Stories of Faith from the Yoga Mat: A Case Study of Women’s Yoga Retreats

In contemporary Greece, Orthodox Christianity remains the predominant institutionalized religion, being directly connected to Greek religious and ethnic identity. However, more recently, the so-called ‘New Age spirituality’ has begun to claim an active position within contemporary Greek religiosity. Based on long-term fieldwork, this paper offers an anthropological account of how a new religious pluralism is formed at the level of vernacular religious practice in Greece, through negotiations of gender and power. The main objective is to show how religiosity is lived and transformed, through the amalgamation of religion and spirituality, in a Mediterranean country where, according to the stereotype that follows most countries of the northern shore of the Mediterranean region, Christianity supposedly prevails.

Traditional Christian religiosity, New Age spirituality, and unaffiliated contemporary spirituality were explored in the present study through the development and use of the Spiritual and Religious Dimensions Scale (SRDS). It was hypothesised that a number of differences between adherents of traditional Christianity and New Age/unaffiliated contemporary spirituality, would be found. Two groups of participants were used, namely 96 bookshop patrons, and 84 undergraduate psychology students. The SRDS was found to have good internal reliability, and a clear factor structure. Five factors emerged: Christian Religiosity; Alternative Spirituality; Discomfort; Extrinsic Religiosity; and Paranormal Beliefs. Items representing New Age spirituality and unaffiliated spirituality were found within a single factor, reflecting overlap of belief systems. It was concluded that the SRDS is a useful measure for distinguishing between people who adhere to traditional Christianity, and those who adopt the principles of New Age/unaffiliated contemporary spirituality.

Nearer, My God, to Thee

PurposeFemale smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.Design/methodology/approachWe carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.FindingsOur findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.Practical implicationsOur empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.Originality/valueWhile the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

Greek Tragedy or Gestation Period: Future of the Modern Church in Greece

The Relationship between Religion and the Public Square: Freedom of Religion in the Public Space

Sasak, the indigenous community of Lombok, possesses a unique social and cultural structure, where the role of Tuan Guru as Islamic religious figures is central to the formation of their religious and social identity. This article examines the role of Tuan Guru and traditional institutions in shaping the understanding of religious moderation among the Sasak community. Through a qualitative approach, this research explores how the Islamization process carried out by Tuan Guru integrates with local customs, creating a harmonious and moderate social order. The study finds that the preaching strategy of Tuan Guru, which emphasizes Islamic values with a contextual approach, has successfully internalized religious teachings into Sasak cultural practices. Additionally, Sasak proverbs function as effective educational media in instilling Islamic values. However, amid the challenges of modernization and globalization, the cultural and religious identity of the Sasak community remains preserved through the role of Tuan Guru and traditional institutions.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between religion and politics with a focus on Orthodoxy and Catholicism in Belarus. Currently, various religions coexist in Belarus and officially there is no conflict between religions. Religious freedom is ensured by the constitution, and the people have a right not to be discriminated against based on their religion. However, in reality, it is an Orthodox church that takes the initiative in dealing with actual religious life in Belarus. The Catholic church has also exerted a strong influence compared to other Eastern Slavic countries. In Belarus, Orthodoxy and Catholicism can be understood as indicators of cultural identity as well as religious identity. Those who identify with the Eastern Slavic community call themselves Orthodox, whereas representatives of the national intelligentsia more often associate themselves with Catholicism. Historically, in the western part of the country where borders Poland and Lithuania, the Catholics have made up the majority of believers, whereas in the eastern part, the Orthodox Church have dominated people’s life since the era of Kievan Rus. In Belarus, the religion is closely related to the national and ethnic identity.BR After the collapse of Soviet Union, the state power has played an important role in the process of revival of religion in Belarus. The religious policy of the early government of Republic of Belarus was to ensure the equality before the law for religions and believers. This could be called the democratization of the state-religious relationship. However, the Orthodoxy and Catholicism have led the public opinions in the moment of national and political crisis, and as a result, it led to the politicization of religious groups and religious activists. Whereas the Orthodox church emphasizes the traditional values of the nation, the Catholic church tends to be more liberal to evaluate the social and political phenomenon. This difference between Orthodox and Catholic church can be found in the response to the result of the 2020 presidential election of Belarus.BR This paper examines the characteristics of religion of Belarus in the historical and political context. Supporting the political ideology of governing group, or representing the public opinion, the religions of Belarus have been competing to take dominant position in political and social territory. This situation became stronger after the 2020 presidential election.

The purpose of this research is to assess the engagement and influence of women in Traditional Insti­tu­tions (TIs) and Panchayati Raj Insti­tu­tions (PRIs) in Arunachal Pradesh, and to evaluate the impact of these institutions due to dual governance. The objectives of this research are as follows: 1) Assess the nature and extent of women's participation in TIs and PRIs; 2) Understand how women's participation in these institutions is influenced by socio-cultural barriers and political norms; and 3) Identify the potential for women's empowerment through increased participatory and representative roles in local governments. Women's participation in PRIs has been enhanced by the 73rd Constitu­tional Amend­ment Act, 1992 by providing size restrictions on the number of members from women. However, although women have gained improved descriptive representation through reserved seats, their substantive participation remains hindered by cultural barriers to access decision-making authority, proxy representation, and insuffi­cient institutional support. In contrast, most women in TIs do not have formal decision-making authority. Rather, women's only role in TIs is to provide informal influence and socio-cultural contributions. This study argues that to achieve meaningful women's empowerment, TIs and PRIs must evolve to not only provide a place for women within the institutions, but also work to transform the traditional norms that restrain women; to build women's capacity; and to create policies that support women's participation. The conclusion of this study is that improving women's participation in both TIs and PRIs is critical to achieving a participatory, inclusive, and equitable system of grassroots governance in Arunachal Pradesh.

