Expression Of Religious Identity Research Articles

The Dynamics of The Relationship between Religious Identity and Fundamentalism in Predicting Muslim Prejudice against Christian in Indonesia

Many empirical studies have explored the relationship between religious identity, fundamentalism, and prejudice. However, very few investigations have been conducted into whether the relationship between fundamentalism and religious identity generates prejudice; this is because fundamentalism is often seen as a particular form of religious identity. This research positions religious identity and fundamentalism as two separate things, stemming from an awareness of contemporary developments that a fundamentalist does not always display “hard” or “extreme” expressions of religious identity. This study also analyzes the two within the context of a mutually explanative relationship (Religious identity → Fundamentalism, and Fundamentalism → Religious identity). 639 Islamic college students (372 males, 267 females) recruited with convenience sampling method participated in this study. Using a correlational design, the data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis to determine the role of gender, age, and religious fundamentalism in predicting prejudice. Furthermore, mediation analysis was carried out twice, by placing fundamentalism and religious identity, exchangeably, as mediating variables to predict prejudice. Results showed that (1) Age and gender did not significantly contribute to the prejudice. However, the prejudice can be predicted by religious identity and fundamentalism, (2) Fundamentalism is a mediator between religious identity and prejudice, (3) Religious identity is a mediator between fundamentalism and prejudice. This finding indicates that inter-religious prejudice can emerge as a reflection of both (1) fundamentalism through religious identity, as well as (2) religious identity through fundamentalism. The use of mediation analysis in this research sheds light on the complex interplay between religious identity, fundamentalism, and prejudice. It reveals that both fundamentalism and religious identity can mediate the relationship between each other and prejudice. This insight into the mediation processes can help researchers and policymakers better understand the mechanisms behind inter-religious prejudice.

The Relationship between the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Social Media Use in Articulating Islamic Identity among Muslim Millennials

Current technological developments have both positive and negative impacts. One of the negative impacts of excessive use of social media is that it can lead to addiction, cyberbullying, and fear of missing out (FoMO). It can even erode one's identity, as it is influenced by widely circulated videos on social media. The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between FoMO, problematic use of social media, and expressions of Islamic identity. The FoMO scale, social media disorder scale, and Instagram Islamic identity scale were used as measuring tools in this research. A quantitative approach was employed, using multiple analyses, which revealed that both FoMO and problematic use of social media contribute simultaneously to the expression of Islamic identity. The subjects of this research were 177 Indonesian millennial Muslims who actively participated in the Instagram migration movement. Problematic use of social media and expression of Islamic identity had an effective contribution of 40.6% (36.7% from social media use and 3.9% from FoMO). Additionally, we found that questionable social media use had a significant correlation with the articulation of Islamic identity, while FoMO itself had no correlation with it. These results can serve as a basis for future research on the expression of religious identity on social media and the development of interventions to address excessive social media use.

Roamin’ Holiday: Protestants on Foot in the Eternal City

This article analyses accounts of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Anglophone travellers to Rome who encountered and described Catholic rituals of walking. These visitors observed Catholic rituals such as pilgrimages and processions so closely that they came to understand the act of walking and ways of walking as expressions of religious identity. They also used the language of walking to interpret such moments of encounter in their narratives. Taken together, this evidence demonstrates the centrality of walking to their understanding of a religiously diverse Europe.

Yedi Kız Mezarı: Bir Zamanlar Yaşayan Ama Piçan’da Hâlâ Duran Bir Tapınak

Professor Rahilä Dawut is the world’s leading scholar on the study of Uyghur mazar. Her pioneering publications in Uyghur, Chinese, and English as well as her digital archiving projects on indigenous expressions of religious identity have set the standard for the ethnographic study and preservation of Uyghur culture. Her unlawful detention comes at a shock to her colleagues, friends, and family, and her absence marks an irreplaceable loss to the academic community. Written in celebration of Professor Dawut’s contributions to Uyghur studies and research on mazar more specifically, this essay translates Professor Dawut’s 2001 chapter on the Mazar of the Seven Maidens (Yättä Qizlirim Maziri) located in Pichan County. It then provides ethnographic description of a 2015 visit to the shrine. This section places its focus on the ritual elements that link pilgrims past and present, the land, local saints, and, ultimately, the Divine. The article concludes with a message of hope for Professor Dawut and Uyghurs persisting in their homeland.

Religious identity in the workplace: A systematic review, research agenda, and practical implications

AbstractWe conducted a systematic review of relevant literature to address how religious and occupational identities relate to each other in the workplace. We identified 53 relevant publications for analysis and synthesis. Studies addressed value differences associated with religion and occupation, identity tensions, unmet expectations, and the connection of religious identity to well‐being and work outcomes. Key variables in the connection between religious and occupational identities included personal preferences, the fit between religious identity and job‐related concerns, and the organization's policies, practices, and expectations. We highlight the personal and organizational consequences of being able to express religious identity at work and the conditions that promote high congruence between religious identity and its expression in the workplace. From these findings, we develop a research agenda and offer recommendations for management practice that focus on support for expression of religious identity at work while maintaining a broader climate of inclusion.

