Religious Influences Research Articles

СТАНОВИЩЕ ЖІНКИ В ДАВНЬОМУ РИМІ: ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ ВІД ЯЗИЧНИЦТВА ДО ХРИСТИЯНСТВА

The religious milieu of ancient Rome was a complex canvas, deeply interwoven with the lives of its inhabitants, both men and women. This article delves into the intricate web of religious influence on women's lives in ancient Rome, with a particular focus on the divergent impacts of paganism and Christianity. Through a meticulous examination of sources, this exploration seeks to illuminate the lives of Roman women and the roles they played within these religious traditions, the constraints they faced, and the transformative shifts that occurred as Rome transitioned from paganism to Christianity. By dissecting the intersections of faith, gender, and social dynamics, this article offers a nuanced understanding of the evolving religious landscapes and their implications for women in antiquity. In the light of the growing interest in the history of Roman paganism and early Christianity, the relevance of the study is determined by the need to present a more complete socio-cultural and religious picture of that time. The innovation of the study lies in a holistic, comprehensive analysis of the issues raised by highlighting the transformation of the position of women from paganism to Christianity. The analysis is carried out through the prism of feminist issues related to religion, as well as the legal and social nature of the religious life of the ancient Romans. Moreover, such a religious analysis of women's issues in Ancient Rome, in particular in domestic studies, has not yet been sufficiently developed and presented in Ukrainian scientific discourse. This study is based on a synthesis of historical, analytical, and comparative methods. The study is based on the works of Mary Beard, Bonnie McLachlan, Maureen Fant, Mary Lefkowitz, Celia Schultz, Nicole Boelz-Janssen, Ariadne Staples, Richard Bauman, Enzo Bianchi, Anne-Marie Pelletier, and others. Among domestic researchers, we can single out Natalia Chukhym and Olga Gomilko.

Signification of Plants in Traditional Peace Building in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon: The Case of Fig Tree and Dracaena amongst the Bali Chamba Polities

Gifts of nature such as streams, hills and vegetation constitute the centre of activities in African cultural practices. Communities across the continent in the face of conflicts seek peace using one of several gifts of nature just like the the Balis make use of fig tree and dracaena in their socio-cultural economic and political life. From Fondom creation to contemporary times, these trees have occupied a preponderant place in the Bali peace culture as they are used in the domain of traditional governance, conflict resolution, and peace building. Further, these plants are used to pass various messages namely; the birth of twins, the end of wars, and also to indicate the entrances or exits from a community or farmland. This chapter argue that, the fig tree and dracaena locally called ghim and nkeng respectively, amongst the people of Bali Chamba polities of North West Cameroon played fundamental roles in the preservation of peace in the life of the people. These plants having dark green beautifully designed leaves, have cultural, moral, spiritual, economic and political implications. Planted around shrines, graves, boundaries and used in performing rituals, the ghim and nkeung are also symbols of traditional authority, source of economic growth, traditional medicine health and peace. The introduction of foreign cultures amongst these people during the wave of migration, settlement and colonial rule, greatly diminished the symbolic values assigned to these plants. Although the deep cultural and moral implications of these plants are fading away as a result of religious influences and western secular culture, their significance have not been completely eroded especially as the plants are still used in Bali and most communities in the region for different reasons.

Mission, Charity and Ecumenical Links in the Baltics: the RSKhD and Its Contacts with Lutheran Relief Organisations in the USSR

The Russian Student Christian Movement (RSKhD), one of the leading Christian movements of the twentieth century, became the basis for a new Orthodox identity in the religious revival of Russian emigration in the 1920s. Recent studies have given this movement a clearer shape, focusing on the personalities of its participants, their missionary and educational work, and their international support for Russian emigrants. Our article focuses on the RSKhD in the Baltics, which remains an understudied part of the movement. This article highlights the RSKhD’s links with Protestant organisations assisting Christians in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the role of the mediator between Protestants and the RSKhD, Vladimir Fedorovich Buchholz, whose archival materials from the Estonian National Archives have remained largely unexplored. This study contributes to the understanding of Russian emigration and Estonian religious history through the lens of transnational religious influence.

