Secular Communities Research Articles

A NARRATIVA COLONIAL PARA IMPLANTAÇÃO DE USINAS HIDRELÉTRICAS NO AMAPÁ

In the Amazon, the persistence of a colonial project, which triggered the appropriation of the territory for the implementation of hydroelectric plants, has been reproducing damage and disasters and causing, for decades, a series of socio-environmental conflicts. From this perspective, the objective of this article is to analyze the dynamics of the implementation of mitigation and compensation measures, as an instrument of Environmental Policy, in communities of artisanal fishermen and family farmers in the Brazilian Amazon, specifically in the State of Amapá, which are subject to disasters caused by hydroelectric dams on the Araguari River. In the conjuncture, even in the face of the persistence of social and environmental damages and disasters, there is a discourse of the inevitability of hydroelectric plants, under the allegation that the consequences can be mitigated or compensated. However, guided by Decolonial Epistemology, after documentary analysis of Ten-Year Energy Expansion Plans (2006-2021), public civil actions, TACs and interviews, which comprise information collected from fishermen and family farmers on the Araguari River, State of Amapá, it was found that the implementation of mitigating and compensatory measures proved to be illusory. From a participatory research, it was possible to observe the destructuring of an environment that was the basis for the survival of secular communities. In view of this, it is necessary to break with this exclusionary and unequal rationality through resistance movements and to embark on an epistemological disobedience necessary to confront the relations of domination and power present in capitalist projects, such as hydroelectric plants.

Religious and Spiritual Communities Must Adapt or Die: Surviving and Thriving during Challenging Contemporary Times

Current trends within both religious and secular communities suggest that contemporary times mean that people spend more time alone than with others. Community engagement in general has been declining, while religious and spiritual community engagement in particular has dropped off significantly in recent decades, and most especially following the COVID-19 global pandemic. Although humans are social beings and benefit from community engagement, we tend to avoid or minimize our affiliations and associations, including our religious and spiritual ones today. Religious and spiritual communities must adapt to changing times or risk becoming irrelevant, diminishing further, and losing their sustainability to continue with their activities and services. Religious communities might wish to consider the best state-of-the-art evidence-based practices to engage their members, as well as appeal to those who might be interested in joining with them. There are many mental and physical health benefits to active engagement with spiritual religious practices and communities. The world could use more rather than less community engagement, including religious and spiritual engagement, during our challenging contemporary times.

Role of Religion and Secularism in Shaping Social Values, Norms and Identities in Various Societies and Communities in Egypt

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate role of religion and secularism in shaping social values, norms, and identities in various societies and communities in Egypt.
 Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: Religion, especially Islam, has historically been a significant influence on social values and norms in Egypt. The government has also played a role in promoting conservative religious interpretations. Egypt's religious diversity and evolving social movements have contributed to a dynamic environment where religion and secularism intersect in shaping societal identities and values.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social identity theory & secularization theory& religious pluralism theory may be used to anchor future studies on role of religion and secularism in shaping social values, norms, and identities in various societies and communities in Egypt. Encourage interfaith dialogue and initiatives that foster mutual understanding and respect among religious and secular communities. Develop and implement policies that safeguard religious freedom and secularism as fundamental human rights.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's evolutionary theology and its reception in theological and scientific literature

In his unique position at the intersection of science and spirituality, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is a Jesuit priest, paleontologist, and philosopher. As Teilhard de Chardin attempted to reconcile the seemingly absurd realms of faith and science, this article examines his life and views. In Teilhard de Chardin's philosophy, the "Omega Point" represents the highest point of complexity and consciousness in the universe. The framework is discussed in the context of his views on cosmic evolution, human consciousness, and the intricate interconnection between all life forms. The article attempts to provide an overview of the reception of Teilhard de Chardin's ideas within both religious and secular communities.

