Religious Justification Research Articles

The Appearance of Saints: Photographic Evidence and Religious Minorities in the Secret Police Archives in Eastern Europe

I present here examples of the photographic presence of a religious minority community in the secret police archives in ex-communist Eastern Europe. The use of secret police archives by researchers to trace the history of repression and collaboration and to understand the methods employed by totalitarian regimes to control their populations is well established. The significance of these archives for the study of material religion, however, has been largely overlooked by scholars. The secret police archives in Romania and the Republic of Moldova constitute a hidden repository of confiscated religious materials and photographs which often sit alongside photographic images created by the secret police in the course of their investigations into “criminal” religious activities. These archives, therefore, represent an important resource for understanding both how religious groups chose to represent themselves, and how the totalitarian system created images of religious “others” in order to incriminate them and to produce anti-religious propaganda. In this paper, through the presentation of example cases from state security files, I discuss the dual character of the photographic traces of communities in the archives as both religious justification and incrimination, and suggest ways of approaching these images through their materiality in the context of contemporary post-communist society.

Идея возмездия в античной философии как прообраз принципа причинности: аргументы нормативизма

The paper analyzes the arguments of normativism on historical and philosophical reconstruction of the idea of retribution in ancient philosophy as a prototype of the principle of causality. Based on the Kelsen’s ideas presented in the book Society and Nature, the features of mythological, religious and philosophical justification of the idea of retribution for sins and violations of positive rules in ancient society are revealed. The author comes to the conclusion that the idea of retribution, which is methodologically important for building a pure theory of law, is further transformed into the principle of imputation, which characteristic for the social studies and humanities, within Kelsen denies the principle of causality.

Toxic Masculinity and the Quest for Ecclesial Legitimation

This essay analyzes masculinity as an ecclesial strategy for maintaining cultural and political power. It begins by examining the masculine theology promoted by the German Christian Movement that gave religious justification for Nazism’s violence against those who did not conform to their masculine norms. Drawing on conceptions of ‘legitimation crisis’ and masculinities studies, it argues that the masculine theology of the German Christians, predicated on a desire for social and political relevancy, shares a similar logic with current American evangelical masculinity. In conclusion, it turns to Dietrich Bonhoeffer for resources of ecclesial resistance to these masculine temptations for cultural relevancy and political power.

Gender and Sexuality in Islamic Teachings vs. Human Rights 2017

Given recent changes in the political leadership of Muslim societies, it can be difficult to follow who got which hand on women’s issues, let alone just how women’s issues figure in political speeches from the Liberal to the most conservative. Meanwhile, when it comes to the laws and regulations on women’s issues, not much has been done to empower women to decide what is best for them. It’s only an appealing matter to discuss more or less, depending on the political need, while recent reports describe the city of Cairo as one of the least safe cities for women. Following the Arab Spring, which pushed many to reconsider the fight for democracy and human rights, socio-economic conditions have been worsening for both men and women, with those in the latter category suffering the most. We may find it challenging to track improvements in the area of women’s rights as long as the same old-new religious speech calls on women to keep their faith and patience for God’s sake, for a better future for their body, and for the dignity of their mind and soul. This paper discusses the current status of women’s rights in Muslim societies and how policy processes are informed by religious justification.

Micah

Micah

Dar al-Islam: A Quantitative Analysis of ISIS’s French-Language Magazine

This study is a content analysis of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)’s French-language magazine Dar al-Islam. The first seven issues of the magazine are quantitatively examined and broken down into the number of articles, images, and terms used as a means of determining how ISIS targets French-speaking individuals. This study find that ISIS focuses on religious terminology and justifications to rationalize its existence and its fight. Also, despite being a French-language magazine, a majority of the focus is on Middle Eastern groups, not Western groups. Overall, the magazine is similar, but not a carbon copy to ISIS’s English-language magazine, Dabiq.

When and why is religious attendance associated with antigay bias and gay rights opposition? A justification-suppression model approach.

