Religious Mandate Research Articles

Pious Pleasure? Church-Based Leisure in a Working-Class Community, East Oxford 1870–1914

ABSTRACT Centred on the growing working-class district of East Oxford, this paper makes a detailed analysis of how church-based leisure was organised and experienced in the period c.1870–1914 to discover what role it played for those it involved. Making use of church magazines (themselves little-used sources), it challenges the assumption that all working classes in this period had access to commercial leisure, contests the notion that church leisure was a tool of the middle classes to improve and contain working-class leisure time, and demonstrates the reach of church-based leisure beyond its religious mandate. The paper argues that the development of church-based leisure in East Oxford was born of its socioeconomic context and shaped by the local community into an affordable, accessible and inclusive means of collective enjoyment and personal achievement, sustained by creative and diverse financial strategies. Rather than reflecting a discrete church culture distinct from that of secular entertainment, the research reveals a complex interaction between spheres of influence reaching far beyond church and chapel. The way in which church-based leisure functioned in East Oxford brought clear benefits both to individuals and to the wider community––benefits which could not be accessed through commercial leisure––and demonstrate the unique role of church leisure in a working-class suburb, a function hitherto unexplored and poorly understood.

Particular Sexual and Ambitious Attitude threatens the Global Societal Functioning and Individual Wellbeing

The authors begin with the premise that mental well-being, and even the quality of life in many countries worldwide, is not satisfactory. They further assert that the current state of welfare in individual countries can be objectively evaluated, citing the World Justice Project as an example. Objective data relating to the exercise of power reveals that many societies are governed in an authoritarian manner. The authors then recall findings made by Jonathan Haidt and other neuroscientists, who demonstrated that people with conservative attitudes differ from those with liberal-democratic orientations in five psychological traits defined by the terms: harm, fairness, authority, ingroup, and purity. Their own interpretation of these findings leads the authors to formulate a hypothesis explaining why there is a constant tendency for authoritarian regimes to emerge. In the next step of their arguments, the authors state that authoritarian regimes usually maintain a patriarchal social structure, based on the traditional system of customary taboo, adhering to religious mandates. This psychological and social situation leads to vast variations in legal regulations in individual countries regarding dilemmas such as the legality of adultery, pornography, prostitution, the permissibility of abortion, and sex education, which can be illustrated by maps available on Wikipedia. The authors then devote much attention to the links between religious views and the realm of sexuality and their influence in maintaining the patriarchal structure of many societies. In their opinion, the freedom, freedom of speech, and well-being of citizens are often limited from two sides: by oppressive power and by a strict, purist system of taboo. The authors also ponder what can be done to counteract the described social situation. They believe that a persuasive educational program should be developed.

Vida y muerte de San Cristóbal

Vida y muerte de San Cristóbal

Universal Meals: A Novel Program to Provide Healthful Nutrition to Diverse Communities

Healthcare professionals recommending dietary changes to patients often find that institutional settings—businesses, universities, long-term care facilities, correctional institutions, among others—may not provide the healthful foods that healthcare professionals recommend. Moreover, such institutions encounter an increasing diversity of dietary restrictions, based on allergies, intolerances, religious mandates, or other reasons, that may be challenging to satisfy. To address these issues, experts in health, dietetics, culinary arts, religion, and ethics developed a simple set of guidelines that aim to meet the widest possible range of dietary needs. Three culinary teams then used these guidelines to create “Universal Meals”—simple recipes that were then adapted to larger production sizes for institutional use. The healthfulness of representative sets of meals drawn from these recipes was assessed using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 and found to be superior to that of a meal pattern based on National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.

