mysterious individual and brings clarification to his existence in society. Because this “superhero” plays a part in society, he needs a mental structure that can be imagined, a particular and specific cognitive structure. The study identifies the cognitive mechanisms by which the idea of Santa Claus is generated. The history of Santa has interfered with religion since ancient times. He is sometimes confused with religious figures. Cognitive Sciences as applied to religion seem to confirm the universality of religious beliefs and a certain similarity between the idea of Santa Claus and that of holy persons, such as St. Nicholas. However, there are opinions within this field of research that differentiate between the two areas: fantastic and religious.

  11. Towards a critique of indigenous African religion

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Test

    2010-10-09

    Oct 9, 2010 ... postcolonial theory may open for the future study of religion. He notes that: in more ... are those who view culture from a postmodern position of hybridity. ..... relativistic exercise, but a moral duty as explained earlier, to which (I ...

  12. Heaven can wait. How religion modulates temporal discounting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paglieri, Fabio; Borghi, Anna M; Colzato, Lorenza S; Hommel, Bernhard; Scorolli, Claudia

    2013-11-01

    Evidence suggests that religious systems have specific effects on attentional and action control processes. The present study investigated whether religions also modulate choices that involve higher-order knowledge and the delay of gratification in particular. We tested Dutch Calvinists, Italian Catholics, and Atheists from both countries/cultures using an intertemporal choice task where participants could choose between a small immediate and a larger delayed monetary reward. Based on the Calvinist theory of predestination and the Catholic concept of a cycle of sin-confession-expiation, we predicted a reduced delay tolerance, i.e., higher discount rate, for Italian Catholics than for Dutch Calvinists, and intermediate rates for the two atheist groups. Analyses of discount rates support our hypotheses. We also found a magnitude effect on temporal discounting and faster responses for large than for small rewards across religions and countries/cultures. We conclude that temporal discounting is specifically modulated by religious upbringing rather than by generic cultural differences.

  13. Kinesisk Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Esben; Nielsen, Klaus Bo

    Bogen Kinesisk Religion omhandler kongfuzianisme, daoisme, buddhisme, maoisme, folkereligion og nye religioner i ind- og udland. Den indeholder klassiske myter og magiske ritualer, historiske milepæle og moderne udfordringer, politisk religion og levende folkereligiøsitet. Bogen henvender sig...

  14. Active Physiology Learning in a Diverse Class: An Analysis of Medical Student Responses in Terms of Sex, Home Language, and Self-Reported Test Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higgins-Opitz, Susan B.; Tufts, Mark

    2012-01-01

    The student body at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) is very diverse, representing many cultures, religions, and languages. Research has shown that weakness in English can impact student performance. Recent studies have also highlighted sex-based differences in students' learning and listening styles. These factors pose both…

  15. Why do you hate me so much? An exploration of religious freedom from the perspective of African religion(s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sibusiso T. Masondo

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The advent of the 1996 constitution and the promotion of freedom of religion gave space to previously discriminated religious traditions to flourish. There have been a number of revivals of aspects of African Traditional Religion. The Bill of Rights guarantees Religious Freedom but tends to limit it to Freedom of belief. People have every right to believe and practice as long as their practice is in line with the law. This paper is a reflection on the difficulties posed by the notion of Religious Freedom as contained in the 1996 South African constitution for practitioners of African Indigenous Religions and other minority religions. In a case that captured the imagination of the legal fraternity, Gareth Prince, a practicing Rastafarian, was prevented from joining the Bar of the Western Cape because of a prior conviction of being caught in possession of dagga, an illegal substance. He argued that he used cannabis as part of his religious observance. Justice Ngcobo, in his judgement dismissing the case, made it very clear that ‘the right to freedom of religion is not absolute’. In other words, religious practices need to fall within the provisions of the law of the land. At the core of our argument is that the intellectual and cultural resources that were mobilised in writing the South African constitution failed to reflect on the religious practices of indigenous people and other minority religions.

  16. Religion: A Factor for Peace and Stability in Iraq

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Logid, Mark J

    2006-01-01

    .... The framework of religion's control of resources, interpersonal relationships, communications, and expertise in a given cultural milieu can be assets in the post-conflict and stability operations planning...

  17. Reporting of sex as a variable in cardiovascular studies using cultured cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taylor K

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Chromosomal complement, including that provided by the sex chromosomes, influences expression of proteins and molecular signaling in every cell. However, less than 50% of the scientific studies published in 2009 using experimental animals reported sex as a biological variable. Because every cell has a sex, we conducted a literature review to determine the extent to which sex is reported as a variable in cardiovascular studies on cultured cells. Methods Articles from 10 cardiovascular journals with high impact factors (Circulation, J Am Coll Cardiol, Eur Heart J, Circ Res, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, Cardiovasc Res, J Mol Cell Cardiol, Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, J Heart Lung Transplant and J Cardiovasc Pharmacol and published in 2010 were searched using terms 'cultured' and 'cells' in any order to determine if the sex of those cells was reported. Studies using established cell lines were excluded. Results Using two separate search strategies, we found that only 25 of 90 articles (28% and 20 of 101 articles (19.8% reported the sex of cells. Of those reporting the sex of cells, most (68.9%; n = 31 used only male cells and none used exclusively female cells. In studies reporting the sex of cells of cardiovascular origin, 40% used vascular smooth-muscle cells, and 30% used stem/progenitor cells. In studies using cells of human origin, 35% did not report the sex of those cells. None of the studies using neonatal cardiac myocytes reported the sex of those cells. Conclusions The complement of sex chromosomes in cells studied in culture has the potential to affect expression of proteins and 'mechanistic' signaling pathways. Therefore, consistent with scientific excellence, editorial policies should require reporting sex of cells used in in vitro experiments.

  18. Segregation in Religion Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Hu, Jiantao; Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zhou, Tao

    2018-01-01

    Religious beliefs could facilitate human cooperation [1-6], promote civic engagement [7-10], improve life satisfaction [11-13] and even boom economic development [14-16]. On the other side, some aspects of religion may lead to regional violence, intergroup conflict and moral prejudice against atheists [17-23]. Analogous to the separation of races [24], the religious segregation is a major ingredient resulting in increasing alienation, misunderstanding, cultural conflict and even violence amon...

  19. Fiktionsbaseret religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davidsen, Markus

    2010-01-01

    Jediismen er en ny religion, der bygger på George Lucas' Star Wars-film. Kernen i jediismen er medlemmernes identifikation med jedi-ridderne fra Star Wars, troen på, at Kraften eksisterer uden for det fiktive univers, samt rituel interaktion med Kraften. På baggrund af en analyse af syv jediistiske...... gruppers hjemmesider skitserer artiklen jediismens selvforståelse med fokus på selv-identifikation, læren om Kraften, praksis og etik samt forhandlingen af forholdet til Star Wars. Endvidere argumenteres for, hvorfor jediismen må fortolkes som en religion og ikke blot som et fanfænomen. Endelig foreslås...... kategorien 'fiktionsbaseret religion' introduceret i religionsvidenskaben som betegnelse for en række nye religioner baseret på 'fiktive religioner' indlejret i fiktionstekster....

  20. Traditional African Religion: A Resource Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garland, William E.

    This resource unit is based on research conducted by Lynn Mitchell and Ernest Valenzuela, experienced classroom teachers of African history and culture. The unit consists of an introduction by Mr. Garland and two major parts. Part I is an annotated bibliography of selected sources on various aspects of traditional African Religion useful in…

  1. Pensiero post-moderno e religione (Post-modern thought and religion - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2010v8n16p99

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Gilbert

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available L'articolo mette in evidenza le convergenze e differenze tra religione, pensiero moderno e postmoderno. Tutti i tre appartengono alle culture e le loro storie sociali, però questa convergenza non garantisce l'indentificazione delle loro prospettive. La religione si consente di fare affermazioni di relazione non razionabile, al di là delle condizioni sociali e culturali. Il pensiero, lo stesso se postmoderno, è invece d'ordine ideologico e autoreferenziale, inseparabile di concetti organizzati in una cultura particolare. La postmodernità, che intende liberarsi della prepotenza della razionalità moderna, potrebbe fornire un orizzonte di pensiero la cui appertura sembra stabilire un'alleanza con la religione. Ma alla fine si mostra insufficiente. Il postmoderno rimane ancora in una concezione sull'individuo nell'ambito dell'emozione di un esse in, un piano radicalmente distinto dell'esperienza religiosa autentica che ha la sua origine nell'interiorità personale, nell'affettività di un esse ad. Palavras-chave: Religione, ragione, pensiero postmoderno, modernità, cultura   Resumo  O artigo coloca em evidência as convergências e diferenças entre religião, pensamento moderno e pós-moderno. Todos eles pertencem às culturas e suas histórias sociais, porém tal convergência não garante a identificação de suas perspectivas. A religião se consente em fazer afirmações de relação não racional, para além das condições sociais e culturais. O pensamento, mesmo o pós-moderno, é, por sua vez, de ordem ideológica e autoreferencial, inseparável de conceitos organizados numa cultura particular. A pós-modernidade, que tem a intenção de se libertar da prepotência da racionalidade moderna, poderia oferecer um horizonte de pensamento cuja abertura parece estabelecer uma aliança com a religião. Mas, afinal de contas, se mostra insuficiente. O pós-moderno permanece ainda em uma concepção sobre o indivíduo no âmbito da emo

  2. Religion and Spirituality's Influences on HIV Syndemics Among MSM: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lassiter, Jonathan M; Parsons, Jeffrey T

    2016-02-01

    This paper presents a systematic review of the quantitative HIV research that assessed the relationships between religion, spirituality, HIV syndemics, and individual HIV syndemics-related health conditions (e.g. depression, substance abuse, HIV risk) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. No quantitative studies were found that assessed the relationships between HIV syndemics, religion, and spirituality. Nine studies, with 13 statistical analyses, were found that examined the relationships between individual HIV syndemics-related health conditions, religion, and spirituality. Among the 13 analyses, religion and spirituality were found to have mixed relationships with HIV syndemics-related health conditions (6 nonsignificant associations; 5 negative associations; 2 positive associations). Given the overall lack of inclusion of religion and spirituality in HIV syndemics research, a conceptual model that hypothesizes the potential interactions of religion and spirituality with HIV syndemics-related health conditions is presented. The implications of the model for MSM's health are outlined.

  3. Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fins Joseph J

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The globalization of medical science carries for doctors worldwide a correlative duty to deepen their understanding of patients' cultural contexts and religious backgrounds, in order to satisfy each as a unique individual. To become better informed, practitioners may turn to MedLine, but it is unclear whether the information found there is an accurate representation of culture and religion. To test MedLine's representation of this field, we chose the topic of death and dying in the three major monotheistic religions. Methods We searched MedLine using PubMed in order to retrieve and thematically analyze full-length scholarly journal papers or case reports dealing with religious traditions and end-of-life care. Our search consisted of a string of words that included the most common denominations of the three religions, the standard heading terms used by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL, and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH used by the National Library of Medicine. Eligible articles were limited to English-language papers with an abstract. Results We found that while a bibliographic search in MedLine on this topic produced instant results and some valuable literature, the aggregate reflected a selection bias. American writers were over-represented given the global prevalence of these religious traditions. Denominationally affiliated authors predominated in representing the Christian traditions. The Islamic tradition was under-represented. Conclusion MedLine's capability to identify the most current, reliable and accurate information about purely scientific topics should not be assumed to be the same case when considering the interface of religion, culture and end-of-life care.

  4. Religion, morality, evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloom, Paul

    2012-01-01

    How did religion evolve? What effect does religion have on our moral beliefs and moral actions? These questions are related, as some scholars propose that religion has evolved to enhance altruistic behavior toward members of one's group. I review here data from survey studies (both within and across countries), priming experiments, and correlational studies of the effects of religion on racial prejudice. I conclude that religion has powerfully good moral effects and powerfully bad moral effects, but these are due to aspects of religion that are shared by other human practices. There is surprisingly little evidence for a moral effect of specifically religious beliefs.

  5. Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is socially determined. Peter Berger's insight into the sociology of religion ...

  6. How Do Scientists Cross Cultural Borders Between Religion and Science: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barner, Chester A., III

    The cultures of science and religion have had different levels of conflict throughout the past several hundred years due in part to the development of the theory of evolution. Although many ideas abound in science education as to the alleviation of this struggle, few studies have examined how scientists who profess religious beliefs deal with this conflict. In general, the study sought to understand the cognitive dynamic of the cultural interaction between the scientific and religious culture within a few individuals. Specifically, the study allowed scientists to explain how they found a measure of compatibility between their faith and their scientific endeavors. Within the boundaries of both the general and specific purposes for the study, the following research question was used: How do college science professors describe the interaction between their faith and their scientific knowledge in reference to their transitioning between a naturalistic or scientific understanding and a super-naturalistic or religious understanding? Three theoretical lenses were used as backdrop to view the cultural interaction. World View (Kearney, 1984), Collateral Learning Theory (Jegede, 1995), and Faith Perspective in relation to the Stages of Faith Theory (Fowler, 1981) constituted the theoretical framework. Because of the qualitative nature of the research, the author used a modified naturalistic paradigm that stressed an emergent quality, grounded categorical design, and a modified case study written format that aided in the understanding of data generated through multiple qualitative methods. Three overlapping themes emerged within the data that offer new insights not only into the complex nature of the conflict but also into the ways scientists themselves find a reason to have faith as well as scientific knowledge. Boundaries based upon a philosophical and world view difference, conflict due to culturally integrative ideas, and cultural bridges without distortion made up the

  7. Cultural bias and liberal neutrality: reconsidering the relationship between religion and liberalism through the lens of the physician-assisted suicide debate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Robert P

    2002-01-01

    Liberals often view religion chiefly as "a problem" for democratic discourse in modern pluralistic societies and propose an allegedly neutral solution in the form of philosophical distinctions between "the right" and "the good" or populist invocations of a "right to choose." Drawing on cultural theory and ethnographic research among activists in the Oregon debates over the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, I demonstrate that liberal "neutrality" harbors its own cultural bias, flattens the complexity of public debates, and undermines liberalism's own commitments to equality. I conclude that the praiseworthy liberal goal of impartiality in policy decisions would best be met not by the inaccessible norm of neutrality but by a norm of inclusivity, which intentionally solicits multiple cultural perspectives.

  8. Elevers komplekse identitetskrav som utfordring i religions- og livssynsundervisning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tove Nicolaisen

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available In Religious Education (RE, religious identity is usually considered to be important. When the common mandatory Norwegian RE subject was implemented in 1997, an aim was to support the identities of the children, based on their background in a religious or secular tradition. In this article, I question this simplification concerning identity and explore whether intersectionality can be a more nuanced and empowering approach. Findings from a project about Hindu children’s experiences with RE in Norway indicate that the intersection of religion, culture, language, ethnicity, nationality and family is the focal point of children’s identity claims. I give examples of the children’s self-understandings and challenges. They rooted their self-understandings in the values of the transnational family, diasporic experiences and ethnicity. Religion was important as part of the family’s cultural luggage, which included strong ties to their countries of origin. In spite of this, in RE they were often labeled in accordance with their specific religious tradition. The article discusses how RE approaches to identity can avoid restricting identity to externally imposed categories, and instead being sensitive to the lived experiences of the children and their own identity claims. How can RE teaching meet children’s diverse and fluid identity claims and deal with religion as part of a complex cultural context?

  9. Between Politics and Religion – In Search of the Golden Mean

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pawel Tarasiewicz

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The author undertakes the problem of the identity of Western civilization in the light of a correlation between politics and religion. First, he traces the theoretical debates about the mutual correspondence of politics and religion in ancient Greece. Following two extreme errors depicted by Sophocles in his “Antigone,” and by Plato in his “Apology of Socrates,” he infers that the “Golden Mean” is necessary in resolving the problem of politics and religion. Then, he examines the underlying errors put forward in the history. His investigations show the erroneousness of endowing either politics or religion with sovereign status in culture. There is always a conflict between politics and religion unless man regains his own sovereignty from them. Ultimately the author arrives at the conclusion that the “Golden Mean” correlating politics and religion distinctly strengthens the identity of the Western Civilization, and consists in respecting all real and universal parameters of human person life, such as cognition, freedom (and responsibility, love, agency in law, ontological sovereignty, and religious dignity.

  10. Sociology of religion and the occult revival

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lennart Ejerfeldt

    1975-01-01

    Full Text Available The "new" that makes the cults of the occult revival to "new religions" of the Western world, is their recently increased social significance. Historically most of modern occultism is anything but new. From the research and theorizing about the occult revival we have picked up some main themes. The first is the social diffusion of the new occultism. In this field, we find some studies of superstition, especially astrology. These illuminate the differences in social connotation between the consumers of superstition and the followers of institutional religion. Secondly the study of the occult revival has made valuable contributions to the conceptualizing of "cult" and the cultic phenomenon. Thirdly, we will look upon the connection between the occult revival and the counter-culture. The problem of the rise of cults as a symptom of socio-cultural change will be briefly discussed with reference to Bell's thesis of "the disjuntion of culture and social structure". Lastly, we proffer some reflections on the occult revival and the new spiritual trends in the churches, which so sharply contrast with the theology and churchmanship of the sixties.

  11. (ReMaking a Difference. Religion, Mediatisation and Gender

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mia Lövheim

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This article presents and discusses how mediatisation as a theory can be used to analyse two commercial videos, one promoting the organisation Catholics Come Home and the other Coca Cola. A core question in the current debate on mediatisation and religion concerns if and how mediatisation changes not only the social forms of communication about religion but also the meaning of religion in society. The issue in focus for the analysis is whether these videos mirror attributes and roles traditionally associated with men and women within religious institutions or offer an alternative to these. By using gender as a lens, we can see that mediatisation challenges religious institutions to adapt their narratives and symbols to commercial media culture, but that also within this new setting some traditional female gender norms seem to remain or even become reinforced.

  12. Religion and Completed Suicide: a Meta-Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Andrew; Wang, Jing-Yu; Jia, Cun-Xian

    2015-01-01

    Suicide is a major public health concern and a leading cause of death around the world. How religion influences the risk of completed suicide in different settings across the world requires clarification in order to best inform suicide prevention strategies. A meta-analysis using search results from Pubmed and Web of Science databases was conducted following PRISMA protocol and using the keywords "religion" or "religious" or "religiosity" or "spiritual" or "spirituality" plus "suicide" or "suicidality" or "suicide attempt". Random and fixed effects models were used to generate pooled ORs and I2 values. Sub-analyses were conducted among the following categories: young age (Religion plays a protective role against suicide in a majority of settings where suicide research is conducted. However, this effect varies based on the cultural and religious context. Therefore, public health professionals need to strongly consider the current social and religious atmosphere of a given population when designing suicide prevention strategies.

  13. Performance of the Duke Religion Index and the spiritual well-being scale in online samples of men who have sex with men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkerson, J Michael; Smolensk, Derek J; Brady, Sonya S; Rosser, B R Simon

    2013-06-01

    Religiosity is associated with behaviors that reduce the risk of HIV/STI infection among general-population and heterosexual-specific samples. Whether this association is similar to homosexual persons is unknown. Measures of religiosity have not been evaluated psychometrically among men who have sex with men (MSM), a population who, because of stigma, experience religiosity differently than heterosexual persons. We assessed the duke religion index and the spiritual well-being in two samples of MSM. Neither instrument produced adequate model fit. To study the association between religiosity and HIV/STI risk behaviors among MSM, scales are needed that measure the religious and spiritual experiences of MSM.

  14. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2018-01-01

    Article on the different ways on which religion is relevant to discussions of discrimination and the normative issues this gives rise to.......Article on the different ways on which religion is relevant to discussions of discrimination and the normative issues this gives rise to....

  15. “Ancestors We Didn’t Even Know We Had”: Alice Walker, Asian Religion, and Ethnic Authenticity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyle Garton-Gundling

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Recent debates about the ethics of identity in a global age have dealt with how to prioritize conflicting local and global allegiances. Guided by these concerns, the fiction of Alice Walker develops a distinctive view of how local cultures and global movements can fruitfully interact. This vision depends on concepts from Asian religions, a major influence that critics of Walker have largely overlooked. Walker promotes Hindu and Buddhist meditation in a context of widespread African American skepticism toward Asian religions. According to widespread notions of cultural authenticity, Asian religions cannot nourish an African American connection to ethnic roots. In response to this challenge, Alice Walker’s fiction portrays Hindu and Buddhist mystics as African Americans’ ancestors, thus positioning these faiths as authentically black. By creatively enfolding Asian religions into her sense of African American heritage, Walker builds a spiritual cosmopolitanism that relies on claims of ancestral affiliation even when these claims are not literal. This strategy is Walker’s effort to create a new paradigm of cultural authenticity, one that allows individuals and groups to choose their ancestors. Walker’s approach seeks to incorporate disparate global influences while still valorizing the figure of the ancestor. This innovative approach places Walker at the forefront of a growing number of African American artists and intellectuals who promote Asian religions to American minorities. Walker’s work vividly dramatizes larger concerns in transnational American Studies: Eastern philosophy’s relevance to identity politics, the tensions between universal ideals and cultural specifics, and the ethics of cross-cultural appropriation.

  16. Religion and Spirituality’s Influences on HIV Syndemics Among MSM: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsons, Jeffrey T.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a systematic review of the quantitative HIV research that assessed the relationships between religion, spirituality, HIV syndemics, and individual HIV syndemics-related health conditions (e.g. depression, substance abuse, HIV risk) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. No quantitative studies were found that assessed the relationships between HIV syndemics, religion, and spirituality. Nine studies, with 13 statistical analyses, were found that examined the relationships between individual HIV syndemics-related health conditions, religion, and spirituality. Among the 13 analyses, religion and spirituality were found to have mixed relationships with HIV syndemics-related health conditions (6 nonsignificant associations; 5 negative associations; 2 positive associations). Given the overall lack of inclusion of religion and spirituality in HIV syndemics research, a conceptual model that hypothesizes the potential interactions of religion and spirituality with HIV syndemics-related health conditions is presented. The implications of the model for MSM’s health are outlined. PMID:26319130

  17. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Welz, Claudia

    2017-01-01

    In the world of Greek Comedy, the traditionally austere gods of Tragedy are lowered to fit the streets of Athens. Religion is omnipresent in comedy on many levels, and we find gods on stage, prayers and oaths performed, sacrifices narrated, festivals performed. Religion in comedy is generally...

  18. Danmark. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lausten, Martin Schwarz

    1991-01-01

    Danmarks kirkehistorie fra begyndelsen til nyere tid. Kirkehistorie, historie, folkekirke, religion......Danmarks kirkehistorie fra begyndelsen til nyere tid. Kirkehistorie, historie, folkekirke, religion...

  19. A Case Study of Social and Media Influence on Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emery, Miranda Dawn

    2011-01-01

    This paper seeks to understand different religions and cultures by comparing and contrasting the similarities, differences, and opinions found within two religious/cultural groups. This case study uses the Social Learning Theory of communication to illustrate how perceptions of others are formed in a community with a growing Muslim population. It…

  20. The mediatization of public sex cultures in the case of the hook-up app Grindr

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Kristian Møller

    The mediatization of public sex cultures in the case of the hook-up app Grindr Along with the normalisation of geo-locative dating and hook-up practices in mainstream publics – through apps like Tinder, Bumble and Happn – imaginations of sexual privacy and indeed publicness seem to be changing....... This paper focuses on the interplay between media and public sex cultures in the case of the Grindr app use in gay male intimacy cultures. Though gay men’s sex practices, vis-à-vis cruising, have historically been thoroughly mobile and mediated, the Internet has brought about new ways of accessing...... and becoming visible in such cultures (Hollister, 2002). Making oneself visible to the right public (and as importantly invisible to others), now occurs in relation to the affordance structure that apps like Grindr offer. The paper asks to what extend different gay, public sex cultures are shaped by Grindr...

  1. Las religiones y culturas de origen africano (Brasil, Cuba, Venezuela a prueba de políticas turísticas y rivalidades ¿ Un desarrollo sostenible ? Religions and cultures of African origin (Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela to test tourism policies and rivalries. A sustainable development? Religions et cultures d'origine africaine (Brésil, Cuba, Venezuela à l'épreuve des politiques touristiques et des rivalités. Un développement soutenable?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Montserrat Fitó

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Les religions1 d’origine africaine ont été transformées, au Brésil, à Cuba et plus récemment au Venezuela, en instruments pour augmenter la captation de devises, par le biais de programmes présentés par les autorités comme répondant aux normes du développement durable. Mais, tant le contrôle exercé sur ces manifestations culturelles, à des fins de commercialisation, que les rivalités engendrées entre pays, ou entre villes dans certains cas, mènent à une aliénation des acteurs de leur propre culture (après Guillermo Bonfill, contredisant la définition même de “développement durable”.The religions of African origin have been taken in Brazil, in Cuba and more recently in Venezuela as instruments to increase the inflow of currency, in tourism development programs presented by the authorities as sustainable. But the control exercised on them by the State organizations, with marketing purposes, as well as the rivalries between countries, as well as between cities of the same country in some cases, carry an alienation of the culture (according to Guillermo Bonfill's theory of cultural control, questioning the possibility of a balanced development, that is to say a sustainable development.Las religiones de origen africano han sido tomadas en Brasil, en Cuba y más recientemente en Venezuela como instrumento para incrementar la entrada de divisas, en programas de desarrollo del turismo presentados por las autoridades como sostenibles. Pero, tanto el control ejercido sobre ellas por los organismos oficiales, con fines de comercialización, como las rivalidades entre paises, así como en algún caso, entre ciudades de un mismo país, conllevan una enajenación de la cultura (según la teoría del control cultural de Guillermo Bonfill, cuestionando la posibilidad de un desarrollo equilibrado, es decir sostenible.

  2. Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tishken, Joel E.

    2000-01-01

    Offers background information on the formation of comparative religion. Demonstrates that the world religion approach is inadequate by examining case studies of Mithraism, Santeria, Mormonism, and Baha'i to illustrate the shortcomings of this approach. Advocates the use of an ethnic versus evangelical religion approach to teaching global…

  3. Differences in Religiousness in Opposite-Sex and Same-Sex Twins in a Secular Society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juel Ahrenfeldt, Linda; Lindahl-Jacobsen, Rune; Möller, Sören

    2016-01-01

    (RCOPE) for the assessment of positive and negative religious coping patterns. Differences between OS and SS twins were investigated using logistic regression for each sex. The analyses were adjusted for dependence within twin pairs. No significant differences in religiousness and religious coping were......Sex differences in religion are well known, with females generally being more religious than males, and shared environmental factors have been suggested to have a large influence on religiousness. Twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) pairs may differ because of a dissimilar psycho...

  4. Teaching World Religions without Teaching "World Religions"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Locklin, Reid B.; Tiemeier, Tracy; Vento, Johann M.

    2012-01-01

    Tomoko Masuzawa and a number of other contemporary scholars have recently problematized the categories of "religion" and "world religions" and, in some cases, called for its abandonment altogether as a discipline of scholarly study. In this collaborative essay, we respond to this critique by highlighting three attempts to teach…

  5. Understanding the anatomy of religion as basis for religion in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article sprung from previous structural analyses of religion as onticity, but went somewhat further by placing more emphasis on encounters with the numinous as the core of religion, as well as on the dynamic character of religion. In doing so, this analysis methodologically transcended the limitations of a structuralist ...

  6. Review of Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Joseph Coleman III

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available 'Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict', presents an empirically grounded rational reconstruction detailing the role that belief in “big gods” (i.e., omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent gods has played in the formation of society from a cultural-evolutionary perspective. Ara Norenzayan’s primary thesis is neatly summed up in the title of the book: religion has historically served—and perhaps still serves—as a building block and maintenance system in societies around the world.

  7. Algumas notas sobre religião e cultura de consumo (Some notes on religion and consumer culture - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2010v8n17p146

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Léa Freitas Perez

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available O texto trata do lugar da religião na sociedade contemporânea a partir da reflexão sobre as relações entre o sagrado e a cultura do consumo, campo pleno de atualidade e que remete ao clássico tema das relações entre religião e modernidade. Parte da constatação da existência, na sociedade contemporânea, de uma ampla e variada plêiade de expressões/modulações religiosas e, na companhia de Featherstone, de Derrida e de Vattimo, entre outros, questiona a doxa corrente sobre religião, propondo outra via de entendimento do sagrado na contemporaneidade, segundo a qual o sagrado, em plena sintonia com o espírito da época, possibilita experiências lúdicas, hedonistas e hibridizantes, pois que se acomoda ao mercado de consumo, ao lado de outros complexos significativos. Conclui com a ideia de que a religião continua a atuar sobre a vida, a ser fonte de sentido e de experiência, mas não necessariamente sob a forma exclusiva da religião institucional e tradicional, indicando a necessidade de, num plano eminentemente conceitual - para que compreendamos de um modo mais acurado e aprofundado a cultura contemporânea e o lugar que nela cabe à religião -, repensar nossas definições usuais de cultura e de religião, considerando sua ancoragem epistêmica. Palavras-chave: Religião; Cultura de consumo; Sagrado; Contemporaneidade; Pós-modernidade; Episteme   Abstract The text deals with the role of religion in contemporary society from the reflection of the relationship between the sacred and the consumer culture, a current field that refers to the classic theme of the relationship between religion and modernity. It starts with the verification of the existence in contemporary society of a diverse and broad constellation of religious expressions/modulations, from which, and in the company of Featherstone, of Derrida and Vattimo, among others, it questions the current understanding about religion, suggesting another route to

  8. The relationship between religion and mental disorders in a Korean population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Jong-Ik; Hong, Jin Pyo; Park, Subin; Cho, Maeng-Je

    2012-03-01

    The question of whether religion has beneficial or detrimental effects on the mental well-being of the adult individual is debatable. Because most Korean citizens are free to select their own religion, there is a higher proportion of non-believers than believers among the Korean population. The aim of this research was to investigate the association between spiritual values and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition mental disorders in Korea across all types of belief systems, including Koreans not affiliated with a particular religion. The Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1 was used to interview 6,275 people across South Korea in 2001. While controlling for age and sex, we used logistic regression to analyze the relationship between mental disorders (both current and past) and the types of religion and spiritual values. Strong spiritual values were positively associated with increased rates of current depressive disorder and decreased rates of current alcohol use disorder. Using "atheist" as the reference category, Catholics had higher lifetime odds of single episodes of depression whilst Protestants had higher lifetime odds of anxiety disorder and lower lifetime odds of alcohol use disorders. The results of this study suggest that depressive episodes often lead to a search for spirituality and that religion may be helpful in overcoming depression or becoming less vulnerable to relapsing. The associations between religion, spiritual values, and mental health have not been fully elucidated and warrant further exploration.

  9. ‘Things Greater than Thou’: Post-Apocalyptic Religion in Games

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lars de Wildt

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In the literature on religion in games, two broad types of religion have been depicted: on the one hand, historical religions—Christian, Muslim and Buddhist narratives, tropes and symbols—and, on the other hand, fiction-based religion, referring to fantasy, myth and popular culture. In this article we aim to describe, analyze and explain the emergence of a new, unacknowledged repertoire. Building on two case studies—Fallout 3 and Horizon: Zero Dawn—we argue that modern technology (computers, AI, VR, androids itself is becoming a sacred object of veneration in fiction, specifically in post-apocalyptic games that imagine man-made annihilation. Although the themes and topics differ, this emergent form of techno-religion in game narratives is generally located in a post-apocalyptic setting. Although they are fictitious, we conclude that such narratives reflect developments in real life, in which technology such as artificial intelligence is feared as an increasingly powerful, opaque force.

  10. Re-envisioning the sites and sights of the late twentieth century study of religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosalind I. J. Hackett

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the author shares some of the findings, observations, and stimulating insights from colleagues and students gathered during visits to various parts of the world.The academic study of religion must now encompass more than it has done until now the effects of modern media and communications technologies, global consumption patterns, cultural mobility, and changing geo-political configurations. Scholars of religion are are being outpaced by these developments, whether because of the limitations of vision, or the shortsightedness of theoretical lenses.' The argument is that sites such as art, the media, Internet, outer space, diasporas, global culture, nature, and the public space deserve critical attention - not just for reasons of content, but because these new or neglected sites offer a potential challenge to our categories and concepts. Focus has to be shifted increasingly from bounded local cultures to transnational cultural flows and the significance of place has to be reexamined. This paper has suggests a number of pathways that are deserving of more exploration by scholars of religion. What we choose to include or exclude from our gaze affects the nature of our discourse(s through and through. The whole business of "seeing" is integral to both the academic enterprise as well as the political economy of the academic study of religion. This paper highlights some of the exciting new areas that face us as students of religious ideas and phenomena, and point to their methodological implications.

  11. Ritualistics: a New Discipline in the History of Religions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jørgen Podemann Sørensen

    1993-01-01

    Full Text Available The history of Religions is in need of subdisciplines. Those that it has are mostly derived from other academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, or, to mention a more recent invention, aesthetics. Interdisciplinary studies are in many ways a characteristic, inherent feature of the humanities, and certainly not to be resented or mistrusted. It is, however, worth noticing that the History of Religions has only one discipline entirely of its own: a comparative, cross-cultural, religio-specific discipline sometimes called the phenomenology of religion. The study of ritual is more than just the study of a very broad. It is with a view to the further exploration of the way meaning and form are put to work in ritual, and the way ritual determines and conditions the form of representations, that ritualistics can be suggested as a new discipline.

