Suchergebnisse

In the accepted view, the basic disposition of believers is one of absolute obedience, humility, and lack of critique, doubt, or, indeed, defiance of God. Only through such a disposition do believers convey their absolute faith and establish the appropriate hierarchy between God and humans. This article challenges this view and argues that, in mainstream rabbinic tradition, the believer is not required to renounce his or her moral autonomy and certainly not his or her understanding of God and the world. Indeed, faith rests on such understanding; moreover, human autonomy is the mechanism through which humans convey God's goodness and perfection. Their questions and criticism are part of a persistent effort to close the evident gap between their assumptions about God's goodness and the flawed imperfect reality. The analysis focuses on rabbinic tradition but its implications go beyond it, presenting a model of a life of faith that compels subjects, as believers, to preserve their constitutive foundations as rational autonomous creatures.

Conspiracy theories are not new to religion, nor an exclusively modern phenomenon. But they take on more destructive and wide-ranging impact with modern communication technologies. Looking at the root psychosocial mechanisms of conspiracy theories, we argue that they frame ideas, history, and culture through the cognitive mindscape of special, 'hidden knowledge'. They also serve as a unifying theory of conflict and narration of history. The COVID epidemic has strained the economic and political system. Although it may be a matter of perception for Q-followers, a sense of precarity is enhanced by QAnon, thus unleashing and mustering an awakening for such extremist paranoid discourse of ressentiment. This parallels the cognitive mindscape of 'the Great Replacement'. Prior to election 2020, QAnon's base had been growing in Evangelical communities. Its presence continues to be felt.

This article analyzes the methodologies prevailing in the world for measuring religious freedom and the results of inter-country comparisons obtained on their basis. The range of religious freedom in Azerbaijan is assessed by comparing the number and severity of its legislative and practical restrictions with those of other countries of the region, particularly with those of the states of the Central Caucasus. The author regards the high religious tolerance of Azeri society confirmed by the rating studies of international analytical centers as one of Azerbaijan's comparative sociopolitical advantages. Azerbaijan's main problems in religious development bring the author to conclude that a new strategy should be drawn up in this area, the basic idea of which he believes should be a gradual rejection of legislative and administrative methods for preventing religious fanaticism and a transfer to a higher level of its prevention based on using the creative force of religious values themselves and educating a new generation of clergy.

AbstractThis article illuminates the relationship between level of religious restriction and the onset of religious civil war in the context of autocracy. That is, we investigate how autocrats' religious restriction accounts for religious civil war. We hypothesize that in autocracies, moderate religious restriction is likely to engender religious civil war (Hypothesis 1), policy change from religious laissez-faire to moderate restriction raises the probability of religious civil war (Hypothesis 2), and the transition from tight restriction to moderate restriction is likely to trigger religious civil war (Hypothesis 3). To test our hypotheses, we conduct statistical analyses as well as case studies. The results confirm Hypotheses 1 and 2, but not Hypothesis 3. This suggests that (1) within autocracies, different levels of religious restriction exert different effects on religious civil war and (2) moderate religious restriction is dangerous enough to spark religious civil war and religious laissez-faire helps to generate religious peace.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the structure and measurement invariance of the religious identity, religious practice, and religious beliefs across cultures in six world regions (Asia, non-Western Europe, North America, Oceania, South America, and Western Europe) and across Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic regions (WEIRD) and non-WEIRD world regions. Confirmatory factory analysis examined whether the hypothesized measurement model fits the data; several multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were performed to examine measurement invariance through a progressive analytic strategy involving three invariance conditions of configural, metric, and scalar invariance. The results generally supported the adequate fit to the data of the three correlated factors model (religious identity-RII, religious practice-RPI, and religious beliefs - RBI); it was found to be full metric invariance for WEIRD regions (RII), North America (RII and RBI), Western Europe (RII) and Non-Western Europe (RII), and South America (RII and RBI). Finally, for RII, it was found to be full configural invariance in almost all regions, except North America and Oceania; for RPI, it was found to be full configural only in North America and Non-WEIRD regions; and for RBI, it was found to be full configural only in North America, Asia, and South America, being that women scored significantly higher than men in all three indices all over the world; finally, it was found to be configural, but not metric or scalar invariance across WEIRD and non-WEIRD world regions.

