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"This book investigates the role of religion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Building on a diverse range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches, the book reflects on how religion, politics and health have interfaced in Southern African contexts, when faced with the sudden public health emergency caused by the pandemic. Religious actors have played a key role on the frontline throughout the pandemic, sometimes posing roadblocks to public health messaging, but more often deploying their resources to help provide effective and timely responses. Drawing on case studies from African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Islam, Rastafari and various forms of Christianity, this book provides important reflections on the role of religion in crisis response. This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of African Studies, Health, Politics, and Religious Studies"--

Jonathan Ebel has long been interested in how religion helps individuals and communities render meaningful the traumatic experiences of violence and war. In this new work, he examines cases from the Great War to the present day and argues that our notions of what it means to be an American soldier are not just strongly religious, but strongly Christian. Drawing on a vast array of sources, he further reveals the effects of soldier veneration on the men and women so often cast as heroes. Imagined as the embodiments of American ideals, described as redeemers of the nation, adored as the ones willing to suffer and die that we, the nation, may live-soldiers have often lived in subtle but significant tension with civil religious expectations of them. With chapters on prominent soldiers past and present, Ebel recovers and re-narrates the stories of the common American men and women that live and die at both the center and edges of public consciousness

ObjectivesSupport for Donald has been linked to religious commitments and education, though the issue of how cognitive sophistication may play a role in his support has rarely been examined. This study explores how cognitive sophistication and religion influenced political orientations and Trump voting.MethodsData from the 2018 General Social Survey are examined. Logistic regression is used to predict voting and choice. Structural equation models are estimated to examine the interrelationships between cognitive ability, education, religious commitments, political orientations, and the Trump vote.ResultsCognitive sophistication was found to have a positive effect on voting, but a negative effect on choosing Trump. The influence of cognitive sophistication works through its support for secular beliefs and opposition to biblical inerrancy, influencing Republican partisanship and political conservatism that favored Trump.ConclusionsCognitive sophistication and educational attainment are important for influencing political commitments and the Trump vote, and the effect of cognitive sophistication is entwined with its negative association with religious fundamentalism and positive association with secularism.

The problem of negotiating law and religion is not a modern one; ever since ancient authors and jurists experienced the tension between optimism in divine justice and realism about injustice done on earth, they sought to find ways to reconcile the two different spheres, albeit with difficulty. This paper explores how this tension was negotiated in ancient Jewish texts that represent a variety of approaches: the canonical Hebrew Bible, which sought to provide a sense of divine justice working through history; the work of Ben Sira, which endeavored to tie the details of Jewish law to the wisdom tradition; the philosophy of Philo of Alexandria, which tied the same to Greek thought; and the obscure texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which viewed the fate of the world as dependent on the communities' particular observances. Attention is paid not only to how these texts endeavored to bring these two spheres of practice together, but also to what is lost in the process. Law, Culture and the Humanities 2007; 3: 189—204

The dramatic growth in parochial schools has intensified the need for liberals to rethink arguments about civic education & diversity. Although parochial schools should not be publicly funded, it is contended that diversity should be extended by including students from parochial schools/home schools in the curriculum of public schools, & providing religious students alternative assignments/texts when requested. It is argued that allowing for separate schools while also encouraging parents to send their children to public schools on either a full- or part-time basis is the best way to enhance liberal citizenship. The lack of diversity in many separate schools is discussed, along with some benefits of moderate parochial schools; the threat to liberal values posed by religious schools that do not emphasize critical thinking or mutual respect for all; & reasons public financing should not be extended to parochial schools. Other issues addressed include strategies for cooperation between public & parochial schools; the treatment of religion in multicultural public schools; & difficulties related to the accommodation of religious beliefs in public institutions. J. Lindroth

In contemporary Western world religion has long lost its status of a default legitimating formula and has been relegated, in liberal political philosophy, to the private sphere. Institutionally, religious organizations have been largely separated from government institutions. Despite these adverse circumstances, religion – both as a system of ideas, values and norms and in its institutional expression – has adopted effective survival strategies guarding it from social and political marginalization. Religion has been accorded special status among other ideologies. In science, it results in a sort of methodological agnosticism, which treats religious and scientific statements as belonging to two incommensurable spheres. In politics, religious organizations are often granted special legal status among other political actors and religious freedom has been constitutionalized as a special case of general freedom of expression. As judicature and political practice show, religious arguments can often trump non-religious claims when fundamental value conflicts arise. In their political activity, religious organizations have used strategies characteristic for other political actors (lobbying, mass mobilization etc.), thereby gaining democratic legitimacy, as well as unique, religion-specific strategies. Armed with these and other empowering tools, religion can continue to influence democratic political systems in significant ways. ; Utraciwszy status dominującej formuły legitymizacyjnej w świecie zachodnim, religia została też instytucjonalnie oddzielona od państwa i, w myśl ideologii liberalnej, zepchnięta na margines życia publicznego. Pomimo tych niesprzyjających okoliczności, religia – zarówno jako system idei i norm, jak i w wymiarze instytucjonalnym – zdołała obronić się przed marginalizacją, zapewniając sobie szczególny status wśród innych ideologii. W nauce objawia się to swego rodzaju metodologicznym agnostycyzmem, nakazującym traktować twierdzenia religijne jako niewspółmierne z naukowymi, a zatem niepodlegające krytyce. W polityce, organizacje religijne uzyskały w wielu państwach zachodnich szczególną pozycję, a wolność religijna została ukonstytuowana jako szczególny przypadek swobody wypowiedzi. W swej działalności politycznej organizacje religijne stosują zarówno metody identyczne z innymi aktorami politycznymi (lobbying, masowa mobilizacja itp.) – co nadaje im legitymację w ramach demokratycznych systemów politycznych – jak i specyficzne strategie religijne. Działania te są w artykule analizowane głównie na przykładach polskich i amerykańskich. Uzbrojone w takie narzędzia, religijne podmioty polityczne mogą wywierać znaczący wpływ na demokratyczne systemy polityczne.