  12. Perceptions of the Religion--Health Connection among African Americans in the Southeastern United States: Sex, Age, and Urban/Rural Differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holt, Cheryl L.; Schulz, Emily; Wynn, Theresa A.

    2009-01-01

    Extensive literature reviews suggest that religiousness is positively associated with health. Much less understood is the particular nature of the religion-health connection. Religion and the church play a central role in the lives of many African Americans. This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine perceptions of the religion-health…

  13. Computing Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielbo, Kristoffer Laigaard; Braxton, Donald M.; Upal, Afzal

    2012-01-01

    The computational approach has become an invaluable tool in many fields that are directly relevant to research in religious phenomena. Yet the use of computational tools is almost absent in the study of religion. Given that religion is a cluster of interrelated phenomena and that research...... concerning these phenomena should strive for multilevel analysis, this article argues that the computational approach offers new methodological and theoretical opportunities to the study of religion. We argue that the computational approach offers 1.) an intermediary step between any theoretical construct...... and its targeted empirical space and 2.) a new kind of data which allows the researcher to observe abstract constructs, estimate likely outcomes, and optimize empirical designs. Because sophisticated mulitilevel research is a collaborative project we also seek to introduce to scholars of religion some...

  14. Gender Differences in the Association Between Religion/Spirituality and Simultaneous Polysubstance Use (SPU).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acheampong, Abenaa B; Lasopa, Sonam; Striley, Catherine W; Cottler, Linda B

    2016-10-01

    While religion/spirituality strongly protects against drug use (Cheney et al. in J Drug Issues 44(1):94-113, 2014), little is known about gender differences in the association of religion/spirituality on simultaneous polysubstance use (SPU) among those who use prescription opioids. Data come from a community-based study that recruited community members from the St Louis area (N = 632). Participants were asked whether they used prescription opioids when not prescribed for them or in ways other than prescribed in the past 12 months. Religion/spirituality was categorized as high, medium, or low based on personal views on the importance of religion and spirituality, attendance at religious services, and advice seeking from religious leaders. SPU was defined as non-medical use of opioids simultaneously with use of cocaine, alcohol, ecstasy, or marijuana. Multivariate logistic regression determined the association between religion/spirituality, demographic variables, and SPU. Men with high levels of religion/spirituality had 63 % decreased odds of SPU compared with men with low levels. Other variables associated with SPU in men were four or more arrests (AOR 2.21), multiple sex partners (AOR 2.11), and opioid use without a prescription (AOR 3.04). Women with high or medium levels of religion/spirituality had 58 and 62 % decreased odds of SPU compared with women with low levels. Variables that predicted SPU in women also included 4+ arrests (AOR 5.00) and never being married (AOR 2.13). Being African-American was associated with decreased odds of SPU in women (AOR 0.32). Overall, a high level of religion/spirituality was associated with lower odds of SPU. Gender differences in this association were evident, whereas women with even a medium level of religion/spirituality had significantly decreased odds of SPU. Future drug prevention and interventions should consider the relevance of religion/spirituality in SPU.

  15. Religion and cognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2008-01-01

    This is an introductory article in a special issue of a bulletin for researchers and teachers in religion in the USA. The article sketches the main positions and recent trends in the cognitive science of religion, and it attempts to attract scholars of religion to this field. It also profiles...

  16. Using Relational-Cultural Theory to Conceptualize Couple Interventions in the Treatment of Sex Addiction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, Joanne E.

    2007-01-01

    Sex addictions have become an increasing concern since the growth of the sex industry, sex in advertising, and the ease of Internet access to sex. This article uses the foundational principles of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) to conceptualize sexual addiction and its relational impact. Particular attention is paid to the principles of…

  17. Brain, body and culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2010-01-01

    This essay sketches out a biocultural theory of religion which is based on an expanded view of cognition that is anchored in brain and body (embrained and embodied), deeply dependent on culture (enculturated) and extended and distributed beyond the borders of individual brains. Such an approach...... uniquely accommodates contemporary cultural and neurobiological sciences. Since the challenge that the study of religion faces, in my opinion, is at the interstices of these sciences, I have tried to develop a theory of religion which acknowledges the fact. My hope is that the theory can be of use...

  18. Sex selection abortion in Kazakhstan: understanding a cultural justification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooley, Dennis; Chesnokova, Irina

    2011-12-01

    The topic of abortion has been extensively researched, and the research has produced a large number of arguments and discussions. Missing in the literature, however, are discussions of practices in some areas of the Developing or Third World. In this paper, we examine the morality of sex selection abortions in Kazakhstan's Kazakh culture, and argue that such abortions can be ethically justified based, in part, on the unique perspectives of Kazakh culture. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  19. jo adetolu-ft 3 2 2014-religion postmodernism and postmodern

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    JONATHAN

    Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions ..... on the side of African political leaders and elites that globalization is “in essence ... religious worldview and the lived experiences of the Africans (NKWOKA 2007,.

  20. Laborde’s religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2018-01-01

    Cécile Laborde’s Liberalism’s Religion proposes liberal principles to address political controversies over religion. One is the public reason requirement that reasons for state policies should be accessible. Another is the civic inclusiveness requirement according to which symbolic religious...... establishment is wrong when it communicates that religious identity is a component of civic identity. A third is the claim that liberal states have meta-jurisdictional authority to settle the boundary between what counts as religion and what counts as non-religion. The article considers whether Laborde has...... managed to articulate these three principles in a way that is operationalisable and can serve to provide solutions to practical controversies over religion. It is argued that Laborde’s formulations leave important issues open, and some ways of settling these issues are considered....

  1. The Emergence of Sex Differences in Personality Traits in Early Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional, Cross-Cultural Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Bolle, Marleen; De Fruyt, Filip; McCrae, Robert R.; Löckenhoff, Corinna E.; Costa, Paul T.; Aguilar-Vafaie, Maria E.; Ahn, Chang-kyu; Ahn, Hyun-nie; Alcalay, Lidia; Allik, Jüri; Avdeyeva, Tatyana V.; Bratko, Denis; Brunner-Sciarra, Marina; Cain, Thomas R.; Chan, Wayne; Chittcharat, Niyada; Crawford, Jarret T.; Fehr, Ryan; Ficková, Emília; Gelfand, Michele J.; Graf, Sylvie; Gülgöz, Sami; Hřebíčková, Martina; Jussim, Lee; Klinkosz, Waldemar; Knežević, Goran; de Figueroa, Nora Leibovich; Lima, Margarida P.; Martin, Thomas A.; Marušić, Iris; Mastor, Khairul Anwar; Nakazato, Katsuharu; Nansubuga, Florence; Porrata, Jose; Purić, Danka; Realo, Anu; Reátegui, Norma; Rolland, Jean-Pierre; Schmidt, Vanina; Sekowski, Andrzej; Shakespeare-Finch, Jane; Shimonaka, Yoshiko; Simonetti, Franco; Siuta, Jerzy; Szmigielska, Barbara; Vanno, Vitanya; Wang, Lei; Yik, Michelle; Terracciano, Antonio

    2015-01-01

    Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3, McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850) and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents’ personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (1) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge towards adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (2) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (3) the emergence of sex differences was similar across culture. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. PMID:25603371

  2. Beliefs about appropriate pain behavior: cross-cultural and sex differences between Japanese and Euro-Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobara, Mieko

    2005-08-01

    The Appropriate Pain Behavior Questionnaire (APBQ) was employed to examine the effects of the participants' sex and culture on their beliefs regarding gender-appropriate pain behavior. The APBQ examines beliefs about the social acceptability to male and female participants of the behavioral and verbal expressions of pain by men and women (referents) in the presence of others [Nayak, S., 2000. Cross Cult Research 34, 135-151]. The participants were 18 male and 14 female Japanese, and 11 male and 21 female Euro-Americans. There was a significant effect of sex: female participants considered pain behaviors more acceptable than male participants. There was a significant effect of culture: compared to both male and female Japanese, Euro-American participants rated pain behaviors in both sexes to be more acceptable. There was also a significant effect of referent gender: for both sexes in both cultures, pain behaviors in women were rated as more acceptable than in men. Furthermore, a significant interaction was found between referent gender and sex of the participant: Male and female participants of both cultures were equally accepting of pain behaviors in women, but male participants were less accepting of pain behaviors in men than in women. There also was a significant interaction between referent gender and culture of the participant: Japanese participants considered pain behavior in both genders to be less acceptable than did Americans. The results are explained in terms of cultural traditions and social roles, and have clear implications for clinical treatment and diagnosis.

  3. The Limitation of Truth-Semantics in the Understanding of Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albinus, Lars

    2015-01-01

    While this article salutes attempts to use Donald Davidson’s principles of radical interpretation in the study of religion in order to avoid the pitfalls of correspondence theory of truth, on the one hand, and cultural relativism, on the other, it suggests that an adequate understanding of religion......’s skepticism towards universal criteria of rationality borders on relativism, he is justified in focusing more radically—along with Robert Brandom—on pragmatic and situational criteria of meaning. Finally, drawing on Wittgenstein’s concept of “perspicuous representation” I suggest an alternate way of coming...

  4. Relationships between Religion, Collectivism, Individualism and Satisfaction with Life

    OpenAIRE

    Benn, Carola

    2012-01-01

    Abstract Religious belief and socio-cultural perspectives of Collectivism and Individualism are influential aspects of our perception of the world. Research has considered differences across groups, cultures and nations. Objectives: This study looks at whether there is a relationship between religion and Collectivism on the individual level. It further looks at correlations of Collectivism with satisfaction with life. Methods: A sample of 109 participants consisting of students and their ...

  5. Dismantling reified African culture through localised homosexualities in Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyanzi, Stella

    2013-01-01

    Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 aimed at protecting the cherished culture of the people against emergent threats to the traditional heterosexual family. The Bill's justification, however, lay in myopic imaginings of a homogenous African-ness and pedestrian oblivion to pluralities within African sexualities. This paper revisits the debate that homosexuality is 'un-African'. Rhetoric analysis of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill exposes how dominant discourses of law, medicine, religion, geography and culture reinforce the view that homosexuality is foreign to Africa. Based on ethnography in contemporary Uganda, I explore how self-identified same-sex-loving individuals simultaneously claim their African-ness and their homosexuality. Their strategies include ethnic belonging, membership to kinship structures, making connections with pre-colonial histories of homosexuality, civic participation in democratic processes, national identity, organising of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning support groups, language and nomenclature, visibility and voice in local communal activities, solidarity and adherence to cultural rituals. In present-day Uganda, same-sex-loving men, women and transgender people variously assert their African-ness.

  6. Hermeneutic phenomenological multiple case study of the cultural references of elementary teachers and the place of fundamentalist Southern Baptist religion in teaching science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Susan Elizabeth Shelton

    It has been said, "The two greatest forces in human history are science and religion" (Schachter-Shalomi & Smith, 1999, p. 220). It is those forces and their influence on science teaching that motivated the focus of this study to explore the cultural referents of elementary teachers and the place of fundamentalist Southern Baptist religious beliefs in teaching elementary science. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological framework, multiple case study method was used to interpret the individual consciousness and classroom lived experiences of three elementary teachers. The particularities surrounding elementary science instruction by devout Southern Baptist teachers was explored through several data sources, which included: personal interactions with the teachers, classroom observations, journaling, and interviews (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2003). Insights gained from this study indicate that the religious component of the culture of elementary teachers affects science teaching and learning. In Alabama, Southern Baptist beliefs influence both the public and private lives of educators. Replicated themes revealed the following themes: (a) a lack of concern for occasionally mentioning God in class due to the conservatively religious nature of Southern culture, (b) the teachers' beliefs affected classroom instruction and student interaction, (c) a commitment to science teaching in the context of the elementary classrooms, and (d) the teachers' as mediators. In addition, the theoretical framework provided an awareness of how the lives of the three educators could yield replicated themes. Indications are for a better understanding of how religion, as part of culture, influences science classroom instruction, including teacher education programs and aspects of science teaching and learning.

  7. Childhood Exposure to Religions With High Prevalence of Members Who Discourage Homosexuality Is Associated With Adult HIV Risk Behaviors and HIV Infection in Black Men Who Have Sex With Men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, LaRon E.; Wilton, Leo; Zhang, Nanhua; Regan, Rotrease; Thach, Chia T.; Dyer, Typhanye V.; Kushwaha, Sameer; Sanders, Rev. Edwin C.; Ndoye, Omar; Mayer, Kenneth H.

    2016-01-01

    Exposure to childhood religious affiliations where the majority of members discourage homosexuality may have negative psychological impacts for Black men who have sex with men. This study tested the hypothesis that exposures to these environments during childhood were associated with adulthood human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) behavioral risk and HIV infection, because these exposures influenced HIV/STI risk by undermining race/sexual identity congruence and increasing internalized homophobia and interpersonal anxiety. Structural equation modeling as well as logistic and Poisson regressions were performed using baseline data from HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 (N = 1,553). Childhood religion affiliations that were more discouraging of homosexuality were associated with increased likelihood of HIV infection; however, the association was no longer significant after adjusting for age, income, and education. Having a childhood religion affiliation with high prevalence of beliefs discouraging homosexuality was associated with increased numbers of sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio = 4.31; 95% confidence interval [3.76, 4.94], p < .01). The hypothesized path model was largely supported and accounted for 37% of the variance in HIV infection; however, interpersonal anxiety was not associated with HIV/STI risk behaviors. Structural interventions are needed that focus on developing affirming theologies in religious institutions with Black men who have sex with men congregants. PMID:26758708

  8. Childhood Exposure to Religions With High Prevalence of Members Who Discourage Homosexuality Is Associated With Adult HIV Risk Behaviors and HIV Infection in Black Men Who Have Sex With Men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, LaRon E; Wilton, Leo; Zhang, Nanhua; Regan, Rotrease; Thach, Chia T; Dyer, Typhanye V; Kushwaha, Sameer; Sanders, Rev Edwin C; Ndoye, Omar; Mayer, Kenneth H

    2017-09-01

    Exposure to childhood religious affiliations where the majority of members discourage homosexuality may have negative psychological impacts for Black men who have sex with men. This study tested the hypothesis that exposures to these environments during childhood were associated with adulthood human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) behavioral risk and HIV infection, because these exposures influenced HIV/STI risk by undermining race/sexual identity congruence and increasing internalized homophobia and interpersonal anxiety. Structural equation modeling as well as logistic and Poisson regressions were performed using baseline data from HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 ( N = 1,553). Childhood religion affiliations that were more discouraging of homosexuality were associated with increased likelihood of HIV infection; however, the association was no longer significant after adjusting for age, income, and education. Having a childhood religion affiliation with high prevalence of beliefs discouraging homosexuality was associated with increased numbers of sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio = 4.31; 95% confidence interval [3.76, 4.94], p < .01). The hypothesized path model was largely supported and accounted for 37% of the variance in HIV infection; however, interpersonal anxiety was not associated with HIV/STI risk behaviors. Structural interventions are needed that focus on developing affirming theologies in religious institutions with Black men who have sex with men congregants.

  9. Sekularisering og religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Kirsten Margrethe

    2015-01-01

    Sammendrag: Sekularisering og religion: En studie i fortællingens nøglerolle i folkeskolens religionsundervisning Kirsten M. Andersen Ph.d. afhandling, indleveret ved institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik, Aarhus Universitet, d. 23. oktober 2014 Indledning Afhandlingens sigte er at bidrage til en...... fortsat udvikling af religionsundervisningen i skolen ud fra en almen pædagogisk interesse. Skolen har sit eget formål og derfor må religion ombrydes, så den gøres pædagogisk. Religionshistorisk, religionssociologisk og antropologisk opfattes religion og kultur i et kontinuum. Det betyder, at religion...... fænomenologiske overvejelser over, hvorfor filosofien har behov for at formulere en religionshermeneutik med henblik på en almen pædagogisk begrundelse for skolens religionsundervisning. I Del: Kap. 2: Afhandlingen indledes med at indkredse og definere både religion og sekularisering som kulturelle og kollektive...

  10. STATE LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaka Firma Aditya

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The government is perceived as the main perpetrator on violations of freedom of religion and belief in Indonesia. As the state organizer, the government frequently issues discriminatory regulations and policies and tend to cause intolerance to minority religions and beliefs, particularly to indigenous peoples. While freedom of religion or belief is a constitutional rights that cannot be reduced and is guaranteed universally in constitution and laws, the law provides limitation that causes ambiguity in the fulfillment of the rights of religion and belief. In addition, the government mindset still adheres to the term of "official religion" and "non-official religion" in any policy-making, causing adherents of minority religions and beliefs to be considered as cultural heritage to be preserved. This creates injustice, discrimination, intimidation and intolerance in rights fulfillment in state and society life. This paper discusses the existence of the guarantee of freedom of religion and belief for indigenous people and state liability for violations of freedom of religion and belief. This research used normative juridical method with statute approach and conceptual approach.

  11. The return of religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Griffioen

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Religion is back in Philosophy as a respectable subject. Part 1 first charts what MacIntyre, Taylor and Derrida have meant in this regard. Subsequently, it turns to the Enlightenment to determine what constituted the breakthrough. It is found that even where the Enlightenment gave maximum room to religion i.e. as a civic religion and as “religion of the heart” it still excluded a constitutive relation to a transcendent revelation. Part 2 centres on the religion-faith distinction in reformational philosophy. Similar to the Enlightenment, religion is understood as part of human nature. However, human nature itself is conceived as intrinsically religious and depending for its light on revelation. Secondly, “religion” in this context also encompasses idols and religious substitutes. Thus, it directs attention to shopping malls, football stadiums, health policy, et cetera, as possible contexts of a return of religion. Examples show that this has become a popular approach. However, most of the publications surveyed fail to distinguish between an “analogical” and a “pistically qualified” use of religion, and are open to exaggerations (the shopping mall and football stadiums as temples, etc.. At this junction, the relevance is shown of the religion-faith distinction as well as of Elaine Botha’s theory of metaphors. The epilogue offers an integration of parts one and two.

  12. Talking Religion: Religious Diversity in Study Abroad Advising

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, Timothy Lynn; Romito, Lorien

    2018-01-01

    Students studying at US institutions of higher education come from a broad range of religious and non-religious traditions. Yet religion is often a "no go" topic of discussion within the American cultural context and educators frequently lack the training to engage in productive conversations about this aspect of students' identities.…

  13. The emergence of sex differences in personality traits in early adolescence: A cross-sectional, cross-cultural study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Bolle, Marleen; De Fruyt, Filip; McCrae, Robert R; Löckenhoff, Corinna E; Costa, Paul T; Aguilar-Vafaie, Maria E; Ahn, Chang-Kyu; Ahn, Hyun-Nie; Alcalay, Lidia; Allik, Jüri; Avdeyeva, Tatyana V; Bratko, Denis; Brunner-Sciarra, Marina; Cain, Thomas R; Chan, Wayne; Chittcharat, Niyada; Crawford, Jarret T; Fehr, Ryan; Ficková, Emília; Gelfand, Michele J; Graf, Sylvie; Gülgöz, Sami; Hřebíčková, Martina; Jussim, Lee; Klinkosz, Waldemar; Knežević, Goran; Leibovich de Figueroa, Nora; Lima, Margarida P; Martin, Thomas A; Marušić, Iris; Mastor, Khairul Anwar; Nakazato, Katsuharu; Nansubuga, Florence; Porrata, Jose; Purić, Danka; Realo, Anu; Reátegui, Norma; Rolland, Jean-Pierre; Schmidt, Vanina; Sekowski, Andrzej; Shakespeare-Finch, Jane; Shimonaka, Yoshiko; Simonetti, Franco; Siuta, Jerzy; Szmigielska, Barbara; Vanno, Vitanya; Wang, Lei; Yik, Michelle; Terracciano, Antonio

    2015-01-01

    Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. Religion and Gender Roles in Africa: A Case Study of Religion and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Gender roles are the apportioning of certain roles to a particular sex by society. This is quite different from gender disparity which promotes the ideology that one sex is better than the other. They are gender ideologies which can be deconstructed. In some primal cultures however, they were imbued with religious undertones ...

  15. Religion of the Tangkhul Naga in North-East India: Continuity and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    includes cultural ecology, religion, research methodology and tribal studies. Amity Institute of ... when Western missionaries brought the gospel of Jesus. The article ... consistently in that sense throughout his work (Frazer 1932: 224). According ...

  16. From the History of Religions to the Study of Religion in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Tim; Geertz, Armin W.

    2014-01-01

    The history of the academic study of religion in Denmark resembles developments in other Nordic and European countries as it has moved from a primarily historical-philological and comparative ‘history of religions’ towards a broader ‘study of religion(s)’ that includes history of religions together...

  17. How to eat: 1 vegetarianism, religion and law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irma Kroeze

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The approach of Critical Legal Studies that law is a cultural artefact that can be criticised is taken as point of departure in this paper. This insight is applied to food as a very important cultural artefact that permeates virtually every aspect of our personal and social lives. The paper then examines three types of restrictive diets, namely Kosher food production, halal food rules and vegetarianism. From this study it concludes that all three perform a vital social function of providing adherents with a unifying and identifying set of rules to foster social coherence. But it also provides adherents with a strong moral foundation that serves to justify a sense of moral superiority. Most importantly, all three these diets rest on a modernist view of morality in which absolute, unquestioning and universal truths are possible. It therefore serves to provide certainty in the postmodern condition of uncertainty and relativism. For that reason this study concludes that vegetarianism is the new religion – it provides people who no longer believe in traditional religions with a new certainty.

  18. Mediation in the context of teaching and learning about religions in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Erna Kinsey

    ding teaching and learning about the beliefs, values, cultures and practices of the ... enter institutions of higher education have emerged from schools in which they were .... and encourage thinking about religions and religious issues critically.

  19. SYNCRETIZATION OF CHINESE RELIGION IN SINGKAWANG WEST KALIMANTAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samsul Hidayat

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to shed light on the context of religiosity which is very pluralistic and dynamic in Indonesia. It is based on the field research conducted in Singkawang focusing on the Chinese religion. Some important conclusions could be drawn here such as the syncretization of the Chinese religion concerning the understanding of the existence of God and the gods which often has overlapping hierarchy including syncretic perspectives on understanding cosmology, mythology, symbols associated with mystical tales and supernatural beings. In the process, many Chinese Indonesians in Singkawang who are demographically Buddhists, Christians, or Muslims, still perform a pattern of worship of Confucianism or Taoism in their daily lives. The procedure of worship has also been modified so that its format differs from that found outside Indonesia. Meanwhile, during the celebration of the Chinese lunar new year and Cap Go Meh (the fifteenth night, Chinese Indonesians in Singkawang perform a ritual to get rid of bad luck. It is a unique, syncretic ‘collaboration’ between Chinese traditions and local culture. Keywords: Syncretization, Religion, Chinese, Singkawang.

  20. Challenges for the sexual health and social acceptance of men who have sex with men in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allman, Dan; Adebajo, Sylvia; Myers, Ted; Odumuye, Oludare; Ogunsola, Sade

    2007-01-01

    Little research exists regarding men who have sex with men and sexual risk in Nigeria. Prior to the implementation of a targeted HIV/STI prevalence study, structured focus groups incorporating anonymous questionnaires were conducted with members of this population in secure locations in Nigeria. A purposive sample of men was recruited by word-of-mouth. Five focus groups were conducted with a total of 58 men. Mean age was 27 years (range 16-58); 60% had post-secondary education; 56% were employed full or part-time; 83% were Christian; 16% were Muslim; 66% self-identified as bisexual; 31% as homosexual. Participants' experiences were diverse, with ethnic, religious and class distinctions strongly structuring sexual expression. Same-sex community networks were hidden, with social activities taking place in non-commercial, private venues. Socially ostracized by culture, religion, and political will, the risks embodied within same-sex activity are high. For Nigeria--a nation culturally rich and religiously devout--the implications for public health policy are complex. However, these research findings suggest that immediate action is vital to mitigate the impacts of HIV and other STIs.

  1. Is Asia a 'Post-Religional' Society? The Post-Religional Paradigm and its Others

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Franklin Estepa Pilario

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the relevance and applicability of the 'post-religional paradigm' as proposed by EATWOT (Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians in the Asian contexts. It also inquires on how the Asian phenomenon and its interpretations relate to the crisis of religions in Western societies. It attempts to answer this problematic through four steps: a summary of the theological proposal and its relationship with the Western sociologies of religion; a search for a viable framework with which to understand religions in post-secular societies; discussion on the "discourses of Asia" and the corresponding view on religion; an elaboration of my preferred framework with some examples from the Asian situation. I argue that a viable theological proposal on post-religional paradigm should start from the analysis of how religious discourses and practices navigate with concrete socio-historical forces on the ground. Consequent to this view is the assertion that there is no universal sociology/theology of religion's development but multiple and complex religious discourses in specific contexts.

  2. [Religion and brain functioning (part 1): are our mental structures designed for religion?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kornreich, C; Neu, D

    2010-01-01

    Religions are seen everywhere in the world. Two main theories are competing to explain this phenomenon. The first one is based on the assumption that our cognitive structures are predisposing us to nurture religious beliefs. Religion would then be a by-product of mental functions useful for survival. Examples of these mental functions are children credulity, anthropomorphism and teleology. The second one hypothesizes that religion is maintained trough direct adaptation benefits occurring in cooperation exchanges. In particular, religion could function as an insurance mechanism given by the religious group. It is likely that both theories are complementary and useful to explain why religion is a universal phenomenon in the human species.

  3. Religion, Psychology and Globalisation Process: Attitudinal Appraisal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuel Orok Duke

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available A key consequence of globalisation is the integrative approach to reality whereby emphasis is placed on interdependence. Religion being an expression of human culture is equally affected by this cultural revolution. The main objective of this paper is to examine how religious affiliation, among Christians, influences attitudes towards the application of psychological sciences to the assuagement of human suffering. The sociological theory of structural functionalism was deployed to explain attitudinal appraisal. Ethnographic methodology, through quantitative analysis of administered questionnaire, was also used. The study reveals that religious tenets largely shape attitudinal appraisal and redefine the borders of globalisation’s metanarratives.

  4. Danish Regulation of Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Lisbet; Vinding, Niels-Valdemar

    Presentation and analysis of current and upcoming conflicts in relations between religion and family; labour market; religion in the public sphere and state support to religion. Part of a comparative European analysis in the context of www.religareproject.eu. based on 18 Danish elite interviews...

  5. Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for and to society?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaco Beyers

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Human consciousness instinctively tries to make sense of reality. Different human interpretations of reality lead to a world consisting of multiple realities. Conflict occurs when differing realities (worldviews encounter one another. Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is socially determined. Peter Berger’s insight into the sociology of religion therefore plays an important role in establishing the relationship between religion and civil society as one that takes on different forms. Thus, a clear definition of both civil society and religion was needed to understand the nature of these relationships. The role of religion in civil society with regard to the presence of conflict in society was further investigated in this article. The conditions under which conflict in society occurs were discussed, as were the conditions for tolerance in society, for religion ultimately becomes the provider of moral discernment when conflict occurs in civil society.

  6. Is Ancestor veneration the most universal of all world religions? A critique of modernist cosmological bias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Reuter

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Research by anthropologists engaged with the Comparative Austronesia Project (Australian National University has amassed an enormous data set for ethnological comparison between the religions of Austronesian-speaking societies, a language group to which nearly all Indonesian societies also belong. Comparative analysis reveals that ancestor veneration is a key-shared feature among “Austronesian” religious cosmologies; a feature that also resonates strongly with the ancestor-focused religions characteristic of East Asia. Characteristically, the religions of Austronesian-speaking societies focus on the core idea of a sacred time and place of ancestral origin and the continuous flow of life that is issuing forth from this source. Present-day individuals connect with the place and time of origin though ritual acts of retracing a historical path of migration to its source. What can this seemingly exotic notion of a flow of life reveal about the human condition writ large? Is it merely a curiosity of the ethnographic record of this region, a traditional religious insight forgotten even by many of the people whose traditional religion this is, but who have come under the influence of so-called world religions? Or is there something of great importance to be learnt from the Austronesian approach to life? Such questions have remained unasked until now, I argue, because a systematic cosmological bias within western thought has largely prevented us from taking Ancestor Religion and other forms of “traditional knowledge” seriously as an alternative truth claim. While I have discussed elsewhere the significance of Ancestor Religion in reference to my own research in highland Bali, I will attempt in this paper to remove this bias by its roots. I do so by contrasting two modes of thought: the “incremental dualism” of precedence characteristic of Austronesian cultures and their Ancestor Religions, and the “transcendental dualism” of mind and

  7. Gaming for Safer Sex: Young German and Turkish People Report No Specific Culture-Related Preferences Toward Educational Games Promoting Safer Sex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brüll, Phil; Ruiter, Robert A C; Wiers, Reinout W; Kok, Gerjo

    2016-12-01

    Comprehensive sex education programs specifically designed for adolescents and young adults that take into account gender norms and cultural background have shown promise as a means of countering the high sexually transmitted infection rate in young people. Recently, digital gaming interventions delivered on computers or mobile devices have emerged as another way to promote safer sex behavior in a young population. Tailoring these computer-based interventions to their target population has been recognized to increase positive behavior outcomes. In this qualitative study, we investigated whether young female and male adults from two different cultural backgrounds (all living in Germany) would have different preferences and needs in relation to an educational game promoting safer sex. We conducted four semistructured focus group interviews comprising open-ended questions with male and female participants who had either a German or a Turkish background. In total, 20 individuals, aged between 18 and 22 years, from two socially diverse and ethnically mixed vocational schools in Germany participated. Independent of cultural background and gender, participants preferred a real-world design with a first-person visual perspective over a fantasy-like third-person perspective. Furthermore, they preferred highly customizable avatars. All participants mentioned the importance of including an alcohol-intoxicated avatar and most participants wanted there to be additional information available about various safer sex approaches and about the use of different barrier protection methods. Males and females reported similar preferences for the design of an educational game promoting safer sex, with the only difference being exactly how the topic of having sexual intercourse should be addressed in the game. Males preferred a direct approach, whereas females had a preference for treating this subject more sympathetically. Educational games offer anonymity and can provide young people

  8. Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions: Site Map. Journal Home > About the Journal > Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions: Site Map. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  9. Religion and Political Violence in Apartheid South Africa | Matheba ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In analyzing religion and violence in apartheid South Africa, the article expresses the hope that churches and other civil society organs will reclaim their watchdog role in entrenching democracy even more deeply in a post-apartheid South African society. (The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2001 3(1): 108-123) ...

  10. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Niels Rosendal

    2017-01-01

    Anmeldelse af Niels Reehs "Secularization Revisited. Teaching of Religion and the State of Denmark" med afsæt i de nutidige kampe om kristendom og islam og med fremhævelse af Reehs forståelse af staten/religionen som en 'survival unit'.......Anmeldelse af Niels Reehs "Secularization Revisited. Teaching of Religion and the State of Denmark" med afsæt i de nutidige kampe om kristendom og islam og med fremhævelse af Reehs forståelse af staten/religionen som en 'survival unit'....

  11. FENOMENOLOGIA DELLA RELIGIONE DI ANGELA ALES BELLO (PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION IN THE VISION OF ANGELA ALES BELLO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MOBEEN SHAHID

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available If sacred in any way is a vehicle of religious experience there is nothing new about what it is vehicle of but if we focalize on what sacred is in itself we need a method to do so and in this regard I would mention the need of analyzing what the philosophical school of phenomenology of religion in and from Italy has been working on in the person of Angela Ales Bello as its Maestro in particular in last four decades. Several works of the author have paved the path, considering various points in scientific articles and texts but the main conceptual map is developed in the following three: Culture e religioni. Una lettura fenomenologica, Citta Nuova, Roma, 1997; a co-authored work with me Lineamenti di Antropologia Filosofica: Fenomenologia della religione ed esperienza mistica islamica, Editrice Apes, Roma, 2012; and the latest Il senso del sacro. Dall’arcaicità alla desacralizzazione, Castelvecchi, Roma, 2014.

  12. What is religion? an African understanding

    OpenAIRE

    Beyers, Jaco

    2010-01-01

    Western thought has influenced the way that religion is understood. Western philosophy supported the separation between the sacred and the profane. Modernism, focusing on human rationality, reduced religion to a set of correctly formulated dogmas and doctrines. Western thought, dominated by Christianity, created a hierarchical structure of world religions through a theology of religions. Can an African understanding of religion make a contribution to the understanding of what religion is? Suc...

  13. UFO Religions – Beginnings and Main Forms

    OpenAIRE

    Danijel Sinani

    2016-01-01

    This paper looks at UFO religions, and considers the major factors that have played a role in the emergence and development of these alternative religious movements - from reports of close encounters of the third and fourth kinds and science fiction production, to alternative ideological elaborations of contacts with extraterrestrial worlds. It looks at the basic theological premises, iconography, activities, and, more generally, cultural precepts of several UFO religious movements (the Aethe...

