Suchergebnisse

For more than a decade, sociologists of religion have been debating the answer to a basic question: What is the relationship between religious pluralism and religious vitality? The old wisdom was that the relationship was negative, that pluralism undermines vitality. This view has been challenged by advocates of a supply-side model of religious vitality. They argue that the relationship is positive—that pluralism increases vitality—and this empirical claim has become foundational to the larger project of applying economic theory to religion. We review the relevant evidence and reach a straightforward conclusion: The empirical evidence does not support the claim that religious pluralism is positively associated with religious participation in any general sense. We discuss this conclusion's theoretical implications, and we identify potentially productive directions for future research on religious pluralism, church-state relations, and religious competition.It appears that North Americans are religious in spite of, not because of, religious pluralism. ( Olson 1998a :761).[R]eligious practice is strongly and positively associated with pluralism. ( Finke & Stark 1998 :762)

Abstract
Despite significant advances in our understanding of the politics of religious ideology and identity across time and space, scholars disagree on how to conceptualize "religious" conflicts and "religious" actors, and how to infer religious motivations from actors' behavior. This Forum brings together scholars with diverse research agendas to weigh in on conceptual, methodological, and ethical questions surrounding the study of contemporary religious conflicts. We ask: How do we know when individuals and groups are acting on religious, as opposed to other, motivations? To what extent can analysts rely on actors' own claims about their motivations? How does the "secular bias" affect scholarly research on religion and conflict? Is there a bias over which conflicts and actors come to be labeled and coded as "religious" by scholars, policymakers, and the media? The Forum fosters a debate aimed at identifying gaps within and between academic research and policy as well as media analyses on religion and political violence. The contributors examine contradictory conclusions by academics and policy analysts rooted in diverging assumptions and arguments about "religious" actors, "religious" motivations, and "religious" conflicts. The Forum proposes some ways for scholars to overcome these challenges as well as offers implications for policymakers and journalists who shape the public discourse.

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.

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.

Religious life is studied by way suggested by the rational choice theory and
the religious capital theory. The basic contentions of the theory on the
nature of religious life having to do with an exchange upon a religious
market, by firms offering compensators and rewards, and consumers, is
considered. In the empirical analysis, it was validated that the independent
(religious capital) and dependent (religious rewards of two types) were
empirically separate constructs. Cross-sectional analysis of survey data
indicated a very strong association between religious capital and
institutional and ritual experience rewards within religious life, at a
cross-cultural analysis, including Bosnian Muslims, Serbian Orthodox,
Slovenian Catholics and US Protestants. The association was confirmed as
robust at regression inspection with religious socialization. This extends
further support for the empirical validity these novel theories of religious
life and extensions of economic analysis into religious life.

The 3 major faiths have made efforts to discover common ground & define common concepts of recreation in relation to religious org's. Trends in leadership educ, camping, family recreation, & cooperation in community activities indicate the vigor of the religious groups & their awareness of the values inherent in the use of the increased phases of leisure. AAAPSS.