Implementation of religion policy in schools has provoked contradictions and contestations in South Africa and across the globe. Reports on costly and protracted court cases and legislative battles between schools and parents as well as between schools and departments of education over religion in schools have been increasing at an alarming rate. In this article, I highlight some of the school management issues involved in the implementation of religion-in-education policy in some selected South African schools. Based on mediation theory, the study used individual interviews to gather data from 12 school principals, who were purposively selected regarding their experiences on the implementation of the religion-in-education policy in their schools. The study revealed that, despite the challenges raised by the implementation of the religion-in-education policy, the majority of the participating school principals displayed the qualities of a transformative mediator. I therefore recommend that school leadership programmes for school leaders offer mediation, and transformative mediation in particular, as a leadership and management course. Additionally, the teaching should focus on transformative mediation as a strategy that school principals can use to solve problems and handle disputes in schools. This is important because transformative mediation has potential benefits to the field of education.Keywords: conflict resolution; mediation; policy implementation; religion in education; religious diversity; schools as legal persons

Bassam Tibis menschenrechtsorientierter Ansatz ist nach Meinung des Autors deshalb befriedigender, weil er auf rational ausgewiesenen normativen Voraussetzungen beruht, während Samuel P. Huntingtons These daran leidet, dass das kulturelle Schema letztlich nur als heuristisches Gruppierungsmittel, nicht aber als sozialwissenschaftlich haltbare Deutung plausibel ist. Der Hinweis auf die Stabilität der kulturellen Orientierungen über die Jahrhunderte hinweg wirkt nur auf den ersten Blick beeindruckend. Es sollte jedoch nicht übersehen werden, wie massiv die Kulturtraditionen durch den Ost-West-Konflikt überlagert werden konnten und in welchem Maße einheitliche Kulturkreise wie der europäische bis 1945 und der arabische bis heute von inneren Spannungen und Gegensätzen durchzogen sind, deren Polemogenität die kulturellen Gemeinsamkeiten gerade in den entscheidenden Momenten der Entwicklung in den Hintergrund treten und verblassen lässt. Dies spricht dafür, dass zukünftige Konfliktlinien eher solche zwischen Demokratien und Autokratien sein werden, weniger dagegen zwischen unterschiedlichen Kulturen. Der Autor beleuchtet in seinem Beitrag die verschiedenen Positionen von Bassam Tibi, Jürgen Habermas und Joseph Ratzinger zum Verhältnis von Religiosität und Modernität. Er arbeitet nicht nur die jeweiligen Verständnisse heraus, sondern interpretiert die Ergebnisse auch hinsichtlich der Rolle des modernen, liberalen Verfassungsstaats im Zuge der zivilgesellschaftlichen, aber auch politisch-institutionellen Inkorporation möglicher neuer religiöser Argumente und Sichtweisen. (ICI2)

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR) publishes reports of innovative studies that pertain empirically or theoretically to the scientific study of religion, including spirituality, regardless of their academic discipline or professional orientation. It is academically eclectic, not restricted to any one particular theoretical orientation or research method. Most articles report the findings of quantitative or qualitative investigations, but some deal with methodology, theory, or applications of social science studies in the field of religion

Nowadays, the mystique of religion in developing countries is plain to see. In Africa, religion shows no sign of disappearing or diminishing as development theorists have generally supposed. Africans have certain religious values which are sources of inspiration and strength. If incorporated, they can greatly contribute to development initiatives in their planning, implementation and monitoring stages. "The Euro-Western development practitioners usually excluded consideration of the religious dimension in formulating development policies towards Africa" (Gerrie and Ellis 2006: 351-367).

Religion is traditionally portrayed as nothing but trouble in Ireland, but the churches played a key role in Northern Ireland's peace process. This study challenges many existing assumptions about the peace process, drawing on four years of interviewing with those involved, including church leaders, politicians, and paramilitary members.