Hijab and modesty: Muslim religious identity expression among Egyptian women in the United States

This study explored the symbolic meaning of modest dress, generally referred to as hijab, to Egyptian Muslim women living in the United States. In the diaspora, women need to integrate the requirements for religious modesty when shopping for western apparel that is not designed to align with their values of modesty. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews with photo-elicitation were conducted with ten veiled Muslim women to explore the symbolic meaning of hijab and their views on modest clothing as it relates to religiosity. Three themes surfaced as the participants discussed their experiences: (1) intrinsic and extrinsic values of hijab – adapting to US norms, (2) the accessibility and attributes of modest clothing and (3) defining modest hijab based on religiosity – three types. The findings of this study may help non-Muslims understand the symbolic message of hijab and the different types of modest clothing related to religiosity.

Non-therapeutic male genital cutting and harm: Law, policy and evidence from U.K. hospitals.

Female genital cutting (FGC) is generally understood as a gendered harm, abusive cultural practice and human rights violation. By contrast, male genital cutting (MGC) is held to be minimally invasive, an expression of religious identity and a legitimate parental choice. Yet scholars increasingly problematize this dichotomy, arguing that male and female genital cutting can occasion comparable levels of harm. In 2015 this academic critique received judicial endorsement, with Sir James Munby's acknowledgement that all genital cutting can cause 'significant harm'. This article investigates the harm occasioned by MGC. It is informed by a Freedom of Information (FoI) study which provides some empirical evidence of the nature and frequency of physical harm caused by MGC in U.K. hospitals. While acknowledging the challenges and limitations of FoI research, we outline important lessons that this preliminary study contains for medical ethics, law and policy. It provides some empirical evidence to support claims regarding the risks which accompany the procedure and the obligation of health professionals to disclose them, and reveals the paucity of measures in place to ensure that harms are recorded, disclosed and monitored.

The expression of religious identities and the control of public space

To what extent may an historic nation impress its religious identity on the public space of its society? For example, does it have a right to ban the wearing of hijabs in schools, to insist on the display of crucifixes in school classrooms, or to ban the construction of minarets? My aim in this article is to critically examine the answers which liberal nationalism gives to these questions, focusing in particular on David Miller’s version of this theory. His key claim is that the religion associated with the historic nation may legitimately be given a predominant place in public space. After outlining the principal elements of Miller’s position, I shall criticise the general principle on which it is based, before challenging his views on several particular issues. My conclusion will be that, whilst the historic nation has the right to express its religious identity in the public space of its society to some degree, this right is significantly more constrained than Miller believes. Constraints are derived, in particular, from consideration of the particular nature of different kinds of public space, and consideration of what people need from such spaces, including the need for spaces in which they can express themselves and in which they can feel at home.

Societal Level of Religiosity and Religious Identity Expression in Europe

Growing diversity in terms of values and worldviews is one of the main challenges in current European societies. It is often argued that, in these societies, suspicion toward some aspects and forms of religion, if not religion in general is one of the main obstacles toward the acceptance of minority religious practices. In this article, we focused on the role of religion as a part of culture across European societies in allowing or inhibiting the expression of a religious identity by wearing visible religious symbols in the workplace. We examined the, intuitive but still to be tested, assumption that religious identity expression is more accepted in societies with an elevated level of societal religiosity in a European context. Using the 2006 data of Eurobarometer 65.4 on discrimination, we examined differences in the acceptance of religious identity expression through support for wearing visible religious symbols in 26 European societies. Results of multilevel analyses showed cross-societal variation in the acceptance of wearing visible religious symbols and that societal religiosity positively predicts the acceptance of religious identity expression. Our results showed that it is meaningful to differentiate between European countries when examining the role of cultural characteristics at the societal level when analyzing individual attitudes related to identity expressions and their acceptance.