  14. The role of cultural values and religion on views of body size and eating practices among adolescents from Fiji, Tonga, and Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, Marita P; Waqa, Gade; Dev, Anjileena; Cama, Tilema; Swinburn, Boyd A

    2013-05-01

    This study investigated cultural values related to body image and eating practices in Western and non-Western societies. In total, 628 Fijian, 463 Indo-Fijian, 598 Tongan, and 534 Australian adolescents completed measures of cultural values and religious influences in relation to the ideal body and eating practices. Fijian and Tongan adolescents were more likely to value a large body. Religious influences were most strongly associated with eating practices for Fijians, Indo-Fijians, and Tongans. The findings support the role of religion in transmitting cultural values regarding eating practices in Pacific Island communities. What is already known on this subject? Previous research has demonstrated that sociocultural factors shape body image and eating behaviours. Most of this research has been conducted in Western countries. What does this study add? The current study identifies the role of cultural values and religious influences on body image and eating behaviours in a number of different cultural groups. This is the first study to use the same methodology to explore these relationships across Western and Pacific Island communities. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  15. Religion in Greek Education in a Time of Globalization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Efstathiou, Ioannis; Georgiadis, Fokion; Zisimos, Apostolos

    2008-01-01

    In a great number of countries religion plays an important role in public life. As far as Greece is concerned, it has always been a key element in public life including education. Religious education is a compulsory subject taught in a confessional and catechist way, while Orthodoxy saturates school culture, making the Greek educational system…

  16. Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Filosofia Theoretica Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions, a publication of the Calabar School of Philosophy (CSP) is dedicated to the publication of astute academic research in African Philosophy, Culture, History, Art, Literature, Science, Education and Religions, etc. The articles submitted to Filosofia ...

  17. Beyond Freud in psychoanalytic psychology of religion? On the discussion of religion as projection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belzen, J.A.

    2010-01-01

    In 1907, Sigmund Freud initiated the psychoanalytic psychology of religion, until the present day the most important contributor to the psychology of religion literature in general, and the branch of psychological critique of religion best known outside of psychology circles (having drawn attention

  18. Religion 2.0

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, René Dybdal

    17 artikler som hver især fremviser og diskuterer aktuelle temaer i forhold til religion i Danmark i dag......17 artikler som hver især fremviser og diskuterer aktuelle temaer i forhold til religion i Danmark i dag...

  19. Religion, popular culture and social media: the construction of a religious leader image on Facebook

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioana A. COMAN

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Despite the emergence of religions on Internet and the importance of social media, research dedicated to religious leaders’ construction of symbolic image on social media, is hard to find. Starting from the 2013 Applebee’s social media crisis, which was triggered by a pastor, the present study investigates the frames and themes Facebook users employed in order to give meaning to the crisis, attribute responsibility, and more importantly, define the role of a religious leader in daily life. This study shows the existence on social media of an active religious literate public, a public clearly troubled in their religious faith and convictions by the non-Christian behavior of the pastor. This shows that in a post-secular society the religious imaginary is not only a “canopy” inherited and kept because of convenience, but a cultural frame of signification the real and a vector of dialogue in a (online micro and macro public sphere.

  20. The supportive roles of religion and spirituality in end-of-life and palliative care of patients with cancer in a culturally diverse context: a literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Sierra, Héctor E; Rodríguez-Sánchez, Jesús

    2015-03-01

    This is a literature review of the supportive roles of religion and spirituality (R/S) in end-of-life (EoL) and palliative care of patients with cancer in a culturally diverse context. This review examines 26 noteworthy articles published between August 2013 and August 2014 from five well supported databases. Current evidence shows that R/S evokes in patients the sources to find the necessary inner strengths, which includes perspective thinking, rituals for transcending immediate physical condition and modalities of coping with their oncological illnesses. R/S are not a monolithically experience for they always manifest themselves in diverse cultural settings. As such, R/S provide the individual and their families with a practical context and social memory, which includes traditions and social family practices for maintaining meaning and well-being. Nonetheless, although various dimensions of R/S show a link between cancer risk factors and well being in cancer patients, more specific dimensions of R/S need to be studied taking into account the individuals' particular religious and cultural contexts, so that R/S variables within that context can provide a greater integrative structure for understanding and to move the field forward. Behavioral, cognitive and psychosocial scientists have taken a more in-depth look at the claims made in the past, suggesting that a relationship between R/S, cultural diversity and health exists. Case in point are the studies on EoL care, which have progressively considered the role of cultural, religion and spiritual diversity in the care of patients with oncological terminal illnesses. Beyond these facts, this review also shows that EoL supportive and palliative care providers could further enhance their practical interventions by being sensitive and supportive of cultural diversity. http://links.lww.com/COSPC/A10

  1. Religion and finance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Renneboog, L.D.R.; Spaenjers, C.; Baker, H.K.; Nofsinger, J.R.

    2012-01-01

    Individuals' economic attitudes are frequently observed to vary in a systematic manner with religious affiliation or religiosity. As a consequence, religion is also correlated with a range of financial-economic outcomes. Research has established the importance of religion at the macro-economic

  2. JOURNAL OF RELIGION 2014 CURVEEE

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    IK

    religion specifically x-rays the role religion play in nation-building. Since ... been found to be positively neglected to such organizational characteristics, as ... However, the power of religion to perform its function in any society depends on.

  3. Cognitive Evolution and Religion: Cognition and Religious Evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harvey Whitehouse

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents contemporary cognitive approaches to the evolution of religious beliefs. Arguments are put forward that different types of beliefs, or ‘modes of religiosity’, occur as a result of a number of evolutionary factors (biological, cultural, socio-political etc. At the same time, religions across the world retain a significant level of common and shared elements, also explained in evolutionary terms.

  4. Religion insulates ingroup evaluations: the development of intergroup attitudes in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunham, Yarrow; Srinivasan, Mahesh; Dotsch, Ron; Barner, David

    2014-03-01

    Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of implicit and explicit attitudes towards these groups in minority-status Muslim children and majority-status Hindu children, the latter drawn from various positions in the Hindu caste system. Results from two tests of implicit attitudes find that caste attitudes parallel previous findings for race: higher-caste children as well as lower-caste children have robust high-caste preferences. However, results for religion were strikingly different: both lower-status Muslim children and higher-status Hindu children show strong implicit ingroup preferences. We suggest that religion may play a protective role in insulating children from the internalization of stigma. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Punjabi Childrearing in Britain: Development of Identity, Religion and Bilingualism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dosanjh, J. S.; Ghuman, Paul A. S.

    1997-01-01

    Interviewed two generations of Punjabi mothers living in Britain. Found that while second-generation Punjabis are changing some traditional mores (equal treatment of boys and girls, modified system of arranged marriage), they are also eager to transmit the core values (religion, mother tongue, familial spirit) of their culture and want their…

  6. Religion insulates ingroup evaluations : the development of intergroup attitudes in India

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dunham, Yarrow; Srinivasan, Mahesh; Dotsch, Ron; Barner, David

    Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of

  7. Religion insulates ingroup evaluations: the development of intergroup attitudes in India

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dunham, Y.; Srinivasan, M.; Dotsch, R.; Barner, D.

    2014-01-01

    Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of

  8. Religion and Globalization in Laos Religion und Globalisierung in Laos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boike Rehbein

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available According to Eurocentric sociology, modernization is supposed to make religion secular, a functional system, or a private matter. A closer analysis of the impact of contemporary globalization on religion in Laos shows that these tendencies can only be observed in certain social groups and in certain realms of religion. Some social groups preserve or reinvent religious traditions, others construct a new identity, and some do tend towards secularism or differentiation. The paper investigates these tendencies, referring to an empirical case study. It proposes to explain them within a conceptual framework adapted to societies of the global South which focuses on the concepts of social structure, division of work, socioculture, and institution. On the basis of these concepts, the paper proposes to distinguish between different religious realms, namely, belief, performance, and knowledge. In each of these three realms, different tendencies and social distributions can be observed. Der eurozentrischen Soziologie zufolge wird Religion im Zuge der Modernisierung entweder säkularisiert oder privatisiert oder in ein funktionales System verwandelt. Eine genauere Analyse des Einflusses, den die gegenwärtige Globalisierung auf die Religion in Laos ausübt, zeigt jedoch, dass diese Tendenzen auf bestimmte soziale Gruppen und Aspekte der Religion beschränkt sind. Einige soziale Gruppen bewahren oder rekonstruieren religiöse Traditionen, andere konstruieren eine neue Identität und wieder andere tendieren zu Säkularisierung oder funktionaler Differenzierung. Der Aufsatz analysiert diese Phänomene am Beispiel einer Fallstudie auf der Basis eines an den globalen Süden angepassten Begriffsapparats, der um die Begriffe Sozialstruktur, Tätigkeitsteilung, Soziokultur und Institution kreist. Der Aufsatz schlägt vor, zwischen den religiösen Sphären des Glaubens, der Performanz und des Wissens zu unterscheiden. In jeder Sphäre lassen sich unterschiedliche

  9. Economics, cultural transmission, and the dynamics of the sex ratio at birth in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipatov, Mikhail; Li, Shuzhuo; Feldman, Marcus W

    2008-12-09

    In rural China, the ratio of newborn boys to newborn girls [sex ratio at birth (SRB)] has been rising for several decades, to values significantly above its biological norm. This trend has a number of alarming societal consequences, and has attracted the attention of scholars and politicians. The root of the problem lies in a 2,500-year-old culture of son preference. This culture is intricately linked with the economic reality of each couple's life, so that there are financial and psychological repercussions to parents who have no sons. To bring greater clarity and understanding to this issue, we present a quantitative framework that describes the interaction between economics and cultural transmission. We start with an explicit mechanism by which economic incentives can change cultural beliefs of a given individual, and go on to include a mechanism of cultural inheritance from generation to generation. We then show how economic conditions can affect the dynamics of cultural change in an entire society, and may lead to a decrease in the country's sex ratio at birth.

  10. Ethics, religion and humanity: Rethinking religion in 21 st century ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Thus, there is a relationship between religion, ethics and humanity. However, more often than not, religion is alleged for being a root cause of all human predicaments; that it provides viable and abundant fuel for conflict such that in every continent of the world, there are troubled spots rooted in religious conflicts. Although ...

  11. Religion til Hverdag

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Dorthe Refslund

    2006-01-01

    Live rollespil er ikke religion men rollespillet bruges ofte hvor man ellers ville bruge religionens univers fx til mytologisering og ritualisering Udgivelsesdato: september......Live rollespil er ikke religion men rollespillet bruges ofte hvor man ellers ville bruge religionens univers fx til mytologisering og ritualisering Udgivelsesdato: september...

  12. Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peoples, Hervey C; Duda, Pavel; Marlowe, Frank W

    2016-09-01

    Recent studies of the evolution of religion have revealed the cognitive underpinnings of belief in supernatural agents, the role of ritual in promoting cooperation, and the contribution of morally punishing high gods to the growth and stabilization of human society. The universality of religion across human society points to a deep evolutionary past. However, specific traits of nascent religiosity, and the sequence in which they emerged, have remained unknown. Here we reconstruct the evolution of religious beliefs and behaviors in early modern humans using a global sample of hunter-gatherers and seven traits describing hunter-gatherer religiosity: animism, belief in an afterlife, shamanism, ancestor worship, high gods, and worship of ancestors or high gods who are active in human affairs. We reconstruct ancestral character states using a time-calibrated supertree based on published phylogenetic trees and linguistic classification and then test for correlated evolution between the characters and for the direction of cultural change. Results indicate that the oldest trait of religion, present in the most recent common ancestor of present-day hunter-gatherers, was animism, in agreement with long-standing beliefs about the fundamental role of this trait. Belief in an afterlife emerged, followed by shamanism and ancestor worship. Ancestor spirits or high gods who are active in human affairs were absent in early humans, suggesting a deep history for the egalitarian nature of hunter-gatherer societies. There is a significant positive relationship between most characters investigated, but the trait "high gods" stands apart, suggesting that belief in a single creator deity can emerge in a society regardless of other aspects of its religion.

  13. Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for and to society?

    OpenAIRE

    Jaco Beyers

    2011-01-01

    Human consciousness instinctively tries to make sense of reality. Different human interpretations of reality lead to a world consisting of multiple realities. Conflict occurs when differing realities (worldviews) encounter one another. Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is so...

  14. Cultural consensus modeling to measure transactional sex in Swaziland: Scale building and validation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fielding-Miller, Rebecca; Dunkle, Kristin L; Cooper, Hannah L F; Windle, Michael; Hadley, Craig

    2016-01-01

    Transactional sex is associated with increased risk of HIV and gender based violence in southern Africa and around the world. However the typical quantitative operationalization, "the exchange of gifts or money for sex," can be at odds with a wide array of relationship types and motivations described in qualitative explorations. To build on the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research streams, we used cultural consensus models to identify distinct models of transactional sex in Swaziland. The process allowed us to build and validate emic scales of transactional sex, while identifying key informants for qualitative interviews within each model to contextualize women's experiences and risk perceptions. We used logistic and multinomial logistic regression models to measure associations with condom use and social status outcomes. Fieldwork was conducted between November 2013 and December 2014 in the Hhohho and Manzini regions. We identified three distinct models of transactional sex in Swaziland based on 124 Swazi women's emic valuation of what they hoped to receive in exchange for sex with their partners. In a clinic-based survey (n = 406), consensus model scales were more sensitive to condom use than the etic definition. Model consonance had distinct effects on social status for the three different models. Transactional sex is better measured as an emic spectrum of expectations within a relationship, rather than an etic binary relationship type. Cultural consensus models allowed us to blend qualitative and quantitative approaches to create an emicly valid quantitative scale grounded in qualitative context. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Understanding the anatomy of religion as basis for religion in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2011-07-04

    Jul 4, 2011 ... My aim is to approach the problem of religion in and/or education from a different viewpoint. I contend that the ... religion that I proffer to the test by applying it to the South .... Modern humanism is the faith that through science humankind can know the ..... This will be detrimental to their mastering of their.

  16. Influences of culture on sexuality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, R M

    1982-09-01

    Religion is a cultured phenomenon, a subculture within our larger cultural system. Different religions have different teachings about what constitutes sexual morality, while members within a specific religious denomination may also have different beliefs and practices. Religiosity, or acceptance of the teachings of a particular religion, is more important as a determinant of sexual behavior than a specific religion per se. Orthodox Judaism, traditional Catholicism and traditional Protestantism are alike in their condemnation of masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, and premarital and extramarital coitus. More liberal members of these religions may not tolerate these activities, but may espouse them as necessary means to maintain or attain health. Nurses assess the beliefs that clients hold in regard to sexual morality and also identify if the client is experiencing guilt about past sexual practices. Interventions are planned with the client within the framework of the client's religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. To do otherwise is to invite distrust and distress in the client. Nurses intervene with sensitivity, compassion, and respect for beliefs and values that may be different from their own.

  17. Suicide and religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Christopher C H

    2014-01-01

    Much of the evidence that religion provides a protective factor against completed suicide comes from cross-sectional studies. This issue of the Journal includes a report of a new prospective study. An understanding of the relationship between spirituality, religion and suicide is important in assessing and caring for those at risk.

  18. Teaching Religion, Teaching Truth: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. Religion, Education and Values. Volume 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astley, Jeff, Ed.; Francis, Leslie J., Ed.; Robbins, Mandy, Ed.; Selcuk, Mualla, Ed.

    2012-01-01

    Religious educators today are called upon to enable young people to develop as fully-rounded human beings in a multicultural and multi-faith world. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the history of religions: religion is not relegated to the past. It is no longer sufficient to teach about the observable outward phenomena of religions:…

  19. ON THE SACREDNESS OF THE NATURE IN GLOBAL RELIGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. M. Alilova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. The central aim is to consider the highly complex problem of interdependence of ecology and religion; determine the possibility of finding ways to revive nature protection traditions rooted in different religious systems; demonstrate the possibility of formation of ecological consciousness, ecological ethics as a prerequisite for sustainable development of the modern society.Methods. We used the method of socio-cultural and socio-natural approach based on humanistic philosophical ideas which laid the basis for understanding the person as a subject of nature, history and culture.Findings. Were analyzed the environmental ideas of the religious teachings of various faiths, which should contribute to the development of environmental ethics and culture, the notion of a human as part of nature, and the impossibility of human survival without conservation of the nature. It is necessary to use different forms of cooperation between the state and religious organizations.Conclusion. The results can be recommended to be included in the school curriculums, starting with elementary grades, as well as in specialized secondary schools and higher educational institutions. The ways the priorities of the environmental aspects of the nature in various faiths are expressed are not the same, but the presence of the humanistic component in all religions contributes to greater environmental consciousness of the people of the earth, so this perspective deserves a multifaceted discussion and analysis. 

  20. Queer Breeding: Historicising Popular Culture, Homosexuality and Informal Sex Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Through an analysis of gay protest music (1975) and an educational kit for students (1978), both sponsored by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in the UK, this paper brings into focus a history of gay rights activists' efforts to marshal popular culture in the development of informal sex education for young people in the second half of the…

  1. Religion and disparities: considering the influences of Islam on the health of American Muslims.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padela, Aasim I; Curlin, Farr A

    2013-12-01

    Both theory and data suggest that religions shape the way individuals interpret and seek help for their illnesses. Yet, health disparities research has rarely examined the influence of a shared religion on the health of individuals from distinct minority communities. In this paper, we focus on Islam and American Muslims to outline the ways in which a shared religion may impact the health of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse minority community. We use Kleinman's "cultural construction of clinical reality" as a theoretical framework to interpret the extant literature on American Muslim health. We then propose a research agenda that would extend current disparities research to include measures of religiosity, particularly among populations that share a minority religious affiliation. The research we propose would provide a fuller understanding of the relationships between religion and health among Muslim Americans and other minority communities and would thereby undergird efforts to reduce unwarranted health disparities.

  2. Plurality of religion, plurality of justice : exploring the role of religion in disputing processes in Gorongosa, Central Mozambique

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, C.

    2010-01-01

    Religion is alive, especially - and increasingly - in the global South. What impact does religion have in everyday life as provider of normative orientations? This research investigates the role of religion in disputing processes in Gorongosa, Mozambique, where both traditional religion and

  3. Overview of religions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Nicky

    2004-01-01

    This article provides a brief overview of 9 religions: Christianity, Judaism, Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. Basic information on the origins, language, naming practices, diet, personal hygiene, and dress requirements is provided. For additional information, Web sites for each of these religions are also provided.

  4. Religions without God? Hans Kelsen, Anthropologist of Modernity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Di Lucia

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In 2012 an unpublished book by the Austrian legal philosopher Hans Kelsen, Secular Religion, has been posthumously published. This book, written by Kelsen between 1952 and 1964 in the United States, severely criticizes those theories of politics and culture that misinterpret modern social philosophy, science and politics as new religions, mainly adopting the controversial concept of “secular religión.” In the first part of the paper, we reconstruct the genesis of the book and the complex events that led to its final version, and we underline the motives that led Kelsen to write this vehement polemic in defense of the spirit of modernity, and eventually to withdraw it. In the second part of the paper, we investigate some of the main methodological and theoretical contributions that this work, albeit its critical tenor, is able to give to an anthropology of modernity.

  5. Institutionalising Terror in the Name of Religion and Polity: The ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Religion and ethnicity are two key issues in the economy of violence with which Nigeria has had to contend in the last twenty-five years. The protagonists of the issues are the state, the aficionados of religious or ethnic idealism and their opponents. The article argues that the culture of denial or marginalisation has largely ...

  6. CULTURE CROSSING IN THE SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Padrós

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The educational centres are a multicultural reality that comprises the coexistenceof different cultural minorities, languages, religions, lifestyles and social codes.The critical pedagogy presents ways of living and learning in this culture crossing overcomingboth the ethnocentric model of racism (assimilation to the culture understood as“superior” as well as the relativist model (with emphasis on the difference and denyingequality, aiming for the idea of equality of differences. In the article are presented waysof crossing cultures and historical backgrounds from a critical, supportive and transformationalapproach among languages, religions and believes. It is stated that the consensusis possible in the framework of the plurality of identities and cultural patterns, andthat egalitarian dialog between cultures in the school promotes not only individualtransformations but also changes in the social relationships.

  7. Association of violence against women with religion and culture in Erbil Iraq: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Tawil, Namir Ghanim

    2012-09-17

    Violence against women by intimate partners is still a public health problem. The study aims at finding out the prevalence of violence among women residing in Erbil city (Muslim culture) and in Ankawa sub-district (Christian culture), finding out the role of religion and culture on the prevalence, and finding out some other factors (like occupation of husband and wife, age at marriage, woman agreement for marriage, illegitimate relations of husband) that might be associated with violence. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Erbil during the second half of the year 2011. Two groups were considered; group one (G1) included women residing in Ankawa sub-district (representing Christian culture), and group two (G2) included women residing in Erbil city (representing Muslim culture). A convenience method of sampling was used to collect the sample (250 women of each group). Questionnaire was designed to collect information about history of exposure to physical, sexual, and psychological violence, in addition to the related factors. These forms were distributed (by women of the Assyrian Women Union) in sealed envelopes to women attending the Mass in three churches located in Ankawa. Women of Erbil group were recruited from the maternity teaching hospital of Erbil. The same questionnaire was distributed to them by the same team. Binary logistic regression was used to show the independent effect of each factor on the prevalence of violence. Overall prevalence of violence (physical and/or sexual) in G2 (20.8%) was higher than that of G1 (18.8%). The prevalence of psychological violence was 40% in Erbil, which was significantly higher than the prevalence (24.8%) of Ankawa. The rates of physical and sexual violence were also higher in Erbil (18.4%, and 10.8% respectively) than rates of Ankawa (16.8% and 8% respectively). Factors found to be significantly associated with overall violence were: culture of Erbil, alcoholic husband, wife working as manual worker (compared

  8. The liquidation of the church : From Parochial Religion to Religion on Stage

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Groot, Kees

    2017-01-01

    Is religion dying out in Western societies? Is personal spirituality taking its place? Both stories are inadequate. Institutional religion is not simply coming to an end in Western societies. Rather, its assets and properties are redistributed: large parts of the church have gone into liquidation.

  9. Disaggregating Corporate Freedom of Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2015-01-01

    The paper investigates arguments for the idea in recent American Supreme Court jurisprudence that freedom of religion should not simply be understood as an ordinary legal right within the framework of liberal constitutionalism but as an expression of deference by the state and its legal system...... to religion as a separate and independent jurisdiction with its own system of law over which religious groups are sovereign. I discuss the relationship between, on the one hand, ordinary rights of freedom of association and freedom of religion and, on the other hand, this idea of corporate freedom of religion...

  10. Media, Religion and Public Space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe FALCĂ

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Relations between religion and politics are complex and paradoxical. Both strive to achieve and maintain power. Both politics and religion involve control over social relations and emphasiye social integration (politics in its concern for order in society, and religion in its concern for observance of order and obligations within the congregation. But they differ in respect of specific goals, the values ​​that ascribe to power and differences in their conceptions of the nature and source of power. In the modern world, power, embodied in political institutions, is secular; in the past, its association with religion created a transcendental relationship, causing the possession of power to be of different quality, to come from another world. But, while politics is focused on interpersonal relationships, religion is more oriented towards relations between humans and gods or other spiritual forces.

  11. Science and Religion in the Russian Federation nowadays:Conflict or dialogue?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    German E. Bokov

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the main aspects of the relationship between science and religion in the Russian Federation nowadays. It shows an official position of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the latest scientific developments, secular culture, and education as well as separate views of different scientists, theologians, and philosophers about it. In particular, the paper examines reaction from academic community in the Russian Federation towards some attempts of introduction of theology in to secular space science and education. This article introduces different points of view about the problem of choice of the world view reference points in contemporary conditions when Christian theology substantiates the necessity of science and religion interaction.

  12. New Religions and Globalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bogen er en antologi af bidrag fra en konference under Research Network on New Religions (RENNER). Med bidrag fra specialister i nye religioner og globalisering fra hele verden introduceres empiriske resultater samt teoretiske og metodiske reflektioner over emnet....

  13. Sex reassignment technology: the dilemma of transsexuals in Islam and Christianity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishak, Mohd Shuhaimi Bin Haji; Haneef, Sayed Sikandar Shah

    2014-04-01

    The birth of people with confused or ambiguous sex makeup as a biological fact since the annals of history has posed the challenge of accommodating them within the binary gender of sociocultural systems. In this process, the role of religion as a defining factor in social engineering has been paramount. Major religions, such as Islam and Christianity, have addressed this issue within the frame of their God-ordained laws by devising a set of moral and legal imperatives specific to the "third gender." Modern developments in medicine and biology, however, have made sex reassignment possible for this category of people, today called transsexuals. The question is: How do Islam and Christianity respond to it. After presenting an analytical view of both Muslim scholars and Christian religious authorities on the legitimacy of sex reassignment for transsexuals, this paper attempts to explore if such a dilemma can be resolved.

  14. A Survey of the Origin and Evolution of Religion from the Points of View Edward Tylor and James Frazer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza khajegir

    2016-01-01

    similarity of the mind. According to Taylor, the whole world is also like a single country based on the fundamental principle of human intellectual and cultural development. So, any diversity in human species is not synonymous with diversity in kind, but it is the difference in the level of cultural evolution. This degree of cultural evolution can be found in all societies and, therefore, the cultural/cognitive evolution of human beings and the basic form of the human mind are all connected .  As a matter of fact, the religious and cultural evolution of primitive man to modern one is the evolution of human rationality. In his view, there are three methods to understand the howness of the evolution of human cognition: magical, religious, and scientific .  That is why Taylor differentiates between magic and religion. He takes magic not based on spiritual entities but on impersonal powers and forces. According to him, magic works in line with the principle of similarity and association, and because the things that are similar have a causal relationship with each other, so magic is pseudo-science, but it is rooted in false reasoning. Taylor’s view, especially that of religion and magic, has influenced Fraser to a large extent. On the word of Taylor, the belief in spirits that think and act like human beings abounds in in all religions. So, in his view, the essence of religion and religious myths is faith-animism. Therefore, Taylor has proposed animism as the source and origin of primitive religions, and he takes the following as the developmental stages of religion: animism, nature worship, polytheism, monotheism, and metaphysical thought .  The relationship between magic and religion is the key issue for Fraser. According to Fraser, the first and most important principle to understand magic and religion was that the life of primitive man centered around the struggle for life, such as killing animals by hunters. According to him, the founding reasoning principles for magic

  15. A Survey of the Origin and Evolution of Religion from the Points of View Edward Tylor and James Frazer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza khajegir

    2015-12-01

    similarity of the mind. According to Taylor, the whole world is also like a single country based on the fundamental principle of human intellectual and cultural development. So, any diversity in human species is not synonymous with diversity in kind, but it is the difference in the level of cultural evolution. This degree of cultural evolution can be found in all societies and, therefore, the cultural/cognitive evolution of human beings and the basic form of the human mind are all connected .  As a matter of fact, the religious and cultural evolution of primitive man to modern one is the evolution of human rationality. In his view, there are three methods to understand the howness of the evolution of human cognition: magical, religious, and scientific .  That is why Taylor differentiates between magic and religion. He takes magic not based on spiritual entities but on impersonal powers and forces. According to him, magic works in line with the principle of similarity and association, and because the things that are similar have a causal relationship with each other, so magic is pseudo-science, but it is rooted in false reasoning. Taylor’s view, especially that of religion and magic, has influenced Fraser to a large extent. On the word of Taylor, the belief in spirits that think and act like human beings abounds in in all religions. So, in his view, the essence of religion and religious myths is faith-animism. Therefore, Taylor has proposed animism as the source and origin of primitive religions, and he takes the following as the developmental stages of religion: animism, nature worship, polytheism, monotheism, and metaphysical thought .  The relationship between magic and religion is the key issue for Fraser. According to Fraser, the first and most important principle to understand magic and religion was that the life of primitive man centered around the struggle for life, such as killing animals by hunters. According to him, the founding reasoning principles for magic

  16. When Religion Becomes Deviance: Introducing Religion in Deviance and Social Problems Courses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perrin, Robin D.

    2001-01-01

    Focuses on teaching new religious movements (NRMs), or cults, within deviance or social problems courses. Provides information about the conceptions and theories of deviance. Includes three illustrations of how to use deviant religions in a deviance course and offers insights into teaching religion as deviance. Includes references. (CMK)

  17. Does the 'old' media's coverage of religion matter in times of 'digital' religion?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teemu Taira

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The study of digital religion and religion in the ‘new’ media, especially in tracing the transformation of communities, ideas, practices and forms of interaction which people tend to classify as religious, has already proved fruitful. What is not well-justified is the assumption that the ‘old’ media does not really matter anymore. This is something to be examined, although the structures and business models of the mainstream media are changing because of the ‘new’, digital media. Furthermore, we need to explore the interactions between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, what emerges from their convergence, and start theorising about its implications in the context of religion. Some of the things that will be dealt with apply to the media in general. Only some are religion-specific. However, the intention is not to repeat what media scholars have already said about intermediality, media convergence and the relationship between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. The reflections shared here are rather based on empirical research of religion in the media, especially in the ‘old’ mainstream mass media in Britain and Finland.

  18. Religion is natural, atheism is not

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.; Markússon, Gudmundur Ingi

    2010-01-01

    After discussing evidence of irreligion and the rise of the so called "New Atheism", the authors refute the claim that this poses a problem for the cognitive science of religion and its hypothesis that religion is natural. The "naturalness hypothesis" is not deterministic but probabilistic and thus...... leaves room for atheism. This, the authors maintain, is true of both the by-product and adaptationist stances within the cognitive science of religion. In this context the authors also discuss the memetic or "unnaturalness" hypothesis, i.e. that religion is a "virus of the mind". The authors criticize...... accounts of atheism offered by cognitive scientists of religion as being based on unfounded assumptions about the psychology of atheists, and object to the notion that the natural aspects of religion by corollary make atheism unnatural. By considering human cognition in a semiotic framework and emphasizing...

  19. Religion and Gay Marriage: The Use of Religion in the Debate Concerning Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S.

    OpenAIRE

    Røkke, Frida

    2016-01-01

    Since the 1970s the issue of same-sex marriage has been publicly debated in the United States. This debate has lasted for several decades and gone through court cases and ballot measures to find a solution to the question. As several states legalized same-sex marriage the situation became tense and the demand to find a solution grew. In the summer of 2015, the United States Supreme Court handled the question of federal legalization of same-sex marriage and ruled in favor of it. As the propone...

  20. Galileo's Religion Versus the Church's Science? Rethinking the History of Science and Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, D. B.

    Galileo's conflict with the Catholic Church is well recognized as a key episode in the history of physics and in the history of science and religion. This paper applies a new, historiographical approach to that specific episode. It advocates eliminating the science and religion. The Church concluded that the plainest facts of human experience agreed perfectly with an omniscient God's revealed word to proclaim the earth at rest. Supported by the Bible, Galileo, God-like, linked the elegance of mathematics to truths about nature. The Church, in effect, resisted Galileo's claim to be able to think like God, instead listening to God himself - and paying close attention to what man himself observed. We can thus see that the phrase ``Galileo's religion versus the Church's science'' is as meaningful (or meaningless) as the usual designation ``Galileo's science versus the Church's religion.''

  1. Nietzsche – Psychologist of Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remedios Ávila Crespo

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the following article is to fight some common misconceptions with respect to Nietzsche’s views on religion, and to show that these views are considerbly complex. Starting from the close relation between the human experience of suffering and the need for religion, as pointed out by Eliade, Freud and Schopenhauer, this essay focuses on the continuity between psychology and genealogy in Nietzsche’s analyses of religion and morality, it then responds to the questions about the essence, kinds and limits of the fact of religion, and ends by pointing out the different ontological status of Nietzsche’s principal philosophical positions.

  2. Prosociality and religion: History and experimentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Norenzayan et al. are praised for choosing to deal with significant questions in the understanding of religion. They are then criticized for refusing to define religion and for relying on problematic theoretical concepts. The authors discuss Abrahamic religions as the best-known prosocial religions, but the evidence shows that the case does not fit their conceptual framework. Finally, an extension of the authors' ideas about the meaning of priming effects is proposed.

  3. Usage of the Terms Prostitution, Sex Work, Transactional Sex, and Survival Sex: Their Utility in HIV Prevention Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMillan, Karen; Worth, Heather; Rawstorne, Patrick

    2018-07-01

    This article considers the terms prostitution, sex work, transactional sex, and survival sex, the logic of their deployment and utility to research concerned with people who are paid for sex, and HIV. The various names for paid sex in HIV research are invested in strategically differentiated positionings of people who receive payment and emphasize varying degrees of choice. The terminologies that seek to distinguish a range of economically motivated paid sex practices from sex work are characterized by an emphasis on the local and the particular, efforts to evade the stigma attached to the labels sex worker and prostitute, and an analytic prioritizing of culture. This works to bestow cultural legitimacy on some locally specific forms of paid sex and positions those practices as artifacts of culture rather than economy. This article contends that, in HIV research in particular, it is necessary to be cognizant of ways the deployment of alternative paid sex categories relocates and reinscribes stigma elsewhere. While local identity categories may be appropriate for program implementation, a global category is necessary for planning and funding purposes and offers a purview beyond that of isolated local phenomena. We argue that "sex work" is the most useful global term for use in research into economically motivated paid sex and HIV, primarily because it positions paid sex as a matter of labor, not culture or morality.