Lichfield and the Lands of St Chad: Creating Community in Early Medieval Mercia, by Andrew Sargent

Andrew Sargent’s doctoral research on the ecclesiastical landscape of the early medieval Lichfield episcopate presents a stimulating set of arguments, frequently takes trenchant issue with established approaches, offers new interpretations, and is enthusiastic in thinking about further, unexplored implications. The general definition of ‘community’ he adopts is ‘groups of people who formed relationships mediated by specific forms of encounter’; his goal is to understand their workings through ‘the collective material practices through which they were created’ (p. 7). Over eight chapters, he pursues that objective by examining how bishops of Lichfield, between the ninth and eleventh centuries, used ceremony and custom to mediate their place, role and influence in communities of religious practice and among secular communities under their lordship. Much is stimulating and convincing. The argument is well made that Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690, extended and unified the English episcopate and integrated religious leaders, especially the bishops, into the lay elite. His aim was the development of a commanding political influence for the church by instilling a common ‘English’ identity among the ‘chosen’ peoples (gentes) of the established kingdoms. The author’s reconstruction of a more detailed life of St Chad than was previously thought possible is a major achievement. It is based on careful, innovative use of evidence from Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica and from the life of St Wilfrid—and by drawing on Bede to reassemble what Dr Sargent believes was one of Bede’s principal sources: a history of Lastingham Abbey’s first two abbots, drawn up there in the late seventh or early eighth century.

Costly Commitments “Under His Eye”: Reconceptualizing the Costly Signaling Theory of Religion

AbstractCostly signaling theory of religion has been proposed to explain the evolutionary adaptiveness of religion in general and, specifically, its prosocial effects, including the relative longevity of religious communes vis-à-vis their secular counterparts. This article focuses on two crucial aspects of this relationship: the features and functions of signals and the mechanism through which signaling translates into enhanced prosociality. It identifies some of the key factors of the costliness of behavior and distinguishes between religious and secular signals, arguing that only the latter serve to broadcast commitment. The role of religious signals, instead, might be to stimulate the supernatural watching (“Under His Eye”) mechanism: enhancing supernatural sanctions beliefs and providing a setting in which implicit prosocial responses are triggered. The relative absence of this mechanism in secular communities may explain their shorter life spans. A link is thus established between the costly signaling and supernatural punishment theories of religious behavior.

A unique “solidified” human brain from Asunción (XX century CE, Paraguay)

A relic (from the Latin reliquiae: remains) is the body (or part) of a deceased holy person or belongings kept as an object of reverence. The long-term preservation of relics is a priority for many religious and secular communities and often anthropologists, involved in their restoration for conservative purposes, collect anthropological and paleopathological data of scientific interest. In this context, the Authors present the case of Blessed Maria Felicia Guggiari Echeverria (1925–1959), the most revered Catholic figure in Paraguay, whose remains consist of a complete and well preserved skeleton, fragments of adipocere, and complete “ solidified ” brain and cerebellum. The brain and the cerebellum have a reduced volume of about 85 cm3, and a hard and friable consistency. Microscopic analyses have shown the presence of still distinguishable histological structures (e.g. the stratification of the cerebral cortex, meninges, residual vessels, and probable nerve bundles). Microanalysis showed the presence of uniformly distributed carbon (C), oxygen (O) and other chemical elements (e.g. Na, Ca, Mg, K) variably distributed. The FTIR analysis highlighted the presence of proteins. The brain probably underwent a process of carbonization, which involves a reduction in volume due to loss of O and H and the consequent concentration of C in low-oxygen conditions. The presence of adipocere, which is formed in environmental conditions similar to those of carbonization, supports this hypothesis. The “solidified” brain of Blessed Maria Felicia Guggiari Echeverria (1925–1959) represents today a unique case.

The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Face of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The goal of this article is to highlight the religious dimensions of the Covid-19 pandemic in Serbia through sociological interpretation of the institutional role of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), including the process of the adjustment of clergy and believers to pandemic circumstances. Such an adjustment involves religious discourse, ritual practice, community and institution. A greater attention is thus dedicated to the uniqueness of the church institution in its relation to a broader social community, especially with regard to the discrepancies between the church practices and official state measures and restrictions. This also implies the necessity to mitigate tensions and prevent potential rifts between the religious and secular communities, or church and state.