Religious Importance of Microfinance Bank: A Christian Perspective

In the age of globalisation and increasing global disparity between the rich and poor, the world has seen the rise of a new and celebrated poverty-fighting strategy in the past decades. Microfinance banks provide financial services to poor entrepreneurs, most commonly small loans to help poor individuals start or grow small businesses. Previous studies on microfinance banks have majorly tilted towards its economic, sociological and psychological perspectives with insignificant attention paid to its religious importance. This research work is undertaken to examine the importance of religion to microfinance bank using Christian based microfinance banks as a model for the study. The work was intended to achieve the following objectives: to ascertain the extent to which microfinance bank has impacted the lives of the people that it is targeted towards which is the active poor and to determine the significance of religion to the operations of the bank. The study adopted Max Weber’s theory of religious economy, which hinges on the role of Christianity in the management of economic organisations. The basic research instruments used in this study were oral interview, participatory observation and the use of relevant literatures. The data was properly analysed and discussed. The study observes that microfinance bank has a religious influence based on operations or services on savings, deposit, loans and asset acquisitions. The research identifies the religious importance of the bank which is evident in manifestation of charity, premised on trust, biblical context of usury; it inculcates Christian teachings and inventiveness. However, the study identified some challenges with the bank in which some of the challenges are quite peculiar to the microfinance system of operation. These challenges include; limitation in scope, Central Bank directives, abuse, difficulty in monitoring and competition. Nevertheless, these have in no way reduced the efficiency of the bank in some areas. It is therefore evident that despite the challenges, microfinance bank has contributed immensely to national economic development and this has been achievable due to its religious importance. This work proves beyond measure that religion has not lost its relevance and it’s not only a spiritual reality but a social phenomenon. It is an important tool that helps various economic institutions in the society to function well. The study recommends more of religious teachings inculcated into microfinance banks in order to have a growing and sustainable microfinance industry and also brings to limelight the religious importance of microfinance bank which can serve as a spring board for further researches.

Religious and cultural influences: An exposition

Religion and culture seem to be complicated concepts from an international relations viewpoint. Scholars and philosophers have, after all, long discussed the meaning of these words and their influence on our understanding of the social world. The purpose of this paper is to provide a diagram of religion and culture in international politics. The purpose was to highlight the significance of religious and cultural influences in understanding world events. The process consisted of identifying the characteristics of each concept and analyzing their impact on personal, national, and international experiences. This work argues that understanding religious and cultural issues is necessary to engage in some of the most important discussions about current world affairs. This work submits that there is nothing in modern IR that does not include religion, culture, or both. This research is carried out using critical and contextual analysis methods.
 

RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND THE CRISIS OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA: A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE

This paper sets out to discuss the effects of religious extremism and how they breed insecurity in Nigeria. This is apt following the fact that over the years, little or no concern has been given to religion as a major causative factor of insecurity crisis in Nigeria. Today, in as much as the question of insecurity is not exclusively a consequence of economic, political or tribal crisis, religion through extremists has been identified as a major factor. However, in addressing this issue, the paper raises certain questions to include: What end is expected from religion? What should be the primary force driving religion? Nevertheless, at the end of this research, it shall, through the exposition on religious influences in the country, prove that religion is a causative phenomenon to insecurity crisis in Nigeria. The paper shall also proffer solutions to these effects as it takes the discourse through comparative and expository methods in ethical and ontological dimensions.

Religious Influences on the Experience of Family Carers of People with Dementia in a British Pakistani Muslim Community.

This paper reports on a study that begins to address the paucity of research around the religious motivations of Muslim carers of family members with dementia. Seven carers were recruited for interviews from the British Pakistani Muslim community concentrated in the Midlands and North of England. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using an iterative collaborative methodology. The findings suggested that the Muslim faith plays a pivotal role as a support mechanism for individual carers and their families, but the wider faith community and its leaders did not typically offer support and could impede access to external care. This was a result of cultural pressure and lack of awareness both among religious leaders and the community as a whole. The study concluded that the inequality in access to dementia services may be constructively addressed if service providers engage with these faith concerns in the community and religious leaders to meet the needs of Muslims of British Pakistani origin.

Defending Orthodox Strongholds: Lev Tikhomirov on Issues of Church and State Policy

