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The relationship between religion & medicine has a long history & was often conflict-ridden. Historically, the boundaries between religion & medicine have manifested themselves in a number of different ways. By looking at the US & Germany, it is shown how biomedical progress has led to a reshaping of the relationship between religion & politics. The example of human embryonic stem cell research shows massive efforts by religious groups to influence science in the political arena. These efforts were much more successful in Germany than in the US. Whereas in the US religiously motivated attempts to influence research were strongly rejected by secular-liberal forces, in Germany the Churches were much more efficient to reach their policy goals. These variations can be explained by differences in varying discursive constellations. 43 References. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses the role of religion in US politics, especially in party makeup & ideology, preceding & during the 20th century & explores the likely effects of religious faith into the 21st century. Religious bloc voting inspired by policy issues regarding the Depression, the world wars, civil rights, feminism, & issues of religious practice & morality was common throughout the century. Religious political behavior in the 1990s switched from divisions among denominations to traditional & modernist divides within denominations. Nearly 75% of those holding more orthodox beliefs have voted for the Republican ticket, while modernists & secular interests have supported the Democrats. State-funded vouchers for education, abortion, welfare issues, & the restoration of religious liberties continue to divide religious groups along traditionalist or modernist lines. However, the general need for social morality in tackling family breakdown, failing education, poverty, international terrorism, & exploitation of women & children is recognized by a majority of the US public. L. A. Hoffman

This essay offers a new perspective on abortion politics by proposing that the background debate can be productively shifted from the question of the legal status of fetuses as potential persons to their religious status as potential souls (within a Christian framework). Such a deliberate turn toward metaphysics as an appropriate terrain for political contestation runs counter to a prevailing liberal doctrine -- best articulated by John Rawls -- that metaphysics, especially perfectionist notions, have little or no place within liberal political calculations. Rawls's shortcomings on the abortion debate are surveyed along with those of other recent commentators; & Christian theology on abortion is challenged by way of introducing some of Georges Bataille's notions of political economy. The Japanese practice of mizuko kuyo under Buddhism is offered at the end as a comparative foil to Western political conflicts over abortion. Adapted from the source document.

To understand modern Punjab, it is essential to understand the milieu in which devotional religion, bhakti, blossomed in India about 1000 years ago, and how this transformed society. The development of the Sikh religion is best understood against this background of the bhakti movement, in particular its Sant tradition. (SJK)

AbstractThis article analyses the history of the military clergy and contrasts its role in the Argentine and Chilean dictatorships on the basis of new, previously inaccessible sources. It is argued here that, in addition to its ideological orientation, two further factors explain differences in the influence of the military clergy on the two regimes: first, the structural position that the Military Vicariates occupied between the Church and the armed forces, and, second, the two dictatorships' different needs for legitimisation. The analysis provides information relevant to understanding the public role of the Catholic Church and the dimensions of violence during the regimes.

Argues against the proposition that abortion is a religious liberty issue, citing US Supreme Court decisions and views of various theologians on personhood, fetal viability, and related questions.

A review essay on a book by Maeve Sherlock, Luke Bretherton, Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).