Even in relatively tolerant countries, antigay bias remains socially divisive, despite being widely viewed as violating social norms of tolerance. From a Justification-Suppression Model (JSM) framework, social norms may generally suppress antigay bias in tolerant countries, yet be "released" by religious justifications among those who resist gay rights progress. Across large, nationally representative US samples (Study 1) and international samples (Study 2, representing a total of 97 different countries), over 215,000 participants, and various indicators of antigay bias (e.g., dislike, moral condemnation, opposing gay rights), individual differences in religious attendance was uniquely associated with greater antigay bias, over and above religious fundamentalism, political ideology, and religious denomination. Moreover, in 4 of 6 multilevel models, religious attendance was associated with antigay bias in countries with greater gay rights recognition, but was unrelated to antigay bias in countries with lower gay rights recognition (Study 2). In Study 3, Google searches for a religious justification ("love the sinner hate the sin") coincided temporally with gay-rights relevant searches. In U.S. (Study 4) and Canadian (Study 5) samples, much of the association between religious attendance and antigay bias was explained by "sinner-sin" religious justification, with religious attendance not associated with antigay bias when respondents reported relatively low familiarity with this justification (Study 5). These findings suggest that social divisions on homosexuality in relatively tolerant social contexts may be in large part due to religious justifications for antigay bias (consistent with the JSM), with important implications for decreasing bias. (PsycINFO Database Record

There is No Teleological Suspension of the Ethical: Kierkegaard’s Logic Against Religious Justification and Moral Exceptionalism

Abstract In The Book on Adler and “Does a Human Being Have the Right to Let Himself Be Put to Death for the Truth,” Kierkegaard relies on logical reasoning and grammatical analysis in order to arrive at categorical normative conclusions against the use of religious belief and authority as a justification for ethical action. These arguments demonstrate that some types of moral knowledge can be arrived at through reason/logic, despite Kierkegaard’s efforts to separate the spheres of logic and existence. Kierkegaard thereby offers a strong critique of both moral exceptionalism and an ethics of conviction, a critique which—as the paper argues—is not incompatible with his existential and Christian ethics.

Becoming a Hijabi Now? Identity Performances of Muslim Women in Canada

The hijab is an issue that feminists criticize, anthropologists interpret, religious authorities prescribe, and politicians and activists promote or oppose. This paper examines ways in which Muslim women in Canada perform their identity through starting to wear the hijab after arriving in Canada. In-depth interviews were carried out with five young immigrant Muslim women who did not wear a headscarf in their countries of origin but started to wear it after few months living in Canada. Findings indicate that there is a wide array of reasons for the adoption of the hijab: a tool of liberation from the sex-object role, moral and religious justifications, a symbol of defiance and resistance, and/or a “shield” and “protection” from the secular lifestyle. To explain this complex behaviour the strengths of Erving Goffman’s model of social interaction is combined with Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut’s theory of reactive ethnicity.

Republicanizar la religión: el clero en el debate político de la independencia chilena, 1808-1814

This paper analyzes, from the perspective of intellectual history, the theological debate during the first period of Chilean independence. Focusing on the public role of religious discourse and the political dimension of the clergy’s activity, this work examines the discussions related to the problem of popular sovereignty, the theory of the divine right of kings, the religious justification of political change and the attempts to promote republican ideology from a Biblical perspective.

Extreme Criminals: Reconstructing Ideas of Criminality through Extremist Narratives

ABSTRACTThere is a growing body of evidence to suggest that there has been a determined effort by Al Qaeda, and more recently Islamic State, to recruit petty and street criminals into their networks. Despite this, and increasing global concern, there exists very little scholarly literature exploring this phenomenon, particularly empirically grounded. This article directly addresses this gap in research, and is one of the, if not the, first to present an analysis underpinned by qualitative empirical interview data, collected from former extremists and active grassroots workers in the United Kingdom. The article determines that through religious and social justifications offered to reduce moral concerns, extremists encourage criminals to continue, intensify, and diversify their criminality, with intentions to fund violent extremist activity, or to create social unrest within society. Rather than attempting to change behavior, this is about reconstructing criminals’ motivations; a consideration that has wider implications for counterterrorism policy and operations.