Lev Aleksandrovich Tikhomirov, a revolutionary, and later a major conservative notionalist and public figure, had done a lot to defend the interests of Orthodoxy in Russia and to protect it. The article examines this direction of Tikhomirov’s literary and journalistic heritage in connection with his biography. Unlike most politicians of the conservative camp, Tikhomirov started analyzing Russia’s policy in the newly annexed territories (the Western Caucasus, Central Asia and the Ussuri Region) with the focus on the religious component of this issue as early as the first years after his return to Russia from emigration. He argued the point that the geopolitical consolidation of the Russian Empire on the national outskirts was impossible without strengthening its socio-cultural and, first of all, religious influence there. Later, he concentrated on the fight against V.S. Solovyov, V.V. Rozanov and especially L.N. Tolstoy’s “religious intellectualizing”, which had strayed far from true Orthodoxy. The ideas he expressed in these discussions had laid the foundation for his theory of the monarchical state-hood. Relying on the historical experience of the country’s development, Tikhomirov noted In his fundamental study “Monarchical Statehood” (1905), that Russia was a country with particularly favorable conditions for the formation of a monarchical form of government. Among the conditions necessary to develop an ideal type of monarchy, Tikhomirov gave the first place to the religious principle. The article also draws attention to his publicistic work in 1905-1908 and considers the projects he proposed for the transformation of relations between the church and the state. Here, the period of his work as an editor and publisher of the Moscow Vedomosti newspaper from 1909 to 1913 stands out from the rest. At that time, the newspaper used to pay a great amount of attention to the analysis of the church policy of the country and to very harsh criticizing of the religious legislation discussed from the rostrum of the State Duma. After his retirement at the end of 1913, Tikhomirov had settled in Sergiev Posad, where he worked on his historiosophical work “Religious and Philosophical Foundations of History”. Tikhomirov finished his earthly journey in 1923 and was buried in Sergiev Posad. At present, his intellectual legacy concerning the organization of the church and state policy and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of the Russian society is a focus of interest and demand.

More Than Just Devotion’: The Conservative Turn Among Subcultural Muslim Youths in the Indonesian Underground Music Scene

Scholars of Indonesian politics and Islam use the phrase ‘conservative turn’ to explain the increasing religious influence in contemporary Indonesia’s social, political, and cultural life. Although their literature provides insightful explanations about this trend, scholars fail to include subcultural Muslim youths in their analyses. The term ‘subcultural youths’ in this context refers to a diffuse network of young people that share distinctive identities, ideas, and cultural practices associated with underground music subcultures (such as punk, hardcore, hip-hop, metal, and ska) as a way to deal with a sense of marginalisation and/or to oppose mainstream society. In Indonesia in the 1990s, these youths were mostly secular, pluralist, and politically progressive and leftist. Their community welcomed all people from any social background, and religion was considered a personal matter. The social, political, and economic conditions following the fall of the New Order regime (1966-1998) changed the nature of this community. Some of its participants shifted ideologically and organisationally to Islamic conservatism and right-wing Islamism, marked by their support of and involvement in various movements such as the Islamic underground movement and the hijrah movement. This paper attempts to fill a gap within the existing literature on the conservative turn of subcultural youths in Indonesia by introducing the most recent subcultural theory as an analytical framework that can be used to explain the ideological and organisational shift. Studying the conservative turn of subcultural Muslim youths from a perspective that emphasises critical political economy allows this paper to present new insights against conventional wisdom and purely culturalist readings of the conservative turn in Indonesia.

Agama dan Moral dalam Pembentukan Substansi dan Struktur Hukum

Religious and moral relations are interrelated in the formation of a country's legal system. Religion is the initial foundation for building a moral society. In this way, religion, morals, and the state cannot be separated. A law becomes empty if it is not imbued with morality. Likewise with religion which gives color to the law to base substantive values on the public good and the upholding of justice, so that religion and morals can become elements in the development of the aspired law. This study aims to determine whether religion and morals have a role in the formation of legal substance and structure. This research is normative, studying the legal system with library research. The approach used is a historical approach, examining and studying developments regarding religion, morals, and the legal system. The study's findings indicate that the presence of religion and morality in human life has a nature, has an ontological function to regulate social life, and religion can substantively influence behavior in the formation of legal substance and structure. Morality and religion have a significant impact on the substantive formation of law. Law is formed on the basis of morality, so the effectiveness of legal products will be good, so that religion and morality create humanist and liberated laws that will help solve problems that exist in society. This study concludes that religion and morals influence the formation of substantive legal thinking and legal structure. The existence of religious and moral influences provides inspiration for the development of legal science and plays a role in creating a humanist and liberating law.

Factors Affecting Women’s Utilization of Prenatal Care Services in Gumuz Community

Underutilization of prenatal care services is one of the major hindrances which contribute for poor maternal health situations in Ethiopia. Studies with detailed investigation of factors influencing the prenatal care services especially in those remotely located communities in the country are limited. Therefore, the very purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting women in utilizing antenatal care services in Gumuz community. Moreover, making statistical measures on some identified variables to support the qualitative findings was another purpose. To attain these objectives, the study used Sequential Exploratory Mixed Method design. In-depth interview, focus group discussion, key informant interview and Survey questionnaires were used to gather data, thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data and descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis was used for the quantitative data. The findings showed that lack of knowledge about the services and negative attitude towards prenatal care services were identified as factors affecting women’s utilization of prenatal care services. Besides, women’s commitment to traditional ways of life, use of Gafias (local Magicians) treatments, using the local food taboo as a treatment and religious influences were identified as socio-cultural factors affecting women in using modern health care services. The results of the bivariate and multivariate analysis supported that knowledge and attitude have associations and significant effect on the service utilization. The study concludes that lack of knowledge, negative attitude, women’s commitments to traditional ways of life, Gafias treatments, local food taboo, religious influences, are the major factors affecting Gumuz women in using modern health care services. The finding of this study has important implications for further research, practice and policy and they are indicated in the paper.