  4. Religion and Education: Comparative and International Perspectives. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivasubramaniam, Malini, Ed.; Hayhoe, Ruth, Ed.

    2018-01-01

    Despite the increased trend towards secularisation in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper…

  5. Same-Sex Adoption as a Welfare Alternative? Conservatism, Neoliberal Values, and Support for Adoption by Same-Sex Couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Samuel L; Whitehead, Andrew L

    2015-01-01

    Despite conservatives' long-term opposition to gay and lesbian parenting, scholars theorize that a strong commitment to neoliberalism may influence conservative Americans to become more tolerant of same-sex adoption as a way to relieve the government from subsidizing poor families. Drawing on national survey data (2010 Baylor Religion Survey), we test whether holding neoliberal values is associated with greater support for same-sex adoption in general and across political or religious conservatives. We find no support for either theory-emphatically the opposite, in fact. Neoliberal values are negatively associated with support for same-sex adoption for Americans in general and among political and religious conservatives. We find little evidence of a tension among conservatives regarding same-sex adoption as both their neoliberal values and moral beliefs incline them to oppose same-sex adoption along with other same-sex family relationships.

  6. Religion in a global vortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Telebaković Boško

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Religions have been separated from a state, but they could have never been kept apart from the sphere of politics. They cannot be hidden from globalisation too, and are present in different forms. Only some world's religions actively participate in globalisation and try to make their believers part of their globalisation projects. The Roman Catholic Chuch and Islam are strong enough to make an attempt to shape themselves as global religions and political forces, but obstacles are so big that they cannot reach their goal in the near future. Does the USA take multireligious approach and disturb all monoreligious globalisation? Can globalisation developing a multireligious approach be the most penetrating? What can be achieved by fuzzy religion being formed in the Western Europe? Localisation in the Balkans, serving globalisation, is taking place with religious communities participating in the process. The use of religion in globalisation easily causes political concussions.

  7. On Religion and Language Evolutions Seen Through Mathematical and Agent Based Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ausloos, M.

    Religions and languages are social variables, like age, sex, wealth or political opinions, to be studied like any other organizational parameter. In fact, religiosity is one of the most important sociological aspects of populations. Languages are also obvious characteristics of the human species. Religions, languages appear though also disappear. All religions and languages evolve and survive when they adapt to the society developments. On the other hand, the number of adherents of a given religion, or the number of persons speaking a language is not fixed in time, - nor space. Several questions can be raised. E.g. from a oscopic point of view : How many religions/languages exist at a given time? What is their distribution? What is their life time? How do they evolve? From a "microscopic" view point: can one invent agent based models to describe oscopic aspects? Do simple evolution equations exist? How complicated must be a model? These aspects are considered in the present note. Basic evolution equations are outlined and critically, though briefly, discussed. Similarities and differences between religions and languages are summarized. Cases can be illustrated with historical facts and data. It is stressed that characteristic time scales are different. It is emphasized that "external fields" are historically very relevant in the case of religions, rending the study more " interesting" within a mechanistic approach based on parity and symmetry of clusters concepts. Yet the modern description of human societies through networks in reported simulations is still lacking some mandatory ingredients, i.e. the non scalar nature of the nodes, and the non binary aspects of nodes and links, though for the latter this is already often taken into account, including directions. From an analytical point of view one can consider a population independently of the others. It is intuitively accepted, but also found from the statistical analysis of the frequency distribution that an

  8. Fiction-based Religion : Conceptualising a New Category against History-based Religion and Fandom

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davidsen, M.A.

    2013-01-01

    During the last decade, scholars of religion have researched Star Wars-based Jediism, the Tolkien-inspired Elven community, and other religious movements inspired by popular fiction. This article raises two related questions about this new kind of religion: what should we call it?, and what

  9. Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MSc. Dritero Arifi

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A considerable component of the paper is also, the elaboration of secularism in Kosovo conditions. This implies that the formulation of the problem and the objective of this research, are the substance of the paper’s theme, which is, religion in Kosovo; its definition and the outlook of the Kosovar society on religion. Is Kosovo post-war society more or less religious? That means the elements of Religions and Secularism will be part of the analysis of developments in post-war Kosovo.

  10. Globalization and Religion in Historical Perspective: A Paradoxical Relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luke M. Herrington

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Religion has long been a driving force in the process of globalization. This idea is not controversial or novel thinking, nor is it meant to be. However, the dominant reasoning on the subject of globalization, expressed by authors like Thomas Friedman, places economics at the center of analysis, skewing focus from the ideational factors at work in this process. By expanding the definition of globalization to accommodate ideational factors and cultural exchange, religion’s agency in the process can be enabled. Interestingly, the story of religion and globalization is in some ways the history of globalization, but it is riddled with paradoxes, including the agent-opponent paradox, the subject of this article. Religion and globalization have a co-constitutive relationship, but religious actors are both agents of globalization and principals in its backlash. While some actors might benefit from a mutually reinforcing relationship with globalization, others are marginalized in some way or another, so it is necessary to expose the links and wedges that allow for such a paradox. To that end, the concepts of globalization and religious actors must be defined, and the history of the agent-opponent paradox, from the Buddhists of the Silk Road to the Jubilee campaign of 2000, must be elucidated.

  11. Grænser for religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lüchau, Peter

    2013-01-01

    Paper om hvor og under hvilke betingelser danskerne finder religion acceptabel og/eller passende......Paper om hvor og under hvilke betingelser danskerne finder religion acceptabel og/eller passende...

  12. Sex differences in color preferences transcend extreme differences in culture and ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorokowski, Piotr; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Witzel, Christoph

    2014-10-01

    At first glance, color preferences might seem to be the most subjective and context-dependent aspects of color cognition. Yet they are not. The present study compares color preferences of women and men from an industrialized and a remote, nonindustrialized culture. In particular, we investigated preferences in observers from Poland and from the Yali in Papua, respectively. Not surprisingly, we found that color preferences clearly differed between the two communities and also between sexes. However, despite the pronounced cultural differences, the way in which men and women differed from each other was almost the same in both cultures. At the same time, this sexual contrast was not specific to biological components of color vision. Our results reveal a pattern of sexual dimorphism that transcends extreme differences in culture and ecology. They point toward strong cross-cultural constraints beyond the biological predispositions of nature and the cultural particularities of nurture.

  13. The Impact of the Status of Religion in Contemporary Society upon Interreligious Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herman Lombaerts

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The author analyses the growing importance of IRL against the background of a changing European society. Based on sociological research, the traditional status of the Christian religion - and the monoreligious education that normally accompanies it - is seriously being challenged by the process of secularisation and the growing plurality or religious attitudes and beliefs among people in the West. Europe has become a complex network of in fl uences that constitute the actual symbolic fi eld employed by people in their search for truth. The interest for religion is still very much alive. People are not endlessly indifferent but still hope to fi nd (religious truth and meaning, even if this process has become much more complex today. In this context, interreligious dialogue itself becomes a religious act. The status given by a religion to other religions is of crucial importance for its ultimate credibility. In this line of thought, religious education should transcend both a purely monoreligious approach and a purely objective-comparative (multireligious approach, and instead should cultivate in the pupils - at the very borderlands of the different religious, cultural and geo-political territories - an attitude of practising interreligious dialogue as a religious event.

  14. Religion, theology and cosmology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John T. Fitzgerald

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Cosmology is one of the predominant research areas of the contemporary world. Advances in modern cosmology have prompted renewed interest in the intersections between religion, theology and cosmology. This article, which is intended as a brief introduction to the series of studies on theological cosmology in this journal, identifies three general areas of theological interest stemming from the modern scientific study of cosmology: contemporary theology and ethics; cosmology and world religions; and ancient cosmologies. These intersections raise important questions about the relationship of religion and cosmology, which has recently been addressed by William Scott Green and is the focus of the final portion of the article.

  15. Unbelievable?! Theistic/Epistemological Viewpoint Affects Religion-Health Relationship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Speed, David

    2017-02-01

    Research suggests that Religion/Spirituality promotes a variety of positive health outcomes. However, despite reporting lower levels of Religion/Spirituality, non-believers report comparable levels of health to believers. The current study tested the hypothesis that Religion/Spirituality does not have a uniform effect on health for all persons, and tested theological/epistemological categories as moderators. Using the 2012 and 2014 General Social Survey (N = 2670), the relationship between Religion/Spirituality and happiness and self-rated health was investigated. Results indicated that Gnostic Theists experienced Religion/Spirituality more positively than their peers did; Agnostic Theists experienced Religion/Spirituality less positively than their peers did; and Negative Atheists experienced Religion/Spirituality less positively than their peers did. These findings suggested that Religion/Spirituality is not associated with salutary effects for all persons, and that whether a person believes in god(s) and how confident he/she was in god(s)' existence, influenced his/her experience with Religion/Spirituality.

  16. The Distinction Between the Essence and Reality of Religion: Resolving an Ambiguity in the Method of Phenomenology of Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammadreza Ghaeminik

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available During recent centuries, under the influence of modern and postmodern ideas, religious studies have been exposed to new approaches and views. On the one hand, these approaches are not an extension of theology in the traditional sense and on the other hand, they give a remarkable role to method in religious studies. The importance of phenomenology and the eyes it has caught as a "method" in study of religion, as well as in such disciplines as philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, history of religion  and so on,‌ have been due to the compatibility of this method or approach with different religions and as a result due to preparing the ground for comparative studies of religions, on the one hand, and because of being descriptive and non-judicative about beliefs and thoughts, on the other. Historically speaking, this method or approach is a product of the mixture of two intellectual currents in the nineteenth century west. These two currents comprise scientific research of religion and the philosophical phenomenology of the German philosopher, "Edmund Husserl". As compared to philosophical phenomenology, phenomenology of religion has undergone through dramatic changes in all its aspects. But we can't understand phenomenology of religion, particularly in the twentieth century, apart from philosophical phenomenology, specifically Husserl's phenomenology and its important concepts. However, there are two challenging problems in phenomenology of religion both historically and regarding its essential complexity as such: first, the existing variety of phenomenologies of religion in Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Max scheler, C. Jouco bleeker, Ninian Smart, Gerardus van der Leeuw and many others works has hardened the process of understanding of this method and thus it seems necessary to outline the underlying characteristics of this method. The second and more significant point is that the works of early phenomenologists

  17. The Distinction Between the Essence and Reality of Religion: Resolving an Ambiguity in the Method of Phenomenology of Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojtaba Zarvani

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available During recent centuries, under the influence of modern and postmodern ideas, religious studies have been exposed to new approaches and views. On the one hand, these approaches are not an extension of theology in the traditional sense and on the other hand, they give a remarkable role to method in religious studies. The importance of phenomenology and the eyes it has caught as a "method" in study of religion, as well as in such disciplines as philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, history of religion  and so on,‌ have been due to the compatibility of this method or approach with different religions and as a result due to preparing the ground for comparative studies of religions, on the one hand, and because of being descriptive and non-judicative about beliefs and thoughts, on the other. Historically speaking, this method or approach is a product of the mixture of two intellectual currents in the nineteenth century west. These two currents comprise scientific research of religion and the philosophical phenomenology of the German philosopher, "Edmund Husserl". As compared to philosophical phenomenology, phenomenology of religion has undergone through dramatic changes in all its aspects. But we can't understand phenomenology of religion, particularly in the twentieth century, apart from philosophical phenomenology, specifically Husserl's phenomenology and its important concepts. However, there are two challenging problems in phenomenology of religion both historically and regarding its essential complexity as such: first, the existing variety of phenomenologies of religion in Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Max scheler, C. Jouco bleeker, Ninian Smart, Gerardus van der Leeuw and many others works has hardened the process of understanding of this method and thus it seems necessary to outline the underlying characteristics of this method. The second and more significant point is that the works of early phenomenologists

  18. A Novel Method for Assessing Sex-Specific and Genotype-Specific Response to Injury in Astrocyte Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mingyue; Oyarzabal, Esteban; Yang, Rui; Murphy, Stephanie J; Hurn, Patricia D.

    2008-01-01

    Female astrocytes sustain less cell death from oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) than male astrocytes. Arimidex, an aromatase inhibitor, abolishes these sex differences. To verify sex-dependent differences in P450 aromatase function in astrocyte cell death following OGD, we developed a novel method that uses sex-specific and genotype-specific single pup primary astrocyte cultures from wild-type (WT) and aromatase-knockout (ArKO) mice. After determining sex by external and internal examination as well as PCR and genotype by PCR amplification of tail cDNA, we established cultures from 1−3 day-old male and female, WT and ArKO mice pups and grew them to confluence in estrogen-free media. Cell death was measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. Our study shows that, while WT female astrocytes are more resistant to OGD than WT male cells, sex differences disappear in ArKO cells. Cell death is significantly increased in ArKO compared to WT in female astrocytes but not male cells. Therefore, P450 aromatase appears to be essential in endogenous neuroprotection in females, and this finding may have clinical implications. This innovative technique may also be applied to other in vitro studies of sex-related functional differences. PMID:18436308

  19. Segni e carismi nella tradizione dei Magi. Religione e filosofia tra olismo e dualismo - Signs and Charisms in Magi’s Tradition. Religion and Philosophy between Holism and Dualism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teodoro Brescia

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Holism and dualism can be considered the two top models of thought (paradigms. By applying either the former or the latter to the study of philosophic, religious and also scientific cultures, two different categories of questions and method seem to arise. In the light of the latest results reached by applying the holistic paradigm to the study of the enigma of the Magi’s Star, we redefine here a few methodological lines and suggest a different reading of the origins of philosophy, with reference to religion and science. The ancient philosophy would be born as wisdom, understood as sacred science linked to the Magi’s tradition. Came from the East, this tradition would then rooted in many cultures, also in the GreekRoman and the Judeo-Christian. Within the methodology proposed here is the introduction of instruments such as the reading of these paradigms (which also reopens the debate on the relationship between philosophy of religion and theology, archaeoastronomy (combining archeology, religious art and astronomy, cryptology (essential in the study of sacred and esoteric traditions, etc.

  20. Gaming for Safer Sex : Young German and Turkish People Report No Specific Culture-Related Preferences Toward Educational Games Promoting Safer Sex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brüll, P.; Ruiter, R.A.C.; Wiers, R.W.; Kok, G.

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Comprehensive sex education programs specifically designed for adolescents and young adults that take into account gender norms and cultural background have shown promise as a means of countering the high sexually transmitted infection rate in young people. Recently, digital gaming

  1. The "Make Your Own Religion" Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauman, Chad M.; Hege, Brent A. R.; Kleckley, Russell; Willsky-Ciollo, Lydia; Lopez, Davina C.

    2016-01-01

    The "Make Your Own Religion" class project was designed to address a perceived need to introduce more theoretical thinking about religion into a typical religion survey course, and to do so in such a way that students would experience the wonder of theoretical discovery, and through or because of that discovery hopefully both better…

  2. Unprotected sex, sexually transmitted infections and problem ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Administrator

    Background: A description of the pattern of use of alcohol and other substances among female sex workers (FSWs) is particularly important .... Never married. 2,375 (95.5). Married. 9 (0.4). Separated/divorced/widowed. 83 (3.3). Religion. Orthodox Christian. 2,148 (86.4). Catholic. 60 (2.4). Protestant. 55 (2.2). Muslim.

  3. Kant and Demystification of Ethics and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qodratullah Qorbani

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Kant's demystification is meant to put away any metaphysical and revealed elements from ethics and religion. Kant, fulfilling this, first argues that metaphysical questions of reason, from theoretical aspect, have no certain answers. In practical reason, he establishes his moral foundations, based on own human being without any referring to metaphysical bases. In fact, Kant places human being as the base, legislator and finally the end of ethics, so that the totality of morality is depended on itself him/her and there is no moral reality out of our humanly understanding. Kant, then, by confirming the necessity of rational religion, believes that the age of revealed religions have been expired, since they were belonged to the childhood age of human being’s reason, while in Kant’s rational religion, this is human being’s subjective intellect that defines the nature and function of God. Therefore, for Kant’s moral and rational religion, there is no credibility for affairs like miracles, blessings and prayers, since they indicate religious misguidance. In Kant’s rational pure religion, the religion is relied on human being’s pure reason in which his/her reason is the only criterion of religious beliefs. Therefore, for Kant, religion means recognizing our duties as divine judgments, and that such religion pertains to our mundane life not for worshiping God in order to get his satisfaction or benefitting his grace. In short, Kant’s religion and morality are totally depended on our humanly and earthy rationality and understanding, and that there is no mystery out of our humanly willing. So the mysteries that are claimed by revealed religions are meaningless, since our reason, itself, determines the nature, function and virtues of God, moral axioms and religious beliefs.

  4. Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    This is a thematic issue of the journal Religion 47 (3) entitled Exploring Aniconism. It contains elleven research articles on the use of aniconism in different religious traditions. Table of Content 1. Aniconism: definitions, examples and comparative perspectives (Milette Gaifman, concluding...

  5. Association of religion with delusions and hallucinations in the context of schizophrenia: implications for engagement and adherence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gearing, Robin Edward; Alonzo, Dana; Smolak, Alex; McHugh, Katie; Harmon, Sherelle; Baldwin, Susanna

    2011-03-01

    The relationship of religion and schizophrenia is widely acknowledged, but often minimized by practitioners and under investigated by researchers. In striving to help fill this gap, this paper focuses on examining four aims: 1) how research has investigated the association between religiosity and schizophrenia; 2) how is religiosity associated with delusions and hallucinations; 3) what are the risk and protective factors associated with religiosity and schizophrenia; and 4) does religion influence treatment adherence with individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. A systematic literature search of PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases from January 1, 1980 through January 1, 2010 was conducted using the terms schizophrenia, schizoaffective, schizophreniform, psychotic disorder not otherwise specified (NOS) and religion, religiosity, spirituality, or faith. Seventy (n=70) original research studies were identified. Religion can act as both a risk and protective factor as it interacts with the schizophrenia symptoms of hallucination and delusions. Cultural influences tend to confound the association of religion and schizophrenia. Adherence to treatment has a mixed association with religiosity. The relationship between religion and schizophrenia may be of benefit to both clinicians and researchers through enhancing adherence to treatment, and enhancement of the protective aspects while minimizing associated risk. The relationship of religion and schizophrenia needs further research that is more nuanced and methodologically rigorous, specifically concerning its influence on engagement and adherence to treatment. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Journal for the Study of Religion

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal for the Study of Religion is published twice a year in March and September by the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa as a forum for scholarly contributions of up to 6000 words on topics of contemporary significance in the academic study of religion, in the form of articles, responses to articles, ...

  7. Conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pesut, Barbara; Fowler, Marsha; Taylor, Elizabeth J; Reimer-Kirkham, Sheryl; Sawatzky, Richard

    2008-11-01

    To discuss some of the challenges of conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare practice. With the growing interest in spirituality in healthcare, has come the inevitable task of trying to conceptualise spirituality, a daunting task given the amorphous nature of spirituality, the changing understandings of spirituality among individuals and the diverse globalised society within which this task is taking place. Spirituality's relationship to religion is a particularly challenging point of debate. Critical review. Three social and historical conditions - located in the context of Western thought - have contributed to current conceptualisations of spirituality and religion: the diminishment of the social authority of religion as a result of the Enlightenment focus on reason, the rise of a postmodern spirituality emphasising spiritual experience and current tensions over the ideological and political roles of religion in society. The trend to minimise the social influence of religion is a particular Western bias that seems to ignore the global megatrend of the resurgence of religion. Current conceptualisations are critiqued on the following grounds: that they tend to be ungrounded from a rich history of theological and philosophical thought, that a particular form of elitist spirituality is emerging and that the individualistic emphasis in recent conceptualisations of spirituality diminishes the potential for societal critique and transformation while opening the door for economic and political self interest. Constructing adequate conceptualisations of spirituality and religion for clinical practice entails grounding them in the wealth of centuries of philosophical and theological thinking, ensuring that they represent the diverse society that nursing serves and anchoring them within a moral view of practice.

  8. Tell us our story : Understanding 'religion and violence' in multiple contexts of learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Liere, Lucien

    2014-01-01

    This article raises the question about how definitions of religion and violence can be understood as links to the context in which they are formulated. The focus is on the context of academic learning. Understanding a definition as a micro-narrative that reflects the cultural 'archive', the author

  9. Beyond Evolution: Addressing Broad Interactions between Science and Religion in Science Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shane, Joseph W.; Binns, Ian C.; Meadows, Lee; Hermann, Ronald S.; Benus, Matthew J.

    2016-01-01

    Science and religion are two indisputably profound and durable cultural forces with a complex history of interaction. As ASTE members are aware, these interactions often manifest themselves in classrooms and in the surrounding communities. In this essay, we encourage science teacher educators to broaden their perspectives of science-religion…

  10. Religion and Education: A Human Rights Dilemma Illustrated by the Recent "Headscarf Cases"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Rhona K. M.

    2007-01-01

    Education and religion are indelibly linked: cultural precepts underpin education policies within the formal State education system, while education has a clear role to play in promoting tolerance. Clashes between religious beliefs and secular education pose problems for states as the current array of jurisprudence, particularly on Islamic dress…

  11. Religion, culture and mental health

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Loewenthal, Kate

    2007-01-01

    ... psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, manic disorders, depression, anxiety, somatisation and dissociation as well as positive states of mind, and analyses the religious and cultural influences on each.   is Professor of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published numerous articles and spoken at internatio...

  12. New ways of believing or belonging: is religion giving way to spirituality?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glendinning, Tony; Bruce, Steve

    2006-09-01

    In this article, the presence of alternative spirituality and practices within the general culture and their relationship to institutional religion are examined using national survey data collected as part of the 2001 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey. Alternative practices are found to divide into two groups of interests: concerns with personal well-being and interest in divination. Better-educated women are much more likely to engage with holistic practices associated with well-being; a minority of younger, less well-educated women are more likely to have found horoscopes, astrology, fortune-telling and tarot 'important in their lives'. Churchgoers find divination antithetical to religion while the use and salience of a range of holistic practices is as acceptable among churchgoers as it is among non-attenders and the secular (once allowance has been made for the connections between putatively alternative practices, gender, age and education). This underscores a focus on personal well-being rather than alternative spirituality in the consumption of holistic products and practices within the general culture. The study findings are used to assess claims for a spiritual revolution in modern Britain.

  13. Religious and Cultural Dress at School: A Comparative Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E de Waal,

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available This article investigates and compares the different approaches towards the dress code of learners1 in South Africa and the United States of America (US, as the US mainly base litigation concerning school dress code on their freedom of speech/expression clause, while similar South African court cases focus more on religious and cultural freedom. In South Africa, school principals and School Governing Bodies are in dire need of clear guidelines on how to respect and honour the constitutionally entrenched right to all of the different religions and cultures. The crisis of values in education arises from the disparity between the value system espoused by the school and the community, and that expressed in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which guarantees learners' fundamental rights, including those of freedom of religion, culture, expression and human dignity. On the one hand, the South African Schools Act requires of School Governing Bodies to develop and implement a Code of Conduct for learners, and on the other, that they strictly adhere to the Constitution of the country when drawing up their dress codes. The right of a religious group to practise its religion or of a cultural group to respect and sustain its culture must be consistent with the provisions of the Bill of Rights (which is entrenched in the Constitution and this implies that other rights may not infringe on the right to freedom of religion and culture. In the US, although there is no legislation that protects learners' freedom of religion and culture at schools, their First Amendment guides the way. Their Supreme Court respects the religious values of all citizens provided that they are manifested off public school premises. While we acknowledge the existence of religious and cultural diversity at South African schools, this paper focuses on the tension among and on the existence of different approaches towards the human rights of learners from different

  14. Religion and suicide: Buddhism, Native American and African religions, Atheism, and Agnosticism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lizardi, D; Gearing, R E

    2010-09-01

    Research has repeatedly demonstrated that religiosity can potentially serve as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. A clear understanding of the influence of religion on suicidality is required to more fully assess for the risk of suicide. The databases PsycINFO and MEDLINE were used to search peer-reviewed journals prior to 2008 focusing on religion and suicide. Articles focusing on suicidality across Buddhism, Native American and African religions, as well as on the relationship among Atheism, Agnosticism, and suicide were utilized for this review. Practice recommendations are offered for conducting accurate assessment of religiosity as it relates to suicidality in these populations. Given the influence of religious beliefs on suicide, it is important to examine each major religious group for its unique conceptualization and position on suicide to accurately identify a client's suicide risk.

  15. American religion: diaspora and syncretism from Old World to New

    OpenAIRE

    Aisha Khan

    2003-01-01

    [First paragraph] Nation Dance: Religion, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. PATRICK TAYLOR (ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. x +220 pp. (Paper US$ 19.95) Translating Kali 's Feast: The Goddess in Indo-Caribbean Ritual and Fiction. STEPHANOS STEPHANIDES with KARNA SINGH. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000. xii + 200 pp. (Paper US$ 19.00) Between Babel and Pentecost: Transnational Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America. ANDRÉ CORTEN & RUTH MARSHAL...

  16. Religion and stock price crash risk: Evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenfei Li

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates whether religious traditions influence firm-specific crash risk in China. Using a sample of A-share listed firms from 2003 to 2013, we provide evidence that the more intense the religious environment, the lower the stock price crash risk, implying that religion plays an important role in Chinese corporate governance. Further, we find that (1 religion affects stock price crash risk by reducing earnings management and the management perk problem; (2 different religions have different effects, and Taoism, in particular, is unrelated to crash risk; and (3 the effects of religion are more pronounced with higher quality corporate governance and a stronger legal environment. Religion constrains the management agency problem, thus reducing stock price crash risk in China. Our paper enriches the literature on stock price crash risk and religion, and on new economic geography.

  17. From Antagonism to Cooperation: Pop-Culture as Reflected in Protestant Theology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Mikhelson

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The author examines how theologians, especially Protestants, have changed their attitude to pop-culture. A veritable evolution has taken place. At one time, Protestant theologians refused to even acknowledge the existence of the phenomenon, while today some of these theologians employ examples drawn from pop-culture even in their lessons of theology. The author studies this contemporary development and offers some reasons for why it has come about. One ofthese theologians, a certain Gordon Lynch, has become a convinced apologist for pop-culture and analyses it on the basis of his threefold theory of the levels of the functionality of religion: sociological, existential (hermeneutic, and transcendental. In Lynch’s opinion, pop-culture has taken over the role of religion in many cases. He cites the popular cartoon The Simpsons as one prominent example. Religion plays an important part in this cartoon series and Protestant theologians have begun to take notice an opposite change of attitude towards religion in pop-culture, viewing the development in a positive way. Though pop-cultural products may be used in pastoral ministry and are also being evaluated by theologians, this analysis cannot be called scientific in the strictest sense, since generally it remains within the scope of only theological approach.

  18. Limits to expression on religion in France

    OpenAIRE

    Janssen, E.

    2009-01-01

    During the last decade conflicts about expression on religion have increased globally. Generally, these conflicts are regarded as a conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In France there are many active religious interest groups that aim to protect a certain religion in society. They often initiate judicial proceedings seeking to prohibit certain kinds of speech on their religion. This practice has resulted in a rich case law on the limits of expre...

  19. Religion and the secularisation of health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paley, John

    2009-07-01

    To assess the claim that conceptualisations of religion and spirituality should be grounded in theology, and acknowledge the global resurgence of religion. Although there is widespread agreement in the nursing literature that 'spirituality' is a broader concept than 'religion,' and should be understood generically, this approximate consensus has occasionally been challenged. A recent paper by Barbara Pesut and colleagues argues that the generic view not only empties spirituality of powerful religious symbols and narratives, but underestimates the continuing social influence of religion, and its resurgence on a global scale. Accordingly, these authors suggest three principles for conceptualising spirituality and religion in health care, one of which is that conceptualisations should be grounded in philosophical and theological thinking, and should not ignore the global resurgence of religion. Critical review. The Pesut principle privileges theology, disregarding other disciplines which theorize religion. Arguably, it privileges specifically Christian theology, the history of which suggests a politics of orthodoxy and an epistemology of authority and obedience. The global resurgence of religion is not, in fact, global, as the industrialised countries have experienced a marked shift towards secular-rational values; and the postindustrial phase of development is associated with self-expression values, which represent a challenge not merely to religious institutions (arguably an affirmation of 'spirituality') but to traditional elites and structures of all kinds. Finally, religion 'resurgent' is not an attractive model for health care, since many of its most obvious manifestations are incompatible with the ideology of health professionals. In the secular societies of Europe, if not North America, there should be no expectation that nurses provide spiritual care. It is a requirement of the great separation between civil order and religion that the health services, as a

  20. This May Be a Feud, but It Is Not a War: An Electronic, Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Teaching Native Religions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimes, Ronald L.

    1996-01-01

    Describes an electronic discussion on three listservs about whether European Americans should teach courses on Native religions; if not, what would result; if so, how to proceed. Responses discuss issues of cultural imperialism and appropriation, academic freedom, cultural property rights and control, qualifications (and disqualifications) for…

  1. Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: a 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, David P

    2005-04-01

    The Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI; Simpson & Gangestad 1991) is a self-report measure of individual differences in human mating strategies. Low SOI scores signify that a person is sociosexually restricted, or follows a more monogamous mating strategy. High SOI scores indicate that an individual is unrestricted, or has a more promiscuous mating strategy. As part of the International Sexuality Description Project (ISDP), the SOI was translated from English into 25 additional languages and administered to a total sample of 14,059 people across 48 nations. Responses to the SOI were used to address four main issues. First, the psychometric properties of the SOI were examined in cross-cultural perspective. The SOI possessed adequate reliability and validity both within and across a diverse range of modem cultures. Second, theories concerning the systematic distribution of sociosexuality across cultures were evaluated. Both operational sex ratios and reproductively demanding environments related in evolutionary-predicted ways to national levels of sociosexuality. Third, sex differences in sociosexuality were generally large and demonstrated cross-cultural universality across the 48 nations of the ISDP, confirming several evolutionary theories of human mating. Fourth, sex differences in sociosexuality were significantly larger when reproductive environments were demanding but were reduced to more moderate levels in cultures with more political and economic gender equality. Implications for evolutionary and social role theories of human sexuality are discussed.

  2. Religion and violence in a globalised world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolfgang Huber

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Violent religious extremism is seen as one of the mega-problems of the 21st century. This article � based on a key lecture at the conference on �Violence in a democratic South Africa� at the University of Pretoria and the David de Villiers memorial lecture at the University of Stellenbosch, both held during August 2010 � critically discussed the interaction between religion and violence in our present-day, globalised world. Three different propositions on the relationship between religion and violence were scrutinised. In countering the proposition that religion, or more specifically monotheism, necessarily leads to violence, it was argued that violence is not an inherent, but rather an acquired or even an ascribed quality of religion. The second proposition that religion leads to non-violence was affirmed to the extent that religions do provide a strong impulse to overcome violence. However, they also tend to accept violence as an inevitable part of reality and even justify the use of violence on religious grounds. The third proposition was regarded as the most convincing, for it argues that the link between religion and violence is contingent. Some situations do seem to make the use of violence inevitable; however, religions should refrain from justifying the use of violence and maintain a preferential option for nonviolence.

  3. Mapping the Curriculum-Making Landscape of Religion Education ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Together with other scholars, Roux, a scholar-activist, has played a seminal role in conceptualising religion in the curriculum as religion in education (RiE) and more recently, religion and education (RaE). In disrupting the boundaries of religion, she has also made human rights the departure point for engagement with RaE.

  4. Religious Education and Freedom of Religion and Belief. Religion Education and Values. Volume 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Stephen, Ed.; Freathy, Rob, Ed.; Francis, Leslie J., Ed.

    2012-01-01

    What opportunities and challenges are presented to religious education across the globe by the basic human right of freedom of religion and belief? To what extent does religious education facilitate or inhibit "freedom of religion" in schools? What contribution can religious education make to freedom in the modern world? This volume…

  5. A Sex Work Research Symposium: Examining Positionality in Documenting Sex Work and Sex Workers’ Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Megan Lowthers; Magdalena Sabat; Elya M. Durisin; Kamala Kempadoo

    2017-01-01

    Historically, academic literature on sex work has documented the changing debates, policies, and cultural discourse surrounding the sex industry, and their impact on the rights of sex workers worldwide. As sex work scholars look to the future of sex workers’ rights, however, we are also in a critical moment of self-reflection on how sex work scholarship engages with sex worker communities, produces knowledge surrounding sex work, and represents the lived experiences of sex workers’ rights, or...

  6. Research Approaches in the Study of Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szocik Konrad

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Despite development of secular ideas and concepts in the Western world, we can observe increasing interest in the study of religion. However, this popularity of the study of religion and different research approaches has caused that in some sense scholars that were studying religion came to a dead point. Here I show that the most optimal research approach in the study of religion is pluralistic, integral paradigm which connects old traditional methods with naturalistic, cognitive and sometimes experimental approach.