Catholicism and Taki Onqoy in the Early Colonial Period: Colonial Entanglements of Church Interments at Iglesiachayoq (Chicha‐Soras Valley, Ayacucho, Peru)

ABSTRACTArchaeologists of colonial encounters utilize the concept of entanglement to explore shifting cultural relationships between European and Native populations during colonial encounters. In the chaotic decades after Spanish conquest of Peru (1532), Andeans of the south‐central highlands practiced a revitalization cult known as Taki Onqoy (Quechua: “dancing/singing sickness”). Taki Onqoy preachers advocated for a rejection of Spanish food, culture, and religion in favor of a return to veneration of the local deities practiced prior to Spanish invasion. Based on results from excavation of the Catholic church at the site of Iglesiachayoq (Chicha‐Soras Valley, Ayacucho, Peru), this article explores the burial practices of individuals interred beneath the church floor. Contrary to primary documents, which portray Andeans as idolatrous rebels or pious converts, interments displayed an array of entangled practices. Within the milieu of contrasting religious mandates (Catholic and Taki Onqoy), individuals interred their deceased kin in ways that intertwined both traditions.

Regime enablers and captured religious mandate in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s second republic, born after the fall of Robert Mugabe on 17 November 2017, has been characterised by many controversies. Some of the most important of these include claims that human rights, accountability and democracy are being disregarded, and religious leaders are acting as regime enablers to maintain injustice. This article problematises the role of Nehemiah Mutendi and Andrew Wutawunashe, the harbingers of the second republic. I look closely at Mutendi’s and Wutawunashe’s roles in the second republic, in the light of human rights and show how their involvement in the political matrix has the potential to disrupt social cohesion, stoke hate and misrepresent the religious mandate by assuming the role of regime enablers. I argue that, although religious leaders have a constitutional right to be involved in politics, their primary mandate is to promote morality and human rights, fight for the poor and marginalised and not to surrender these rights for the sake of obtaining benefits.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article draws from the nexus theology, religious studies, politics, economy and sociology. The article attempts to show how religious leaders in their involvement in politics affect social arrangements, economy and peace. Therefore, it is interdisciplinary in the sense that it discusses religious issues informed by politics, economy and peace narratives.

Turbans vs helmets: The conflict between the mandatory wearing of protective head-gear and the freedom of religious expression

ABSTRACT A number of religions mandate that members of that faith cover their hair and head. Depending on its nature, this head covering can interfere with the design and efficacy of protective head gear such as helmets. This is exacerbated in situations where religious mandates prevent the cutting of head hair, such as among Sikhs, as this adds to the volume to be covered by protective head gear. This paper provides an overview of the cultural mandate to wear turbans and how this meshes with the legal requirements to wear protective head gear during work and recreational pursuits.

When Piety Is Not Enough: Religio-Political Organizations in Pursuit of Peace and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe

In post-independence Zimbabwe, religion has been associated with piety and acquiescence rather than radical confrontation. This has made it look preposterous for religious leaders to adopt seemingly radical and confrontational stances in pursuit of peace and reconciliation. Since the early 2000s, a new breed of religious leaders that deploy radical and confrontational strategies to pursue peace has emerged in Zimbabwe. Rather than restricting pathways to peace and reconciliation to nonconfrontational approaches such as empathy, pacifism, prayer, meditation, love, repentance, compassion, apology and forgiveness, these religious leaders have extended them to demonstrations, petitions and critically speaking out. Because these religious leaders do not restrict themselves to the methods and strategies of engagement and dialogue advocated by mainstream church leaders, mainstream church leaders and politicians condemn them as nonconformists that transcend their religious mandate. These religious leaders have redefined and reframed the meaning and method of pursuing peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe and brought a new consciousness on the role of religious leaders in times of political violence and hostility. Through qualitative interviews with religious leaders from a network called Churches in Manicaland in Zimbabwe, which emerged at the height of political violence in the early 2000s, and locating the discussion within the discourse of peace and reconciliation, this article argues that the pursuit of peace and reconciliation by religious actors is not a predefined and linear, but rather a paradoxical and hermeneutical exercise which might involve seemingly contradictory approaches such as “hard” and “soft” strategies. Resultantly, religio-political nonconformism should not be perceived as a stubborn departure from creeds and conventions, but rather as a phenomenon that espouses potential to positively change socio-economic and political dynamics that advance peace and reconciliation.