Post-secularism, Multiculturalism, Human Rights, and Religion in Ontario

Most Canadians believe that they have resolved the issue of religious freedom—as well as the problems of the injustice of Christian privilege and discrimination based on religion—by redefining the social order according to Canadian models of secularism, multiculturalism, and human rights. Typical of this resolution were the protections against discrimination based on religion or “creed” in the Ontario Human Rights Code, drafted in 1962. However, dramatic social and demographic changes in Ontario over the last fifty years have presented the efforts of the Ontario Human Rights Commission to protect and promote religious freedom with unexpected challenges. New forms of ethno-racial and religious pluralism, more widespread secularism, more religious hybridity and innovation, and greater degrees of individualized expression of religious identity have forced the Commission to rethink its policies pertaining to religious freedom. The Commission is wrestling with the fact that not only has Ontario become more religiously diverse in terms of the number of world religions and sub-divisions in those traditions, but religion in Ontario is expressing itself in unprecedented forms. At the same time, jurisprudence and public attitudes about the role of religion in secular, liberal democracies are also evolving. This article examines the Commission’s treatment of religious freedom in its policy work on balancing competing human rights and protection of freedom based on creed. It analyzes the Commission’s challenges in formulating policies around religious freedom by examining the interaction between secularism, multiculturalism, and human rights culture in the context of the transition of Canada’s social order to a post-secular society.

Climate Change and TESOL: Language, Literacies, and the Creation of Eco-Ethical Consciousness

This article calls on the field of TESOL to respond to the planet's growing climatic and ecological crisis, conceptualizing climate change beyond just standards-based language and content curriculum. Climate change is also cultural and religious, and thus warrants broader consideration in TESOL. Drawing on theories of value creation and creative coexistence, the author considers climate change socioculturally, epistemologically, and ontologically toward the development of a value-creative eco-ethical consciousness. The author concludes with a critical instrumental case study that used ethnographic and discourse analytic methods to examine the effects of a standards-based climate change unit among adolescent religious refugee English language learners (ELLs) from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Findings suggest these ELLs’ curricular engagement developed their language, literacies, and content knowledge relative to climate science. It also fostered transformed perspectives and value creation toward an eco-ethical consciousness consonant with their cultural religious identity expression. Intersecting multiple subareas of TESOL, including FSU learners, digital literacies, religion and spirituality, and standards-based approaches, the case study findings have potentially broader transferability implications beyond climate change and language learning and instruction.

“I don't advertise the fact that I'm a Catholic”: College students, religion, and ambivalence

ABSTRACTBased on twenty in-depth interviews with Catholic college students, this article investigates religious identity for emerging adults at a public university in the United States. Using sociological ambivalence as an analytical tool, I demonstrate how the expectations of collegiate emerging adulthood can shape students' expressions of religious identity. The students manage their expressions in strategic ways in order to craft particular kinds of identities as college students and religious people, and to situate themselves as either those who fit in or those who go against the norm.

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Diaspora of Montreal

The Ammanuel Montreal Evangelical Church (AMEC) is composed of over 150 members of Ethiopian and Eritrean origin. Through the examination of their musical practices, this article analyzes how music is involved in the construction and expression of religious identities in the context of migration. It appears that in borrowing worship music widespread in Ethiopia and in its diaspora, the faithful highlight the “Ethiopianness” of the group, at the expense of the minority Eritrean identity. The author then reveals that each musical parameter conveys different identity facets. If the universality of the Gospel message is expressed through dance and lyrics, the repertoire and its instrumentarium convey the “Ethiopianness” of the congregation, while the rhythms refer to a multi-ethnic Ethiopian imaginary. As for the local identity (Montreal) of the congregation, it is represented by the combination of several hymns borrowed from the stars of Ethiopian Gospel music. Finally, the paper highlights some musical ambivalences of the faithful who, in the context of migration, feel torn between several cultures.

Negotiating Muslim identity and diversity in Greek urban spaces

Based on a recent study of indigenous and migrant Muslims in Greece, this article provides an exploration of the spatial expressions of religious identity and practice among indigenous and migrant Muslims in Athens. Through a detailed analysis of ethnographic and visual material, we investigate the ways in which Muslim communities negotiate their religious identities and belonging in a city where there is no official mosque, considering that exclusionary perceptions of Islam constitute an important element of Greek national identity. The discussion concentrates on the management of visibility of Muslim identity through public displays of religious practices. Finally, we explore the ongoing debates surrounding the building of a Central Mosque in Athens as a symbolic claim to acceptance and recognition of Muslim presence and religious diversity in the Greek capital.

Expressing religious identities in the workplace: Analyzing a neglected diversity dimension

Responding to Jackson and Joshi’s (2011) call for specific models of the effects of particular diversity types and against the backdrop of the rising desire for the public expression of religious identities in the workplace (Hicks, 2003), we develop a framework that systematically explores when and how the expression of diverse religious identities induces relational conflicts in organizational units. In developing this framework, we integrate the respective literatures on religion studies (e.g. Hicks, 2003), identity-disclosure (e.g. Ragins, 2008) and diversity within organizational groups (Jackson and Joshi, 2011). Our framework specifies three paths whereby the public expression of diverse religious identities can engender relational conflicts. As mediators, we discuss perceivers’ attribution of proselytism and religious discrimination, as well as identity threats. Moreover, we examine the moderating roles of actors’ and perceivers’ religious fundamentalism, perceivers’ religious identity salience and minority members’ attribution of majority members’ religious hegemonial claims. At the theoretical level, we delineate particularities of religious identity diversity that distinguish this diversity type from other deep-level diversity attributes. Concerning practical implications, we argue that it is important to not only foster self-expression, but also to be cognizant of the risks that the public expression of religious identities entails.

