Christian Organizations Research Articles

Determinados contornos jurídicos, assistenciais e econômicos de organizações cristãs

O cristianismo no Brasil é composto por vertentes e instituições atuantes emdiversas áreas, abrangendo o tradicional trabalho de assistência social e o controverso empreendedorismo econômico, sobremaneira midiático. Cumpre lembrar que para o exercício dessas atividades é necessário o amparo legal e a decorrente permissão do estado. Neste artigo, são tratados determinados aspectos da legislação brasileira quanto a organizações cristãs, sobremaneira suas atividades assistenciais e econômicas. Produzido com base em pesquisa bibliográfica, análise de documentos e consulta sistematizada a fontes jornalísticas relevantes, o texto dá atenção à questão da isenção fiscal e também do apoio governamental, ainda que indireto, a organizações cristãs e seus líderes para a realização de suas atividades.

‘That's not the kind of church we are’: Heteroglossic ambiguity and religious identity in contexts of LGB+ exclusion

Focusing on a formal gathering between two Christian organizations with different viewpoints on gender and sexuality, I show how speakers from both groups share narratives in which they enact and disalign from Christian figures of personhood engaged in overt exclusion of LGB + people. Because of their use of religious language these narratives operate at multiple scales, with differing levels of indirectness and various implications for religious identity and institutional values. Additionally, I argue that disalignment can generate moral norms for conduct and that the moral norms generated in this context allow for personal, but not systemic, opposition to LGB + exclusion.

Book Review: Faith-Based Development: How Christian Organizations Can Make a Difference

Book Review: Faith-Based Development: How Christian Organizations Can Make a Difference

‘Hope givers’? A scoping review of new media and mental health in 27 Australian Christian organisations

ABSTRACTThis article explains a range of conceptual and methodological innovations in the use of new media for the clinical practice and public communication of mental health. Building on two current contexts – the emerging research area of new media and mental health, and major reform of the mental health system in Australia – this article presents a scoping review of the online communication of Christian organisations that offer mental health care in Australia. This article compares the websites of 27 Australian Christian mental health organisations, analysing these organisations’ configurations of mainstream and religious modalities of mental health care, their discursive and visual communication strategies, as well as their use of social media platforms.

Spatial Structures of Japanese Hidden Christian Organizations on Hirado Island: A Comparative Study of Three Villages and Ikitsuki Island

Spatial Structures of Japanese Hidden Christian Organizations on Hirado Island: A Comparative Study of Three Villages and Ikitsuki Island

Служа Богу, помогая ближнему, сотрудничая с государством. Социальная работа христианских организаций США среди беженцев

Служа Богу, помогая ближнему, сотрудничая с государством. Социальная работа христианских организаций США среди беженцев

Arguing in the Public Square: Christian Voices Against Assisted Dying in Victoria

Assisted dying is a topic fraught with theological and ethical contention. It has been regularly debated in Australian parliaments and is currently under active consideration in New South Wales and Victoria. The Victorian process involved a public inquiry by a committee of Victoria’s upper house which attracted more than a thousand submissions. This paper analyses the submissions made to that committee by Christian churches and organizations with a Christian affiliation. All bar one of the submissions were opposed to legalising assisted dying. The two most common themes in the Christian submissions were the need to expand palliative care services and that adequate palliative care could be an alternative to assisted dying; and that even narrowly constrained legalising of assisted dying could lead to a slippery slope with further expansions and potential harm to vulnerable populations. These arguments were not successful and the committee supported legalising assisted dying. Possible reasons for the failure of the Christian arguments are explored.

Should Evangelical Christian organizations support international family planning?

The evangelical Christian church and Christian international organizations today face considerable pressure to promote family planning in the course of their activities overseas. This pressure can be subtle, or overt; the need to provide family planning is often couched in terms of biblical compassion, justice, improvement in women’s health, poverty alleviation, or development. It is evident from even a superficial glance at the Internet that the concept of “family planning” is heavily laden with negative associations due to the bitter legacy of eugenics and population control. Does family planning include just contraception? Or is there a mentality or implicit agenda behind the use of contraceptive technology? What are the possible results of promoting family planning as part of the Church’s international activities? Is there a mandate, Scriptural or otherwise, for Christians and international Christian organizations, to promote pregnancy prevention? More important to the practicing Christian, what are the assumptions behind the “need” for family planning in the context of Christian global health? We discuss ethical and theological frameworks as well as scientific and epidemiologic data from an Evangelical Christian perspective that might help inform discourse and decision-making on this controversial subject .

