Major World Religions Research Articles

Religious altruism and the living organ donor

Potential living organ donors who describe religious motivations as the basis for their donation, particularly in the absence of an emotional or genetic connection to the intended recipient, raise challenges for the transplant team who are more comfortable in assessing relational motivations than religious ones. This article provides a composite case scenario to illustrate some of the biases that may interfere with the assessment of the donor motivated by religious altruism and how religious altruism may be pathologized. The clinical challenges in assessing the religiously altruistic potential living donor are reviewed. Religious approaches to altruism and their implications for living organ donation are reviewed for a sample of the major world religions.

Islam and Utilisation Policies for Environmental Resources

During the last three decades or so academics from a variety of disciplines have been taking part in a wide range of outlets to explore whether religion in general, and Judaeo-Christian faith in particular is really responsible for the misuse of environmental resources. Unfortunately, Islam, as a major World religion, has been largely absent from these debates. This paper looks at the importance of nature in the main sources of Islamic instruction with a view to finding out about the importance of good environmental conduct in Muslim countries where the pressure on environmental resources has been growing.

Abrahamic religious and Roman legal roots of environmental protection: utility of ancient doctrines in modern society

Many members of modern American society, including some outspoken members of the national leadership, subscribe to the idea that natural resource conservation and environmental protection are recent developments. Even if they have a firm grasp of modern history, they may look to the 1920s and 1930s as the genesis point for natural resource conservation as a concern of the law. Environmental protection is looked at as having arisen out of the social foment of the late 1960s–early 1970s. Although there is some truth in these interpretations, it would be wrong to discount much more ancient antecedent authorities in law and social norms for these societal choices. These interpretations overlook the importance of two key millennia–old legal and religious authorities that underlie modern legal, political, and religious thinking about the environment: res communes (the concept in Roman Law which leads directly to the modern Anglo–American concept of the Public Trust Doctrine), and the concept of the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years found in the Pentateuch (first section of the Jewish and Hebrew Scriptures). This chapter will reexamine each of these concepts in light of modern criticism regarding natural resource protection and property rights. The chapter will explore the concepts of res communes and Sabbatical/Jubilee Years; their similarities and differences; their influence on modern legal, religious, and societal practice; and how each of these concepts can be used to help provide further support for proper stewardship of the natural environment. Special consideration will be paid to the similar concepts of natural resource stewardship and intergenerational equity that arose from the very different societal roots: the Roman Law found in the Institutes of Justinian and the foundational Abrahamic writings underlying the beliefs of three major world religions.

Religion, Culture and Economic Performance

The hypothesis that the coefficients on variables of religious affiliation are jointly equal to zero can frequently be rejected at conventional levels of statistical significance (i.e., religion matters), but no robust relationship between adherence to major world religions and national economic performance is uncovered, using both cross-national and subnational data. The results with respect to Islam do not support the notion that it is inimical to growth. On the contrary, every statistically significant coefficient on Muslim population shares reported in this paper - in both cross-country and within-country statistical analyses - is positive. If anything, Islam promotes growth.

An engagement with Marilyn McCord Adams's Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God

I may have agreed to review this work under false pretenses. In a book I wrote called The Domestication of Transcendence, and elsewhere, I raised two sorts of objections to many of the contemporary discussions of the problem of evil among Anglo-American philosophers of religion. First, they often defend an abstract philosophical theism which I think has quite different implications from Christianity, or for that matter from Judaism or Islam or any other major world religion. So, as a Christian theologian, I find myself doubting that their detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments they consider is really worth the trouble, given that the results may not have much to do with what religious folk actually believe.

