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Explores the notion of Just Peace, demonstrating the validity of three propositions. First, the implications of religion for the topic are significant & intricate: significant due to religion's vital role in today's international system & vital because religions at times differ in their doctrinal understandings of justice & peace. Second, the concept of Just Peace should be regarded as a rubric, an "umbrella term" that encompasses a host of sub-problems. Third, despite the complexity of the issues at hand, the enduring significance of internationally acknowledged human rights constitute one major unifying theme for the diverse considerations of peace & justice. K. Coddon

Recently, many parts of the world, including Western democracies, which are historically shaped by Christianity, have experienced new developments in the religio-political field. These changes result in calls for a revision or renegotiation of the relationship between religion & politics. This concerns not only the religiously asymmetrical constitutions in the European democracies where established churches are privileged & religious, in particular Muslim, minorities are struggling to achieve recognition & equal status. Also, countries with a strict separation of church & state such as the US, France, & Turkey are facing criticism of their religio-political arrangements -- arrangements that have acquired a hegemonial status in modern political theory as well as in Western publics. This article attempts a critique of the (normative) principle of a separation of the public & religious spheres, as embedded in liberal thoughts & democratic justifications. It strives for a normatively more convincing & politically more productive paradigm of the relationship between religion & politics & its proper regulation in a religiously & culturally plural democracy. 79 References. Adapted from the source document.

Hindu nationalism emerged as a major political force on the Indian political scene in the mid-1980s. It is their vigorous espousal of the cause of building a Ram Temple at the site of the Babri masque in Ayodhya, Ram's birthplace that catapulted the Hindu nationalists to the center stage of Indian politics. Yet a pan-Hindu nationalism built on or garbed in Hindu religious & cultural symbols does not appeal to all Hindus. The enormous diversity of the Hindu religion & the larger diversity of the Indian civilization militate against the rise of an all embracing Hindu nationalism. The convincing creation of a modern Indian nation eludes its ideologues. India's staggering diversity is a formidable obstacle to it becoming a nation-state, a form of political organization the Indian nationalists most desire. Are there other forms better suited to its diversity? Adapted from the source document.

Two main issues form the focus of attention in this paper. The first is the relationship of senior religious figures to the state in Africa & the role of the former in the region's democratization in the 1990s. The second is the political importance of "popular" religions in Africa. The overall aim is to examine the relationship of religion & politics in Africa in the context of democratization. I aim to: (1) establish the nature of the links between senior religious figures & state elites in Africa, & (2) make some preliminary observations about the political nature of popular religions in the region, with the primary intention of posing interesting questions for future research. 49 References. Adapted from the source document.

Religion plays a powerful role in modern politics, and the relationship between the two is ever-changing. The governing of a state cannot be separated from the religious views of its people that affect the leaders and lawmakers of a country. Law mirrors society. This paper explores the ways that religious beliefs, practices, and communities shape and are shaped by the political expecta-tions and necessities of a nation by using examples from major world religions. Readers will be presented information regarding each religion's perception of the relationship between religion and politics and how religious adherents have upheld or opposed the relationship. Because reli-gion and politics are always changing and adapting, the foundational ideologies of the relation-ship between these two entities are continually challenged, reimagined, modified.

Current approaches for understanding and analyzing religion in international politics insufficiently incorporate the role of ethics in the practices of religious actors. Primordialist approaches essentialize religion, instrumental approaches consider it to be an epiphenomenon, and cosmopolitan approachesa prioridowngrade alternative ethical constructs as insufficiently universalist. An approach to religion that begins with a constitutive understanding of religious belief and economic, social, and political practice as outlined in Weber'sSociology of Religion, is more helpful. However, because Weber's method insufficiently addresses ethical intentionality, the 'neo-Weberian' approach I advance here incorporates the concepts of 'common good' and 'popular casuistry' into socio-historical contextualization. This approach provides a way to understand and theorize how religious adherents connect religious guidelines to moral action that avoids the essentialization of religion which is often characteristic of other perspectives.