Religious justification, elitist outcome: are religious schools being used to avoid integration?

Despite ongoing efforts to promote ethnic, racial and socio-economic integration, segregation continues to challenge education administrators and legal scholars. Privileged parents seeking to avoid integration employ various strategies such as attending private schools or buying houses in neighbourhoods with good school. This paper offers a combined empirical and legal research of another such strategy: the resort to religious schools. The research is conducted within one specific context, that of Israeli Religious State Schools. The empirical study examines whether “Torani” religious state schools (a category of religious schools that offer enhanced Jewish studies and a strict religious environment) induce socio-economic segregation. The findings indicate that “Torani” schools are indeed socio-economically segregated and serve children from higher socioeconomic class than regular religious state schools. It also shows that “Torani” schools are less reflective of their surroundings than regular religious state schools, and are more likely to be established by privileged parents in poor areas, where they are dissatisfied with the local state schools. The legal research offers an explanation of how legal regulation can determine whether religious schools will become a means for avoiding integration. Specifically, it points to three areas in which “Torani” schools are regulated differently than regular religious state schools – the rules regarding the establishment of new schools; the rules concerning school funding; and the rules concerning student enrolment – and argues that special treatment meant to protect religious interests is responsible for making “Torani” schools socially segregated.

The left hand of the Enlightenment: truth, error, and integrity in Bayle and Kant

ABSTRACTTaking its cue from Hannah Arendt’s comment that ‘truth gets lost in the Enlightenment’ and Lessing’s parable of God’s ‘left hand’, this paper traces a historical shift in moral and religious thought: roughly from truth to sincerity. From traditional conceptions of conscience as conditional on the objective truth of its content, the paper moves on, via the Reformation and seventeenth-century Augustinian turn, to early modern debates on toleration and the ‘erring conscience’. It is argued that Pierre Bayle’s Commentaire Philosophique of 1686 can be read as a crucial catalogue for understanding the substitution of truth with sincerity (and error): so that not truth but truthfulness is considered to be essential for moral and religious justification. Moving from Bayle to Immanuel Kant, the paper then shows how many of the same questions rise in Kant’s late essay on theodicy, which is also an essay on sincerity or integrity, via the Book of Job. Through these two thinkers, various themes are connected: from conscience and sincerity to the problem of the conscientious persecutor. Finally, these themes of truth, error and integrity are linked to the modern debate on authenticity, and a framework is proposed for conceptualising these various shifts.

One nation under Allah? Islamic multiculturalism, Muslim nationalism and Turkey’s reforms for Kurds, Alevis, and non-Muslims

ABSTRACTA number of reforms and initiatives, undertaken by the Justice and Development Party (AKP or AK Party) governments in Turkey, widely known as Kurdish and Alevi ‘openings,’ and the less prominent non-Muslim (primarily Armenian and Jewish) openings, have puzzled scholars as to their causes, consequences, and limitations. In this article, I first briefly review four different kinds of analytical accounts that seek to explain the AK Party’s openings. Second, I introduce my argument that an Islamic conceptualization of a new religious-national identity is both the main motivation and the main limitation of these reformist initiatives. Third, I provide an analysis of critical speeches, official statements, and declarations by AK Party leaders, in particular by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the Kurdish, Alevi, and non-Muslim openings, demonstrating that they invoke overwhelmingly religious justifications.

Religionist Rebels & the Sovereignty of the Divine

Existing categorizations of rebel groups have difficulty classifying some of today's most vexing rebels–those, such as the Islamic State, that reject the Westphalian state system and depend on an almost entirely religious justification for their cause. Such rebel groups often have unlimited war aims and are unwilling to negotiate with the states whose sovereignty they challenge. In this essay, I present the new category of “religionist rebels.” I show that religionist rebels have been present throughout the history of the state system, and explore the particular challenges they pose in the civil war context. Religionist rebels are often brutal in their methods and prosecute wars that are especially difficult to end. But the nature of religionist rebellion also suggests natural limits. Thus, religionist rebels do not, ultimately, present a long-term threat to the state system.