  7. Clinical psychology of religion. A training model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Uden, M.H.F. van; Pieper, J.Z.T.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we will show you a part of a course "Clinical Psychology of Religion" that has been developed in the Netherlands for introducing mental health professionals in the field of clinical psychology of religion. Clinical psychology of religion applies insights from general psychology of

  8. The origin and mission of material religion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meyer, B.; Morgan, D.; Paine, C.; Plate, S.B.

    2010-01-01

    Beginning its sixth year of publication, Material Religion is an interdisciplinary journal that seeks to gather the best work from around the world engaged in materializing the study of religions. The editors welcome original scholarship on any religion and from any period in human history that

  9. Islam and its Influence on the Kazakh Culture and language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Galina T. Yedgina

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available After The Republic of Kazakhstan has got its independence we can observe intensive revival of the national culture and traditional religion as well as increasing of religiousness level of the population. So, studying of the Islamic development in our country is necessary nowadays, because it may help to comprehend specific character of social, political, historical and cultural features. The Koran is unique, it is the first written literary monument of the rise of Islam period and a code of moral, religious, civil, political and legal regulations. At the beginning of 8-th century Islam became the prevailing religion in our region due to its monotheism ideas. Since that time we can notice the development and prosperity of the Moslem Arabic culture which has influenced the social, economic, political and cultural life in Central Asia and Southern Kazakhstan. After Islam had been declared a new state religion, the Arabic language, script and literature became an integral part of the culture, and it is no doubt that the culture of local population was enriched greatly after the Arabic invasion

  10. Renegotiating religious imaginations through transformations of "banal religion" in Supernatural

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Line Nybro

    2010-01-01

    implies long-term processes in which media play a role in cultural and social change. The theory of cognitive anthropology of religion allows us to understand how the series activates shared implicit knowledge of supernatural agents and events to evoke recognition and emotion; but by transforming...... applies these narrative devices, which heighten plausibility and familiarity, while simultaneously offering viewers a change in perspective, thus creating opportunities for viewers to renegotiate existing religious imaginations....

  11. Renegotiating religious imaginations through transformations of "banal religion" in Supernatural

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Line Nybro

    implies long-term processes in which media play a role in cultural and social change. The theory of cognitive anthropology of religion allows us to understand how the series activates shared implicit knowledge of supernatural agents and events to evoke recognition and emotion; but by transforming...... applies these narrative devices, which heighten plausibility and familiarity, while simultaneously offering viewers a change in perspective, thus creating opportunities for viewers to renegotiate existing religious imaginations....

  12. POSSESSION, REVIEW FROM CULTURAL AND PSYCHIATRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ni Ketut Sri Diniari

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Possession is a culture related syndrome, commonly found in Indonesia including Bali. We can see this event in religion and cultural ceremony and at other times at school, home, and in society. This syndrome consist of temporary loss of self identification and environment awareness; in several events a person acts as if he/she was controlled by other being, magic force, spirit or ‘other forces’. There are still several different opinions about trance-possession, whether it is related to certain culture or is a part of mental disorder. DSM-IV-TR and PPDGJ-III defined trance-possession as mental disorder (dissociative for involuntary possession, if it is not a common activity, and if it is not a part of religion or cultural event. (MEDICINA 2012;43:37-40.

  13. Religion, fertility and genes: a dual inheritance model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowthorn, Robert

    2011-08-22

    Religious people nowadays have more children on average than their secular counterparts. This paper uses a simple model to explore the evolutionary implications of this difference. It assumes that fertility is determined entirely by culture, whereas subjective predisposition towards religion is influenced by genetic endowment. People who carry a certain 'religiosity' gene are more likely than average to become or remain religious. The paper considers the effect of religious defections and exogamy on the religious and genetic composition of society. Defections reduce the ultimate share of the population with religious allegiance and slow down the spread of the religiosity gene. However, provided the fertility differential persists, and people with a religious allegiance mate mainly with people like themselves, the religiosity gene will eventually predominate despite a high rate of defection. This is an example of 'cultural hitch-hiking', whereby a gene spreads because it is able to hitch a ride with a high-fitness cultural practice. The theoretical arguments are supported by numerical simulations.

  14. Sex Education and Cultural Values: Experiences and Attitudes of Latina Immigrant Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villar, Maria Elena; Concha, Maritza

    2012-01-01

    The paper aims to further explore the role that culture plays in the provision and assimilation of sex education among Latina immigrants in the USA. To accomplish this, researchers conducted focus groups and interviews with 30 women from Central and South America who have lived in the USA for at least five years. Participants were asked to reflect…

  15. Shaping Sexual Knowledge: A Cultural History of Sex Education in Twentieth Century Europe. Routledge Studies in the Social History of Medicine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sauerteig, Lutz, Ed.; Davidson, Roger, Ed.

    2012-01-01

    The history of sex education enables us to gain valuable insights into the cultural constructions of what different societies have defined as 'normal' sexuality and sexual health. Yet, the history of sex education has only recently attracted the full attention of historians of modern sexuality. "Shaping Sexual Knowledge: A Cultural History of…

  16. How Teachers Can Still Teach about Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Joanne M.

    2004-01-01

    The line between public and private expression of religion requires balancing the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the constitutional prohibition against the establishment of religion. Public schools, as government entities, and the teachers in them are allowed neither to inhibit the free exercise of religious…

  17. Immigration and Religion in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Lisbet

    2009-01-01

    An overview over legal framework for immigration into Denmark, special clauses on religion as a parameter for residence permit and asylum in churches......An overview over legal framework for immigration into Denmark, special clauses on religion as a parameter for residence permit and asylum in churches...

  18. Spirituality, Religion, and Peace Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brantmeier, Edward J., Ed.; Lin, Jing, Ed.; Miller, John P., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    "Spirituality, Religion, and Peace Education" attempts to deeply explore the universal and particular dimensions of education for inner and communal peace. This co-edited book contains fifteen chapters on world spiritual traditions, religions, and their connections and relevance to peacebuilding and peacemaking. This book examines the…

  19. Religion in the Labour Market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Lisbet

    overview over case law in Denmark regarding religion on the labour market. From pragmatism to ideological secularisation and confessionalisation as result of politisation......overview over case law in Denmark regarding religion on the labour market. From pragmatism to ideological secularisation and confessionalisation as result of politisation...

  20. Iconic Religion in Urban Space

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meyer, B.; Knott, Kim; Krech, Volkhard

    2016-01-01

    In order to understand current dynamics of religious diversity, a focus on the tangible presence of religion and the co-existence of new and longstanding religious buildings, sites and artifacts in urban spaces is a fruitful starting point. Launching the notion of iconic religion, this introduction

  1. Feminisms and Challenges to Institutionalized Philosophy of Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan Eric Dickman

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available For my invited contribution to this special issue of Religions on “Feminisms and the Study of ‘Religions,’” I focus on philosophy of religion and contestations over its relevance to the academic field of Religious Studies. I amplify some feminist philosophers’ voices—especially Pamela Sue Anderson—in corroboration with recent calls from Religious Studies scholars to diversify philosophy of religions in the direction of locating it properly within the current state of Religious Studies. I want to do this by thinking through two proposals in productive tension: first, any philosophy of religions worthy of the name is intrinsically feminist; second, any philosophy of religions worthy of the name is intrinsically traditional. I want to use the productive tension between these two to illuminate ways calls for broadening the field can be enhanced when such calls are seen as both feminist and traditional. I proceed as follows. First, I note three instances of explicitly feminist work in philosophy of religions that do not suffer from the same narrowness as so-called “traditional” philosophy of religion. Religious Studies critics of philosophy of religion overstate the case in claiming feminist philosophy of religion is too narrow. Second, I develop a useful distinction between the concepts of “tradition” and “institution” to locate forces of oppression more precisely in dynamics of institutionalization so that we might rehabilitate tradition as a resource for combating institutionalized oppressiveness. I do this in response to the hegemony of current philosophers of religion who claim to speak about “the traditional god.” And third, I briefly coordinate four topics in religions from diverse feminist perspectives to help refine paths of inquiry for future philosophy of religions that is both feminist and traditional. My hope is that these clarify a philosophy of religions renewed through feminisms—moving from fringe to

  2. La religion à l’école en Allemagne

    OpenAIRE

    Schreiner, Peter

    2012-01-01

    L’Allemagne est un État séculier, philosophiquement neutre. La liberté de religion, garantie par la Constitution, comprend aussi bien la liberté d’avoir ou non une religion (liberté de religion négative) que la libre expression de cette religion (liberté de religion positive). La population appartient en majorité à l’une des deux grandes confessions chrétiennes : l’Église catholique ou l’Église protestante. Le nombre de musulmans est en augmentation ; les autres confessions représentent une p...

  3. Religion zwischen Zugehörigkeit und Differenz Religion between Belonging and Difference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronika Springmann

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Der vorliegende zweisprachige Sammelband präsentiert elf Beiträge einer Tagung, die 2003 an der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin stattfand. Vorgestellt werden unterschiedliche Zugriffe auf den Themenkomplex Geschlecht, Gewalt und Religion.The dual-language collected volume at hand presents eleven contributions based on a conference that took place at Humboldt University in 2003. The volume introduces different manners of accessing the network of themes of gender, violence, and religion.

  4. Life Interpretation and Religion among Icelandic Teenagers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunnarsson, Gunnar J.

    2009-01-01

    Does religion play any specific part in Icelandic teenagers' life interpretation? This paper examines Icelandic teenagers' talk about religion and presents some of the findings in interviews with teenagers in a qualitative research project. The focus is especially on how three individuals express themselves about the influence of religion on their…

  5. Freedom of religion in the 21st century : A human rights perspective on the relation between politics and religion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ziebertz, Hans-Georg; Hirsch Ballin, Ernst

    2015-01-01

    Freedom of religion consists of the right to practice, to manifest and to change one’s religion. The modern democratic state is neutral towards the variety of religions, but protects the right of citizens to practice their different religious beliefs. Recent history shows that a number of religious

  6. Young Norwegian-Pakistani Women and Sport: How Does Culture and Religiosity Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walseth, Kristin; Strandbu, Åse

    2014-01-01

    Studies from several countries show that girls with an immigrant background participate in organized sports to a lesser extent than other young people. Barriers related to culture and religion serve in many of these studies as explanations. In this article we suggest that the notions of culture and religion in this field of studies could be…

  7. Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

    OpenAIRE

    MSc. Dritero Arifi; Dr.Sc. Ylber Sela

    2013-01-01

    This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A...

  8. Fantasy som religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davidsen, Markus

    2010-01-01

    Artiklen redegør for George Lucas' religionspædagogiske projekt med Star Wars og jediismens brug af Star Wars som religiøs tekst i en fantasybaseret religion. Afslutningsvist gives en række forslag til hvordan man kan anvende Star Wars og jediismen i folkeskolens religionsundervisning.......Artiklen redegør for George Lucas' religionspædagogiske projekt med Star Wars og jediismens brug af Star Wars som religiøs tekst i en fantasybaseret religion. Afslutningsvist gives en række forslag til hvordan man kan anvende Star Wars og jediismen i folkeskolens religionsundervisning....

  9. MAIN PROBLEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE OF RELIGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jowita Guja

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper is a synthetic overview of main problems of the philosophical critique of religion. In the beginning I identify and characterize three general threads of the critique: the enlightenment, the alienational and the thread which focuses on the problem of theodicy. The greater part of my article is devoted to the alienational critique of religion n its two types: atheistic (Feuerbach, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Sartre and theistic (Barth. The subjects of my analysis are the sources and foundations of the alienational critique of religion and the most important problems implied by it: the essence of religion, the ideal of the irreligious man, the prospect to remove religion. The analysis presents troubles and confusions connected to these subjects: they emerge in atheistic type of alienational critique of religion.

  10. Black Tribal African Religion with Some Emphasis on Christianity and Islam in Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emmons, Marian

    This 6th grade social studies unit delves into the belief systems and external religious, cultural practices of Black Africans. It is part of a series of guides developed by the Public Education Religion Studies Center at Wright State University. Study is focused upon the Ashanti tribe of Ghana knowing that although the multiplicity of tribes have…

  11. Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Stig Børsen

    2011-01-01

    This paper explores the relevance of Wittgenstein’s early work for treatments of religion. The first section briefly outlines some different interpretive possibilities with respect to early Wittgenstein’s thinking. The following section explores the idea that what is important about early...... play a role in treatments of religion. This they do either by exhibiting parallels between themes in theology and themes in logic, or they do so by playing a role in assessing cosmological arguments in the philosophy of religion....

  12. Science and Religion in Liberal Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jønch-Clausen, Karin

    The dissertation explores the role of scientific rationality and religious reasoning in democratic law and policymaking. How does legitimate law and policymaking proceed in light of disagreements on science and religion? This question is addressed within the framework of public reason. Roughly pu...... concerning the role science and religion in political deliberation challenge the public reason framework as viable vehicle for pursuing democratic legitimacy? The dissertation discusses these and other questions related to the special role of science and religion in liberal democracy....

  13. Post-religional perspective and secular Buddhism: Stephen Batchelor and the post-metaphysical religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro Durazzo

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to present one of the contemporary trends on Buddhism, specially from the last decades in West, for its encounter with the globalized and dynamic context of present societies. This Buddhist trend, the progressive secularization of its traditions and practices, not to mention its increasing acceptance of historical-textual refutation, finds in Stephen Batchelor - a former monk in two different Buddhist traditions, Tibetan and Korean Zen - a catalyzer and a well-known advocate of secular perspective to the contemporary Buddhism. Here we will present the potential dialogue between the Secular Buddhism - besides the secularizing perspectives over orthodox cultural traditions - and the post-religional subject, as proposed by Marià Corbí and the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. For the purposes of this paper we will focus on the modernizing and secular hermeneutics on Dharma practice, as defended by Stephen Batchelor and others.

  14. Religion, Ethnicity and Contraceptive Use among Reproductive age Women in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillips Edomwonyi Obasohan, MEd, MBA, MSc; 1

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Religion and Ethnicity are the two most important factors that shape the behavioral pattern especially health seeking behaviors of the people of Nigeria. This study seeks to examine the mediatory effects of the linkage between ethnicity and religion with selected socio-demographic variables on the current use of contraception (CUC among women of reproductive age in Nigeria. Methods: Nationally representative sample of 39,948 women of reproductive age (15-49 years in the 2013 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS was used. Chi-square was used to analyze the bivariate relationship between exposure variables and CUC. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the odds ratio with the 95% confi dence interval. Results: The prevalence of CUC was generally low for women of reproductive age in Nigeria, highest among the Yoruba women and lowest among the Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri/Seriberi (HFKS women; highest among other Christian women and lowest for Muslim women and highest for Yoruba/other religion and lowest for women of Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri/Seriberi/Islam. The odds ratios showed that disparity across ethno-religious boundaries is significant. Conclusions and Global Health Implications: Globally, and especially in sub-Saharan African countries, maternal mortality resulting from the abortion of unintended pregnancies pose a major challenge in health delivery system. In Nigeria, a cultural and religious heterogeneous society, current use of contraceptives by women of reproductive age is found not to be a matter of independent effects of ethnicity, religiosity and other socio-demographic variables but also dependent on the effects of interactions between the ethnicity and religion.

  15. Religion Education Teaching in Zimbabwe Secondary Schools: The Search for an Authentic Values-Oriented Multi-Faith Religion Education Pedagogical Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ndlovu, Lovemore

    2014-01-01

    Religion Education teaching in post-independence Zimbabwe has remained bible-oriented and confessional at a time when most Religion Education stakeholders expect an "open", plural and authentic multi-faith Religion Education curriculum. Despite curriculum innovation initiatives aimed at introducing new approaches such as experiential…

  16. Beyond Evolution: Addressing Broad Interactions Between Science and Religion in Science Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shane, Joseph W.; Binns, Ian C.; Meadows, Lee; Hermann, Ronald S.; Benus, Matthew J.

    2016-03-01

    Science and religion are two indisputably profound and durable cultural forces with a complex history of interaction. As ASTE members are aware, these interactions often manifest themselves in classrooms and in the surrounding communities. In this essay, we encourage science teacher educators to broaden their perspectives of science-religion interactions so that they may better assist pre- and in-service science teachers with addressing topics such as the age and origins of the universe and biological evolution in an appropriate manner. We first introduce some foundational scholarship into the historical interactions between science and religion as well as current efforts to maintain healthy dialogue between perspectives that are frequently characterized as innately in conflict with or mutually exclusive of one another. Given that biological evolution is the dominant science-religion issue of our day, in particular in the USA, we next summarize the origins and strategies of anti-evolution movements via the rise and persistence of Christian Fundamentalism. We then summarize survey and qualitative sociological research indicating disparities between academic scientists and the general public with regard to religious beliefs to help us further understand our students' worldviews and the challenges they often face in campus-to-classroom transitions. We conclude the essay by providing resources and practical suggestions, including legal considerations, to assist science teacher educators with their curriculum and outreach.

  17. Religion, Education and Citizenship Education: The Challenge of Turning Religion Upside Down

    OpenAIRE

    Bakker, Cok

    2013-01-01

    Reflecting on the link between religion and religious tradition(s) on the one hand and school and education on the other, and reflecting on the reasoning strategy to make sense of this link, people seem to tend strongly to think, argue and reflect in a deductive mode (this point is elaborated in par. 3). This part of the argument is followed by considering the religious claims people make concerning the impact of religion on the day-to-day educational practice, it is, empirically speaking. It...

  18. Religions in Fiction for Junior and Senior High Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knafle, June D.

    2001-01-01

    Examines current adolescent fiction of award-winning and widely read authors according to religious themes concerning Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Native American religions, African spirit religions, and the occult, supernatural, and New Age. Finds that the portrayal of religions and its adherents is very mixed, depending upon the religion.…

  19. The Need to Re-Conceptualize African 'Traditional' Religion

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    First Lady

    definitions of religion, point out the areas of misconception about African religion ... concrete deity or not‖ by William James (1902) opens up the idea of religion .... a belief which is also very central in the Judeo-Christian faith, especially in.

  20. Religion, Psychology and Globalisation Process: Attitudinal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A key consequence of globalisation is the integrative approach to reality whereby emphasis is ... between psychology and religion has revolutionised the field of psychology of religion ..... paranormal or abnormal. In this wise, one is able to ...

  1. Portrait of a women’s marriage: navigating between lesbophobia and Islamophobia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wieringa, S.E.

    2011-01-01

    This article deals with the legal, political, and cultural barriers faced by a cross-national women’s same-sex couple. The partners are from the Netherlands, where same-sex marriage is legal, and an Asian country in which same-sex relations are gradually being criminalized. Although religion, in

  2. No Religion Is an Island: Teaching World Religions to Adolescents in a Jewish Educational Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reimer, Joseph

    2013-01-01

    What is the place of teaching about other world religions in a Jewish educational curriculum for adolescents? This article explores a course in world religions that has been taught at the Genesis Program at Brandeis University since 2001. Based on a participant observational study during 2002 and 2012, the author traces how the teachers construct…

  3. A randomized waitlist-controlled trial of culturally sensitive relationship education for male same-sex couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitton, Sarah W; Weitbrecht, Eliza M; Kuryluk, Amanda D; Hutsell, David W

    2016-09-01

    Relationship education, effective in improving relationship quality among different-sex couples, represents a promising and nonstigmatizing approach to promoting the health and stability of same-sex couples. A new culturally sensitive relationship education program was developed specifically for male same-sex couples, which includes adaptations of evidence-based strategies to build core relationship skills (e.g., communication skills training) and newly developed content to address unique challenges faced by this group (e.g., discrimination; low social support). A small randomized waitlist-control trial (N = 20 couples) was conducted to evaluate the program. To assess program efficacy, dyadic longitudinal data (collected at pre- and postprogram and 3-month follow-up) were analyzed using multilevel models that accounted for nonindependence in data from indistinguishable dyads. Results indicated significant program effects in comparison to waitlist controls on couple constructive and destructive communication, perceived stress, and relationship satisfaction. Gains in each of these areas were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Although there was no evidence of within-person program effects on social support, satisfaction, or relationship instability immediately postprogram, all 3 showed within-person improvements by follow-up. Ratings of program satisfaction were high. In summary, study findings support the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of the program and highlight the potential value of culturally sensitive adaptations of relationship education for same-sex couples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Festivals Together. A Guide to Multi-cultural Celebration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzjohn, Sue; Weston, Minda; Large, Judy

    This is a resource guide for observing and celebrating special days according to the traditions of many cultures. It brings together the experience and activities of persons from many religions--Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and the Sikh religion--and draws on diverse backgrounds from many parts of the world. The context is…

  5. The School and Religion: Do They Need One Another?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anisimova, R. A.

    1993-01-01

    Asserts that certain issues that are connected in some way to religion continue to endure. Reports on a study of 227 Russian teachers regarding their views toward religion, atheism, and religion's role in society. Concludes that Russian educators should define their attitudes toward churches and use religion to help improve society. (CFR)

  6. Grænser for religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lüchau, Peter

    2015-01-01

    Analyse af danskernes holdning til religion i det private og offentlige rum med fokus på en distinktion mellem religiøs autoritetsudøvelse og religiøs selvudfoldelse.......Analyse af danskernes holdning til religion i det private og offentlige rum med fokus på en distinktion mellem religiøs autoritetsudøvelse og religiøs selvudfoldelse....

  7. Religion as Bridging or Bonding Social Capital: Race, Religion, and Cross-Racial Interaction for College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Julie J.; Bowman, Nicholas A.

    2015-01-01

    Religion is the most segregated arena of American life, but its effect on collegiate diversity outcomes has been overlooked, despite the significance of both race and religion in many students' lives. This study examines whether religious observance, religious worldview identification, and participation in a religious student organization are…

  8. Sex Composition of Children and Marital Disruption in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bose, Sunita; South, Scott J.

    2003-01-01

    Using data from respondents to the Indian National Family Health Surveys, having at least one son is associated with a significantly lower risk of divorce or separation. Moreover, with few exceptions, the effect of children's sex composition on the risk of divorce holds for subgroups of Indian women across categories of education, religion,…

  9. Spirituality, Religion, and Suicidality Among Veterans: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lusk, Jaimie; Dobscha, Steven K; Kopacz, Marek; Ritchie, Mary Frances; Ono, Sarah

    2018-01-01

    This qualitative study explores the relationship between veterans' spirituality/religion and suicide ideation and attempts. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 veterans who either endorsed chronic suicidal ideation or had made suicide attempt(s). Interviews explored the bi-directional relationship between spirituality/religion (e.g., beliefs, practices, and experiences), and suicide ideation and behaviors. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Veterans' responses indicate that spirituality/religion can discourage or permit suicidal ideation, help in coping with ideation, and facilitate meaning making and coping in the presence of self-perceived suffering. Veterans who survived a suicide attempt explored the impact of their spirituality/religion on their recovery. Findings highlight a complex and diverse relationship between spirituality/religion and suicidality. These findings may inform further research on treatment strategies that assess the function of spirituality/religion, and incorporate protective aspects of spirituality/religion into mental health treatment.

  10. From the Axial Age to the New Age: Religion as a Dynamic of World History.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Carlton H.

    In order to broaden student understanding of past and contemporary situations, the world history survey course needs to consider religion as a vehicle through which history moves. The course proposal includes prehistory and paleolithic times to contemporary Islamic culture. The course is thematic and comparative in orientation, but moves through…

  11. Religion, fertility and genes: a dual inheritance model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowthorn, Robert

    2011-01-01

    Religious people nowadays have more children on average than their secular counterparts. This paper uses a simple model to explore the evolutionary implications of this difference. It assumes that fertility is determined entirely by culture, whereas subjective predisposition towards religion is influenced by genetic endowment. People who carry a certain ‘religiosity’ gene are more likely than average to become or remain religious. The paper considers the effect of religious defections and exogamy on the religious and genetic composition of society. Defections reduce the ultimate share of the population with religious allegiance and slow down the spread of the religiosity gene. However, provided the fertility differential persists, and people with a religious allegiance mate mainly with people like themselves, the religiosity gene will eventually predominate despite a high rate of defection. This is an example of ‘cultural hitch-hiking’, whereby a gene spreads because it is able to hitch a ride with a high-fitness cultural practice. The theoretical arguments are supported by numerical simulations. PMID:21227968

  12. The effect of socio-demographic factors and sources of sex ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The effect of socio-demographic factors and sources of sex information on romantic love levels among Jimma university students. ... Socio-demographic factors including gender, religion, ethnicity, place of origin (urban/rural), and level of education did not have a statistically significant effect on the romantic love level of the ...

  13. Tuskegee as Sacred Rhetoric: Focal Point for the Emergent Field of African American Religion and Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laws, Terri

    2018-02-01

    Scholars in African American religion engage the Tuskegee Syphilis Study as the focal point of the African American experience in institutional medicine. Seeking a way forward from this history and its intentional evil, the author proposes to position Tuskegee as a form of Lynch's culturally contextual sacred rhetoric to make use of its metaphoric value in the emerging field of African American religion and health. In this broader meaning-making frame, Tuskegee serves as a reminder that African American religious sensibility has long been an agential resource that counters abuse of the Black body. It also acknowledges the complex decisions facing African American clinical trial participants.

  14. Apologising for the study of religion - no way!

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Tim

    2017-01-01

    the role of the scholar of religion,–and yet another example of the necessity of approaching Islam as any other religion, i.e. from a comparative, historical and critical-analytical point of view. Though the book (rightly) suggests that the academic study of religions is more novelty than norm...

  15. "God Made Me Gay for a Reason": Young Men Who Have Sex with Men's Resiliency in Resolving Internalized Homophobia from Religious Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubicek, Katrina; McDavitt, Bryce; Carpineto, Julie; Weiss, George; Iverson, Ellen F.; Kipke, Michele D.

    2009-01-01

    Research investigating the role of religion in the lives of young men who have sex with men (YMSM) is limited. Given the unique developmental stage of emerging adults and the fact that most religions have restrictions on homosexual behavior, it is important to understand how YMSM integrate their sexual and religious/spiritual identities. Drawing…

  16. Religion as a Source of Evil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jonkers, Peter

    2017-01-01

    The starting point is that there is a structural, although not necessary link between religion and two important expressions of religious evil, religious intolerance and violence. The origin of this link lies in the radicalism that is inherent in all religions. Although this radicalism often has

  17. The Religion Teacher's Handbook: A Primer on the Vocation of Teaching Catholic High School Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueting, Timothy R.

    2017-01-01

    All Catholic school teachers are called to be evangelists and catechists. Religion teachers have a special duty to teach religion systematically in a classroom. This book is meant to be a handbook or guidebook with practical elements of teaching and sample lesson plans and projects.

  18. Motivation and justification: a dual-process model of culture in action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaisey, Stephen

    2009-05-01

    This article presents a new model of culture in action. Although most sociologists who study culture emphasize its role in post hoc sense making, sociologists of religion and social psychologists tend to focus on the role beliefs play in motivation. The dual-process model integrates justificatory and motivational approaches by distinguishing between "discursive" and "practical" modes of culture and cognition. The author uses panel data from the National Study of Youth and Religion to illustrate the model's usefulness. Consistent with its predictions, he finds that though respondents cannot articulate clear principles of moral judgment, their choice from a list of moral-cultural scripts strongly predicts later behavior.

  19. A Multi-Disciplinary Inquiry of Secular and Christian Approaches to Sex Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Chong Ho; Lee, Hyun Seo

    2018-01-01

    Secular scholars have criticized Christian education and counseling on sex as restrictive, ineffective, and outdated. The authors of the current study explored both common non-Christian and Christian approaches to human sexuality with reference to overarching domains of religion, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Secular…

  20. Criminalising defamation of religion and belief

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Noorloos, L.A.

    2014-01-01

    This article deals with the role of criminal law in dealing with defamatory expressions about religion or belief. Defamation of religion and belief is a form of indirect defamation ‘via identification’ which, as the discussion about the Dutch group defamation law shows, stretches up the notion of

  1. Mourning, Memorials, and Religion: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on the Park51 Controversy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathan Carlin

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This article summarizes a version of the “mourning religion” thesis—derived from the work of Peter Homans and further developed and advanced by William Parsons, Diane Jonte-Pace, and Susan Henking—and then demonstrates how this thesis can shed light on the Park51 controversy. We argue that the Park51 controversy represents a case of incomplete cultural mourning of an aspect of American civil religion that manifests itself in melancholic rage by means of protests, threats to burn the Qur’an (as well as actual burnings of the Qur’an, and vandalism of mosques around the United States. We explore various losses—military, economic, and symbolic—and note that these losses remain ambiguous, therefore preventing closure and productive mourning. The fact that a permanent memorial still has not been built at Ground Zero reflects, and perhaps exacerbates, this incomplete cultural mourning. Also, the fact that Freedom Tower, the building to replace the Twin Towers, is to be 1776 feet tall reflects that the losses related to 9/11 are connected to American civil religion, as 1776 is a sacred year in American history. Setting aside the ethics and the politics related to this controversy, we attempt here to understand this controversy from a psychoanalytic perspective.

  2. Peer communication on sex and sexual health among youths: a case of Debre Berhan university, Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gezahegn, Takele; Birhanu, Zewdie; Aman, Mamusha; Dessalegn, Muluken; Abera, Asmamaw; Nyagero, Josephat

    2016-01-01

    Friends are considered an important source of advice and information about sex. Conversations about sex among young people tend to generate norms that influence positive or negative pressure on individuals to conform to group standards. The aim of the study was to explore peer communication on sex and sexual health. Grounded theory qualitative study design was employed using focus group discussions and participant observation. Participants were selected using criterion purposive sampling. Semi-structured guides and checklists were used as data collection tools. Information was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and uploaded to ATLAS.ti 7 software for coding. Data collection and analysis were undertaken simultaneously using constant comparative analysis. Students talked with peers and sexual partners about sex more than sexual health issues. Common places of talk included dormitory, begtera (near dorm where students meet), and space (reading rooms). Whereas, time of talk, either in a group or with just their close friends or sex partners, included during training, evening and weekend time, during walking together, and break time. Students used verbal and non-verbal and formal and informal communication styles. The content, place, and time for discussions about sex were influenced by gender, social-cultural norms (e.g. religion), rural vs urban living, and the occurrence of sexual health issues (e.g, sexually-transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies). Priority should be given to designing audience-specific strategies and messages to promote discussions about sex and to encourage safe sexual practices. Primary target groups should include female and rural students, who are predisposed to risky sexual behavior.

  3. The World Religions Paradigm Time for a Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, Suzanne

    2011-01-01

    The teaching of religions has long relied on the World Religions paradigm to guide curricula throughout education, which has led to a widening gap, on the one hand, between what is taught in schools and in universities and, on the other, between research and teaching. While the World Religions paradigm has allowed the inclusion of non-Christian…

  4. Social Justice and Cultural Diversity Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harley, Debra A.; Alston, Reginald J.; Turner-Whittaker, Tyra

    2008-01-01

    Early definitions of cultural diversity focused primarily on race/ethnicity, with subsequent inclusion of age, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, geography, and a combination of positionalities. More recently, social justice has resurfaced as a component of cultural diversity to explain experiences of people of color, women, and…

  5. Temporal dynamics of religion as a determinant of HIV infection in East Zimbabwe: a serial cross-sectional analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manzou, Rumbidzai; Schumacher, Christina; Gregson, Simon

    2014-01-01

    Religion is an important underlying determinant of HIV spread in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is known about how religion influences changes in HIV prevalence and associated sexual behaviours over time. To compare changes in HIV prevalence between major religious groups in eastern Zimbabwe during a period of substantial HIV risk reduction (1998-2005) and to investigate whether variations observed can be explained by differences in behaviour change. We analysed serial cross-sectional data from two rounds of a longitudinal population survey in eastern Zimbabwe. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were developed to compare differences in sexual behaviour and HIV prevalence between religious groups and to investigate changes over time controlling for potential confounders. Christian churches were the most popular religious grouping. Over time, Spiritualist churches increased in popularity and, for men, Traditional religion and no religion became less and more common, respectively. At baseline (1998-2000), HIV prevalence was higher in Traditionalists and in those with no religion than in people in Christian churches (men 26.7% and 23.8% vs. 17.5%, women: 35.4% and 37.5% vs. 24.1%). These effects were explained by differences in socio-demographic characteristics (for Traditional and men with no religion) or sexual behaviour (women with no religion). Spiritualist men (but not women) had lower HIV prevalence than Christians, after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics (14.4% vs. 17.5%, aOR = 0.8), due to safer behaviour. HIV prevalence had fallen in all religious groups at follow-up (2003-2005). Odds of infection in Christians reduced relative to those in other religious groups for both sexes, effects that were mediated largely by greater reductions in sexual-risk behaviour and, possibly, for women, by patterns of conversion between churches. Variation in behavioural responses to HIV between the major church groupings has contributed to

  6. ‘Culture’ as a discursive resource in newspaper articles from Le Monde about secularism : Constructing ‘us’ through strategic oppositions with religion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Sommier (Mélodine)

    2018-01-01

    markdownabstractBuilding on research highlighting the complex webs of relations between secularism, culture, and religion, this study investigates how the concept of culture was utilized in discourses of laïcité from the newspaper _le Monde_. Articles (_N_ = 76) published between 2011 and 2014 were

  7. Indigenous religions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2009-01-01

    Dette essay diskuterer en publikation af James L. Cox med titlen From Primitive to Indigenous (2007). Bogen analyserer forskellige forfatteres holdninger til studiet af indfødte kulturers religioner. Cox's analyser tages op i dette essay og de problematiseres i forhold til mit eget arbejde....