"Are Canadians becoming less religious? After playing a central role in our lives for nearly a century, religion seemed to be losing its salience in Canada. But there is more to the story. Resilient Gods takes an in-depth look at the religious landscape today. The picture that emerges is not one of religious decline but rather of polarization, with the numbers of "pro-" "no," and "low" religious in flux. Using the most current information available, Bibby explores the implications of religious choices for personal and social well-being, spirituality, and attitudes towards death. The questions he asks are compelling and the answers thought-provoking whether one embraces the gods or not."--

Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe presents a novel account of the origins of religious pluralism in Europe. Combining comparative historical analysis with contentious political analysis, it surveys six clusters of increasingly destructive religious wars between 1529 and 1651, analyzes the diverse settlements that brought these wars to an end, and describes the complex religious peace that emerged from two centuries of experimentation in accommodating religious differences. Rejecting the older authoritarian interpretations of the age of religious wars, the author uses traditional documentary sources as well as photographic evidence to show how a broad range Europeans - from authoritative elites to a colorful array of religious 'dissenters' - replaced the cultural 'unity and purity' of late-medieval Christendom with a variable and durable pattern of religious diversity, deeply embedded in political, legal, and cultural institutions

How can the world's religions, which propagate peace and love, promote violence and the killing of innocent civilians through terrorist acts? This Element aims to provide insights into this puzzle by beginning with a brief overview of debates on terrorism, a discussion on religion and the various resources it provides groups engaging in terrorist acts, four arguments for what causes religious terrorism, brief examples of religious terrorism across faith traditions, and a synopsis of deradicalization programs. This discussion shows that, when combined with certain political and social circumstances, religions provide powerful resources for justifying and motivating terrorist acts against civilians.

The World Health Organization has confirmed the severe health consequences of noise pollution. Paradoxically, conflicts and regulations seem more common not where noise pollution reaches the worse levels. As a new "trend" in health related issues, it seems to be more seriously taken in the West, arguably a great deal quieter than less developed countries. In the latter, the battle has been picked up by the more affluent or middle income segments of the population. But when it comes to limit noisy religious signals, they often meet strong resistance, specially in interfaith contexts, but also in Indonesia, among members of the same religion. In order to overcome cultural and political factors, they are sometimes turning to a public health narrative. It implies a shift in sensory and sleeping patterns, not unlike pre-industrial Europe, but relatively new for these regions. ; Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia (WHO) telah mengonfirmasi konsekuensi kesehatan yang parah dari polusi suara. Paradoksnya, konflik dan peraturan tampak lebih umum bukan di mana polusi suara mencapai tingkat yang lebih buruk. Sebagai "tren" baru dalam isu-isu yang terkait dengan kesehatan, tampaknya lebih serius diambil di Barat, bisa dibilang jauh lebih tenang daripada negara-negara kurang berkembang. Pada yang terakhir, pertempuran telah diambil oleh segmen populasi yang lebih makmur atau menengah. Tetapi ketika datang untuk membatasi sinyal agama yang berisik, mereka sering menghadapi perlawanan yang kuat, khususnya dalam konteks antar agama, tetapi juga di Indonesia, di antara anggota agama yang sama. Untuk mengatasi faktor budaya dan politik, mereka terkadang beralih ke narasi kesehatan masyarakat. Ini menyiratkan pergeseran pola sensorik dan tidur, tidak seperti di Eropa pra-industri, tetapi relatif baru dalam konteks ini.

Michael Scott addresses a range of central questions about the meaning of religious language and discourse. - Should we treat religious discourse at face value or are there fundamental differences between religious discourse and other areas of descriptive discourse? - Is 'God' a name and how does it refer? - Are religious utterances metaphorical? - Do religious utterances express feelings, intentions or stances as well as or instead of beliefs? The book draws on current research in the philosophy of language as well as work in theology and Continental Philosophy to develop a novel theory of religious language. New work and original insights are also presented on the historical development of research in the field. This is first original, wide-ranging account of the meaning of religious language in over two decades.