Suchergebnisse

AbstractPolitical secularism is defined as "an ideology or set of beliefs advocating that religion ought to be separate from all or some aspects of politics or public life (or both)." In thesecular–religious competition perspective, I argue that political secularists compete with religious political actors to influence government policy around the world. Yet this competition is complicated by many factors. The contributions to this symposium demonstrate that this is the case in their examination of secular–religious tensions and state–religion relations in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Tunisia. These cases show that government religion policy evolves over time and is deeply influenced by secular–religious competition but that this competition is a complex one involving many other factors and influences.

Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the efforts of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to reinforce Islam within the Turkish Cypriot community, especially in the period 2009-2017. The article focuses on the changes recorded in Turkey on the basis of an ideological transformation and the policies that promote these changes in Cyprus, as well as on the reactions to these changes in the period under study. One of the key dimensions of the article is the recording of the deviation of part of the Turkish Cypriot community from the Turkish-Islamic paradigm. The Turkish Cypriot deviation signals the political efforts of the Turkish Cypriots to preserve the Cypriot identity of their community, a key feature of which is secularism.

Islamic state once became the central discourse in the ideological debate of the state before and several years after Indonesian independence. Even the discourse of Islamic state has not yet been resolved until now. As one of the religious organizations, in the historical record, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) was actually supporting the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia. Informed from Bi-weekly News of Nahdlatoel Oelama (BNO) published between June 1 to October 15, 1940, NU believed that Islam covers the issue of religion and the world, including politics. Therefore, they rejected Soekarno's secularism discourse. As a traditionalist Islamic groups, NU involved in the polemics of the state ideology which was often narrated merely by modernist Islamic groups.Keywords: Wacana Negara Islam, NU, Soekarno

Islamic state once became the central discourse in the ideological debate of the state before and several years after Indonesian independence. Even the discourse of Islamic state has not yet been resolved until now. As one of the religious organizations, in the historical record, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) was actually supporting the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia. Informed from Bi-weekly News of Nahdlatoel Oelama (BNO) published between June 1 to October 15, 1940, NU believed that Islam covers the issue of religion and the world, including politics. Therefore, they rejected Soekarno's secularism discourse. As a traditionalist Islamic groups, NU involved in the polemics of the state ideology which was often narrated merely by modernist Islamic groups.Keywords: Wacana Negara Islam, NU, Soekarno

Both al-Kawakibi and Arsalan lived in late nineteenth century characterised with decline of the Muslim nations and the British, French and Italian imperialism. Muslims became promoters of the imperialist cause and Muslim elites were separating religion from politics an idea en route to secularism. The state of Muslims during this period was same everywhere, though varies in degree. Muslims lag far behind in almost everything. Al-Kawakibi and Arsalan rose to identify the causes of the decline of the Muslim ummah as majorly an internal factor than external. Similarly they promoted the return to Al-Qur'an and fundamental principles of Islam, and further advocated Knowledge for all, without dichotomy between religion and science. DOI:10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p539

Parliamentary debates on the 2001 Turkish civil code amendments have been analysed within the framework of the Islamism-secularism dichotomy. This article re-examines the debates and shows that the discussions on the amendments go beyond this dichotomy. Conservative opposition to the amendments reflected a desire to prevent state and court intervention in the customary practices and to preserve traditional family relationships rather than an Islamist attempt to expand the realm of religion. Women's rights were not simply another instrument for the Islamist-secularist competition as previously argued; the debates were ultimately about whether those rights should be defined according to traditional customs or the norms accepted by international agreements. Adapted from the source document.

This article reviews recent anthropological scholarship of Arab-majority societies in relation to geopolitical and theoretical shifts since the end of the Cold War, as well as conjunctures of research location, topic, and theory. Key contributions of the subfield to the larger discipline include interventions into feminist theorizing about agency; theories of modernity; analyses of cultural production/consumption that destabilize the culture concept; approaches to religion that integrate textual traditions with practice, experience, and institutions; and research on violence that emphasizes routinization and affect. Emerging work in the areas of race and ethnicity, secularism, law, human rights, science and technology, and queer studies has the potential to strengthen anthropology of the region as well as to contribute to the discipline more broadly.