  8. Religion as memory: How has the continuity of tradition produced collective meanings? – Part one

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakub Urbaniak

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Danièle Hervieu-Léger gives an account of religion as a chain of memory, that is, a form of collective memory and imagination based on the sanctity of tradition. According to her theory, in the postmodern world the continuity of religious memory has been broken and all that remains are isolated fragments guarded by religious groups. This twofold study aims at showing, firstly, in what sense religion can be conceived of as memory which produces collective meanings (Part One and, secondly, what may happen when individualised and absolutised memories alienate themselves from a continuity of tradition, thus beginning to function as a sort of private religion (Part Two. Being the first part of the study in question, this article is dedicated to a historical-theological analysis of religious memory as a source of collective meanings, as seen from a Christian perspective. Firstly, it situates Hervieu-Léger’s definition of religion against the background of the most topical religious contexts in which the notion of memory appears today. Secondly, the dialectics of individual and collective memory is discussed, notably through the lens of Ricoeur’s original proposal. This is followed by an overview of the traditional functions of memory in Christianity. Lastly, the interpretation of the way in which Christian tradition, in its premodern continuity, served as a source of collective cultural meanings, is recapitulated. What underlies this analysis is the conviction that to comprehend, and even more so to challenge mechanisms based on which the dominant purveyors of meaning (such as economic and information market function in our day, one should have a clear understanding of what they attempt to substitute for. In brief, before exploring how memories become religion, one ought to be able to conceive of religion as memory.

  9. La religione come tecnica difensiva dell'identità soggettiva

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Fabio Berardini

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Religion as a Defensive Technique for Subjective Identity - From a naturalistic perspective, the study of religion immediately leads to a problematic point: if religion is so widespread, to the extent that it seems to be a trait inscribed in human nature, then it should have adaptive advantages or, at the very least, it should not have disadvantages that would stand in the way of the survival of those who practice religion. In the former case, we need to understand the function of religion, viz. a utility it confers that may justify its persistence across human history. Against the backdrop of an anthropological model that considers subjectivity identity to be characterized by ontological fragility, this article will offer a special version of the claim that religion, viewed as a byproduct, has a positive function: we will make the hypothesis that it contributes to the defense of the unity of self-consciousness. Thus our focus will be on religion construed as a repertoire of strategies designed to protect the self.

  10. Religion, Heuristics, and Intergenerational Risk Management

    OpenAIRE

    Rupert Read; Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    2014-01-01

    Religions come with risk-​managing interdicts and heuristics, and they carry such interdicts and heuristics across generations. We remark on such facets of religion in relation to a propensity among some decision scientists and others to regard practices that they cannot understand as being irrational, biased, and so on.

  11. Post-secular religious practices entering traditional religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urszula Pękala

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays we can observe complex interactions between the religious and secular spheres. Several different processes take place simultaneously: the traditionally religious elements function in the secular sphere as if they were part of secular culture; elements of the secular sphere build a specific kind of post-secular religiosity; finally, this post-secular religiosity influences traditional religions. This article focuses on the last stage of these changes. The author's purpose is to describe and interpret the practices we can observe. Because of the complexity of this issue, the analyses are limited to examples taken from the Catholic Church in Germany, where this process seems to be as popular as it is paradoxical. Catholicism realises that the post-secular forms of religiosity are very popular and that many people choose them instead of the traditional Church. It could offer them spirituality based on ages of experience. But instead of making its own spiritual tradition competitive on the spiritual market, Catholicism seems to offer Christianised post-secular goods, or its own traditional elements represented in a secularised form. It seems difficult to predict how it will all end. However, we observe an interesting encounter and interaction between an ‘old’ religion and a new religiosity, which will certainly have impact on further presence of the Church in the society.

  12. Christianity's Response to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life: Insights from Science and Religion and the Sociology of Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertka, Constance M.

    The question of whether or not extraterrestrial life exists and its potential impact for religions, especially Christianity, is an ancient one addressed in numerous historical publications. The contemporary discussion has been dominated by a few notable scientists from the SETI and astrobiology communities, and by a few Christian theologians active in the science and religion field. This discussion amounts to scientists outside of the faith tradition predicting the demise of Christianity if extraterrestrial intelligent life is discovered and theologians within the tradition predicting the enrichment and reformulation of Christian doctrine. Missing from this discussion is insight drawn more broadly from the science and religion field and from the sociology of religion. A consideration of how possibilities for relating science and religion are reflected in the US public's varied acceptance of the theory of evolution; the growth of Christianity in the Global South; and a revised theory of secularization which inversely correlates religiosity to existential security, gives credence to the proposal that the response from those outside of academia would be much more varied and uncertain.

  13. Cross-Cultural Mentoring: A Pathway to Making Excellence Inclusive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crutcher, Betty Neal

    2014-01-01

    Cross-cultural mentoring involves an ongoing, intentional, and mutually enriching relationship with someone of a different race, gender, ethnicity, religion, cultural background, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or nationality. Generally more experienced, the cross-cultural mentor guides the intellectual and personal development of…

  14. Beyond Dualism: Expanded Understandings of Religion and Global Justice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilson, Erin

    2010-01-01

    The world’s religions have strong traditions of contributing to theories and practices around justice. Recent debates on global justice within International Relations (IR), however, have largely overlooked possible contributions from religion. This article explores why religion is neglected, despite

  15. Beyond Homonegativity: Understanding Hong Kong People's Attitudes About Social Acceptance of Gay/Lesbian People, Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protection, and Same-Sex Marriage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Tien Ee Dominic; Chu, Tsz Hang

    2017-09-13

    This study examined attitudes about social acceptance, discrimination protection, and marriage equality for gay/lesbian people with a representative sample of 1,008 Hong Kong Chinese adults via a telephone survey. Despite majority endorsement of homosexuality (52.29% positive vs. 34.12% negative) and discrimination protection (50.72% favorable vs. 14.64% opposed), attitudes toward same-sex marriage diverged (32.79% favorable vs. 39.41% opposed). There was a sharp distinction in accepting gay/lesbian people as co-workers (83.57%) and friends (76.92%) versus relatives (40.19%). Having more homosexual/bisexual friends or co-workers contributed to greater endorsement of social acceptance and discrimination protection but not same-sex marriage. Age, religion, political orientation, and homonegativity consistently predicted attitudes toward social acceptance, discrimination protection, and same-sex marriage, whereas gender-role beliefs, conformity to norms, and cultural orientations had varying impacts. This article informs theory and advocacy by disentangling homonegativity from attitudes about gay/lesbian issues and highlighting the centrality of family-kinship and relative-outsider delineation in Chinese societies.

  16. Robert Bellah, religion og menneskelig evolution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Hans Jørgen Lundager

    2013-01-01

    in the middle of 1st mill. BC, where new radical and intellectual ideas and practices, sceptial or world renouncing, appeared in China, India and Greece. Hopefully, Bellah's book will be a standard reference work in the academic study of religion and an inspiration for the history of religion in the future...

  17. "World Religions" in Introductory Sociology Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Michael P.

    2017-01-01

    A section on "world religions" (WRs) is now routinely included in the religion chapters of introductory sociology textbooks. Looking carefully at these WR sections, however, two things seem puzzling. The first is that the criteria for defining a WR varies considerably from textbook to textbook; the second is that these WRs sections…

  18. DSM-III-R and religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Post, S G

    1992-07-01

    The interpretation of religion in DSM-III-R contains considerable negative bias and contributes to unfair stereotypes of religious persons. Particularly new religious movements and religious conversion are unfairly interpreted under the DSM-III-R heading, 'Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified'. It is suggested that a more balanced and respectful interpretation of religion is needed in DSM-III-R, since psychiatry through its official nomenclature should not contribute to social intolerance of religious nonconformity.

  19. Religion in Education in South Africa: Was Social Justice Served?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Walt, Johannes L.

    2011-01-01

    The promulgation of South African policy regarding the place of religion in public education was delayed until 2003, after a lively debate. The National Policy on Religion in Education effectively banned confessional, sectarian religion from public schools, but allowed for the teaching of Religion Studies as an academic subject and for religious…

  20. Religion and gender inequality: The status of women in the societies of world religions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klingorová Kamila

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The status of women in society is very diverse worldwide. Among many important traits associated with the differentiation of gender inequality is religion, which itself must be regarded as a fluid concept with interpretations and practices ‘embedded’ and thus varying with respect to cultural and historical relations. Admitting the complexity of the issues, some religious norms and traditions can contribute to the formation of gender inequalities and to subordinate the role of women in society. Using an exploratory quantitative analysis, the influence of religiosity on gender inequality in social, economic and political spheres is examined. Three categories of states have emerged from the analysis: (a states where the majority of inhabitants are without religious affiliation, which display the lowest levels of gender inequality; (b Christian and Buddhist societies, with average levels of gender inequality; and (c states with the highest levels of gender inequality across the observed variables, whose inhabitants adhere to Islam and Hinduism.

  1. The troubled relationship of state and religion in Eritrea

    OpenAIRE

    Mekonnen, Daniel R; Kidane, Selam

    2014-01-01

    Eritrea is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religion country. The country does not have an official state religion. However, since the country's independence in 1991, the relationship between state and religion has been a troubled one. At least four religions are officially recognised by the state: Islam, of the Sunni rite; the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, part of the worldwide Coptic Orthodox Church of the eastern rite; the Eritrean Catholic Church, part of the worldwide Roman Ca...

  2. Religion, migration og integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borup, Jørn

    2010-01-01

    Sammenhængen mellem religion og integration har de sidste år været genstand for debat. Artiklen kommer ind på begreber og sammenhænge relateret til området (migration, diaspora, assimilation, etnicitet, kultur) og ser på religionens mulige rolle som negativ eller positiv ressource i integrationss......Sammenhængen mellem religion og integration har de sidste år været genstand for debat. Artiklen kommer ind på begreber og sammenhænge relateret til området (migration, diaspora, assimilation, etnicitet, kultur) og ser på religionens mulige rolle som negativ eller positiv ressource i...

  3. Truth, body and religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarl-Thure Eriksson

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is based on the words of welcome to the symposium on Religion and the Body on 16 June 2010. In a religious context ‘truth’ is like a mantra, a certain imperative to believe in sacred things. The concept of truth and falseness arises, when we as humans compare reality, as we experience it through our senses, with the representation we have in our memory, a comparison of new information with stored information. If we look for the truth, we have to search in the human mind. There we will also find religion.

  4. Multidimensional Assessment of Spirituality/Religion in Patients with HIV: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Refinement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudel, Ian; Cotton, Sian; Leonard, Anthony C.; Tsevat, Joel; Ritchey, P. Neal

    2011-01-01

    A decade ago, an expert panel developed a framework for measuring spirituality/religion in health research (Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality), but empirical testing of this framework has been limited. The purpose of this study was to determine whether responses to items across multiple measures assessing spirituality/religion by 450 patients with HIV replicate this model. We hypothesized a six-factor model underlying a collective of 56 items, but results of confirmatory factor analyses suggested eight dimensions: Meaning/Peace, Tangible Connection to the Divine, Positive Religious Coping, Love/Appreciation, Negative Religious Coping, Positive Congregational Support, Negative Congregational Support, and Cultural Practices. This study corroborates parts of the factor structure underlying the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality and some recent refinements of the original framework. PMID:21136166

  5. Perspectives on Tolerance in Education Flowing from a Comparison of Religion Education in Mexico and Thailand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieter, Ferdinand J.

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates religion education (RE) in Mexico and Thailand -- two countries from different parts of the world with vastly different populations and cultures. We wanted to learn whether they had tackled similar problems regarding the provision of RE in their schools, particularly with respect to the matter of tolerance in diverse…

  6. Catholic Enlightenment for children. Teaching religion to children in the Habsburg Empire from Joseph II to the Restoration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simonetta Polenghi

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available During Joseph II’s reign a deep cultural shift took place within the intellectual and religious establishment, with the acceptance of philosophical and pedagogical ideas that bore a distinctive Enlightenment and Protestant stamp. This cultural shift was applied to the teaching of religion by some relevant figures of the episcopal and pedagogical elites (J. A. Gall, F.M. Vierthaler, F. de Paula Gaheis, J. M. Leonhard. New handbooks and textbooks of the catechism were written which introduced new dialogic methods, more narrative, and borrowed Rochow’s typology of moral short stories. The content of Bishop Gall’s books was heavily rationalistic, whereas subsequent texts tried to balance reason and faith. Vierthaler, Gaheis, and Leonhard used a language that was more suitable for children and closer to the New Testament, with the use of parables and short stories. The so-called Socratic method was used in different ways by these authors.In the age of the Restoration, in spite of the process of school confessionalization, the heritage of the spirit of Enlightenment was still present, since by law the pedagogy taught in the Empire’s academic chairs and teacher training courses was the one defined by Milde, which bore a Kantian imprint, and stressed the importance of developing inner moral law in pupils. Leonhard was a follower of Milde, and his catechism, eventually approved for elementary schools for decades, bore this stamp.So at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries a new way of teaching religion was introduced, debated and contested in Habsburg Catholic territories. Rousseau’s and Salzmann’s theories were discussed; rationalism and faith, natural religion and revelation were confronted. In the end more attention was devoted to child psychology and language. The cultural fracture caused by Josephinism became less severe: orthodoxy was restored, but new pedagogical ideas actually entered the teaching of

  7. Later Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Stig Børsen

    2010-01-01

    This article sets out by distinguishing Wittgenstein’s own views in the philosophy of religion from a school of thought in the philosophy of religion that relies on later Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language. After a survey of distinguishing features of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, the third...... section explores Wittgenstein’s treatment of Frazer’s account of magic among primitive peoples. The following section offers an account of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion, including the use of the notions of a language game and superstition. I conclude by criticizing a very influential argument...

  8. Hvorfor, hvorfra (og hvornår) kom religion?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2018-01-01

    dyr færdiggjort inden for en specifik kultur. Når man ser på de seneste landvindinger inden for neuropsykologien, er der fire kendetegn, som jeg mener, er konstituerende for mennesket. Disse er: en finudviklet social kognition, en kommunikations- og samarbejdsdrift, en bedragerisk hjerne samt en...... overtroisk hjerne med tendens til ualmindelige mentale og/eller emotionelle oplevelser. Disse egenskaber er en nødvendig forudsætning for religiøst adfærd. Når man ser på de arkæologiske vidnesbyrd i jagten på det religiøse menneske, skal man gå betydeligt længere tilbage end Homo sapiens, ja, man skal langt...... tilbage i homininlinjen. De første proto-religiøse træk synes at komme til syne med Homo heidelbergensis (mellem 600.000 og 400.000 år siden). KEYWORDS: religion; evolution; cognitive science of religion; definition of religion; neurobiology of religion; method and theory in the study of religion....

  9. The influence of religion on sexual HIV risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Stacey A; El-Bassel, Nabila

    2014-08-01

    This systematic review examines the relationship between religion and sexual HIV risk behavior. It focuses primarily on how studies have conceptualized and defined religion, methodologies, and sexual risk outcomes. We also describe regions where studies were conducted and mechanisms by which religion may be associated with sexual risk. We included 137 studies in this review, classifying them as measuring: (1) only religious affiliation (n = 57), (2) only religiosity (n = 48), and (3) both religious affiliation and religiosity (n = 32). A number of studies identified lower levels of sexual HIV risk among Muslims, although many of these examined HIV prevalence rather than specific behavioral risk outcomes. Most studies identified increased religiosity to be associated with lower levels of sexual HIV risk. This finding persists but is weaker when the outcome considered is condom use. The paper reviews ways in which religion may contribute to increase and reduction in sexual HIV risk, gaps in research, and implications for future research on religion and HIV.

  10. Material Religion - Hinduism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aktor, Mikael

    2017-01-01

    Comprehensive bibliography on material religion in Hinduism. Monographs, anthologies, anthology chapters, journal articles, web articles, documentation on cultic elements of the landscape (mountains, rivers, trees, stones), three- and two-dimensional cultic artefacts, textiles, ritual accessories...

  11. Doctors discussing religion and spirituality: A systematic literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Megan; Butow, Phyllis; Olver, Ian

    2016-04-01

    Discussion of religion and/or spirituality in the medical consultation is desired by patients and known to be beneficial. However, it is infrequent. We aimed to identify why this is so. We set out to answer the following research questions: Do doctors report that they ask their patients about religion and/or spirituality and how do they do it? According to doctors, how often do patients raise the issue of religion and/or spirituality in consultation and how do doctors respond when they do? What are the known facilitators and barriers to doctors asking their patients about religion and/or spirituality? A mixed qualitative/quantitative review was conducted to identify studies exploring the physician's perspective on discussion of religion and/or spirituality in the medical consultation. We searched nine databases from inception to January 2015 for original research papers reporting doctors' views on discussion of religion and/or spirituality in medical consultations. Papers were assessed for quality using QualSyst and results were reported using a measurement tool to assess systematic review guidelines. Overall, 61 eligible papers were identified, comprising over 20,044 physician reports. Religion and spirituality are discussed infrequently by physicians although frequency increases with terminal illness. Many physicians prefer chaplain referral to discussing religion and/or spirituality with patients themselves. Such discussions are facilitated by prior training and increased physician religiosity and spirituality. Insufficient time and training were the most frequently reported barriers. This review found that physician enquiry into the religion and/or spirituality of patients is inconsistent in frequency and nature and that in order to meet patient needs, barriers to discussion need to be overcome. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. Jesus Heard the Word of God, but Mohammed had Convulsions: How Religion Clause Principles Should Be Applied to Religion in the Public School Social Studies Curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, Elizabeth D.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses why public schools are making religion an important part of social-studies curriculum and why teaching of religion may create unintended constitutional violations. Explores the efficacy of current legal tests of constitutionality of religion in schools. Proposes new test for evaluating the constitutionality of religion in public-school…

  13. Religious culture as a barrier?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agergaard, Sine

    2016-01-01

    Political interventions, media coverage and research often refer to the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities, particularly girls and women, participating in physical activity and organised sports. In both public and academic debates, reference is made to the religious culture as a particular...... barrier to participation in sports among Muslim girls and women. This article aims to provide a counter-narrative by focusing on young Muslim girls who simultaneously practice their religion and sports. The main research question was: How do young Danish Muslim girls align participation in sports...... religion as hegemonic, embodied and dynamic cultural phenomena, the analysis points to the diversity through which Muslim girls and women participate and engage in sports. Finally, the article discusses the extent to which counter-narratives may contribute to changing perspectives on so-called hard...

  14. Bringing Culture Back In

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    A number of international political scientists, economists, philosophers, and humanist scholars address the role of culture, ethnicity, and religion in contemporary states and societies. Contributions by Jørn Borup, Michael Böss, Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Antje Gimmler, Nils Holtug, John...

  15. Desvendando a religião e as religiões mundiais em Max Weber (Revealing religion and the world religions in Max Weber - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2009v7n14p136

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arilson Silva Oliveira

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Apresentamos Max Weber como um dos sociólogos e historiadores mais importantes dentre aqueles que se dedicaram ao estudo do fenômeno religioso. Na verdade, é possível afirmar que a análise da religião compreende um dos aspectos mais fundamentais de sua obra sócio-histórica. De modo geral, esse tema aparece em seus textos de duas maneiras diferentes, quais sejam: enquanto um objeto analisado em sua singularidade e enquanto uma manifestação social que influencia de maneira significativa os demais aspectos da vida comunitária. Aqui, observamos como ele muniu-se de um método particular e o utilizou como parâmetro para compreender historicamente a religião. Ao se debruçar sobre as religiões mundiais (confucionismo-taoísmo, judaísmo-cristianismo e hinduísmo-budismo, Weber estuda a racionalização cultural de suas cosmovisões. Todavia, para ele, a influência da religião sobre a vida prática varia muito segundo o caminho da salvação/libertação que é prescrito e segundo a qualidade psíquica (ou imaginada da salvação que se pretende alcançar. Palavras-chave: Max Weber; Religião; Religiões Mundiais; Racionalização.   AbstractWe present Max Weber as one of the most important sociologists and historians among those who dedicated themselves to the study of the religious phenomenon. Actually, it is possible to say that the analysis of religion involves one of the most fundamental aspects of his socio-historical work. As a whole, this subject appears in his texts in two different forms, i.e., as an analyzed object in its particularities, and as a social manifestation which influences, in a significant way, the other aspects of communitarian life. Here, we observe how he equipped himself with a particular method, rescued Kantian rationality and applied it as a parameter to historically understand religion. While he dedicated himself to study world religions (Confucianism-Taoism, Judaism-Christianity, and Hinduism

  16. Enhancing Teachers' Awareness About Relations Between Science and Religion. The Debate Between Steady State and Big Bang Theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagdonas, Alexandre; Silva, Cibelle Celestino

    2015-11-01

    Educators advocate that science education can help the development of more responsible worldviews when students learn not only scientific concepts, but also about science, or "nature of science". Cosmology can help the formation of worldviews because this topic is embedded in socio-cultural and religious issues. Indeed, during the Cold War period, the cosmological controversy between Big Bang and Steady State theory was tied up with political and religious arguments. The present paper discusses a didactic sequence developed for and applied in a pre-service science teacher-training course on history of science. After studying the historical case, pre-service science teachers discussed how to deal with possible conflicts between scientific views and students' personal worldviews related to religion. The course focused on the study of primary and secondary sources about cosmology and religion written by cosmologists such as Georges Lemaître, Fred Hoyle and the Pope Pius XII. We used didactic strategies such as short seminars given by groups of pre-service teachers, videos, computer simulations, role-play, debates and preparation of written essays. Along the course, most pre-service teachers emphasized differences between science and religion and pointed out that they do not feel prepared to conduct classroom discussions about this topic. Discussing the relations between science and religion using the history of cosmology turned into an effective way to teach not only science concepts but also to stimulate reflections about nature of science. This topic may contribute to increasing students' critical stance on controversial issues, without the need to explicitly defend certain positions, or disapprove students' cultural traditions. Moreover, pre-service teachers practiced didactic strategies to deal with this kind of unusual content.

  17. Critiquing Borders: Teaching about Religions in a Postcolonial World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramey, Steven W.

    2006-01-01

    In a postcolonial environment, our students will encounter multiple representations and diverse followers of various religions outside the classroom. Students need to think critically about the representations of all religions and recognize the humanity of all people. Too often, students leave courses discussing one or more world religions with an…

  18. Cross-cultural sex differences in situational triggers of aggressive responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zajenkowska, Anna; Mylonas, Kostas; Lawrence, Claire; Konopka, Karolina; Rajchert, Joanna

    2014-10-01

    This paper examines male and female individual differences in situational triggers of aggressive responses (STAR) in three countries as well as cross-cultural sex differences in trait aggression (aggression questionnaire, AQ). Convenience sampling was employed (university students) for the descriptive correlational study (Poland N = 300, 63% female, mean age 21.86, SD = 2.12; UK N = 196, 60% female, mean age 20.48, SD = 3.79; Greece N = 299, 57% female, mean age 20.71, SD = 4.42). The results showed that the STAR scale is an equivalent construct across all three countries. Overall, females were more sensitive to both provocation (SP) and frustration (SF) than males. When controlling for trait aggression, Polish and Greek females scored similarly in SP and higher than UK females. No sex differences in SP or SF were found in the UK sample. Additionally, Polish participants scored the highest in SP. Furthermore, when trait aggression was removed, the Greek participants were most sensitive to frustration, whereas Polish and English participants' SF did not differ. We discuss the results with regard to intercultural differences between investigated countries. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

  19. Religion and Public Perceptions of Gays and Lesbians in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rich, Timothy S

    2017-01-01

    Public support for gay and lesbian rights has increased in Western democracies, yet less is known regarding views in South Korea, or East Asia more broadly. Rather than broad cultural claims, this analysis asks to what extent religious identification explains perceptions of gays and lesbians. Public opinion survey data from South Korea finds that Protestants were consistently less supportive of homosexual issues compared to Catholics, Buddhists, and those without a religious identification. Furthermore, after controlling for religion, identification with the largest conservative party associated with less support.

  20. Predicting Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Revell, Lynn

    2015-01-01

    This article reviews the influence of liberal ideas on the capacity for Religious Education (RE) to consider religions critically in a climate of increasing government intervention in education. It finds that criticality in some areas of RE is absent or limited but that in key areas criticality is evident if not always deeply embedded. It…

  1. The culture of soup

    OpenAIRE

    Adams, Fasloen

    2009-01-01

    This paper aims to demonstrate the way in which our cultures influence our occupations. It looks at how a woman's occupation of cooking and distributing soup is influenced firstly by the broader culture of the community in which she lives; secondly, by her religion; and lastly, by the Cape Malay culture to which she belongs. The information for this paper was gained through two unstructured interviews, which were analysed to identify the aspects of the above that influenced her occupational p...

  2. Religion and body weight: a review of quantitative studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeary, Karen Hye-Cheon Kim; Sobal, Jeffery; Wethington, Elaine

    2017-10-01

    Increasing interest in relationships between religion and health has encouraged research about religion and body weight, which has produced mixed findings. We systematically searched 11 bibliographic databases for quantitative studies of religion and weight, locating and coding 85 studies. We conducted a systematic review, analysing descriptive characteristics of the studies as well as relevant religion-body weight associations related to study characteristics. We summarized findings for two categories of religion variables: religious affiliation and religiosity. For religious affiliation, we found evidence for significant associations with body weight in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In particular, Seventh-Day Adventists had lower body weight than other denominations in cross-sectional analyses. For religiosity, significant associations occurred between greater religiosity and higher body weight in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In particular, greater religiosity was significantly associated with higher body weight in bivariate analyses but less so in multivariate analyses. A greater proportion of studies that used a representative sample, longitudinal analyses, and samples with only men reported significant associations between religiosity and weight. Evidence in seven studies suggested that health behaviours and psychosocial factors mediate religion-weight relationships. More longitudinal studies and analyses of mediators are needed to provide stronger evidence and further elucidate religion-weight relationships. © 2017 World Obesity Federation.

  3. Catholic Religion Teachers in Chile: An Approach to Identity Building with Regard to Existing Mission-Profession Tension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargas-Herrera, Francisco; Moya-Marchant, Loreto

    2018-01-01

    Religion classes are found throughout the entire school system in Chile. These are mostly conducted by Catholic teachers who form their own professional identity from internal demands (imposed by the Catholic Church) and external demands (imposed by the school culture, social media, students and their families). This paper presents a reference…

  4. Balancing water, religion and tourism on Redang Island, Malaysia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fisher, Joshua B [Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 0EZ (United Kingdom); Nawaz, Rizwan; Nawaz, Faiza [HydroRisk Ltd, Leeds University Union, Lifton Place, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT (United Kingdom); Fauzi, Rosmadi [Department of Geography, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Sadek, Eran Sadek Said Md; Latif, Zulkiflee Abd [Department of Surveying Science and Geomatics, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor (Malaysia); Blackett, Matthew [Department of Geography, King' s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)], E-mail: joshbfisher@gmail.com

    2008-04-15

    Redang Island (Pulau Redang) is an island off of Peninsular Malaysia that is part of a Marine Park archipelago of corals and thousands of fish and invertebrates. The relatively isolated local community is generally centered on fishing, and Islam guides daily life. Recently, the tourism industry has expanded on the island. New hotels and resorts provide jobs, but also expose the locals to western culture and touristic behavior, which may clash with deeply traditional community values. Further, the tourism industry may be putting a strain on the natural resources, especially the quantity and quality of freshwater. The island village may become divided between those who support the tourism industry and those who do not. Here we present an exploratory investigation into the development-environment-culture dynamics of tourism, water and religion on Redang Island while building collaborations between universities of this Muslim state and the West.

  5. Balancing water, religion and tourism on Redang Island, Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Joshua B.; Nawaz, Rizwan; Fauzi, Rosmadi; Nawaz, Faiza; Sadek, Eran Sadek Said Md; Abd Latif, Zulkiflee; Blackett, Matthew

    2008-04-01

    Redang Island (Pulau Redang) is an island off of Peninsular Malaysia that is part of a Marine Park archipelago of corals and thousands of fish and invertebrates. The relatively isolated local community is generally centered on fishing, and Islam guides daily life. Recently, the tourism industry has expanded on the island. New hotels and resorts provide jobs, but also expose the locals to western culture and touristic behavior, which may clash with deeply traditional community values. Further, the tourism industry may be putting a strain on the natural resources, especially the quantity and quality of freshwater. The island village may become divided between those who support the tourism industry and those who do not. Here we present an exploratory investigation into the development environment culture dynamics of tourism, water and religion on Redang Island while building collaborations between universities of this Muslim state and the West.

  6. Balancing water, religion and tourism on Redang Island, Malaysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisher, Joshua B; Nawaz, Rizwan; Nawaz, Faiza; Fauzi, Rosmadi; Sadek, Eran Sadek Said Md; Latif, Zulkiflee Abd; Blackett, Matthew

    2008-01-01

    Redang Island (Pulau Redang) is an island off of Peninsular Malaysia that is part of a Marine Park archipelago of corals and thousands of fish and invertebrates. The relatively isolated local community is generally centered on fishing, and Islam guides daily life. Recently, the tourism industry has expanded on the island. New hotels and resorts provide jobs, but also expose the locals to western culture and touristic behavior, which may clash with deeply traditional community values. Further, the tourism industry may be putting a strain on the natural resources, especially the quantity and quality of freshwater. The island village may become divided between those who support the tourism industry and those who do not. Here we present an exploratory investigation into the development-environment-culture dynamics of tourism, water and religion on Redang Island while building collaborations between universities of this Muslim state and the West

  7. [How do Turkish immigrants evaluate cultural sensitivity in a German tertiary hospital?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giese, Arnd; Uyar, Müberra; Henning, Bernhard F; Uslucan, Haci H; Westhoff, Timm; Pagonas, Nikolaos

    2015-01-01

    Culturally adequate medical care is a goal in Germany, but quantitative data concerning inpatients is lacking. Inpatients of a German tertiary hospital: Turkish migrants (T) and Germans (G) were interviewed in their respective native language. 121 T and 121 G were interviewed. 97.5% of T were Muslims, 82.6% of G were Christians. 88.5% of T judged religion as "important" or "very important" (G: 35.8%). 50.8% of T saw their opportunity to pray in the hospital as "bad" or "very bad" (G: 0.9%). Keeping to Islamic dietary rules in the hospital was "difficult" or "very difficult" for 90% of T. For 79.0% of female T care by a same-sex staff was "important" or "very important" (female G: 36.3%, male T: 40.0%, male G: 7.7%). The presence of a same-sex person during examinations or treatments was "much" or "very much" appreciated by 69.7% of female T, if same-sex care was impossible (female G: 25.4%, male T: 28.9%, male G: 6.1%). A retrospective analysis revealed that 5.8% of all 8988 hospital admissions during the period of study recruitment were Turkish migrants. To meet the needs of Turkish migrants German hospitals should improve the opportunity for Muslims to pray. Additionally, the cooperation with local imams should be sought. Precise descriptions of food ingredients or an adapted menu could help T to deal with Muslim dietary commandments. A culturally sensitive hospital should take into account that female as well as male T prefer to be cared of by same-sex physicians and nurses. Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart.

  8. Kenyan Religious Leaders' Views on Same-Sex Sexuality and Gender Nonconformity: Religious Freedom versus Constitutional Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbote, David Kuria; Sandfort, Theo G M; Waweru, Esther; Zapfel, Andrew

    Religion plays an important role in framing the public discourse on sexuality, especially in countries where religion fully permeates social life. We explored the perspectives of Kenyan religious leaders on sexual and gender diversity in their country's specific context. A total of 212 Catholic, Islamic, and Protestant leaders from urban centers and rural townships completed a self-administered questionnaire specifically developed for this study. The leaders' perspectives were predominantly negative. Limited acceptance was conditional on sexual minorities not engaging in same-sex practices or seeing such practices as sinful. A substantial minority (37%) endorsed the use of violence for maintaining social values, especially regarding homosexuality and gender nonconformity. The majority of religious leaders agreed on the difference between civil law and religious doctrine. Human rights principles enshrined in Kenya's Constitution were considered to be applicable to sexual and gender minorities. Decriminalization of same-sex sexuality was seen as against one's religion. Perspectives were less negative if leaders were familiar with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. Interventions that promote intergroup contact could be effective in changing religious leaders' mind-sets and advancing human rights and health for sexual and gender minorities.

  9. Kenyan Religious Leaders’ Views on Same-Sex Sexuality and Gender Nonconformity: Religious Freedom versus Constitutional Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbote, David Kuria; Sandfort, Theo G. M.; Waweru, Esther; Zapfel, Andrew

    2016-01-01

    Religion plays an important role in framing the public discourse on sexuality, especially in countries where religion fully permeates social life. We explored the perspectives of Kenyan religious leaders on sexual and gender diversity in their country’s specific context. Two hundred and twelve Catholic, Islam and Protestant leaders from urban centers and rural townships completed a self-administered questionnaire, specifically developed for this study. The leaders’ perspectives were predominantly negative. Limited acceptance was conditional on sexual minorities not engaging in same-sex practices or seeing such practices as sinful. A substantial minority (37%) endorsed the use of violence for maintaining social values, especially regarding homosexuality and gender nonconformity. The majority of religious leaders agreed on the difference between civil law and religious doctrine. Human rights principles enshrined in the Kenya Constitution were seen as also applicable to sexual and gender minorities. Decriminalization of same-sex sexuality was seen as against one’s religion. Perspectives were less negative if leaders were familiar with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. Interventions that promote intergroup contact could be effective in changing religious leaders’ mindsets and advancing human rights and health for sexual and gender minorities. PMID:27982708

  10. Limits to expression on religion in France

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, E.