Singleness, sex, and spirituality: how religion affects the experience of being single in Indonesia

ABSTRACT In Indonesia, marital status and religion are important social attributes, with sex being culturally and legally restricted to marriage. This begs the question of how Indonesian never-married individuals manage their needs relating to sexuality and belonging. The study particularly outlines the role of religion in assisting unmarried individuals fulfil their need for partnership. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 40 never-married Indonesian adults aged 26–50 who belong to the acknowledged religions of Indonesia. The results revealed that religiosity and spirituality informed the participants’ perceptions of their singleness in terms of emotion, socialising and sexual experience. Those with orthodox religious values believed that marriage is a religious mandate in order to avoid sinful sexual promiscuity. In contrast, participants who describe their religious life in terms of having a close spiritual connection with God (or a Higher Being), while also experiencing pressure, tended to perceive such pressure as positive and necessary for the sake of their future.

Influence of religion on healthcare professionals’ beliefs toward teenage sexual practices in Malaysia

Background: Teenagers are influenced by their surroundings, and this may also include their sexual behavior or societal responses to this type of behavior. It is important to understand the complexity of religious mandates and sociocultural disapproval of premarital sex from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.

Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Mental Health Practice Between Professional Ethics and Islamic Values

Religiously committed mental health practitioners frequently encounter situations in which their perceived or actual religious mandates are at odds with their client’s values, leaving them in an ethical conundrum as to how to reconcile these values with the mandates of their professional ethical codes of conduct. Examples of such conflicts include dealing with cases involving abortion, sexual orientation, gender identity, consensual extramarital affairs, substance and alcohol use, as well as working with clients who display a minimal adherence to basic Islamic rituals and tenets. Precedents to such conflicts have led to serious legal consequences in some cases (DeSantis, 2012; Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, 2010). Such conflicts are commonplace and particularly important for Muslim mental health professionals operating in the United States and other Western European countries that have secular professional codes of ethics. This paper is a “narrative literature review” that attempts to frame the discussion about value conflicts commonly experienced by Muslim mental health clinicians working within the Islamic legal and ethical discourses in the American context. This is done by analyzing the origins of some of these conflicts as well as providing potential resolutions. First, the relevant mental health philosophies, principles, codes, and definitions are examined. Second, the authors highlight how the Islamic maqāṣid (the higher objectives of Islamic law) and uṣūl (legal maxims), as well as Islamic standard practices, morals, and professional ethics, appear to contribute to the ethical dilemma. Different approaches to conflict resolution and reconciliation between Islamic mandates and ethical dilemmas are presented to help clinicians navigate their professional practice within ethical guidelines while remaining faithful to their religious values.

The Relationship Between the Religion and the State Between the Western Vision and the Islamic Vision in Its Asian Models

This study aimed at addressing the relationship between religion and state, by reviewing the evolution of that relationship in the western vision, beginning with the dominance of the Church in the medieval period, and the emergence of the theocratic state, then ideas of secularism, and the conflict between religion and state in the Frame of ideology, Then reviewing a regression in the thesis of the transition to secularism and the emergence of religious presence in the public sphere. On the other hand, the study dealt with the relationship between religion and state in the Islamic vision in its Asian Models. Where the study dealt with the model of the "Madina State" during the era of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which is the Islamic model that spread in the Asian Peninsula, which was the basis of Sunni Islamic thought later. The study also dealt with the "Wilayat al-Faqih" model, which forms the basis of Shiite thought in Iran.
 
 The study relied on the descriptive approach that deals with the analysis and description of the phenomenon. This approach was used in this study to trace the development of the relationship between religion and state in the western vision and Islamic vision in its Asian models.
 
 The study concluded with some results. The most important of these was that: the Western vision to a certain extent passed with integration between religion and the state, as embodied in the model of the "Theocratic State" in the Medieval Period, where the church dominated all the political and social affairs of the state. The Western vision also to a certain extent passed with separation between the religion and the state, as embodied in the model of "secularism", where modernity was linked to the non-involvement of religion in politics, The Western vision also passed with the emergence of a regression in the thesis of the transition to secularism, as reflected in the model of "religious presence in the public sphere. Finally, the Islamic vision with its Asian Models witnessed the difficulty of full integration or separation between the religion and the state, as embodied in the model of the "Madina State" during the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and its thought which is followed by Sunni Islamic thought. And the Shiite "Wilayat al-Faqih" model, which was the origin of a religious mandate for political power, although it differs from the "Theocratic State" model completely.