La riforma del diritto di famiglia e delle Family courts nella Repubblica di Cipro
 ABSTRACT: This essay addresses the 2023 amendments to Article 111 of the 1960 Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as family law reforms in the light of the religious or belief minority rights protection, promotion, and implementation. In doing so, the article relies on the findings of the Atlas of Religious or Belief minority Rights research project. The aim is to highlight how the legal system of Cyprus is slowly detaching itself from the millet logic inherited from the Ottoman past and it is further aligning with European and international standards on the protection of minority rights in different policy areas, including family law and marriage. However, religious affiliation and religious legal systems still bear significance on some issues pertaining to family law, marriage, and dissolution of marriage.
 SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Religious (and ethnic) affiliation in the “intractable” Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus - 3. Family courts: Article 111 of the Constitution and the Orthodox Church - 4. The Family Courts of the Religious Groups - 5. The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment and the recent family law reforms - 6. Concluding remarks.

Eugenia Roussou studies the phenomenon of the evil eye in Greece. Based on long-term fieldwork in Thessaloniki and Rethymno, her main claims are that religious attitudes in contemporary Greece are a result of significant shift. In her opinion, Orthodoxy and New Age spirituality are not now “at cultural war”, and attitudes to the evil eye are the finest example of this reconciliation. Unfortunately, the entire text is nothing more than an illustration. The ethnographic descriptions are rich, but rather one-sided. Almost all of author’s interlocutors were neutral or positive towards New Age and new religious movements. Also, Roussou did not include interviews with priests in her research, which significantly distorted the picture. The theoretical framework of this monograph goes against the described material, because of the author’s desire to avoid all sorts of contradictions. She claims to adopt the framework of vernacular religiosity in her monograph, but does not follow this line either in terms or in material.

This anthropological work thoroughly illustrates the novel synthesis of Christian religion and New Age spirituality in Greece. It challenges the single-faith approach that traditionally ties southern European countries to Christianity and focuses on how processes of globalization influence and transform vernacular religiosity.

The socio-psychological and political-legal transformation of religion is studied through the prism of spiritualcultural, socio-political and security manifestations that determine the current state and prospects for the development of Ukraine in the near future. Changes in religious identity are analyzed and the specifics of the interaction of religious institutions with state structures, their influence on the formation of national consciousness and the cultivation of moral and ethical values are determined. The main attention is focused on the religious studies objectification of key factors of the revitalization of religion (the growth of the role of religious organizations and institutions, the restoration of their viability and the strengthening of their influence on the socio-political and spiritual-cultural life of the Ukrainian people, the choice of their moral and spiritual imperatives etc). The regularity of the growth of the potential of religion (Church) at the individual and collective levels is substantiated, which is largely due to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the many challenges determined by it in various spheres of our social existence. An attempt has been made to verify the place of religious organizations, in particular Orthodox churches, their positions, ideological and value orientations, narratives and participation in modern state-building processes, as well as their readiness to respond to post-materialist trends and political transformations, which are especially pronounced during serious threats, military conflicts and the preservation of national spiritual and cultural identity on this basis, ensuring social stability and security.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history of spirituality in the Western world, examining its evolution from ancient Greece and Rome to contemporary practices. The article explores the development of key religious and philosophical traditions, including early Christianity, the Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment, and analyzes their contributions to the evolution of Western spirituality. The article also investigates the emergence of contemporary spirituality, highlighting its emphasis on personal experience and individual growth, and its rejection of traditional religious institutions and dogma. While contemporary spirituality has been criticized for its lack of structure and its tendency to promote subjective experiences over objective truth, it has also had a significant impact on Western culture, particularly in the areas of health and wellness. The article discusses the challenges that contemporary spirituality poses, including the potential for spiritual bypassing, the need for authenticity in spiritual practices, and the importance of recognizing spirituality as a deeply personal and individual experience. Additionally, the article explores the future of Western spirituality, considering the impact of changing cultural and social trends and the ongoing evolution of spiritual practices. The article also examines important works and figures that have contributed to the development of Western spirituality from Ancient Greece and Rome to contemporary times, showing the diversity and richness of spiritual perspectives and practices over time. Ultimately, this article offers a comprehensive overview of the history of Western spirituality and highlights its enduring influence on Western culture and society, while also providing insights into the challenges and opportunities that contemporary spirituality presents.

This book is a collection of papers from the panel ‘Spirituality against Religion: Gender and Power’ presented at a conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. Chapters consider Goddess groups in the United Kingdom, Greek New Age spirituality, Soka Gakkai Buddhists in Spain, Umbanda practioners in Paris, pilgrimages to black and white Madonnas in Europe, mediums and healers in Germany and the Netherlands, a Jewish group in Israel, neo-Pagan witchcraft in Germany, two Hindu groups in Portugal, and a 12-step programme in Mexico. Panel conveners and editors Anna Fedele and Kim E. Knibbe each contribute a chapter. The central question posed for the panel was whether or not groups that defined themselves as ‘spiritual not religious’ were non-authoritarian, gender inclusive, and non-hierarchical. I had a hard time getting my head around this question as I know of any number of New Age spiritual groups led by male gurus who expect members of their groups to accept male authority (their own) without question. Feminist spiritual groups I am familiar with question male authority and hierarchy in general, but struggle with issues regarding female empowerment, female leadership, ritual conventions, and ‘traditional’ teachings. Thus for me the question posed was a non-question and the types of groups surveyed were too broad to form interesting comparisons.