    2009-01-01

    During the last decade conflicts about expression on religion have increased globally. Generally, these conflicts are regarded as a conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In France there are many active religious interest groups that aim to protect a

  11. Health as the religion of our time

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stenbak Larsen, Christian

    This paper sees health as religion through the lens of social theory, starting with classical sociology. The common point being that religion is about the social bond ('relgio' in Latin), to be a society we keep something sacred. Since classical sociology the breaking down of religion has continued...... uses the vocabulary of discourse analysis and calls health a hegemon. Pointing out that it is not a consensus but a sedimentation that prevent us from being against health. But this cannot only be seen as a limitation of personal freedom, but also - through the lens of social theory - as a historical...

  12. The Urgency Of Ijtihad By Judges In Effort Law Invention At The Religion Court In Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kiljamilawati

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The presence of renewals in Islamic law resulting in the emergence of various changes in the social order of Muslims either in relation to ideology political social cultural and so on. It later brings new challenges that must be answered and therefore ijtihad must be continuously made to find a solution to the various problems of new law which is required by Muslims. The type of research is a normative-juridical and empirical research. Normative research is trying to examine the problem of law invention by the judge in the Religion Courts with a case approach. Ijtihad has a very urgent role in efforts to carry out duties as law enforcer and justice by digging follow and understand the legal values that live and develop in the peoples and accommodate the developments of Islamic law. The method of ijtihad by judges in the Religion Court use maqashid al-sharia and maslahah and istihsan method. At the practical level so characteristic inherent in the religion courts persists then should any verdict must include argument of Islamic law sources.

  13. Role of Religion in Preventing Youth Sexual Activity in Malaysia: A Mixed Methods Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhammad, Noor Azimah; Shamsuddin, Khadijah; Sulaiman, Zaharah; Amin, Rahmah Mohd; Omar, Khairani

    2017-12-01

    One of the popular approaches of preventing youth sexual activity in Malaysia is using religion to promote premarital sexual abstinence. Despite this intervention, youth continue to practise premarital sex. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory mixed methods study was to understand the role of religion on sexual activity among college students in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire survey to determine the relationship between religiosity and youth sexual activity was carried out on 1026 students recruited from 12 randomly selected colleges. Concurrently, face-to-face interviews were conducted on 15 students to explore how religiosity had influenced their decision on sexual activity. The survey data were analysed using logistic regression, while the qualitative data from the interviews were examined using thematic analysis with separate analysis for each gender. Both quantitative and qualitative results were then compared and integrated. Religious activity significantly reduced the risk of continuing sexual activity among female students (AOR = 0.67, CI = 0.47, 0.95, p = 0.02) but not male students. There was no significant relationship of religious affiliation and intrinsic religiosity (inner faith) to sexual activity by gender. Having faith in religion and strong sexual desire were the main themes that explained participants' sexual behaviour. Engaging in religious activity might be effective at preventing female students from being sexually active. However, when sexual urges and desires are beyond control, religiosity might not be effective.

  14. Concepts of Culture in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Pierre Hecker; Igor Johannsen

    2017-01-01

    Introducing the seventh issue of META, this editorial discusses prevalent concepts of culture in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Different conceptualizations of culture that explicitly or implicitly contain qualitative differentiations between cultures are revisited and discussed. Bearing considerable weight in the respective disciplines, the Islam-andthe-West paradigm, the delineation of diverging cultures along ethnic lines, the equation of culture with art or religion, and the culture-...

  15. The Hebrew Bible in contemporary philosophy of religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacobus W. Gericke

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Some dialogue among these specialists, especially between biblical scholars and philosophers of religion, is unquestionably long overdue.(Stump 1985:1�Over the last few decades, there has been an increased concern for the establishment of more sustained interdisciplinary dialogue between biblical scholars and philosophers of religion. In this article, aimed at biblical scholars, the author as biblical scholar offers a descriptive and historical overview of some samples of recourse to the Hebrew Bible in philosophical approaches in the study of religion. The aim is to provide a brief glimpse of how some representative philosophers from both the analytic and continental sides of the methodological divide have related to the biblical traditions in the quest for a contemporary relevant Christian philosophy of religion.

  16. European Religious Education and European Civil Religion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gearon, Liam

    2012-01-01

    This paper challenges a foundational conjecture of the Religion in Education Dialogue or Conflict (REDCo) project, that increased interest in religion in public and political life as manifested particularly in education is evidence of counter-secularisation. The paper argues that rather than representing counter-secularisation, such developments…

  17. Cultural Clues to the Middle Eastern Student

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Orin D.; And Others

    1976-01-01

    Cultural patterns and characteristics of Middle Eastern students indicate their adaptability ease or difficulty in American society. Manners, paternalistic patterns, religion, and social relationships are discussed. (LBH)

  18. Spirituality and religion among HIV-infected individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szaflarski, Magdalena

    2013-12-01

    Spirituality and religion are important to many people living with HIV (PLWH). Recent research has focused on special populations (ethnic-minorities, women, and youth), spirituality/religion measurement, mediating/moderating mechanisms, and individual and community-level interventions. Spirituality/religion in PLWH has been refined as a multidimensional phenomenon, which improves health/quality of life directly and through mediating factors (healthy behaviors, optimism, social support). Spirituality/religion helps people to cope with stressors, especially stigma/discrimination. Spiritual interventions utilizing the power of prayer and meditation and addressing spiritual struggle are under way. Faith-based community interventions have focused on stigma and could improve individual outcomes through access to spiritual/social support and care/treatment for PLWA. Community engagement is necessary to design/implement effective and sustainable programs. Future efforts should focus on vulnerable populations; utilize state-of-the-art methods (randomized clinical trials, community-based participatory research); and, address population-specific interventions at individual and community levels. Clinical and policy implications across geographic settings also need attention.

  19. VOLTAIRE’S PHILOSOPHY: HUMAN NATURE AND INTERPRETATION OF RELIGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu. Zimaryova

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to determine and reconsider Voltaire’s ideas concerning religion and human nature. In order to achieve this purpose it is necessary to complete the following tasks: to analyse academic literature on Voltaire’s interpretation of the phenomenon of religion; to expose Voltaire’s basic ideas about human nature; to substantiate the importance of anthropological approach to the phenomenon of religion with the ideas of Voltaire’s philosophical works. Methodology. The achievements of anthropocentric philosophical thought of the XIX century possess great potential in the process of constructive comprehension and theoretical reconstruction of the anthropological intention that accompanies the process of philosophising. The research extensively applies hermeneutical method for interpreting Voltaire’s philosophy. Scientific novelty. In academic literature on Voltaire’s works we have ascertained the basic anthropological component of his philosophy and reconsider Voltaire’s ideas about religion as something that is rooted in human nature. Conclusions. In academic literature the interpretation of the phenomenon of religion in Voltaire’s heritage is a rather controversial one. At the one hand, Voltaire criticizes religion for its superstitions and fanaticism. On the other hand, he recognises the existence of God. In our opinion, the phenomenon of religion should be examined in the context of human nature and basic problems related to it such as the problem of soul and the problem of free will. The anthropological approach to the phenomenon of religion allows to avoid the extremity of atheistic and metaphysical approaches and to enable its anthropological interpretation.

  20. Religion, assessment and the problem of 'normative uncertainty' for mental health student nurses: a critical incident-informed qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassett, A M; Baker, C; Cross, S

    2015-10-01

    There is limited research around how mental health (MH) student nurses interpret and differentiate between people's religious and cultural beliefs and the existence of psychopathological symptomatology and experiences. Here we focus on one cultural issue that arose from research exploring how MH student nurses approach and interpret religion and culture in their practice - that is, the difficulties in determining the clinical significance of the religious beliefs and experiences expressed by the people they care for. While problems with establishing the cultural boundaries of normality in clinical assessments are an important area of debate in cultural psychiatry, it remains a peripheral issue in MH nurse education. An anthropologically informed qualitative research design underpinned 'critical incident' (CI)-focused ethnographic interviews with 36 second and third-year MH nursing field students and seven undergraduate MH branch lecturers. Follow up focus groups were also carried out. Interview transcripts were subject to thematic analysis. Four subthemes were identified under the broad theme of the clinical significance of religious-type expression and experience: (1) identifying the difference between delusions and religious belief; (2) identifying whether an experience was hallucination or religious experience; (3) the clinical implications of such challenges; and (4) applying religion-specific knowledge. There are clinical implications that may result from the difficulties with assessing the clinical significance of religious beliefs and experiences, identified in both our research and within international cultural psychiatry literature and research. Misinterpretation and therefore wrongly assessing someone's experience as pathological is a significant concern. It is suggested that CI analysis could be adapted to help nurses, nursing students and nurse educators recognize the religious dimensions of mental distress, particularly those that then potentially

  1. Christianity and the African traditional religion(s: The postcolonial round of engagement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David T. Adamo

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This article concerned itself with the modern encounter between Christianity and African Indigenous Religion (AIR in Africa. It is essentially a postcolonial approach to what AIR and its essential characteristics is: God and humanity, sacrifices, afterlife and ancestors. The rapid growth of many religions in Africa and the revival of AIR in postcolonial Africa have made inter-religious dialogue an urgent necessity. Unlike the colonial encounter with AIR, which was characterised by hostility and the condemnation of AIR, the postcolonial encounter should be characterised by mutual respect, understanding, tolerance, and some level of freedom, liberation and genuineness. In this way, suspicion will be reduced, because despite the adherents� confession of Christianity, AIR is not about to be extinct.

  2. Perspectives on Tolerance in Education Flowing from a Comparison of Religion Education in Estonia and South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Walt, Johannes L.

    2013-01-01

    The question that prompted this investigation into religion education (RE) in Estonia and in South Africa was whether two countries from such totally different parts of the world, with such vastly different populations and cultures though with somewhat parallel histories, had tackled the same or similar problems regarding the provision of RE in…

  3. Naturalisms and religion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Drees, Willem

    1997-01-01

    Such terms as materialism, naturalism, and near synonyms evoke strong negative reactions among many believers. However, the notion of naturalism has various meanings; implications for religion differ for the several varieties of naturalism. In this paper I analyze epistemological and ontological

  4. Social representations about religion and spirituality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borges, Moema da Silva; Santos, Marília Borges Couto; Pinheiro, Tiago Gomes

    2015-01-01

    to identify the social representations about the concepts of spirituality and religion of of health teachers. exploratory and descriptive study, based on a qualitative approach. 25 subjects participated in it. The following instruments were used to collect data: questionnaire to identify the profile; questionnaire of free association, whose inducing words were religion and spirituality, and an interview based on the scale FICA (Puchalski, 2006). the representations about religion and spirituality, for professors, are forged around the faith in God and it gives them meaning and purpose to deal with the challenges of personal and professional living. there are still barriers that need to be overcome with a view to a comprehensive care. For this, it is essential to incorporate spirituality in the process in the curricula of health courses.

  5. Local Politics and Religion in Papua

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Idrus Al Hamid

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Local political conflicts become an integral part of Indonesia. Various cause roots are assumed come from a religious dimension, in addition to ethnicity. In cases of Jayapura, Papua, local political dimensions of the conflict was obviously display as factors that religion should be integrating factor, but in fact religion become disintegrating factor. The various power of groups interconnect with a religious impulse that local political tensions grew louder and spread. The aim of this study is to describe analytically about the emergence of a strain on the local level in Jayapura Papua in the field of religion. To elaborate the analysis in this article, the excavation data through in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, and literature studies or documents on issues that occur on local level.

  6. Religion and Education: Comparative and International Perspectives. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivasubramaniam, Malina, Ed.; Hayhoe, Ruth, Ed.

    2018-01-01

    Despite the increased trend towards secularization in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper…

  7. Critical Exchange: Religion and Schooling in Conversation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stern, Julian

    2017-01-01

    Given the complex and messy contexts of schooling, conversations between religion and schooling can be "admitted" as examples of the sort of situated conversation that goes beyond the "false necessity" of universal state-controlled school-based education. There are distinct claims to be made about religion and schooling in…

  8. Freedom of Religion and the Public Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Mary Louise

    1991-01-01

    Presents activities for teaching high school students about the freedom of religion. Includes student handouts that explain basic constitutional principles and summarize leading U.S. Supreme Court cases concerning religious liberty. Encourages teachers to invite students to speculate on the future relationship of religion and public education. (SG)

  9. Human Rights in The Monotheistic Religions : Justification of Human Rights in the perspective of monotheistic religion according to Human Rights Theories

    OpenAIRE

    Ali, Sadaqat

    2018-01-01

    The discourse of human rights has been very prominent in the post-world wars which led various international organizations and institutes to generate awareness on this subject and pave a path for implementation of fundamental human rights in the world. Many theories have been coined and proliferated in the world to look the matter more seriously. The question mark on the role of religion in this regard has led the discussion sidelining divinely revealed monotheistic religions. Thus, religions...

  10. The Role of Culture on Joint Operations

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    McRae, Kenneth D

    2006-01-01

    .... These estimates would include, but are not limited to: ethnic groups, political authority, cultural attitudes, customs and beliefs, lifestyle, history, religion, language, ideologies, tribal affiliations, and social institutions...

  11. Rereading Finno-Ugrian religion from a gender point of view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marja-Liisa Keinänen

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available The male "normal subject" underlying the prior religious descriptions has been constructed in two intertwining processes. Firstly, the scholar, by focusing on men's ideas and practices in the culture he has studied, has created concepts, models and a classificatory system forreligious phenomena, which tends to exclude and distort the phenomena which are based on women's perhaps differing ideas and practices. Secondly, these ideas and practices have been filtered through the male scholar's frame of reference. His ethnocentrism and preconceived ideas as well as the tendency to view his object of study in hierarchical terms has coloured the phenomena studied as well as his overall religious constructs. The challenge of the gender perspective on religious studies is to deconstruct the male normal subject and to elaborate more nuanced and comprehensive models and classificatory systems which also would encompass women's religious ideas and practices. The author illustrates the issue at hand by analysing the overviews in some central handbooks and entries in encyclopaedias on the Finno-Ugrian religions as well as the central monographs in the series Suomen suvun uskonnot (The Religions of the Finnic Peoples on which these overviews are largely based

  12. Reasons for embracing a religion: The case of Brazilian women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guilherme Irffi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The Economics of Religion is based on the model proposed by Azzi and Ehrenberg in 1975, which aimed to assess the religious frequency. Therefore, this article proposes to estimate the determinants of religious frequency of Brazilian women. To achieve this goal, information from the National Survey of Demography and Health of Children and Women as of 2006 (PNDS-2006 is employed and from an ordered logistic regression model, socioeconomic determinants, demographic, cultural and behavioral factors that may interfere in such demand are estimeted. According to the results, it can be inferred that religious frequency of Brazilian women receive interposition of their demographic characteristics, in particular rises with age. In relation to income, it was not observed any correlation pattern, while higher level of education reduces the likelihood of the woman never go to church. Thus, we found no evidence that the level of occupation, marital status and death of children affect significantly the frequency to religious services of women surveyed. And finally, the main feature of women impacting the demand for religious activities and services stems from the inspiration that the woman had, that is, if she was raised in a religion, especially Catholic or evangelical.

  13. State, religion and toleration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Huggler, Jørgen

    2009-01-01

    Contribution to Religion and State - From separation to cooperation? Legal-philosophical reflections for a de-secularized world. (IVR Cracow Special Workshop). Eds. Bart. C. Labuschagne & Ari M. Solon. Abstract: Toleration is indeed a complex phenomenon. A discussion of the concept will have...... to underline not only the broadmindedness and liberty of individuals or of groups, but also the relevant distinctions and arguments in political philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of religion and philosophical anthropology and their connection with educational issues. Through a discussion of these relations......, the essay argues three theses: (1) Toleration is not reducible to an ethics of spiritual freedom. (2) Toleration is not neutral to fanatism. (3) Toleration involves esteem for the person....

  14. Religion in Public Spaces in Contemporary Southeast Asia

    OpenAIRE

    Afrianty, Dina

    2012-01-01

    Religion is among the most overlooked factors in the development of nation-states in Southeast Asia. Some reasons for this include a bias emphasizing religious ideology in the study of anti-colonial organizations that dates to the origins of the politics of state formation; the influence of many ideas on the patterns of modern elite formations that stress the need for religion to shape national constitutions, and the fact that religion is difficult to neglect in shaping the behavior of...

  15. Spirituality and religion in patients with HIV/AIDS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotton, Sian; Puchalski, Christina M; Sherman, Susan N; Mrus, Joseph M; Peterman, Amy H; Feinberg, Judith; Pargament, Kenneth I; Justice, Amy C; Leonard, Anthony C; Tsevat, Joel

    2006-12-01

    Spirituality and religion are often central issues for patients dealing with chronic illness. The purpose of this study is to characterize spirituality/religion in a large and diverse sample of patients with HIV/AIDS by using several measures of spirituality/religion, to examine associations between spirituality/religion and a number of demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables, and to assess changes in levels of spirituality over 12 to 18 months. We interviewed 450 patients from 4 clinical sites. Spirituality/religion was assessed by using 8 measures: the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spirituality-Expanded scale (meaning/peace, faith, and overall spirituality); the Duke Religion Index (organized and nonorganized religious activities, and intrinsic religiosity); and the Brief RCOPE scale (positive and negative religious coping). Covariates included demographics and clinical characteristics, HIV symptoms, health status, social support, self-esteem, optimism, and depressive symptoms. The patients' mean (SD) age was 43.3 (8.4) years; 387 (86%) were male; 246 (55%) were minorities; and 358 (80%) indicated a specific religious preference. Ninety-five (23%) participants attended religious services weekly, and 143 (32%) engaged in prayer or meditation at least daily. Three hundred thirty-nine (75%) patients said that their illness had strengthened their faith at least a little, and patients used positive religious coping strategies (e.g., sought God's love and care) more often than negative ones (e.g., wondered whether God has abandoned me; Pself-esteem, greater life satisfaction, and lower overall functioning (R2=.16 to .74). Mean levels of spirituality did not change significantly over 12 to 18 months. Most patients with HIV/AIDS belonged to an organized religion and use their religion to cope with their illness. Patients with greater optimism, greater self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, minorities, and patients who drink less alcohol tend

  16. Special issue on evolutionary theories of religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McKay, Ryan

    Redaktionen af et temanummer i Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion 4 (1) 2016: 1-90 med en række bidrag som respons til en targetartikel skrevet af Jonathan H. Turner med titlen "Using Neurosociology and Evolutionary Sociology to Explain the Origin and Evolution of Religions". Der er ko...

  17. Votives, Places and Rituals in Etruscan Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Etruscans were deemed “the most religious of men” by their Roman successors and it is hardly surprising that the topic of Etruscan religion has been explored for some time now. This volume offers a contribution to the continued study of Etruscan religion and daily life, by focusing on the less...

  18. The role of religion and spirituality in coping with kidney disease and haemodialysis in Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yodchai, Kantaporn; Dunning, Trisha; Savage, Sally; Hutchinson, Alison M

    2017-06-01

    People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) face various problems including psychological, socioeconomic and physical effects associated with CKD and its treatment. They need to develop strategies to help them cope with CKD and life challenges. Religion and spirituality are important coping strategies, but their role in helping people cope with CKD and haemodialysis (HD) in Thailand is relatively unknown. To investigate the role of religion and spirituality in coping with CKD and its treatment in Thailand. An exploratory, qualitative approach was undertaken using semistructured individual interviews. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Face-to-face, in-depth individual interviews using open questions were conducted during January and February 2012. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using the framework method of qualitative data analysis. Twenty people receiving HD participated: age range 23-77 years, mean 53.7 (±16.38 SD). Ten were women. Participants reported use of religious and spiritual practices to cope with CKD and its treatment, including religious and spiritual explanations for developing CKD, karmic disease, making merit, reading Dharma books, praying and chanting to save life and making a vow to Pran-Boon. Religion and spirituality provide powerful coping strategies that can help Thai people with CKD overcome the associated distress and difficulties. Religion and spirituality cannot be separated in Thai culture because Thai people are both religious and spiritual. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  19. Meat Consumption Culture in Ethiopia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Cheorun

    2014-01-01

    The consumption of animal flesh food in Ethiopia has associated with cultural practices. Meat plays pivotal and vital parts in special occasions and its cultural symbolic weight is markedly greater than that accorded to most other food. Processing and cooking of poultry is a gender based duty and has socio-cultural roles. Ethiopians are dependent on limited types of animals for meats due to the taboo associated culturally. Moreover, the consumption of meat and meat products has a very tidy association with religious beliefs, and are influenced by religions. The main religions of Ethiopia have their own peculiar doctrines of setting the feeding habits and customs of their followers. They influence meat products consumption through dictating the source animals that should be used or not be used for food, and scheduling the days of the years in periodical permeation and restriction of consumptions which in turn influences the pattern of meat consumption in the country. In Ethiopia, a cow or an ox is commonly butchered for the sole purpose of selling within the community. In special occasions, people have a cultural ceremony of slaughtering cow or ox and sharing among the group, called Kircha, which is a very common option of the people in rural area where access of meat is challenging frequently. PMID:26760739

  20. Religion and Family in the 1980s: Discovery and Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Darwin L.; Cornwall, Marie

    1990-01-01

    Reviewed articles from journals in fields of family, religion, sociology, psychology, and therapy that examined both religion and the family. Review reveals pressing need for more serious theoretical and conceptual work that incorporates multidimensional approaches and is specifically designed to illuminate interrelationships between religion and…

  1. Regulating the Relationship between State and Religion: An Economic Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.M.I.B. Vandenberghe (Ann-Sophie)

    2012-01-01

    markdownabstract__Abstract__ In defining its relationship towards religion, the Dutch government is committed to the values of freedom of religion and neutrality. This article uses the economic approach to freedom of religion and state neutrality as a tool for looking at the existing Dutch policy

  2. Culture (and religion) in constitutional adjudication | Rautenbach ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The faculty of law of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in corroboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stifttung embarked on a study on Politics, Socio-Economic Issues and Culture in Constitutional Adjudication. The aim of the project is twofold. The first aim is to analyse the influence of political, ...

  3. Community Psychology, Diversity, and the Many Forms of Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tebes, Jacob Kraemer

    2010-01-01

    Comments on the original article, "Many forms of culture," by A. B. Cohen. Cohen argued that psychology must broaden its conceptualization of culture to consider its many forms, such as religion, socioeconomic status, and region. The current author could not agree more with Cohen's proposed conceptualization of culture and its potential impact on…

  4. Religion, Democratic Community, and Education: Two Questions

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Souza, Mario Osbert

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines the mediating role that education plays between religion and democratic community. The paper is situated in the Canadian context and examines this mediation through two questions: First, what is the relationship between religion and education and what is the contribution of this relationship to and within a pluralist society?…

  5. Journal for the Study of Religion: Submissions

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Foucault, Michel 1977. Discipline and Punish. Trans. by A. Sheridan. New York: Pantheon. Chapter in an edited book. Smart, N. 1985. “The history of religions and its conversation partners.” In The History of Religions, Retrospect and Prospect, pp. 73-85. Edited by J. M. Kitagawa. New York: Macmillan. Encyclopaedia article

  6. Whose Science and Whose Religion? Reflections on the Relations between Scientific and Religious Worldviews

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glennan, Stuart

    2009-06-01

    Arguments about the relationship between science and religion often proceed by identifying a set of essential characteristics of scientific and religious worldviews and arguing on the basis of these characteristics for claims about a relationship of conflict or compatibility between them. Such a strategy is doomed to failure because science, to some extent, and religion, to a much larger extent, are cultural phenomena that are too diverse in their expressions to be characterized in terms of a unified worldview. In this paper I follow a different strategy. Having offered a loose characterization of the nature of science, I pose five questions about specific areas where religious and scientific worldviews may conflict—questions about the nature of faith, the belief in a God or Gods, the authority of sacred texts, the relationship between scientific and religious conceptions of the mind/soul, and the relationship between scientific and religious understandings of moral behavior. My review of these questions will show that they cannot be answered unequivocally because there is no agreement amongst religious believers as to the meaning of important religious concepts. Thus, whether scientific and religious worldviews conflict depends essentially upon whose science and whose religion one is considering. In closing, I consider the implications of this conundrum for science education.

  7. Religion in School: Experience of a Study of the Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metlik, I. V.

    1992-01-01

    Presents observations concerning religion study in 150 Moscow schools. Reports that, although there are still some extracurricular activities promoting traditional former Soviet atheistic ideology, religion is now taught openly. Indicates that religion and atheism also are being studied on a scientific-philosophical basis. Examines how various…

  8. Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2011-08-01

    Aug 1, 2011 ... Religion is something essentially social (Dürkheim, cited in Robertson 1969:53). The one cannot ... city-states never reached the level of autonomy that Aristotle ..... social assistance, through which society takes responsibility.

  9. God and religion in post-modern philosophers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José J. Queiroz

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper is an essay on the positions of some post-modern philosophers on religion, with the debate about post-modernity as a background. Its preliminary objective is to situate post-modernity taking a position between plain acceptance and categorical refusal in contemporary society. In this polemical field, the paper focuses on three important post-modern philosophers by pointing their contributions for a new thinking about religion today. The procedure consists in the reading of the authors´ texts looking for an interpretation of their discourses on God, religion and the sacred. The conclusion is that post-modernity is not as new era overcoming modernity, but that it is comprised of new themes  that are on the fringes  or even  in opposite directions of modernity´s parameters . One can find these themes in many fields of human knowledge including theology and science of religion. On Derrida´s position, who is the most focused philosopher, the text is still embryonic as it comes from ongoing research.  

  10. Stefania Capone, Les Yoruba du Nouveau Monde. Religion, ethnicité et nationalisme noir aux États-UnisParis, Karthala, 2005, 395 p.Terry Rey

    OpenAIRE

    2008-01-01

    The global diffusion of Yoruba religious culture is one of the most impressive stories in the modern history of religion. For a once local “traditional” West African religion to have not only survived the transatlantic slave trade but to have since grown to count tens of millions of adherents (mostly in Africa and the Americas, though increasingly in Europe and Asia) is testimony to the remarkable depth, beauty, and resilience of Yoruba orisha (spirit) cults and the ifá divinatory system, whi...

  11. The role of religion and spirituality in mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Samuel R; Pargament, Kenneth I

    2014-09-01

    There has been increased interest in the relationship between religion and spirituality and mental health in recent years. This article reviews recent research into the capacity of religion and spirituality to benefit or harm the mental health of believers. We also examine the implications this may have for assessment and treatment in psychiatric settings. Studies indicate that religion and spirituality can promote mental health through positive religious coping, community and support, and positive beliefs. Research also shows that religion and spirituality can be damaging to mental health by means of negative religious coping, misunderstanding and miscommunication, and negative beliefs. Tools for the assessment of patients' spiritual needs have been studied, and incorporation of spiritual themes into treatment has shown some promise. Religion and spirituality have the ability to promote or damage mental health. This potential demands an increased awareness of religious matters by practitioners in the mental health field as well as ongoing attention in psychiatric research.

  12. The Role of Religion in Colombia’s Reconciliation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-15

    APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED The Role of Religion in Colombia’s Reconciliation By CH (MAJ) John M. Sedwick Operations...populations of urban and rural Colombia. This paper addresses the role that organized religion can play in this daunting process that includes...about the ministry of reconciliation from the First Century imply that religion has a role to play in bringing an end to the Colombian civil war and

  13. Gandhi on Religion, Faith and Conversion: Secular Blueprint Relevant Today*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Ajai R.; Singh, Shakuntala A.

    2004-01-01

    Gandhi believed in judging people of other faiths from their stand point rather than his own. He welcomed contact of Hinduism with other religions, especially the Christian doctrines, for he did not want to be debarred from assimilating good anywhere else. He believed a respectful study of other's religion was a sacred duty and it did not reduce reverence for one's own. He was looking out for those universal principles which transcended religion as a dogma. He expected religion to take account of practical life, he wanted it to appeal to reason and not be in conflict with morality. He believed it was his right and duty to point out the defects of his own religion, but to desist from doing so with other's faith. He refused to abuse a man for his fanatical deeds for he tried to see them from the other person's point of view. He believed Jesus expressed the will and spirit of God but could not accept Jesus as the only incarnate son of God. If Jesus was like God or God himself, then all men were like God or God Himself. But neither could he accept the Vedas as the inspired word of God, for if they were inspired why not also the Bible and the Koran? He believed all great religions were fundamentally equal and that there should be innate respect for them, not just mutual tolerance. He felt a person wanting to convert should try to be a good follower of his own faith rather than seek goodness in change of faith. His early impressions of Christianity were unfortunate which underwent a change when he discovered the New Testament and the Sermon on the Mount, whose ideal of renunciation appealed to him greatly. He thought Parliament of Religions or International Fellowship of Religions could be based only on equality of status, a common platform. An attitude of patronising tolerance was false to the spirit of international fellowship. He believed that all religions were more or less true, but had errors because they came to us though imperfect human instrumentality. Religious

  14. The Emergence of Sex Differences in Personality Traits in Early Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional, Cross-Cultural Study

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    De Bolle, M.; De Fruyt, F.; McCrae, R. R.; Löckenhoff, C. E.; Costa, P.T., Jr.; Aguilar-Vafaie, M.E.; Ahn, C.; Ahn, H.; Alcalay, L.; Allik, J.; Avdeyeva, T.V.; Bratko, D.; Brunner-Sciarra, M.; Cain, T.R.; Chan, W.; Chittcharat, N.; Crawford, J.T.; Fehr, R.; Ficková, E.; Gelfand, M.J.; Graf, Sylvie; Gulgoz, S.; Hřebíčková, Martina; Jussim, L.; Klinkosz, W.; Knezevic, G.; Leibovich de Figueroa, N.; Lima, M.P.; Martin, T. A.; Marušić, I.; Mastor, K. A.; Nakazato, K.; Nansubuga, F.; Porrata, J.; Purić, D.; Realo, A.; Reátegui, N.; Rolland, J. P.; Schmidt, V.; Sekowski, A.; Shakespeare-Finch, J.; Shimonaka, Y.; Simonetti, F.; Siuta, J.; Szmigielska, B.; Vanno, V.; Wang, L.; Yik, M.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 108, č. 1 (2015), s. 171-185 ISSN 0022-3514 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-25656S Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : personality * sex differences * adolescence * cross-cultural Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 4.736, year: 2015

  15. Special Operations Forces Language and Culture Needs Assessment: Cultural Awarenes and Knowledge Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-01

    hours. Training must incorporate language, culture, norms, customs, etiquette , religion, etc as to how not offend the local ethnicities.” SOF Leader...consensus. The frequency of occurrence for each theme is presented in this report. Analysis of the focus group data followed the same protocol , except

  16. Textbook Religion and Lived Religion: A Comparison of the Christian Faith as Expressed in Textbooks and by Young Church Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vestøl, Jon Magne

    2016-01-01

    Drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory, this article investigates how Christian denominations are represented in Norwegian textbooks of religious education and by young believers. The main finding is that textbooks and young adherents present religion in substantially different ways. While textbooks relate religion to global and…

  17. Beyond Cinematic Stereotypes. Using Religion to Imagine Gender Differently

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sofia Sjö

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In films, religious characters are often gendered in quite traditional ways, but there are some notable exceptions. This article discusses two Scandinavian films that partly break the mold. The analysis illustrates how in films varied forms of religion are gen¬dered quite differently, and explores the ways in which religious themes can open up for alternative male and female characters. Different ways of understanding the representations are discussed and related to views on the place and role of religion in the contemporary Scandinavian context. The article draws on the mediatization of religion theory as a theoretical framework, but also highlights the challenges that complex images of gender and religion pose to this theory.

  18. Ethnic Religion in nowadays Europe: renaissance of the historical pagan beliefs or Political Paganism? Exemplified by the Asatru in Denmark and the Mari Native Religion in Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christensen Carsten Sander

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the history and the problems of ethnic religions in nowadays Europe. Based on a definition and discussion of Paganism and Neopaganism, and a thereby following definition and discussion of differences between ethnic religion and monotheistic religion, the article tries to get the answer as to whether ethnic religion, nowadays, is a Political Paganism, a renaissance of historical pagan beliefs or a mixture. To answer the question, the problem of the article will be exemplified by an analysis of two types of paganism in contemporary Europe: the Asatru in Denmark and the Mari Native Religion in Russia. Revived in the 1970s, the Asatru is a rather new phenomenon as well in Denmark as in other countries of the world. On 15 November 1997 the Forn Siðr association, the Asatru and Vanatru Association in Denmark, was established, in 2003 recognized, and registered as an official religion in Denmark. Whereas the Mari Native Religion, a religion practiced by the Mari people in a Russian region of Mari El Republic, 800 kilometres east of Moscow, can lead its roots several thousand years back.