Differences in Perception of Breast Cancer Among Muslim and Christian Women in Ghana.

PurposeThe burden of breast cancer continues to increase in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where women present with more advanced disease and have worse outcomes compared with women from high-income countries. In the absence of breast cancer screening in LMICs, patients must rely on self-detection for early breast cancer detection, followed by a prompt clinical diagnostic work-up. Little is known about the influence of religious beliefs on women’s perceptions and practices of breast health.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was administered to female members of Islamic and Christian organizations in Ghana. Participants were asked about their personal experience with breast concerns, knowledge of breast cancer, performance of breast self-examination, and experience with clinical breast exam.ResultsThe survey was administered to 432 Muslim and 339 Christian women. Fewer Muslim women knew someone with breast cancer (31% v 66%; P < .001) or had previously identified a concerning mass in their breast (16% v 65%; P < .001). Both groups believed that new breast masses should be evaluated at clinic (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.08; 95% CI, 0.58 to 2.01), but Muslim women were less likely to know that breast cancer can be effectively treated (AOR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.50). Muslim women were less likely to have performed breast self-examination (AOR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.88) or to have undergone clinical breast exam (AOR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.84).ConclusionMuslim women were found to be less likely to participate in breast health activities compared with Christian women, which highlights the need to consider how religious customs within subpopulations might impact a woman’s engagement in breast health activities. As breast awareness initiatives are scaled up in Ghana and other LMICs, it is essential to consider the unique perception and participation deficits of specific groups.

Conversion controlled

This article draws on the interactions of multiple voices addressing the issue of conversion-based asylum claims in Europe. It formulates a set of theological and missiological reflections on conversion and asylum. It argues that the complex interactions among immigration services, institutionalized churches, Christian organizations and asylum seekers capture conversion as static. The article proposes moving beyond the credibility discourse, which preserves the model of conversion from one closed faith system into another, and revisiting more complex theologies of conversion theologies.

Book Review: Faith-Based Development: How Christian Organizations Can Make a Difference

Book Review: Faith-Based Development: How Christian Organizations Can Make a Difference

The great value of poor migrants

Unskilled migrant workers and their families represent a crucial human resource in Sabah (Malaysia) as cheap labour, but also as religious believers. Christian organizations belonging to various denominations have started to cater to this community in recent years by providing educational services. Based on an ethnography of two schools led by charismatic South Korean missionaries and patronized by a Lutheran church with roots in Sabah, this article argues that ‘salvation’, as it is understood and practiced through education in these institutions, falls short of empowering migrants as a whole and rather contributes to reproducing their subordination as a community within Sabahan society.

“Bringing heaven down to earth”: the purpose and place of religion in UK food aid

PurposeThis paper uses data from a city with a multi-ethnic, multi-faith population to better understand faith-based food aid. The paper aims to understand what constitutes faith-based responses to food insecurity, compare the prevalence and nature of faith-based food aid across different religions and explore how community food aid meets the needs of a multi-ethnic, multi-faith population.Design/methodology/approachThe study involved two phases of primary research. In Phase 1, desk-based research and dialogue with stakeholders in local food security programmes were used to identify faith-based responses to food insecurity. Phase 2 consisted of 18 semi-structured interviews involving faith-based and secular charitable food aid organizations.FindingsThe paper illustrates the internal heterogeneity of faith-based food aid. Faith-based food aid is highly prevalent and the vast majority is Christian. Doctrine is a key motivation among Christian organizations for their provision of food. The fact that the clients at faith-based, particularly Christian, food aid did not reflect the local religious demographic is a cause for concern in light of the entry-barriers identified. This concern is heightened by the co-option of faith-based organizations by the state as part of the “Big Society” agenda.Originality/valueThis is the first academic study in the UK to look at the faith-based arrangements of Christian and Muslim food aid providers, to set out what it means to provide faith-based food aid in the UK and to explore how faith-based food aid interacts with people of other religions and no religion.