Weber and Anthropology

▪ Abstract This article is about the influence of the work of the German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) on English-speaking anthropologists. Although Weber does not figure prominently in the history of anthropology, his work has, nonetheless, had a profound influence on anthropological methodology and theoretical thinking on the relationship between religion and political economy. The “interpretive anthropology” first developed by Geertz has roots in Weber's “interpretive sociology.” Bourdieu's “theory of practice” is also strongly Weberian in character. The anthropological study of religion, and particularly the debate over the foundations of this field between Geertz and Asad, is reconsidered in light of Weber's sociology of religion. His comparative study of the ethics of the world's religions and particularly the “Weber thesis” about the relationship between religion and the development of bourgeois capitalism are shown to have been the foundation for a large body of anthropological research on religion and political economy in societies in which the major world religions have been long established. The essay ends with a suggestion that Weber's work on politics and meaning merits reexamination in light of contemporary anthropological interest, derived from Foucault, in power and knowledge.

Culture and the End of Life: A Review of Major World Religions

This is the last in the series of articles on cultures and end-of-life care. I enjoyed writing and editing the series. In particular I enjoyed writing for you—the hospice and palliative care nurses and others who work at the edge of life and death. It has been an honor. It seems fitting to end the series with an article on faiths and end-of-life care. Often, faith and culture are intertwined to the extent that it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. In some cases, faith clearly has a far greater impact than culture on how a person and family go through the myriad experiences during the end of life. In other cases, though a person professes a particular faith, it becomes clear that faith has little effect on the experiences. In most cases, however, the approach of death means reflection on faith and ultimate reality; and religion is our common way of understanding the enormity of life and death.—CK

The Contribution of Interfaith Dialogue toward a Culture of Peace

Dialogue among the adherents of the major world religions has alwaystaken place, especially, but not only, among the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism,Christianity and Islam. Excellent examples of this may be found in themidst of shared histories where we are more often presented with a recordof conflicts. The high points must be the enormously rich and creative interactionswhich took place in medieval Islamic Spain and southern Italy andat various times in places as far apart as Central Asia, Baghdad, Delhi,Cairo and the Ottoman Empire.As a movement with its institutions and full-time professionals, andnetworks of activists, interreligious dialogue is primarily a phenomenonof the twentieth century. It is the pressures of this century which havedemanded that we mobilize the resources of the great religions for dialogueand peace, purposes which have historically often seemed marginal.In India, the realization that a reasonably unified independence wouldonly be achieved if religions could work together, actually provides asignificant impetus towards the cooperation of religious leaders andinstitutions.The horrors of Nazi genocide in Europe spurred post-war generationstowards a radical review of traditional Christian attitudes towards Judaism.Out of regional tragedies, like the wars in Lebanon and in the formerYugoslavia, have come strengthened efforts across the social spectrum todisarm religious hatreds. The resurgence, in the last couple of decades, ofpolitical radicalism motivated by religion and expressed in religious terms, ...

Equity and resource allocation in health care: dialogue between Islam and Christianity.

Inequities in health and health care are one of the greatest challenges facing the international community today. This problem raises serious questions for health care planners, politicians and ethicists alike. The major world religions can play an important role in this discussion. Therefore, interreligious dialogue on this topic between ethicists and health care professionals is of increasing relevance and urgency. This article gives an overview on the positions of Islam and Christianity on equity and the distribution of resources in health care. It has been written in close collaboration and constant dialogue between the two authors coming from the two religions. Although there is no specific concept for the modern term equity in either of the two religions, several areas of agreement have been identified: All human beings share the same values and status, which constitutes the basis for an equitable distribution of rights and benefits. Special provisions need to be made for the most needy and disadvantaged. The obligation to provide equitable health services extends beyond national and religious boundaries. Several areas require intensified research and further dialogue: the relationship between the individual and the community in terms of rights and responsibilities, how to operationalize the moral duty to decrease global inequalities in health, and the understanding and interpretation of human rights in regard to social services.