Terroryzm jako ewoluujące zagrożenie bezpieczeństwa współczesnego świata. Pomiar i ocena zjawiska

In the face of increasing domestic and transnational terrorism (involving more than one country, cross-boarder), questions arise about which type of terrorism - internal or external - becomes greater threat to security? How do terrorists adapt to internal (defensive) security measures and external (offensive) means used by states in the war on terror? How does the transformation of terrorism into a motivational dimension, and therefore the values and principles used by terrorists as a justification for the use of violence, especially the departure from secular political ideologies to religious justification, affect the evolution of terrorism as a threat to individuals and their groups? Who or what is the target of attacks by modern terrorist groups? The purpose of this article is to answer the above questions based on the extensive literature and data on terrorism from two databases, The International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), and Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Theoretical considerations will be based on the model of the economic rationality of terrorist activity presented by William M. Landes in 1978.

Festividad y legitimación política: Domiciano y el Agón Capitolino

Resumen: A la hora de analizar la justificación religiosa de Domiciano debemos tener en cuenta la gran importancia otorgada al agón Capitolino por parte de su creador. La legitimación de la dinastía Flavia se basó, principalmente, en la elección del emperador por parte de Júpiter ÓptimoMáximo, principal deidad del panteón romano, ya desde época de Vespasiano, que se halló sin ningún tipo de vinculación dinástica con los Julio-Claudios tras su victoria sobre Vitelio en el ano 69. A través de la creación del agón Capitolino, Domiciano muestra la especial vinculaciónentre Júpiter y el emperador, realizando grandes gastos a la hora de construir nuevas estructuras destinadas a albergar dicha celebración.Abstract: When it comes to analyze the religious justification of Domitian we must bear in mind the great importance attached to the agon Capitolinus by its creator. The legitimacy of the Flavian dynasty was mainly based on the election of the emperor by Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, main divinity of the roman pantheon, from the days of Vespasian, who found himself without any dynastic link with the Julio-Claudians after his victory over Vitellius in 69 AD. Through the creation of the agon Capitolinus, Domitian displayed the especial link between Iuppiter and the emperor, spending great sums of money in the building of new structures, in order to host such celebration.Palabras clave: Domiciano, Júpiter, agón Capitolino, legitimación políticaKey words: Domitian, Iuppiter, agon Capitolinus,politic legitimacy

The Subaltern Subject and Early Modern Taxonomies: Indianisation and Racialisation of the Japanese Outcaste

Premodern Japanese and Western writers both pointed out the similitude between Indian so-called untouchables (poleas, candala, pariah) and Japan’s largest outcaste group (eta, kawata, kawaramono). These bodies of discourse also reveal another striking interpretative similarity: a move towards “racialising” whereby early modern Japanese outcaste difference came to be framed as originating in an alleged foreign-ness. Given the relative absence of sustained intellectual exchange between Western and Japanese writers during this period concerning questions of pollution, untouchability, and the origins of taxonomical divisions, these coetaneous strands of discourse are best interpreted as emerging out of distinct intellectual trajectories devised for varying political ends. What is more, prior to the emergence of these racialising discourses, outcaste groups themselves also fashioned “origin stories” that sometimes linked their ancestors to India through mytho-historical connections. These stories, initially designed as religious justification for one’s right to engage in certain activities within nearby temples and shrines, generated a range of material and conceptual markers that later came to serve as evidence of the racially distinct origins of these communities, a belief widely held into the twentieth century.