Material Culture and Changing Identities

This article surveys intersections between art, religion, and society in three periods of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand: 1) Polynesian settlement, 2) British colonization and 3) a contemporary multicultural society built on a bicultural base. Using a material culture framework which traces changes in the uses and significance of artistic objects as they pass through the hands of members of various religious and secular communities, it illustrates, through a variety of examples from the fields of popular art, fine arts and architecture, that art has, and can, play a large part in negotiations between religious traditions, particularly when they encounter one another in conflict, reconciliation and hybridization.

Food as faith: suffering, salvation and the Paleo diet in Australia

ABSTRACT Dietary regimes are frequently likened to religious movements on account of the fervor of advocates’ adherence, and their enthusiastic proselytizing. Yet, beyond this somewhat pejorative use of the metaphor, analysis of the quasi-religious nature of diets can provide a valuable window into the subjective experiences of individuals undertaking stringent dietary regimes. Among Australian Paleo dieters, the increase in chronic illness and obesity prevalence is perceived as indicative of societal disorder, with the breakdown of the body reflecting broader economic, political and social malaise. The Paleo diet’s embedded moralism provides an explanatory apparatus that makes sense of the world through notions of good and evil, in this way satisfying dieters’ desires for cosmological meaning within their experiences of suffering. This moral symbolism filters into constructions of food as either pure or polluting, with “clean” eating and Paleo lifestyle transformations serving as quotidian expressions of agency, and a means of resistance to societal ills. The Paleo diet consequently exemplifies how the functions of traditional religion can be fulfilled by dietary practices within secular communities.

Japanese Bronze Bells in Switzerland

Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels in Japan and then donated to local institutions. This simple scenario is by no means always the case, as can be seen with the numerous Japanese bronze bells in Swiss museum collections. The story of how the bells changed from holding significant functions within Japanese monastic and secular communities to being sold for their materiality and sheer weight as they travel across the globe tells a complex story of how objects change in meaning as they travel. As the bells were eventually relegated to museum archives, their stories help to shed light on global transfers, interculturality, and cultural misunderstandings, as they narrowly escape destruction. Their stories show the futility of claiming global understanding of art when, despite globalization, we are in the end products of our own localized traditions and understandings.

Den kristna etikens dubbla utmaning

Christian social ethics has long endured a polarizing debate between a universal ethics based in creation, often framed in terms of reason or natural law, and an ecclesial ethics based in revelation. With no satisfactory conclusion to the debate in sight, and adding to it an exceedingly complex cultural situation in which to navigate, many seek to find new ways of framing the alternatives. The "twin challenge" of Christian social ethics in a pluralistic and post-secular setting is here identified as articulating a social ethics that acknowledges the tensions between the specificities of the Gospel and culture while simultaneously providing a framework and resources for building a common life across confessional borders. One way of addressing this challenge is to ground ethics in the Trinity. While creational ethics generally emphasize the first article of the creed, an ecclesial ethics tend to focus on the latter two. Grounding Christian ethics in the Trinity is an attempt at a holistic approach, tending to both particular and universal concerns. One such effort is found in Carl-Henric Grenholm's attempt at articulating a contemporary Lutheran social ethics grounded in a trinitarian framework. By way of identifying a number of tensions within Grenholm's proposal, this article offers some pointers on the requirements of a trinitarian ethics in a pluralistic and post-secular context. It argues for a more complex construal of secularity and the need for a robust Christology and eschatology to provide a critical lens on culture. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of on-going, complex negotiations beyond secular matrices and communities of virtuous actors capable of performing them.