Islam and environmental conservation

Over thirty years ago a debate began as to whether religion in general, or the Judaeo-Christian faith in particular, were in some sense responsible for the present environmental predicament. Islam, as a major world religion which shares the same Abrahamic roots as the Judaeo-Christian tradition, has been largely absent from this debate. Most conservationists now believe that it is essential that there be comprehensive discussion not only of environmental policies, but also of the ethics underlying environmental protection. This paper looks at the importance of the environment in the main sources of Islamic instruction, namely the Koran and Prophet's Hadiths (teachings). These texts turn out to be on the side of conservation, the emphasis being on respect for creation, the protection of the natural order and avoidance of all wasteful activities which may cause injury to the environment. These positions are contrasted with views expressed by political Islam, which has become influential in a large part of the Muslim world and rejects the conservation measures advocated by Western writers.

A free gift makes no friends

The giving of alms to Shvetambar Jain renouncers is a specific institutionalized elaboration of the idea of a free gift, an idea which all the major world religions have their own ways of instantiating, and which in north Indian languages is expressed by the word dan. This example illustrates the inherently paradoxical nature of the idea of a gift, and why it is a mistake to define the gift as necessarily reciprocal and non‐alienated. Like the pure commodity, the pure gift is characterized by the fact that it does not create personal connections and obligations between the parties. This understanding of the gift, which is implicit in Mauss, enables us to resolve the apparent paradox in the ethnography of dan, that although it is a free gift it is often harmful to its recipients.

A Short List of Universal Moral Values

There may be virtual worldwide consensus on a few universal moral values like the Golden Rule. In this article, the authors argue that diversity and universality can coexist within the human community. Toward that goal, they construct a short list of universal moral values. Validation of these values is based on nomination by their frequent citation in previously published lists and endorsement by most of the major world religions and well‐known secular organizations (i.e., the United Nations). Implications for counseling are discussed.There is a universal moral law written on the human heart. (Pope John Paul II, as cited by Moody, 1995, p. 82)

Ineffability

Within each of the major world religions a distinction is drawn between the ultimate ineffable Godhead or Absolute and the immediate object of worship or focus of religious meditation. I examine the notion of ineffability, or transcategoriality, in the influential Christian mystic Pseudo-Dionysius, who reconciles the divine ineffability with the authority of the Bible by holding that the biblical language is metaphorical, its function being to draw us towards the Godhead. If we extend this principle to other faiths we have gone half way towards making the global history of religions intelligible. The other half consists in a recognition of the different human conceptualities and spiritual practices that give concrete form to the divine reality within religious experience. However, William Rowe, and Christopher Insole, have criticized this use of ineffability, and their arguments are responded to here.

Religion and the Forgiving Personality

Forgiveness is a concept with deep religious roots. It is also a basic social and psychological phenomenon. In this article, we explore the links between forgiveness and religion by surveying how they are linked in the major monotheistic world religions, and how they appear to be linked empirically. In attempting to account for the current body of empirical findings, we propose four potential substantive and methodological explanations that should be explored in future studies. Because the concept of forgiveness is (a) both spiritual and social-psychological in nature, and (b) possibly linked to some measures of human health and well-being (concerns that have traditionally been of interest to both reseachers in personality and researchers in religion), the concept of forgiveness could be an important common ground for future research on the interface of religion and personality.

Communities in a world of open systems

In the past, communities tended to be closed systems with relatively clear boundaries, stable memberships, and few linkages to other communities. We are now entering into an `age of open systems.' Mobility creates new communities and kinds of communities. The impacts of mobility are far less than those of information and communications technology. Cyberspace has become a new kind of social terrain, crowded with `virtual communities.' Television and radio create communities of people thinking and talking about the same things. Both mobility and the growth of communications networks reduce the predominance of geography as a force in shaping community. Many communities are much more fluid, and some are placeless. There are many different kinds of social groups and networks that people describe with the word `community.' Most people are multi-community individuals, with many memberships, and many kinds of memberships. Although the world's major religions still have some historic identification with specific regions, those geographic attachments are no longer as clear as they once were, and these religions are tending to become open systems. Some people prefer relatively closed social systems, while others flourish in freer environments. Choice is one of the most powerful forces in the lives of people being exposed to the forces of globalization. Community will continue to be a profound human need but will be redefined, perhaps many times over.