Division and Discord among the Shia ʿUlamāʾ: New Lights on the Failure of the 1927 Anti-Conscription Movement in Iran

This essay delves into the 1927 anti-conscription movement and the causes of its failure. It argues that the Shia ʿulamāʾ of Iran and Iraq suffered from endemic divisions within their ranks, which in turn kept them from agreeing on a unified position against the extensive socioeconomic and military reforms under Reza Shah. The essay sheds light on the government’s use of religious justification that facilitated modern reforms. It also demonstrates how certain elements within the clerical establishment helped the Reza Shah government to win the senior clerics over or at least neutralize their opposition. This allows us to discern the fluid boundaries of tradition and modernity as modernizing reforms checked the Shia ʿulamāʾ’s long-standing authority in Iranian society.

Intervention III : Global Refugees in an Age of Climate Change

Intervention III: Global Refugees in an Age of Climate Change Alex Alvarez The presentations and discussions of the symposium Strangers or Neighbors? Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Perspectives on Refugees provided much food for thought and challenged me to confront issues that I usually view exclusively or primarily as criminological, sociological, or political concerns, but which, as this symposium has taught me, are also profoundly religious ones as well. During the course of the sessions, I was gratified to hear various participants acknowledge the complexity of their religious belief systems; both good and bad. Rather than one‐dimensional portrayals of the three religious traditions, I found honest discussion of not only the affirmative facets of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but the more problematical components as well. As someone who studies various forms of violence, especially mass atrocity crimes such as communal violence and genocide, it is the latter face of religion that I am most commonly confronted with. Throughout history, intolerance, prejudice, discrimination, persecution, war, terrorism, and genocide have sometimes received religious validation and support. In our symposium, much of the focus was on exploring and discussing the aspirational ideals around religious conceptualizations of the “other” as revealed in various holy texts, sermons, sacred laws, and religious pronouncements. Questions such as “Where does ‘community’ begin and end?” “Where do our obligations come from and what are they?” “How do we understand and navigate the reciprocal relationship between strangers and natives?” and “How do we include newcomers into our moral universe?” were all addressed and discussed. These dialogues, however, for all of their liveliness and insight, were largely philosophical and abstract. Consequently, I wanted to challenge the participants to think about how the Abrahamic religions will respond to the large numbers of people on the move because of the direct and indirect effects of climate change. As the numbers of displaced people increase dramatically due to the consequences of climate change, will we see the humanitarian values and obligations articulated in our academic discussions guide reaction, outreach, and policy? Or, instead, will the exclusionary and destructive facets of these faiths be emphasized and highlighted to sanction and even sanctify scapegoating, exclusion, and persecution? Will ethnic nationalism, in other words, find religious justification for actions perpetrated to ostensibly protect the community of believers from the polluting presence of the “other?” These questions are not quickly or easily answered. What is known, however, is that the “refugee crisis,” as it is often labeled, is going to get considerably worse. Climate change and displacement Climate change is expected to dramatically accelerate the issue of forced displacement and increase the number of refugee and internally displaced populations (McAdam ). Even though population movement has always been a part of the human experience, predictions suggest an unprecedented number of people will be on the move due to the direct and indirect effects of a changing climate. Estimates suggest that by the year 2050 anywhere from 200 million people to 700 million may be on the move as a consequence of climate change (Christian Aid ; Brown ). Lest we think that such large numbers can be absorbed relatively easily or that such a population transfer can be peaceful, we should consider previous examples of large‐scale population disruption. The aftermath of World War II, for example, resulted in the largest single dislocation of people in the modern era and involved anywhere from 40 to 66 million people (Castles and Miller ). This mass displacement resulted in years of subsequent social unrest and large amounts of violence, including pogroms, civil war, and revolution (Lowe ; Buruma ). More recent events also illustrate the risks. In Europe, a backlash has emerged in the wake of the refugee crisis that began in 2015 (Zucchino ; Mohdin ). Because of the dramatic increase in refugees seeking asylum, many Western European countries have seen a marked increase in anti‐immigrant rhetoric, violence, and legislation, while nationalist parties have made significant electoral gains in a number of countries on explicitly xenophobic political platforms. This should not be surprising since research reveals that increased levels of immigration and diversity usually result in lower levels of trust, altruism, and community cooperation (Putnam ). Clearly, the projected levels of population displacement as a consequence of...