  19. THE STUDY OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION AND ITS CHALLENGES IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES

    OpenAIRE

    Rotimi Williams Omotoye

    2011-01-01

    African Traditional Religion is the traditional religion of the African people before the coming of Islam and Christianity. However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. The African religion was condemned by the Early European scholars, travelers, investigators and missionaries. The educated Elite who were products of the schools established by the Christian missionaries in particular and the converts in general did no...

  20. Here, There, and (Almost) Everywhere: Civil Religion and Cultural Competency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyitray, Vivian-Lee

    2018-01-01

    When preparing students for study abroad, understanding the religious dimension of the target country/culture is generally viewed as essential for cultural competency training. What is generally left unexamined is the civil religious culture that might be operative. This essay first provides an introduction to the concept as it was introduced by…

  1. Religion and atheism from a gender perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiina Mahlamäki

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available In August 2010 the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, summarising the results of the World Values 2005 survey, released them under the headline ‘Religion is a women’s issue’. Is atheism and secularity then, by contrast, an issue for men? It is tempting to answer the question positively when one looks at the names of the new atheist bestselling authors, or the names in the index lists in the back pages of books with reference to atheism, as well as the names of the researchers into atheism and secularity: they tend to be male much more often than female. In this paper I will examine the ways in which both religiosity and non-religiosity and atheism are gendered phenomena. I also look at feminists’ views on religion by pointing out in which ways they intersect with the opinions of the new atheist texts. Because both (second wave feminists and atheists consider religion from a relatively narrow point of view, I’ll bring out the ways in which the contemporary study of religion defines, sees and studies religion and religiousness, while it takes the concept of gender seriously. I also discuss the seemingly indisputable fact which the stat­istics point to; namely that women tend to be more religious than men and men tend to be more often atheist than women (my examples are mostly from the Finnish context. I also present some models of explanation which scholars have applied to these problems.

  2. Science and religion: implications for science educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reiss, Michael J.

    2010-03-01

    A religious perspective on life shapes how and what those with such a perspective learn in science; for some students a religious perspective can hinder learning in science. For such reasons Staver's article is to be welcomed as it proposes a new way of resolving the widely perceived discord between science and religion. Staver notes that Western thinking has traditionally postulated the existence and comprehensibility of a world that is external to and independent of human consciousness. This has led to a conception of truth, truth as correspondence, in which our knowledge corresponds to the facts in this external world. Staver rejects such a conception, preferring the conception of truth as coherence in which the links are between and among independent knowledge claims themselves rather than between a knowledge claim and reality. Staver then proposes constructivism as a vehicle potentially capable of resolving the tension between religion and science. My contention is that the resolution between science and religion that Staver proposes comes at too great a cost—both to science and to religion. Instead I defend a different version of constructivism where humans are seen as capable of generating models of reality that do provide richer and more meaningful understandings of reality, over time and with respect both to science and to religion. I argue that scientific knowledge is a subset of religious knowledge and explore the implications of this for science education in general and when teaching about evolution in particular.

  3. [Neonatal palliative care and culture].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bétrémieux, P; Mannoni, C

    2013-09-01

    The period of palliative care is a difficult time for parents and caregivers because they are all weakened by the proximity of death. First of all, because of religious and cultural differences, parents and families cannot easily express their beliefs or the rituals they are required to develop; second, this impossibility results in conflicts between the caregiver team and the family with consequences for both. Caregivers are concerned to allow the expression of religious beliefs and cultural demands because it is assumed that they may promote the work of mourning by relating the dead child to its family and roots. However, caregivers' fear not knowing the cultural context to which the family belongs and having inappropriate words or gestures, as sometimes families dare not, cannot, or do not wish to describe their cultural background. We attempt to differentiate what relates to culture and to religion and attempt to identify areas of potential disagreement between doctors, staff, and family. Everyone has to work with the parents to open a space of freedom that is not limited by cultural and religious assumptions. The appropriation of medical anthropology concepts allows caregivers to understand simply the obligations imposed on parents by their culture and/or their religion and open access to their wishes. Sometimes help from interpreters, mediators, ethnopsychologists, and religious representatives is needed to understand this reality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. The study of African traditional religion and its challenges in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    African Traditional Religion is the traditional religion of the African people before the coming of Islam and Christianity. However, the ... The paper has been able to highlight the problems of African religion in the contemporary time, while some suggestions are given, so as to make it meet the challenges of the modern times.

  5. On World Religion Adherence Distribution Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ausloos, Marcel; Petroni, Filippo

    Religious adherence can be considered as a degree of freedom, in a statistical physics sense, for a human agent belonging to a population. The distribution, performance and life time of religions can thus be studied having in mind heterogeneous interacting agent modeling. We present a comprehensive analysis of 58 so-called religions (to be better defined in the main text) as measured through their number of adherents evolutions, between 1900 and 2000, - data taken from the World Christian Trends (Barrett and Johnson, "World Christian Trends AD 30 - AD 2200: Interpreting the Annual Christian Megacensus", William Carey Library, 2001): 40 are considered to be "presently growing" cases, including 11 turn overs in the twentieth century; 18 are "presently decaying", among which 12 are found to have had a recent maximum, in the nineteenth or the twentieth century. The Avrami-Kolmogorov differential equation which usually describes solid state transformations, like crystal growth, is used in each case in order to obtain the preferential attachment parameter introduced previously (Europhys Lett 77:38002, 2007). It is not often found close to unity, though often corresponding to a smooth evolution. However large values suggest the occurrence of extreme cases which we conjecture are controlled by so-called external fields. A few cases indicate the likeliness of a detachment process. We discuss a few growing and decaying religions, and illustrate various fits. Some cases seem to indicate the lack of reliability of the data, but others some marked departure from Avrami law. Whence the Avrami evolution equation might be surely improved, in particular, and somewhat obviously, for the decaying religion cases. We point out two major difficulties in such an analysis: (1) the "precise" original time of apparition of a religion, (2) the time at which there is a maximum number of adherents, both information being necessary for integrating reliably any evolution equation.

  6. Religion: Source of Conflict or Basis for Reconciliation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saint-Laurent, George E.

    1994-01-01

    Discusses five causes of unjust conflict that may originate in religious commitment including arrogant intolerance; hostile remembrance; ethnocentrism; fundamentalism; and religious myths. Causes of conflict other than religion are suggested, and religion as a force for peace and unity is discussed. (KRN)

  7. Religion and attitudes toward the environment: a comparison of Mormons and the general U.S. population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Lori M.; Toney, Michael B.

    2011-01-01

    Religion has been shown to influence attitudes toward an array of social issues. This manuscript focuses specifically on environmental issues, with empirical examination of the distinctiveness of contemporary Mormon environmental perspectives as contrasted with the general U.S. population. A belief in the importance of dominion over the environment is noted, by some, to be reflected in anti-environmental stance characterizing Mormon Culture Region political leaders and church members [Foltz, R. C. (2000). Mormon values and the Utah environment. Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion, 4, 1–19]. Yet, a set of highly regarded essays by a diverse group of Mormons, including some in church leadership positions, expresses strong personal commitments to environmental causes and point to Mormon teachings and doctrines promoting environmentalism (Williams, Smith, and Gibbs, 1998). We examine variation in environmental concern as expressed by Mormons in a local community survey undertaken in Logan, Utah, as contrasted with the nationally-representative General Social Survey (1993). We find substantial differences between Mormons and the national sample; While Mormons tended to express greater levels of environmental concern, they were less likely to have undertaken specific behaviors reflective of such concern. PMID:21909183

  8. Spirituality, religion, and healing in palliative care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puchalski, Christina M; Dorff, Rabbi Elliot; Hendi, Imam Yahya

    2004-11-01

    In end-of-life care, attending to spiritual needs ensures that a dying patient has the opportunity to find meaning in the midst of suffering and to have the opportunity for love, compassion, and partnership in their final journey. This article summarizes some of the beliefs and traditions from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity that affect people as they face their own dying and mortality. People who do not participate in any formal religion also have a drive to find meaning in the midst of suffering and dying. They may find this in personal ways. This article presents some practical tools to help clinicians address and respect spiritual and religious issues of patients. It is crucial that our culture and our systems of care for the dying include a spiritual approach so that dying can be meaningful and even filled with hope.

  9. THE CONCEPTIONS OF MODESTY AND MODEST DRESS IN THE SCRIPTURES OF ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS

    OpenAIRE

    Dr. Zohreh. Sadatmoosavi; Wan Zailan Kamaruddin Wan Ali; Mohammad Ali Shokouhi

    2017-01-01

    Over the past two decades, the issue of modesty norms and women's wearing modest dress were widely discussed in academic and media discourse. Basically, modesty does not belong to any specific culture but today it has become the subject of intense scrutiny in the Islamic context. However, all scriptures of Abrahamic religions; the Qur‘an, Old and New Testaments have emphasized on the observing modesty as a moral and social virtue for both men and women and recommended modest dress for women d...

  10. What is religion? An African understanding | Beyers | HTS ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Western thought has influenced the way that religion is understood. Western philosophy supported the separation between the sacred and the profane. Modernism, focusing on human rationality, reduced religion to a set of correctly formulated dogmas and doctrines. Western thought, dominated by Christianity, created a ...

  11. Czym zajmuje się filozofia religii? ( What does philosophy of religion deal with?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrzej Bronk

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available I take a methodological point view, i.e. my interest is not so much in the religion itself but in the epistemological status of the discipline called philosophy of religion – its subject, main goals, problems, and how it justifies its theses. I discuss in succession: 1. the concept of the philosophy of religion; 2. the subject-matter of cognition in general, as it determines the object of the philosophy of religion; 3. the epistemological peculiarity of religious phenomena as an object of study of (a the philosophy of religion, (b classical philosophy of religion, and (c Anglo-Saxon philosophy of religion. I conclude with some general comments on the notion and methodological status of the philosophy of religion, which is far from being a methodologically uniform discipline. There is no one generally accepted definition or conception of the philosophy of religion. Different types of philosophy of religion have different objects and use differing methods. There is a broad and a narrow concept of philosophy itself which decide why some kinds of research are recognized as philosophical, and there is no way to separate (demarcate sharply philosophical and empirical study of religion. Different types of philosophy of religion operate on very different objects according to the tradition of the given research milieu. The way philosophy of religion is done today and what its object is has been influenced by the fact that it originated and was for a long time practised within the limits of Christianity. The problems and priorities of Christianity, therefore, were imposed on the subject: first and foremost the view of religion as the relation of the human being to a personal Absolute.

  12. Sex-specific genetic diversity is shaped by cultural factors in Inner Asian human populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchi, Nina; Hegay, Tatyana; Mennecier, Philippe; Georges, Myriam; Laurent, Romain; Whitten, Mark; Endicott, Philipp; Aldashev, Almaz; Dorzhu, Choduraa; Nasyrova, Firuza; Chichlo, Boris; Ségurel, Laure; Heyer, Evelyne

    2017-04-01

    Sex-specific genetic structures have been previously documented worldwide in humans, even though causal factors have not always clearly been identified. In this study, we investigated the impact of ethnicity, geography and social organization on the sex-specific genetic structure in Inner Asia. Furthermore, we explored the process of ethnogenesis in multiple ethnic groups. We sampled DNA in Central and Northern Asia from 39 populations of Indo-Iranian and Turkic-Mongolic native speakers. We focused on genetic data of the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. First, we compared the frequencies of haplogroups to South European and East Asian populations. Then, we investigated the genetic differentiation for eight Y-STRs and the HVS1 region, and tested for the effect of geography and ethnicity on such patterns. Finally, we reconstructed the male demographic history, inferred split times and effective population sizes of different ethnic groups. Based on the haplogroup data, we observed that the Indo-Iranian- and Turkic-Mongolic-speaking populations have distinct genetic backgrounds. However, each population showed consistent mtDNA and Y chromosome haplogroups patterns. As expected in patrilocal populations, we found that the Y-STRs were more structured than the HVS1. While ethnicity strongly influenced the genetic diversity on the Y chromosome, geography better explained that of the mtDNA. Furthermore, when looking at various ethnic groups, we systematically found a genetic split time older than historical records, suggesting a cultural rather than biological process of ethnogenesis. This study highlights that, in Inner Asia, specific cultural behaviors, especially patrilineality and patrilocality, leave a detectable signature on the sex-specific genetic structure. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Science and Metaphysics in the Three Religions of the Book

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toby E. Huff

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available The three religions of the Book trace their origins back to the same Abrahamic experience, but only one, Christianity, developed a metaphysical framework consistent with that of modern science. Both Judaism and Islam during their formative years, and continuously up to modern times, considered Greek philosophy and science alien wisdom, jeopardizing their sacred scriptures. The different path followed by Christianity is due to the influence of Hellenistic thought during Christianity's early formative period. Both Judaism and Islam were spared the direct mediation of Greek culture and ideas because both Judaism and Islam developed geographically and linguistically isolated from the Greek influences during the reception of their scriptures.

  14. Interpreting sex differences in enamel hypoplasia in human and non-human primates: Developmental, environmental, and cultural considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guatelli-Steinberg, D; Lukacs, J R

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this review is to provide a synoptic, critical evaluation of the evidence of, and potential etiological factors contributing to, sex differences in the expression of enamel hypoplasia (EH). Specifically, this review considers theoretical expectations and empirical evidence bearing on two central issues. The first of these is the impact of a theorized inherent male vulnerability to physiological stress on sex differences in EH. The second issue is the potential contribution to sex differences in EH of intrinsic differences in male and female enamel composition and development. To address this first issue, EH frequencies by sex are examined in samples subject to a high degree of physiological stress. Based on the concept of inherent male vulnerability (or female buffering), males in stressful environments would be expected to exhibit higher EH frequencies than females. This expectation is evaluated in light of cultural practices of sex-biased investment that mediate the relationship between environmental stress and EH expression. Defects forming prenatally afford an opportunity to study this relationship without the confounding effects of sex-biased postnatal investment. Data bearing on this issue derive from previously conducted studies of EH in permanent and deciduous teeth in both modern and archaeological samples as well as from new data on Indian schoolchildren. To address the second issue, fundamental male-female enamel differences are evaluated for their potential impact on EH expression. A large sex difference in the duration of canine crown formation in non-human primates suggests that male canines may have greater opportunity to record stress events than those of females. This expectation is examined in great apes, whose canines often record multiple episodes of stress and are sexually dimorphic in crown formation times. With respect to the first issue, in most studies, sex differences in EH prevalence are statistically nonsignificant

  15. Fiction and Religion : How Narratives About the Supernatural Inspire Religious Belief

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davidsen, M.A.

    2016-01-01

    Thematic issue on 'Fiction and Religion: How Narratives About the Supernatural Inspire Religious Belief', volume 46(4) of Religion. The thematic issue inclues the following articles: Davidsen, Markus Altena, "Fiction and Religion: How Narratives About the Supernatural Inspire Religious Belief –

  16. Religion and Social Entrepreneurship

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spear, Roger

    2010-01-01

    This chapter is concerned with the role of religion in social entrepreneurship. It takes an institutional perspective and examines the way religious institutions and actors have supported social entrepreneurship. Weber has argued for the role of (protestant) religion in motivating people to take....../organisations) and local religious leaders to catalyse entrepreneurial activity. Thus these three dimensions of religious institutions (ideological discourse, networks, and leadership) will be examined in relation to social entrepreneurship. For the sake of simplifying the empirical base of this study, the field of social...... entrepreneurship will be limited to social enterprise which are co-operatives, mutuals and trading voluntary organisations (or non-profits), since there is a good evidence base of religious involvement in entrepreneurship in this sector, from which a number of cases will be drawn using secondary sources. However...

  17. Need of improvement of diet and life habits among university student regardless of religion professed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro-Prado, Silvia; González-Jiménez, Emilio; Perona, Javier S; Montero-Alonso, Miguel A; López-Bueno, Marta; Schmidt-RioValle, Jacqueline

    2017-07-01

    At present, few studies have assessed the possible influence of culture and religion on healthy eating habits among the university population. The aim of this study was to identify differences in healthy and eating habits among university students of different religions. A cross-sectional study was performed with a sample population of 257 students (22.4 ± 4.76 y) at the campus of the University of Granada in Melilla (Spain). The quality of diet was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet by a validated score (MDS). There were a higher prevalence of overweight in Christian boys and girls compared to Muslims. Muslim students omit breakfast and dinner more often than Christians. Significant differences in sodium intake (p students of Christian faith. Likewise, there were no significant differences in the quality of the diet as assessed by HEI, this being of poor, together with a low adherence to the Mediterranean diet in both groups. Muslim university students have a lower risk of drinking alcohol (OR = 7.88, 95% CI = 4.27, 14.54). Few differences were found between girls and boys in both religions although the Mediterranean Diet Score was lower for girls. In conclusion, Melilla university students eat low quality foods and have little adherence to the Mediterranean diet regardless of the religion professed or gender, although Christians tend to drink more alcohol and to smoke more cigarettes and Muslims skip some meals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Manifiesto del Parlamento Mundial de las Religiones. Introducción

    OpenAIRE

    Gómez Caffarena, José

    1994-01-01

    Introducción al número monográfico de Isegoría "Ética y filosofía de la religión" (No. 10, 1994).-- Índice del número: Manifiesto del Parlamento Mundial de las Religiones. Introducción / José Gómez Caffarena.- Manifiesto del Parlamento Mundial de las Religiones. Parlamento de las religiones del mundo: Principios de una ética mundial / Equipo Editorial.- Manifiesto del Parlamento Mundial de las Religiones. Historia, sentido y método de la Declaración en pro de una ética mundial / Hans Küng.- R...

  19. International human rights and cultural diversity: a balancing act

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Donders, Y.

    2013-01-01

    It is broadly agreed that international human rights law and cultural diversity have a mutually interdependent and beneficial relationship. Many human rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, as well as the rights to take part in cultural life

  20. A cultural psychological approach to evangelical faith healing groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Saane, J.W.

    2010-01-01

    From the perspective of Belzen, a cultural approach for the psychology of religion is necessary to cope with the multiplicity of the religious phenomenon. He presents research of specific - very closed - religious groups to illustrate this point. A cultural approach is not limited to these specific

  1. Religion og kognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geertz, Armin W.

    2008-01-01

    Artiklen indleder et temanummer som er resultat af et udviklingskursus om kognition for religionslærerne arrangeret af Afdeling for Religionsvidenskab i samarbejde med Religionslærerforeningen. Artiklen indtroducerer emnet religion og kognition således at lærerne får indsigt i emnets væsentligste...

  2. Religions and Psychotherapies—Special Issue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klaus Baumann

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The birth of modern psychotherapies—along with the birth of psychology as a science on one side and with psychoanalysis, other depth-psychological treatments and behavioral therapies in addition to medical treatments of psychological disorders on the other side—in the 19th and 20th centuries was accompanied by positivistic and mechanistic paradigms underlying empirical research and claims of scientific dignity [1]. Affirmations which could not be tested or observed empirically had to be excluded from science—including any kind of metaphysics and religious belief, notwithstanding pioneering studies by William James [2], Granville Stanley Hall, James Henry Leuba and Edwin Diller Starbuck [3] for psychology in general and for psychology of religion(s in particular. In particular, the critique of religions by Sigmund Freud has continuously exerted a strong impact in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapies; in addition, regarding psychodynamics and symptoms of psychic disorders, religious phenomena in the lives of patients may be just as affected as other cognitive and emotional aspects and behaviors [4]. Consequently, religious experience and religious behavior of patients in psychiatry and psychotherapies have rarely been object of research and teaching apart from predominantly symptomatic and pathogenic perspectives [5].

  3. Impact and determinants of sex preference in Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leone, Tiziana; Matthews, Zoë; Dalla Zuanna, Gianpiero

    2003-06-01

    Gender discrimination and son preference are key demographic features of South Asia and are well documented for India. However, gender bias and sex preference in Nepal have received little attention. 1996 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey data on ever-married women aged 15-49 who did not desire any more children were used to investigate levels of gender bias and sex preference. The level of contraceptive use and the total fertility rate in the absence of sex preference were estimated, and logistic regression was performed to analyze the association between socioeconomic and demographic variables and stopping childbearing after the birth of a son. Commonly used indicators of gender bias, such as sex ratio at birth and sex-specific immunization rates, do not suggest a high level of gender discrimination in Nepal. However, sex preference decreases contraceptive use by 24% and increases the total fertility rate by more than 6%. Women's contraceptive use, exposure to the media, parity, last birth interval, educational level and religion are linked to stopping childbearing after the birth of a boy, as is the ethnic makeup of the local area. The level of sex preference in Nepal is substantial. Sex preference is an important barrier to the increase of contraceptive use and decline of fertility in the country; its impact will be greater as desired family size declines.

  4. Comment on "Rachel Oliver's article on religion and environment"

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wardekker, J.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/306644398

    2008-01-01

    I enjoyed reading Rachel Oliver's article on religion and environment. These differences (both between and within religions) in how people see the relation between mankind, nature and God are quite interesting indeed.

  5. African Traditional Religion and the African Cinema: The Case of Nollywood

    OpenAIRE

    Akua Agyeiwaa Manieson

    2014-01-01

    This study aims at a discussion of the portrayal of African Traditional Religion in some selected Nollywood films. It is herein argued that Nollywood is deliberately bent on denigrating the African traditional religion. Three main religious groups are represented in Nigeria. These are Muslims forming about 50.4%, followed by Christians 48.2% while followers of other religions especially African Traditional religion, comprises 1.4% 1. This statistic has earned for Nigeria an accolade: a multi-...

  6. 'Conceiving kothis': men who have sex with men in India and the cultural subject of HIV prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyce, Paul

    2007-01-01

    HIV prevention with men who have sex with men in India has, in large part, been premised on the reification of "cultural categories"--kothi being among the most popularized terms in this context, broadly designating men who have a feminine sense of self and who enact "passive" sexual roles. Countering prevailing research trends, this article explores ways in which local, national, and global processes inform contemporary kothi sexual subjectivities--disrupting simplistic perspectives on the cultural coherence of the category. Derivative uses of anthropological knowledge in public health and activist milieux are seen to have propounded limited representations of men who have sex with men in India. Drawing on ethnographic research in Calcutta, conceptualization of time in ethnography is examined and a critique of positivist epistemologies is put forward as a basis for advancing more conceptually cogent and effective HIV prevention research and programming strategies, especially those that aim to address sexuality between men.

  7. Skepticism, truth as coherence, and constructivist epistemology: grounds for resolving the discord between science and religion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staver, John R.

    2010-03-01

    Science and religion exhibit multiple relationships as ways of knowing. These connections have been characterized as cousinly, mutually respectful, non-overlapping, competitive, proximate-ultimate, dominant-subordinate, and opposing-conflicting. Some of these ties create stress, and tension between science and religion represents a significant chapter in humans' cultural heritage before and since the Enlightenment. Truth, knowledge, and their relation are central to science and religion as ways of knowing, as social institutions, and to their interaction. In religion, truth is revealed through God's word. In science, truth is sought after via empirical methods. Discord can be viewed as a competition for social legitimization between two social institutions whose goals are explaining the world and how it works. Under this view, the root of the discord is truth as correspondence. In this concept of truth, knowledge corresponds to the facts of reality, and conflict is inevitable for many because humans want to ask which one—science or religion—gets the facts correct. But, the root paradox, also known as the problem of the criterion, suggests that seeking to know nature as it is represents a fruitless endeavor. The discord can be set on new ground and resolved by taking a moderately skeptical line of thought, one which employs truth as coherence and a moderate form of constructivist epistemology. Quantum mechanics and evolution as scientific theories and scientific research on human consciousness and vision provide support for this line of argument. Within a constructivist perspective, scientists would relinquish only the pursuit of knowing reality as it is. Scientists would retain everything else. Believers who hold that religion explains reality would come to understand that God never revealed His truth of nature; rather, He revealed His truth in how we are to conduct our lives.

  8. 32 CFR 1630.43 - Class 4-D: Minister of religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Class 4-D: Minister of religion. 1630.43 Section... CLASSIFICATION RULES § 1630.43 Class 4-D: Minister of religion. In accord with part 1645 of this chapter any registrant shall be placed in Class 4-D who is a: (a) Duly ordained minister of religion; or (b) Regular...

  9. Evangelization and Causes of Religion Conversion from Hindu to Christian at Badung District Bali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ni Kadek Surpi

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This research focuses on the effort of evangelization and religious conversion factors from Hinduism to Christianity in Badung, Bali. Bali as a unique island and famous all over the world has long been used as a target of missionary. In the early stages, the process of spreading Christianity is very slow. Even, Dutch East Indies government closed the door to evangelization and prohibited its activities in Bali. This study uses a cross field of knowledge and find that there are many causes behind the religion conversion in the area of study. Findings of this research shows that the reason for religious conversion is the social upheavals because of dissatisfaction on system and religion, individual crises, eco- nomic and socio-cultural factors, the influence of mysticism, spiritual thirst and the promise of salvation, family breakdown and urbanization, wedding and birth order in the family, education and professional evangelistic activity and lack understand- ing of Hinduism.

  10. Gender culture of the Orthodox and Modernist Judaism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. O. Svyatnenko

    2017-04-01

    In societies with the egalitarian culture of gender ethical and religious identity, patriarchal notions about women’s roles are rarely inherent to representatives of the Orthodox Judaism. In recent decades, their gender identity is developing more one-sided in the context of religion and beyond it. Even between very religious women, the concept of religion is weakly associated with the notions of patriarchy and the subordination of women. The results of these changes are notable during the implementation of individual secular and religious practices of communities’ women members. A common feature of women’s gender identity both in patriarchal, and in egalitarian gender culture is their self-determination as the strong gender in contrast to traditional gender stereotypes about women’s weakness.

  11. Teaching Introductory Upper-Level Religion and Theology Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clingerman, Forrest; O'Brien, Kevin J.

    2015-01-01

    The undergraduate study of religion is predominantly undertaken by non-majors who are meeting a general education requirement. This means that, while curricular discussions make important distinctions between the work of lower- and upper-division courses, many religion and theology faculty are teaching hybrid courses that we call…

  12. Storby og religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Connie Carøe

    2014-01-01

    Det kan diskuteres, hvor bogstavelig man skal tage forudsigelsen om sekularisering eller religionens forsvindende betydning, men i dag kan en nærmere undersøgelse af livet og infrastrukturen i storbyerne bekræfte, at religion som sådan ikke er forsvundet fra byernes offentlige rum. Kan København på...

  13. Human dignity in religion-embedded cross-cultural nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheraghi, Mohammad A; Manookian, Arpi; Nasrabadi, Alireza N

    2014-12-01

    Although human dignity is an unconditional value of every human being, it can be shattered by extrinsic factors. It is necessary to discover the authentic meaning of patients' dignity preservation from different religious perspectives to provide professional cross-cultural care in a diverse setting. This article identifies common experiences of Iranian Muslim and Armenian Christian patients regarding dignified care at the bedside. This is a qualitative study of participants' experiences of dignified care elicited by individual in-depth semi-structured interviews. A purposeful sample of 10 participants (five Iranian Muslims and five Iranian Armenians) from various private and governmental hospital settings was chosen. This study was approved by the ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All the participants were provided with information about the purpose and the nature of the study, the voluntary condition of their participation in this study, and the anonymous reporting of recorded interviews. The common experiences of Christian and Muslim patients regarding dignity preservation emerged as "exigency of respecting human nobility" and "providing person-centered care." It is essential to recognize the humanness and individuality of each patient to preserve and promote human dignity in diverse cross-cultural settings. The findings support and expand current understanding about the objective and subjective nature of dignity preservation in cross-cultural nursing. © The Author(s) 2014.

  14. Controversy or consensus? Recommendations for psychiatrists on psychiatry, religion and spirituality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhagen, Peter J

    2012-12-01

    Although there is still a lot of controversy surrounding the debates on religion and psychiatry, working toward consensus based on clinical experience and research seems to be far more fruitful. DISCOURSE: The main idea in this contribution runs as follows. It is no longer appropriate to treat psychiatry and religion as enemies. It is argued here that they are in fact allies. This position is elucidated in the light of two statements. (1) The World Psychiatric Association, indeed representing world psychiatry, needs to change its position toward religion and psychiatry. It should do so by crossing narrow-minded scientific boundaries like reductionist and materialistic boundaries. (2) Science and religion should not be regarded as opposing adversaries against each other, but as allies against nonsense and superstition. Two recommendations are formulated. First, science-and-religion, and in our case psychiatry-and-religion, is not purely about description based on gathering evidence, systematic empirical testing and mathematical modeling. We need an approach of both descriptive and prescriptive aspects of our daily reality, not only how our world is, but also how it should be. Secondly, science-and-religion, in our case psychiatry-and-religion as allies should formulate sensible criteria and develop an appropriate attitude to discernment based on intellectual, moral and spiritual sincerity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Spiritual Politics, Political Religion, and Religious Freedom in Burma

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gravers, Mikael

    2013-01-01

    A state of the art artcle on academic work on religion, politics, and religious freedom in Burma......A state of the art artcle on academic work on religion, politics, and religious freedom in Burma...

  16. Religion and the Attentional Blink: Depth of faith predicts depth of the blink

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenza S Colzato

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Religion is commonly defined as a set of rules, developed as part of a culture. Here we provide evidence that practice in following these rules systematically changes the way people allocate their attention, as indicated by the Attentional Blink (AB, a deficit in reporting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid sequence of distracters. We show that Dutch Calvinists and Atheists, brought up in the same country and culture and controlled for race, intelligence, mood, personality traits, and age, differ with respect to the amount of resources invested into processing AB targets. Calvinists showed a larger AB than Atheists, which is consistent with the notion that people's attentional processing style reflects biases rewarded by their religious beliefs.

  17. The cultural life script of Qatar and across cultures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ottsen, Christina Lundsgaard; Berntsen, Dorthe

    2014-01-01

    Cultural life scripts (CLS) are culturally shared cognitive representations of the expected order and timing of important life events in a prototypical life. Through three studies data from Qatar were analysed and compared to previously collected data from Denmark, Turkey, and the US. In Study 1 we...... examined the CLS of Qatar in order to determine whether the clear segregation of men and women as well as the centrality of religion in this society would influence the CLS. A total of 55 Qatari undergraduates completed the standard CLS task, imaging a Qatari infant of their own as well as the opposite...

  18. SIMPLE LIFE AND RELIGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet YILDIRIM

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Individuals in terms of the economy in which we live is one of the most important phenomenon of the century. This phenomenon present itself as the only determinant of people's lives by entering almost makes itself felt. The mo st obvious objective needs of the economy by triggering motive is to induce people to consume . Consumer culture pervades all aspects of the situation are people . Therefore, these people have the blessing of culture , beauty and value all in the name of w hatever is consumed. This is way out of the siege of moral and religious values we have is to go back again . Referred by local cultural and religious values, based on today increasingly come to the fore and the Muslim way of life appears to be close to th e plain / lean preferred by many people life has been a way of life. Even the simple life , a way of life in the Western world , a conception of life , a philosophy, a movement as it has become widely accepted. Here in determining the Muslim way of life Pr ophet. Prophet (sa lived the kind of life a very important model, sample, and determining which direction is known. Religious values, which is the carrier of the prophets, sent to the society they have always been examples and models. Because every aspect of human life, his life style and the surrounding area has a feature. We also value his life that he has unknowingly and without learning and skills and to understand it is not possible to live our religion . We also our presentation, we mainly of Islam o utlook on life and predicted life - style, including the Prophet of Islam 's (sa simple life to scrutinize and lifestyle issues related to reveal , in short Islam's how life has embraced and the Prophet. Prophet's will try to find answers to questions reg arding how to live.

  19. Historical intersections of psychology, religion, and politics in national contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kugelmann, Robert; Belzen, Jacob A

    2009-08-01

    Various types of psychology have come into existence in and have been interacting with a plurality of contexts, contexts that have been radically varying in different states or nations. One important factor in the development of psychology has been the multiple relationships to the Christian religion, whether understood as an institution, a worldview, or a form of personal spirituality. The articles in this issue focus on the intertwinements between institutional religion and national political structures and on their influence on developing forms of psychology in four different national contexts: Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Within these four settings, aspects of the ways in which varying forms of Christian religion coconstituted, facilitated, and shaped psychology, theoretically, practically, and institutionally, are examined. The formative power of the religions was not independent of the relationships between religion and political power, but rather mediated by these.

  20. The floating signifier “talent” in talent management - and why talent management has become a religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adamsen, Billy

    Within business life the term “talent” has been used by business leaders and consultants for decades to describe upcoming business managers with certain gifts and skills. Within science, especially within talent management, “talent” has been the fulcrum of most research and most research questions...... “talent” has changed semantically, and transformed itself into a floating signifier, and through its multiplicity of meaning, has turned the discipline of talent management into a religion, where believing seems to be more prevalent than knowing. The consequences of talent management being a religion...... have had - for years - focused on how the environment, culture, psychology and competencies influence the “talent”. To a certain extent science today can explain how certain internal and external variables can influence the development and the performance of a “talent”, but they are still unable...