Hybridity in Yorùbá poetry of Ọlánrewájú Adépọ̀jù

ABSTRACTThe article examines Adépọ̀jù’s poetry with the view to engaging his oeuvre and theoretically characterising his practice using Homi Bhabha’s theory of hybridity. The article considers how Yorùbá culture and Islamic religion collide and effect a conflicting sense of identity in Ọlánrewájú Adépọ̀jù’s chanted poetry. It argues that Adépọ̀ju’s poetry represents a different tradition in Yorùbá poetry, having evolved out of the fusion of Islamic religion and Yorùbá culture. The article concludes that Adépọ̀jù’s poetry displays border zone tensions between socio-political and religious mandates on the one hand, and contradiction in-between Yorùbá culture and Islamic religion on the other.

“If You Don’t Have a Baby, You Can’t Be in Our Culture”: Migrant and Refugee Women’s Experiences and Constructions of Fertility and Fertility Control

The present study was designed to explore experiences and constructions of fertility and fertility control among new migrant and refugee women in Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Seventy-eight individual interviews and 15 focus groups (n = 82) were conducted with women who had migrated from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and South America. Participants positioned having children as a cultural and religious mandate and as central to a woman’s identity. Many women had limited knowledge about contraception, positioned contraception as forbidden or dangerous, and described negative experiences with its use. These findings are interpreted in relation to the provision of culturally safe medical practice and sexual and reproductive health education.

Religion and Politics in the Greek Successor States after the Fourth Crusade (1204)

Religion and Politics in the Greek Successor States after the Fourth Crusade (1204) Mitchell T. Anthony Before the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Byzantine Empire had a strong relationship and was greatly influenced by the Patriarch of Constantinople. This relationship was beneficial to the Empire, as it gave the government a religious mandate to rule over the people, and provided the Emperor with legitimacy. Eastern Orthodoxy benefitted from this relationship, as the Byzantine Empire was the defender of the faith, and offered a vehicle in which to spread the religion. After the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire failed to protect the seat of the Patriarch and thus failed to protect the faith. As a result of this, there was a sixty year period in which the Eastern Orthodox faith was unstable, and its influence on politics was weakened in the area until the final fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.I argue that the relationship between church and state before the Fourth Crusade was somewhat equal, with the Patriarch actually having more power than the Byzantine Emperor, but after the siege of Constantinople in 1204, and the formation of the Latin Empire and Greek Successor States (Empire of Nicaea, Empire of Trebizond, and Despotate of Epirus), the relationship makes a drastic change and ends up in favor of the Emperor gaining more power over the Patriarch and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Silent and Infertile

To date, the preponderance of research on infertility in the United States has been conducted with affluent, White couples seeking advanced medical interventions. However, racial/ethnic minorities are equally, if not more, likely to experience infertility in the United States. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 50 African American women of different socioeconomic backgrounds, our study uses an intersectional framework to explore the experiences of African American women who cope with infertility. First, we found that experiencing infertility greatly impaired women’s sense of self and gender identity. Moreover, the imperative to be an African American mother was influenced by an interplay of gendered, racial, and religious mandates. Second, women’s relationships with friends and family members were characterized by a deep sense of silence and isolation; several explanations for this finding are proposed, including stereotypes about African American women’s sexuality. Third, interactions with medical professionals were influenced by women’s multiple social identities, with no single identity conferring an advantage in medical settings. Finally, we highlight several interventions, such as the dissemination of information featuring a greater range of African American women’s reproductive experiences, and we underscore the clinical importance of normalizing African American women’s experiences with infertility, thereby lessening women’s sense of shame and isolation.

