Secular Context Research Articles

Revisiting the Religious Openness Hypothesis in a Migration Context: The Case of Muslims with a Turkish Migration Background in Germany

Abstract The religious openness hypothesis, which states that religious traditions have the potential to integrate faith with intellect, is examined in this study within a migration context for the first time. Based on two lines of research, our central question is whether the sociological context or the Islamic tradition per se explains the (in)compatibility of faith and intellect orientation and their relation to psychological openness. Religious openness, psychological openness (ambiguity tolerance and acculturation strategies) and religiosity were measured among Muslims with a Turkish migration background in Germany. Our findings show a non-significant relationship between faith and intellect orientation and we therefore propose that the secular context is the crucial explaining factor. Religious reflection also moderates the link between different forms of religiosity and ambiguity tolerance. Finally, heterogeneous religious rationalities were uncovered that challenge the negative view of Muslims as fanatic, closed-minded people which prevails among the German majority society.

Nurturing students’ spiritual development in secular contexts: a case study of Evangelical theological education in Australia

The awareness of secularisation may not have served as a focus for curricula development in theological education, yet it critically shapes the entire educational process influencing values and practices. Australian theological colleges need to be aware of, and alert to their secular, westernised culture that places a high premium on individual rights, personal liberty, and freedom. This article reports on an Australian study discussing the nature of secularised contexts and the relevance of evangelical theological education to these contexts, especially the role of spiritual formation as a key component to better equip theological students to deal with their secular context. The article argues for stronger awareness of, and preparedness for robust engagement with secularised contexts. It highlights the importance of engaging the influence of secularisation values in theological education.

Women, Sexuality, Violence: #Me Too!

Historically women’s achievements have been obscured, sexually, socially, culturally, and spiritually. However, with the rise of global and social media, women have been empowered, having a greater impact on society; women are more receptive to discussions related to ethical and social issues - such as racial, national, and sexual discrimination, elimination of violence, religious control, free movement, modern slavery, psychological submission, and poverty/ economic marginalization – and are at the forefront of international movements, such as #MeToo and #SheDecides, which promote freedom of speech, thought and belief, and how to speak out publicly. Issues related to ethnic, religious, and sexual persecution and violence are part of women’s history. A critical thinking approach to the struggle of women in modern society is essential; it is important to understand female leaders as part of a multi-ethnic, multi-faith, and multi-gendered society. Women in postcolonial movements construct their self-identity in real, concrete, and existential sociocultural contexts. This article discusses violence against women, women contributing to a diverse global society, and women’s ideas of beauty and sexuality. I employ the lens of autocoscienza (self-awareness) with a view to embracing diversity and vindicating contribution of women in religious and secular contexts, and its value for the future.

К изучению сюжета о компьютере «Зверь»: история, миграция и культурные контексты

In the 2000s, Russian Orthodox believers underwent a moral panic related to the spread of new informational technologies and the rise of state individual identification systems. Among other factors contributing to the panic was the legend about “the Beast Computer in Brussels”. This article deals with its initial history, translations of the legend into Russian, as well as the cultural and ideological contexts that promoted its global popularity. The article supplements previous publications on this topic by the author. The genesis and the immediate context of the legend have been debated by scholars. Only recently, however, Eugene Clay discovered that the story was invented and publicized by the American evangelical preacher David Wilkerson (1931–2011) in 1973. By the end of the 1970s, the legend had become immensely popular amongst evangelical Christians in the US. In the 1980s, it was translated into several languages and spread globally in different confessional and secular contexts. One of its first translations into Russian was published in 1981 by Pavel Vaulin (1918-2007), a professor at the University of South Alabama. Another Russian compilation of the legend was probably composed in the early 1980s in Sacramento by Vera Tyson, an editor at the Russian Baptist newspaper Nashi Dni (“Our Days”). This text was popular with both the Baptists and the Russian Old Believers in the US and abroad. Some other Russian publications about the Beast Computer appeared in Russia in the early 1990s. The initial dissemination of the Russian versions of the legend was related to its popularity among relatively small and marginal émigré groups whose eschatology and conspiratorial fantasies developed from the ideas of anti-globalism and social escapism. In the post-Soviet religious culture, however, the story about the Beast Computer soon became widely known and popular. The reason for its extreme popularity was probably “agency panic”, especially characteristic of the societies that appeared on the fragmented terrain of the post-Soviet empire.

Dream, Bliss, and the Shaping of Emotional Meaning in Beowulf

<i>Dream</i>, <i>Bliss</i>, and the Shaping of Emotional Meaning in <i>Beowulf</i>

Judith N. Shklar on disobedience and obligation in a “society of strangers”

Judith N. Shklar on disobedience and obligation in a “society of strangers”

Islam, indigeneity, and religious difference in a secular context: Canadian case studies

This paper analyzes the hardening religious difference in contemporary Canadian society and explains why the presence of Muslims, including new converts, constantly incites in the public imagination the primordial threat of Islam to the secular accomplishments of Canadian society. Relying on the available data and previous research on the historical formation of the secular in Canada, the author attempts to detect a paradox within the state-lead politics of recognition that unintentionally creates the conditions for new communal conflicts” (warna kuning) diubah menjadi “Relying on the available data and previous research on the historical formation of the secular in Canada, the author attempts to detect a paradox within the statelead politics of recognition that unintentionally creates the conditions for new communal conflicts. By using an inductive generalization, the author argues that the perceived incompatibility between Islam and secular values is derived not so much from cultural and theological differences or actual political threats posed by Muslims or Indigenous converts. It instead emanates from the self-understanding of the majority of Canadians that defined the nation as essentially Christians and simultaneously secular.