In Search of 'Traditional Islam' in Tatarstan

After the communist ideology collapsed at the end of the last century, it began to be replaced gradually in most countries of the former Socialist Bloc by Islamic values. In response, secular communities have developed the concept of ‘traditional’ (good) Islam. The authorities of Russia and Tatarstan have kept up with this global trend. Official religious structures have historically taken the form of spiritual administrations of Muslims (muftiates) in the Russian Federation. They are trying to flesh out the idea of ‘traditional Islam’ at the behest of state authorities by suggesting domestic ‘Islamic traditions’ for each region to be preserved and others to be dispensed with. This article traces the evolution of how the phenomenon of ‘traditional Islam’ has been interpreted from the 1990s to 2018 in the Republic of Tatarstan, using a wide range of sources in Tatar and Russian, including personal interviews by the authors with leaders of the Tatar Muslim community, as well as field research in the districts and cities of the Republic.

Influence of Moral Values and Norms on the Accumulation of Social Capital – Activity of Ignacy Tokarczuk, a Bishop of the Diocese of Przemyśl

The aim of this analytical study carried out on the basis of existing sources was to determine the correlation between the activity of Archbishop Ignacy Tokarczuk involving the reception of moral values and norms in social life and development of social capital in the Diocese of Przemyśl. Projects initiated by Abp. Tokarczuk, in which he put special emphasis on the observance of moral law, had a positive effect on social ties, the number of connections, and the increase of social trust. Belief in the predictable behaviour of cooperating partners, as well as adherence to moral values and norms shared by many individuals promoted the development of associational activity and made teamwork more dynamic. The powers of individuals joined in cooperation allowed for the more efficient execution of tasks aimed at the common good of local communities. Cooperation brought benefits to both religious and secular communities. The movement aimed at the construction of sacral architecture developed dynamically, and associational activity increased, as did the level of religiosity. The activity of anti-communist independence organizations, demanding the democratization of social life, was also stimulated. Universal moral values and norms emphasized and promoted by Tokarczuk created axiological foundations for the establishment of a civil society.

Faith communities online: Christian churches' reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus as a global pandemic has challenged the operations of faith communities around the world. Contrary to secular communities, faith communities need to base their actions on theological arguments. Normally, at least in the mainline churches, theological reflections and related decision making follow a strictly regulated hierarchical process that was not possible when refining novel modes of actions required by the pandemic and governmental legislation. It seems that, hence, it was not the central administration that was in charge, but rather congregations and smaller groups that were proactive in shifting and modernising their operations. This saw individual congregations transforming to faith-based online communities almost overnight, gathering participants well beyond conventional physical events. The fact that the virus outbreak overlapped with the important Easter season, normally attracting people to attend church services even in secularised countries, enriches the analysis.

IN EXTREMIS:Communal Expressions of Serious Impoverishment in the Dominions of the Kings of England, 1250–1450

This article focuses on how communities in later medieval England claiming serious impoverishment articulated their plight to those they thought might be able to help through petitions to the king’s government. Using the 454 petitions, mainly in French, submitted to the king’s government between 1250 and 1450 citing substantial communal impoverishment, three main groups of petitioners are examined: secular communities, religious houses, and wider groupings of the population. While these petitions make up only a fraction of all surviving petitions from the later Middle Ages (2.59% of the 17,514 Special Collections 8 Ancient Petitions), they not only embody the most important communal requests for serious need to the king’s government from all such petitions but also represent a significant proportion of the populace as a whole and account for many of the most important communities under the English king’s control. Indeed by focusing on communities rather than individuals, a clearer sense should emerge of how medieval people understood, if not usually articulated, key aspects of their own common good in extremis — rather than how those with power defined it for them. Also by looking beyond England to those lands under the English monarch’s control from Ireland to southern France, we can see how communities on the very fringes of royal power viewed the English government’s role toward them. Overall this article illuminates how medieval communities claiming to be in or moving toward extreme need saw themselves and/or wanted others to see them, the reality of the situation where known, what petitioners thought was the best way forward, and the royal government’s reaction to such requests.

Why are there coming of age ceremonies at the onset of adolescence?