How religious or spiritual are feminists today? Filling a gap in the literature on feminism and religion, this article outlines findings from the first survey-based study of feminists' spiritual attitudes in recent years. Drawing on survey data, this article explores the religious and spiritual views of 1,265 third-wave feminists, most of whom are women in their twenties and thirties. Comparison with surveys of religious adherence in the UK reveals that these feminists are significantly less religious and somewhat more spiritual than the general population. The article goes on to ask why this might be, and suggests three explanations: feminism's alignment with secularism, secularization and feminism's role within it, and feminism's association with alternative spiritualities.

As part of the work on my dissertation on religion and politics in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden I examine the party platforms from all parliamentary parties in these countries from 1988, 1998 and 2008 or ones that are as close to those years as possible. In my paper I try to show an overall change from a more or less mono- religious political discourse to a more multi-religious one. But I will also try to point to differences between these Nordic countries in that respect. I will also try to map what kinds of secularism that are being expressed within these platforms and how religion is being portrayed as a positive resource respectively as a (potential) problem. ; Impact of Religion ; NOREL

This article tells the story of ten Catholic women from Aleppo who, in the early part of the 18th century, sought to establish their own convent in the district of Kisrawan, Lebanon. Their project became the center of a conflict that entangled the devotees, their Jesuit confessors and supporters, the Melkite Church, and the Vatican. Thus, their story is a prism through which to refract the relationships among gender, class, and religion in the Levant. In particular it sheds light on the role of gender in the construction of a "modern" Catholicism. I contend that modernization predates the 19th century in the Middle East and question the opposition of secularism and history versus religion and faith as an artifact of modernity

As a Muslim-majority country that is also a secular democratic state, a member of NATO, a candidate for membership in the European Union, a long-standing U.S. ally, and the host of Incirlik Air Base (a key hub for logistical support missions in Afghanistan and Iraq), Turkey is pivotal to U.S. and Western security interests in a critical area of the world. It also provides an example of the coexistence of Islam with secular democracy, globalization, and modernity. However, having a ruling party with Islamic roots-the Justice and Development Party (AKP)-within a framework of strict secularism ha ; Angel Rabasa; F. Stephen Larrabee ; "National Defense Research Institute." ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-113) ; Electronic reproduction, Boulder, Colo : NetLibrary, 2008

This essay points out that Turkey.s long.standing democratization steps and its long.running relations with the West can portray Turkey as an appropriate candidate to contribute to any democratization process or initiative in the region whether be it through a Western.originated project or otherwise. Having said that, Turkey.s own domestic shortcomings, like the Kurdish/PKK issue, the ambivilance toward the implementation of secularism in the country, its recently marked vicissitudes in its relations with the EU and the US, the unfavorable regional circumstances such as the worsening conditions in Iraq, and the deepening problems in the Palestinian.Israeli debacle, currently constrain Turkey.s potential to serve the Middle East region in the capacity of soft.security provider by means of creating inspration for democratization and socioeconomic developments.

This article identifies four articulations of the growing `postsecular' condition of social and political thought, and places the idea of sociology in relation to them. I identify and critically engage with those aspects of poststructuralist vitalism, transcendental realism, multiculturalist thinking, and the recent `dialogical' sentiments of Habermas that might undermine sociology's definitive (but broadly conceived) secularism/naturalism. This implies that if we are concerned about advancing the role of `public sociology' then we should be actively engaged in countering anti-secular and anti-naturalistic elements of the postsecular climate.Yet we must avoid anthropomorphizing sociology as a public player, and accept too that the postsecular reconsideration of `faith versus reason' stretches beyond the confines of epistemological and explanatory considerations per se.

Agitation for women's rights in Iran is entwined with broader movements for freedom and reform that critique the Islamic Republic's shari'a law as discriminatory. Despite the foundation of these reform efforts in the social realities of contemporary Iran, anyone who critiques laws governing the rights of women is prone to the charge of insulting the sanctity and foundation of Islam and subject to harsh penalties. Reform efforts will be hamstrung until there is a foundation for open discourse and debate in Iran. Thus, human rights such as the right to freedom of expression and related rights must be seen as the fundamental basis for successful political and legal reform in Iran – whether that reform is based in liberal Islam or secularism.