Faith-based development: how Christian organizations can make a difference, by Bob Mitchell, Foreword by Bryant L Myers, Orbis Books. 2017

Book review of Faith-Based Development: How Christian Organizations can make a difference, by Bob Mitchell, Foreword by Bryant L Myers, Orbis Books. 2017

Defining Christian Palestinianism: Words Matter

The divide within Christianity over the Israel/Palestine conflict is essentially on Bible interpretation and what the coming of Jesus Christ implied. This article traces the origin of the term ‘Christian Palestinianism’, introduced by Christian Zionist actors to criticize their adversaries. It identifies the core of their criticism of Christian Palestinianism, finding that some of the criticism has its merits, even if its definition is imprecise. Accusations against promoters of Christian Palestinianism rose when the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement emerged around 2005. BDS illustrates the recognition of the Palestinian cause and the criticism of Israel in churches and Christian organizations.

Defining Christian Palestinianism: Words Matter

The divide within Christianity over the Israel/Palestine conflict is essentially on Bible interpretation and what the coming of Jesus Christ implied. This article traces the origin of the term ‘Christian Palestinianism’, introduced by Christian Zionist actors to criticize their adversaries. It identifies the core of their criticism of Christian Palestinianism, finding that some of the criticism has its merits, even if its definition is imprecise. Accusations against promoters of Christian Palestinianism rose when the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement emerged around 2005. BDS illustrates the recognition of the Palestinian cause and the criticism of Israel in churches and Christian organizations.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF «LEVIATHAN»: ORTHODOX IDEOLOGY IN THE ARTHOUSE CINEMA

The focus of this article is a discourse analysis of religious ideology, set out in a movie format which circu- lating through various social media without an obligatory carrier. The central question is how does religious ideology intertwine into the texture of modernity and become intertextual? The aim of research is also to expand the thematic repertoire of the sociology of religion, at- tracting new methodologies into its net, because of the closeness of Western and Orthodox sociology of religion on the study of the characteristics of Christian organizations and the religiousness of a Christian. Modern Christianity as an ideology is full of variety of discourses but the domestic sociology of religion concentrates dominantly on Orthodoxy. Formational structures of these discourses are revealed in reflections about the society of various subsystems, including in the system of art. Thus, a direct appeal to the study of these discourses is quite promising for a sociological understanding the specification of the functioning of religious ideologies in modern societies.

Claiming Justice for Israel/Palestine: The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign and Christian Organizations

The Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel seeks to embed the Palestinian struggle within the Global Justice Movement in order to mobilize support from transnational business and civil society actors. The article analyzes how two important Christian faith-based organizations respond to the BDS movement’s global justice frame: the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Drawing on recent research into justice in international relations, the analysis shows the process of normative interaction between diverging justice claims of the BDS campaign and these Christian organizations.

Moral Schemas in Articulation and Intuition: How Religious People Evaluate Human Reproductive Genetic Technologies

As new and more effective human reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs) rapidly develop, religious voices remain an important part of public discussion about the moral standing of such technologies. Here, we compare how individuals from different religious traditions evaluate disease RGTs (detecting genetic diseases in vitro) when compared to enhancement RGTs, allowing parents to select features of a child. Findings are gleaned from analysis of 270 interviews with individuals from 23 Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious organizations, with supporting data from a national survey of more than 10,000 Americans. We find that respondents engage in clearly defined discursive moral reasoning to evaluate the propriety of disease RGTs while moral intuitions manifest themselves in responses to enhancement RGTs. We argue that schemas provide resources for moral discourses while also shaping moral intuitions expressed through emotions. Our results have implications for how religious people respond to new technologies when their institutional and denominational structures do not have readily discernable moral frameworks to guide responses.

Religion and Public Health: Moral Tradition as Both Problem and Solution.

Despite strong religious influence in the development of medicine and medical ethics, religion has been relatively absent in the rise of preventive medicine and population health. Episodic, clinical medicine has a powerful hold on the religious imagination in health care. Nevertheless, Hebrew Scripture, elements of rabbinical teaching, and modern concepts of social justice all can be used to inspire action in health care that goes beyond clinical medicine. The Christian tradition can call upon the corporal works of mercy, virtue ethics, and Catholic social teaching, as well as the modern history Catholic sisters in the U.S. to do the same. By considering the moral imperative for public health, Jewish and Christian individuals and organizations reaffirm the notion that the human person is both sacred and social. This article suggests a need for religious traditions to consider their moral traditions anew with an eye toward prevention and population health.