As is the tradition for Jewish boys, my sons had barmitzvahs when they turned 13. They underwent this rite of passage, which has happened in some form for around 700 years. In preparation, my sons learned to read the Hebrew language, learned passages from the Torah and its commentary and attended weekly classes and Saturday services to learn about traditions and practices. On their big days in front of family, friends and the broader community in the synagogue, they recited the week's Torah reading, participated in the service and explained their views on the readings' relevance to society. My first son related what he read to his childhood in Alice Springs and his early observations of social disparity. In the evening, we had a party and they gave less formal speeches. A coming of age ceremony in early adolescence is far from unique to Judaism, with around half of the world's ethnographically recorded societies in 1980 having ceremonies meeting a strict definition for initiation at this life point.1 In some cultures without formal ceremonies, there is a trend now to construct such events, filling a gap some feel to be missing in secular communities.2 For such practices to be so widespread, they must have some benefit. This paper briefly describes benefits to culture and community, individual and parents. The greatest gains of coming of age ceremonies are perhaps for the community, ahead of individual and family gain. Van Gennep noted that all rites of passage involve expression of values important to that society, theorising that rites of passage protect society from the whim of the individual, while ensuring continuity of knowledge and behaviour.3 Planned participation in services and ceremonies may be the first impetus for a child to be sent to learn about the religion or language,4 thus driving transmission of culture to the next generation. Not only are elements of culture transmitted and perpetuated,5 but in a prosocial environment participants and observers are drawn together with a sense of identity and community.6 Participation in such rituals can contribute significantly to what we call social capital.7 Identity formation is a key task of adolescence, whereby a young person needs to work out who they are, what they believe in and how they will present themselves to others. This can be described as the process by which a young person becomes ready for ‘social membership’ of society.8 To this end, a basic understanding of their family, culture and the history of both is helpful. The process of learning about traditions, language, rites and ceremonies and then participating in them serves this developmental task. In most barmitzvahs, individuals are given the opportunity to make a speech, enabling them to make a public statement about who they are and what they believe.4 Such public demonstration helps an adolescent to crystallise their understanding of who they are at that point in time. The performance aspect of coming of age ceremonies communicates much to all observers. In some societies, it may signal the point of physical maturity whereby the young person is themselves ready for childbearing, or that they are ready to contribute to physical tasks such as hunting, or to participate in other forms of communal labour. It can signal to all that an adolescent is ready to assume a useful role in the community as an individual, not just as someone else's child. This author's experience suggests that perhaps an adolescent's own parents need to witness these signals more than do others. It is no coincidence that so many cultures have a coming of age ceremony at the onset of adolescence. Puberty demarcates physical change between childhood and adulthood, with concomitant fertility, growth, physical strength and endurance all denoting increased abilities and potential usefulness to society. Rituals and ceremonies have an important place in signalling an adolescent's new status to the community, the individual and to their parents.