Sustaining the Environmental Sustainability: Role of Hindu Religion

Environmental protection and conservation of natural resources have become core concern of governance irrespective of its model. Debates and efforts are on since long back especially when scientists identified the negative impacts of human activities on the environment. Domestic and international bodies ventured upon to design measures in order to adopt policies, legislation and future plans conducive to the natural properties. Growing population and the unbridled exploitation of natural resources are accepted phenomenon now days. Consequently depletion of environment and its preservation cannot be controlled by these extraneous measures as hypocritical man could not altered the situation positively, thus, internal conscience became the only option. A theological implication of environmental ecology is now becoming crucial in order to testify the measures and its appropriateness. Religions do have the answer for the dichotomy of environment and development as the limit on human conduct is extremely desired. The failure of external regulatory mechanism forced us to look at different option and obvious shelter one finds in ethical component of individual’s behavior. Religious mandates and dictates may prove fruitful in this regard and eventually Hindu Religious texts have enough to say in this regard. Present paper very briefly ventured upon to discuss the texts and messages therein aiming at sustaining environmental properties. It also discusses how we treat and regard natural properties in our daily life.

The Catholic Church in the Philippine Public Sphere

Whether religion has a place in the public sphere is a complex issue. Many thinkers believed that the rationalization process of modernity would result in secularization and banish religion into the private sphere. Religion has not only survived; it has even taken an active role in the political affairs of the state. This has been the case in countries like the Philippines where the publicity and activism of the Catholic hierarchy in the political public sphere of the country have been sustained and to some extent dominant. Said publicity and activism are carried out in the name of religion and the pursuit of a religious mandate accordingly. Although the reactions to such public involvement have not always been the same, these varying reactions still make sense in light of some theoretical understanding about the specifically political role of religion in the modern society. The aim of this paper is to make a modest contribution to such understanding by reflecting on the place and function of religion in the public sphere. It trains a special focus on the Philippine experience and employs mainly the view of Jurgen Habermas, an “agnostic and secular thinker” but one who has written extensively on the public sphere and recently revised his stance from thinking that religion will be overtaken by the rationalization of society to admitting that religion has something important to contribute in the public sphere.

“My Veil Makes Me Beautiful”

This article provides insight into the fashionable veiling trend in Amman, Jordan. Drawing on interviews I conducted in 2011 and 2012, I argue that the women in this study understand veiling to be a means for enhancing, rather than containing, the beauty of the body. Through my analysis, I closely examine the borderline space between the ideals of beautification and concealment and how women construct their fashionable veiling in it. By reading the women’s deployment of these ideals against their juristic connotations, I underscore the significance of the veiled Muslim femininity that they construct. The article also explores the “regimes of veiling” that regulate the practice in Amman and how they enable this particular articulation of veiling. I found the women’s reasoning for fashionable veiling to be more about gendered cultural codes than religious mandates.

Zakat, Dana and Corporate Social Responsibility

The tradition of giving finds itself in every religious text across the world. There seem to be few other principles which are so globally accepted. Whether it is the Zakat, the Islamic practice of giving and consequent self-purification, or the Dāna, the practice of giving in both Hinduism and Buddhism, the concept of gratuitous transfer of wealth to the less privileged strikes a common chord between the three most popular religions in Asia.This paper seeks to first identify the traditions relating to charity within religious texts such as the Hadith, the Manusmriti and the Tipataka. In the absence of institutions, including the concept of the corporation, during the time when such religious texts were envisaged, the directions mandating charity are by default, applicable to individuals. This paper goes on to examine the creation of the modern-day corporation through the lens of independent corporate personality as well as a nexus of contracts. Arguing further that -- in the absence of a large number of shareholders, Asian corporations tend to be family and individual driven -- such families and individuals may have a propensity to inculcate their individual traditions into inanimate and juristic bodies such as the corporations they run and control. As a result, this paper finally considers whether the tradition of giving, as mandated by religion may be a significant factor to boost Corporate Social Responsibility. While most Asian countries have some form of voluntary guidelines on corporate social responsibility, mandatory laws relating to CSR have been passed in Indonesia and India. A recent report even suggests that Asian consumers would be willing to spend more on products manufactured by socially responsible companies. This paper posits that a tradition of giving, spurred by religious mandate, does make CSR far more relevant in Asia.