Changing the Subject

The discussion of disability in the major world religions has too often begun with the question of “why” such a fate should befall individuals. The author argues that a more useful question for understanding disability and developing an interfaith perspective is to begin with the question of “how” people with disabilities live faithfully and “how” people with an disabilities can be included in religious understandings of justice.

The Diffusion of Religions: A Sociological Perspective

Of the major world religions, only three, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam have diffused widely. They were introduced across numerous socio-cultural boundaries and were received as new religions to their converts. However, these diffusing religions have had varying degrees of success from wholesale reception to wholesale rejection. This book presents the perspective that a major factor in the variations in the diffusions of these religions, and in the religions themselves, is found in the nature of the inter-group relationships between receiving groups and both sending groups and surrounding groups. A crucial perception of the receivers is the perceived contribution the new religion will make to the enhancement of important aspects of group identities and of the strength of the group. This book takes into account diffusion, an old and persistent concept in the social sciences which has been rarely applied in sociology to religions or even ideologies.

Influences on diet, health behaviours and their outcome in select ethnocultural and religious groups.

Diverse cultural components of behavior may have significant impacts on patterns of eating, drinking, and social interaction, irrespective of socioeconomic status. For example, the major world religions prescribe or proscribe specific dietary behaviors; some of these are rooted in historical or geographical origins as well as group folklore; and they have integral roles as expressions of religious piety and group cohesiveness. The literature is replete with ecological observations of between-country differences in disease trends, some of which have been associated with dietary practices. The study of distinct cultural and religious groups (especially migrants acculturating to new environments) and the extent to which they adhere to culturally-based dietary precepts, has advanced our knowledge of psychosocial influences on food habits, nutritional adequacy, and overall health. However, a relatively small proportion of culturally-based research studies conducted to date have explored cross-cultural, ethnic, or religious variables. This paper reviews some population-based differences in dietary habits and other behaviors by ethnocultural group or religious denomination; health consequences and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Infinity and the Logic of Non-Dualism

Whether ultimate reality is to be conceived as a personal God or an impersonal principle somehow at work in the world is an issue which tends to divide major world religions into opposing camps. Furthermore, even within a given religion philosophers and theologians may differ on how God or Ultimate Reality is to be conceived. Within Vedantic Hinduism, for example, Sankara and Ramanuja are clearly in opposition on this point even though they share the same basic world view in so many other respects. Likewise, Christian philosophers and theologians have through centuries disagreed over this issue. At least one of the underlying philosophical issues, moreover, seems to be the question of infinity. If Ultimate Reality is truly transcendent or infinite, i.e. beyond human comprehension, then it cannot simultaneously be personal. For, to be a person would seem to involve being a relational and thus finite reality, one whose identity is fixed by relation to other persons. Ultimate Reality may indeed take on the appearance of personhood for the religious devotee. But in itself it must be beyond the personal in order to remain infinite, in the words of the Chandogya Upanishad, "one without a second".

Multilingualism in Israel

Israel's geographical position as a land bridge connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, its resulting long history of conquest and reconquest, and its status as the point of focus of four major world religions (the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, and significant to Islam and Baha'i), all assure it a long tradition of complex and ever-changing multilingualism. By the beginning of the Common Era two thousand years ago, a pattern of triglossia had emerged, with Hebrew, Judeo-Aramaic, and Greek all playing meaningful roles (Spolsky 1983). This model of language organization became the norm for the Jewish people during most of their dispersion, with separate defined functions for three languages. Hebrew (actually Hebrew and Talmudic Aramaic) was used for religious and literacy purposes; a Jewish language like Yiddish, Judeo-French, Ladino, or Judeo-Arabic was used for most other community and home functions (Rabin 1981); and one or more “co-territorial vernaculars” was used for communication with non-Jews (Weinreich 1980).