Parish Pastoral Councils and Community

Parish Pastoral Councils and Community Séamus Lillis Viewing Parish Pastoral Councils (PPCs) as community organisations delivers helpful insights into their supplementary relevance to the Catholic Church in Ireland. Community organisations have significant experience to share, a resource which should influence PPCs. In noteworthy ways, the latter find themselves freer to address their concerns than do civic communities, particularly those community organisations that obtain funding from the state. This autonomy augurs well for the future of PPCs. I have been engaging with civic communities since the early 1990s. I gradually came to the conviction that, because I have been privileged to gain insights into how secular communities can organise themselves, I should try to share these learning discoveries with the community that is the Church. To this end I have worked with PPCs in the archdiocese of Dublin and in the Killaloe diocese. The Church itself does not have the monopoly of wisdom and can stand to gain from the experiences of civic communities. My recollection of the pre-SecondVatican Council Church is of the absence of any community dimension. Certainly, a vastly higher percentage of people attended Sunday Mass then. While the priest addressed God in Latin, the congregations prayed individually and independently and – presumably! – in English. Parishes conducted these weekly gatherings and had apparently done so without significant variation since Catholic Emancipation. Parishes individually embodied the dominant core background of competitiveness and inter-parish rivalry in GAA matches, but the perception of a parish as a community had few adherents. I believe that, historically, community itself was not a major feature of Irish society. Some cite the Irish word meithal, or the assembly of neighbours at harvest thrashings and other labour dependent occasions, as evidence of community. This annual gathering to deliver a day’s labour for neighbours at harvest time is not convincing as confirmation of widespread community. Before gaining national independence, community meetings were not encouraged by the powers-that-be. After independence that same policy tended to continue. Studies • volume 109 • number 435 326 A community dimension in government decision-making was largely missing until the last three decades or so.Apolitical preference for centralised government was largely responsible. As recently as the nineties, Tony Varley criticised a dismissive and discouraging stance towards community representatives by the state and particularly by local government.1 Tom Collins suggested that the state’s new-found concern with official community development was motivated by an urgency to engage – however tenuously – with its disaffected citizens. Were it not for official community development schemes, instigated and part-funded by the European Union, the state would find itself at serious odds with such citizens and more prone to become caught up in confrontational and mutually perplexing conflict.2 The state’s endeavours targeted disadvantaged communities. This policy excluded the middle classes, albeit unintentionally; they were not invited to participate in communities. The passage of time has proved that dominance on the part of the public service has continued to be a feature of community development here. This supremacy has resulted in compromising the autonomy of communities that partnered with the state. What is a community? The word ‘community’ is hackneyed. Its synonyms range through ‘public’, ‘citizenry’, ‘neighbourhood’, ‘society’, ‘group’, ‘commune’ and more. Margaret Thatcher’s much resented ‘community charge’ in Britain further diluted the meaning of community. We glibly speak of restoring at-risk, institutionalised people back into ‘the community’, where such community is notional and unaware of any responsibility to care for these vulnerable individuals. Yet community development is reliably depended upon by international agencies such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to promote and deliver progress. The members of civic communities and of PPCs deploy their resources through purposeful conversations about effectively addressing matters of concern to their members. These three fundamentals – resources, discussion and concerns – capture the essence of committed, active communities and PPCs Moreover, concerns must be realistic. I recall working with one urban PPC, where members wished to restore the widespread Sunday observation of fifty years ago. Granted it was an aim, but it lacked any indication of insight into the processes needed to achieve it. Studies • volume 109...

Aelred of Rievaulx’s Relational Anthropology in Socio-Historical and Religious Context

The Cistercian monk, Aelred of Rievaulx, is unique in his emphasis on relationship with others. While Aelred’s socio-historical context—that of a twelfth-century Renaissance, Cistercian community, with its increased emphasis on friendship—contributed to his relational anthropology, I argue that Aelred possessed his own relational vision, and out of passionate love was active in pursuing unity between his secular and religious communities, and also with other persons in his communities. This relational vision and action, which is highly consonant with contemporary anthropology, is embedded in the theological anthropology of his writings, where he confirms that the essence of the human being is relational.

LITURGY AS HISTORY: THE ORIGINS OF THE EXETER MARTYROLOGY

Through an Anglo-Norman case study, this article highlights the value of normative liturgical material for scholars interested in the role that saints’ cults played in the history and identity of religious communities. The records of Anglo-Saxon cults are largely the work of Anglo-Norman monks. Historians exploring why this was the case have therefore concentrated upon hagiographical texts about individual Anglo-Saxon saints composed in and for monastic communities in the post-Conquest period. This article shifts the focus away from the monastic to those secular clerical communities that did not commission specific accounts, and away from individual cults, to uncover the potential of historical martyrologies for showing how such secular communities remembered and understood their own past through the cult of saints. Exeter Cathedral Library, MS 3518, is a copy of the martyrology by the ninth-century Frankish monk, Usuard of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, written in and for Exeter cathedral's canons in the mid-twelfth century. Through investigation of the context in which it was produced and how its contents were adapted to this locality, this article uncovers the various different layers of the past behind its compilation. It further suggests that this manuscript is based on a pre-Conquest model, pointing to the textual debt Anglo-Norman churchmen owed to their Anglo-Saxon predecessors.