Linguistic Expression of Religious Identity and Ideology in Selected Postcolonial Nigerian Literature

One of the greatest threats to national development and the rights of individuals and groups in Nigeria and some parts of Africa is the growing increase in religious fundamentalism by major religious in the continent. The worsening economic fortunes of many African countries, poor and corrupt leadership, increase in ethnic nationalism, oppression of the minority by dominant powers and ideologies and the quest for freedom, external influences from extremist (Islamic & Christian) groups among others have been suggested as likely causes of religious fundamentalism in Africa. The postcolonial Nigerian nation has suffered calamitous losses from religious conflicts. Consequently, some of Nigeria’s 21st Century writers have tried in their works to present a situation in which groups use language to construct individual and collective identity and ideology, legitimize their actions, and justify acts of violence against others. The grammatical resource of mood and transitivity employed by the writers enables us to access and appraise individual and group experiences, and intergroup relations in social interactions. The resources of language enable us to perceive how individuals and groups relate to each other in social activities and implicitly or explicitly sustain ideologies that support the structures of oppression and violence. Therefore, working within the tenets of critical stylistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study aims at exposing the motives that underlie the expression of religious identity and ideology in Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (PH henceforth), Chidubem Iweka’s The Ancient Curse (TAC henceforth), and Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them (SYOT henceforth) and their implications for national stability and development. The data reveal how the sociopolitical climate in postcolonial Nigeria breeds a culture of hatred, intolerance, violence, exclusion, and curtailment of individual and group rights in the name of religion, and how these acts are expressed in diverse discourse-grammatical patterns.

Unintended Consequence of the Faith-Based Initiative

The faith-based initiative announced in 2001 was accompanied by media coverage, new funding mechanisms, and state-level policies requiring the inclusion of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Requests for Proposals. This study examined 33 organizations’ expression of religious identity through (a) proportion of board and (b) staff who were coreligionist; (c) change in proportion of revenues from public sources; (d) strategies for seeking resources; and (e) religious elements in service provision, staff training, and board meeting procedures. Interview transcripts from the Faith and Organizations Project, annual reports, and financial information were examined. Analysis suggested four patterns (no change, increased government funding related to the faith-based initiative, strategies for seeking resources, and active preservation of religious identity). Four African American organizations received funding connected to the faith-based initiative and 14 utilized or preserved religious identity. Faith-based policies are discussed as inadvertently affirming organizational distinctiveness and religious identity among some faith-based organizations.

Corrigendum

Maliepaard, Mieke and Karen Phalet. 2012. “Social Integration and Religious Identity Expression among Dutch Muslims: The Role of Minority and Majority Group Contact.” Social Psychology Quarterly 75(2):131–48.

Social Integration and Religious Identity Expression among Dutch Muslims

Against the background of contrasting religious versus secular norms in immigrant communities and in Dutch society, this study examines how religious identity expression is related to the social integration of Dutch Muslims within (a) Turkish or Moroccan minority groups and (b) Dutch majority groups. Using nationally representative survey data (N = 2,027), we distinguish religious identification from religious practice (worship and dietary practices) and assertion (support for the role of religion in politics and society) as different forms of religious expression. Structural equation models confirm that minority group contact supports and, conversely, majority group contact suppresses religious practice and assertion. In line with religion as social identity, this result is partly because Dutch Muslims with more minority contacts identify more strongly with their religion, whereas those with more majority contacts identify less strongly. As found in a social capital approach, social integration also directly influences religious expression, especially within the most cohesive Turkish minority group.

Judges and Religious Questions: Adjudicating Claims to Wear Religious Dress in Public Schools

AbstractThis article examines how judges in different countries treat "religious questions", as opposed to "legal questions", through the lens of one particular type of dispute: the expression of religious identity by wearing religious dress in public schools, contrary to state educational policy with secular democracies. Like the 'political questions' doctrine, issues of institutional competence and propriety arise in relation to the extent to which courts should engage with religious laws and reference these in developing public law norms. Much turns upon understandings of what the principle of secularity requires in a particular jurisdiction and the particular type of religious question implicated. It argues that while it is inappropriate for judges to address normative religious question which engages some form of theological inquiry, judges may have competence to address positive religious questions relating to the content of religious doctrine or the centrality of a practice to a religious community through reliance on expert evidence. Nevertheless, prudential considerations may still urge judicial self-restraint when address religious questions.