The Impact of Musa al-Sadr and Khomeini’s Fight for Religious Influence over Lebanon

After Musa al-Sadr arrived in Lebanon in 1959, the passive Shi’i community became active, and this activism finally ended with Hezbollah gaining control in Lebanon and serving Iran in its confrontation with Israel. The research literature on al-Sadr and his activities in Lebanon shows that al-Sadr was, and still remains, a phenomenon who, by virtue of his deeds and charisma, elevated the Shi’i population in Lebanon from being a feeble and ineffective community to a proud and dominant one. This article shows how Musa al-Sadr’s actions not only inspired the Shi’i revolution in Lebanon but also led to its wider dissemination all over the Middle East, starting with the Iranian Islamic Revolution. It will also describe how both the informal relations and the three different ideologies held by Khomeini, the Shah and al-Sadr finally helped al-Sadr crystallize his own revolutionary formula for political Shi’ism. That is, how al-Sadr’s activism and propagating within the Shi’i community in Lebanon two decades before the Islamic Revolution in Iran prepared the community to accept Khomeini’s message of a revival of Shi’ism.

Socio-Political Perception Of Shīʿa Islam In Azerbaijan: The Influence Of External Factors

The aim of the article is to reveal the changes in socio-political perception of Shīʿa Islam in Azerbaijan by the ruling secular and religious elites, on the one hand, and some circles of the society, on the other hand, as well as to highlight the impact of external factor on the process. The analysis of state-religious relations, the gradual reinforcing of legal regulation of religious activities, and the role of "official Shīʿa Islam" in the state-building process are the objectives of the article. The article argues that the political elite of Azerbaijan, with the support of the religious establishment, institutionally employed the notion of "secularized Shīʿa Islam" as a part of the official interpretation of "Azerbaijani Islam" in shaping national identity, presenting "official Islam" as a key component of the history and culture of the state. The government’s autocratic efforts in preventing foreign religious, particularly Iranian influence are intended to preserve Alievs' authoritarian regime. However, the government failed to completely eradicate the religious and political influence of Iran in Azerbaijan. The state's efforts to institutionalize "Azerbaijani Islam" or "traditional Islam" and neutralize Iranian religious influence remain one of the most painful issues of the authoritarian Azerbaijani regime. There are many circles in Azerbaijani society that adhere to the underground interpretation of Iranian Shiite Islam. Accordingly, there are different approaches to Shīʿa Islam that are incompatible with each other. A special contribution of the article is conceptualizing the state’s antagonistic approach towards Shīʿa religious and civil activism in the country in the most compelling way.

Factors Affecting Women’s Utilization of Prenatal Care Services in Gumuz Community

Underutilization of prenatal care services is one of the major hindrances which contribute for poor maternal health situations in Ethiopia. Studies with detailed investigation of factors influencing the prenatal care services especially in those remotely located communities in the country are limited. Therefore, the very purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting women in utilizing antenatal care services in Gumuz community. Moreover, making statistical measures on some identified variables to support the qualitative findings was another purpose. To attain these objectives, the study used Sequential Exploratory Mixed Method design. In-depth interview, focus group discussion, key informant interview and Survey questionnaires were used to gather data, thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data and descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis was used for the quantitative data. The findings showed that lack of knowledge about the services and negative attitude towards prenatal care services were identified as factors affecting women’s utilization of prenatal care services. Besides, women’s commitment to traditional ways of life, use of Gafias (local Magicians) treatments, using the local food taboo as a treatment and religious influences were identified as socio-cultural factors affecting women in using modern health care services. The results of the bivariate and multivariate analysis supported that knowledge and attitude have associations and significant effect on the service utilization. The study concludes that lack of knowledge, negative attitude, women’s commitments to traditional ways of life, Gafias treatments, local food taboo, religious influences, are the major factors affecting Gumuz women in using modern health care services. The finding of this study has important implications for further research, practice and policy and they are indicated in the paper.

Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Finished with Life Anyway and Then Stigmatized for Attempting Suicide-An Overview.

This article provides an overview of suicide and how society deals with it. Starting from early societal imprints through historical, religious and political influences, the origins of stigmatization are addressed. Even today, suicidal people experience stigmatization not only from society but also from the health system that treats suicidal people. This has far-reaching consequences for the people affected and runs counter to optimal treatment. Different approaches to a possibly improved handling of suicidality will be discussed.

Evolution of Korean Megachurch Christianity Intensified by the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Socio-Political Context

This paper examines how megachurch congregations in South Korea responded to governmental measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of religious governance. This empirical study of Saeronam Church (SC) in Daejeon shows that the unexpected crisis forced its congregants to look back on their faithfulness in terms of self-reflection, and hence, made them more committed to their congregation socially and organizationally. The theologically and politically conservative megachurch congregants tend to regard the pandemic crisis as a God-planned ordeal which must be endured not only through self-reflection and repentance, but also through protection of their congregation from secular authorities. This attitude made it easier for conservative congregants to protest against governmental quarantine measures more explicitly and collectively. While some argue that the COVID-19 pandemic basically accelerated secularity by shrinking religious influence on society, this paper finds this aspect remarkably opposite in Korean conservative churches like SC, and emphasizes how a secular challenge, like the recent quarantine measures, can intensify megachurch Christianity. In this sense, it claims that the second-generation Korean megachurches like SC cannot be explained entirely by traditional theories of urbanization, marketing strategies, and church growth.

Race, Religion, and the Echoes of Status Insecurity in US Foreign Policy

This paper examines the racial and religious historical influences on US ontological insecurity in a time of perceived hegemonic decline. It explores the role of particular Protestant theologies from the time of slavery up through the present, and how views on white superiority shaped such thought even after abolition, through Reconstruction, and especially animating the rise of the US as a world power in the 20th Century.

Education and Medical Practice in Ancient Greece, the Alexandrian Period and the Western Roman Empire: Advantages and Disadvantages from a Contemporary Perspective

During pre-Hippocratic times, medical education and practice in Greece were influenced by supernatural and religious beliefs. With Hippocrates of Cos, the doctor ceased to be a religious healer to become a naturalist, since he studied disease for the first time as an objective natural phenomenon. Medical schools were founded with a model of education of disciples, with great ethical content, without study plans or formal title. They prioritized observation over theory. Aristotle influenced medicine for more than 2,000 years. Even though he was not a physician, his contributions to medicine were substantial. He was considered the founder of comparative anatomy, created the Lyceum of Athens and emphasized the importance of one's own observation and experience to be a good doctor and not just a philosopher. Later, the leading role in medical education passed into the hands of the School of Alexandria, where the first chair of anatomy in history originated. In the cities of Cos, Cnido, and Alexandria medicine was taught with an educational model that persisted until the first part of the Middle Ages, based on: freedom (teacher and student defined their own goals), disciple learning (started from observation: “see how I do it so you can do it later”): teaching-learning process based on the experience over the texts; strong ethical content (do good and do no harm). During the Roman Empire, the Greek knowledge was preserved and strengthened by the hand of Claudius Galenus and progress was made in the construction of the first hospitals, an assortment of instruments and medical specialization. Both periods, Greek and Roman, were independent of religious influences; a situation that propitiated an exercise and a rational medical education. However, with few exceptions, there was no place for women.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Its Impact on Post-Corona Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management in Iran

This paper examines the COVID-19 pandemic response in Iran and offers speculations on the possible impact of its experience on the future response to other health emergencies and disaster risk management based on the lessons learned. The COVID-19 experience in Iran is unique in several aspects, including the significant role played by the healthcare workers’ sharing and exchange of information through Internet-based networking applications, and a sociocultural environment that was weakening public trust and cooperation in the use of preventive strategies such as less than the optimum wearing of face masks and attending large social gatherings. There was also hesitation in receiving the necessary vaccine doses due to public skepticism over the effectiveness of domestic COVID-19 vaccines. Furthermore, healthcare workers and health services were afflicted with a lack of sufficient manpower and material resources to fight the pandemic. Moreover, a strong and mostly negative influence of political agenda and religious influence on preventive health policies, especially an initial governmental ban on the import and use of Western vaccines and the pressure to hold religious festivals during the outbreaks, were prevalent. The lessons that can be learned from this ongoing crisis include the value of independent healthcare information networks, transparency in the communication of health information to the public to get their trust and cooperation, and an emphasis on the separation of health policies from political and religious interference.