Character Strengths Beatitudes: A Secular Application of Ancient Wisdom to Appreciate Strengths for Spiritual Happiness and Spiritual Growth

A beatitude is a blessing. It is a form of appreciation that can be directed toward others or oneself. Theologically speaking, some frame the original beatitudes from The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew as pertaining to “spiritual happiness”, and recent scholars have offered a compelling argument that they are a call to flourishing. The focus here involves the creation and description of 24 blessings, or beatitudes, using the lens of one of the foundational and most researched areas in the sciences of flourishing, well-being, and positive psychology, which is the science of character strengths. Recent research has framed the 24 universal character strengths as spiritual strengths, hence particularly aligned for secular and nonsecular contexts of spiritual blessings. Each of the 24 character strengths was created into a blessing using the structure of the original beatitudes—with an opening description of the personal quality or attribute that is blessed and a follow-up outcome or core benefit that arises from the expression of that quality. In this way, these character strength beatitudes or character strength blessings offer an opportunity to appreciate the best positive qualities of others. These blessings are framed as primarily a mechanism of appreciating the character strengths of others, resting theoretically in both the grounding path and the sanctification path, the two types of integration of character strengths and spirituality that researchers have proposed. They are discussed, secondarily, as applied to the individual, for self-understanding, insight, and growth. These two purposes are relevant to the deepening of the spiritual journey, providing support as individuals pursue meaning in life and/or the sacred as they go deeper within themselves, up and beyond themselves, and sideways and interconnected to others. Practical applications, based in science, are discussed and point to avenues by which these character strengths beatitudes might both foster the appreciating of others’ strengths and support one’s own spiritual happiness, spiritual coping, and spiritual growth.

Writing Orisha Music: Text, Tradition, and Creativity in Afro-Cuban Liturgy

This essay examines the flow of music associated with orisha—anthropomorphic deities—across networks defined variously by art, scholarship, folklore, and religion, all of which overlap and nourish each other. Transmitted via oral tradition, written texts, and multimedia technologies, a handful of orisha-themed songs are analyzed as case studies in the subtle nexus of liturgy and cultural authenticity. Taken together, the songs shed light on a broader phenomenon in which creatively-minded, ostensibly-secular iterations of culture play a significant role in the dissemination and ongoing codification of ritual orthodoxy. Orisha music traditions are analyzed as a fertile ground for a multitude of devotional and/or artistic expressions, many of which have a particularly ambiguous relationship to the concept of religion. In this context, the fluid movements of orisha music between ostensibly sacred and secular contexts can be usefully understood as not only common, but as a conspicuous and characteristic aspect of the tradition. The essay’s structure and rhetorical strategies offer distinct layers of cultural and historical commentary, reflecting a multi-vocal tradition of exchanges among orisha music scholars, artists, and ritual experts. The essay’s historical analysis of orisha music further suggests that a host of subtle, seldom-discussed phenomena—multilingualism, liturgical ambiguity, and transmission via multimedia technologies—are not necessarily aberrant or irregular, but rather vital themes which have resonated clearly across the Afro-Atlantic for at least a century. By obligating us to attend to both musical meaning and cultural context, the essay’s case studies of orisha music shed light on the mingling and synthesis of elements from varied historical sources, languages, and cultural idioms, each of which represent distinct notions of tradition, creativity, religiosity, and secularism.

Beyond belief? Pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teaching RE in Ireland

This article overviews the contemporary context for teaching Religious Education (RE) in Ireland and profiles changing religious demographics in an increasingly secular context. It presents the findings of a two-year mixed-methods study undertaken in two third-level Catholic colleges in Ireland, investigating four hundred third-level Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students’ perceptions of the religiously unaffiliated. The research data reveals the complexity and ambivalence of ITE students’ attitudes to teaching RE in primary schools in a rapidly changing Irish society where one in ten is religiously unaffiliated (Central Statistics Office, 2017). Several challenges emerge for ITE students as they begin teaching RE in Ireland’s denominational primary school context. The religious and convictional perspectives of the sample group are profiled and findings reveal that participants’ personal worldviews impact on their understandings of their future professional roles as religious educators. Data from this mixed methods research suggest that while ITE students view the teaching of RE as an important professional duty, a disconnect between their own personal beliefs and the curricular content they are required to teach in sacramental RE programmes in Catholic primary schools creates a climate of ambivalence and uncertainty.

Traditional Fine Homespun Hemp Linen Fabrics: About Qualities and Usages in Ritual and Secular Contexts

Traditional European and East Asian cultures have for centuries grown hemp (Cannabis) to make homespun yarn and weave linens (plain weave fabrics) used both in ritual and secular contexts. Even so, few academic sources have discussed fine hemp linen fabrics and how they look. In publications concerning textile plants and the fabrics made from them, when hemp is mentioned, it is usually relegated to the weaving of coarse fabrics used by the poor lower classes. Unrecognized is that by employing only manual methods hemp fabrics can reach fine qualities, and that they were used by people of many social strata. Also frequently overlooked is that coarse fabrics were made from a range of other fiber plants including flax and ramie. In addition, that “coarse” and “fine” are relative terms subject to various interpretations makes textile comparisons difficult. This paper explores a collection of representative textiles from Europe and Asia made of homegrown and homespun hemp, with a focus on the various fabrics. Also discusses the importance of their cultural contexts as reasons for their preservation. Initial examination was performed by manual fiber identification protocols and a digital microscope was used to measure and record yarn diameter and fabric density.

Love, Religion, and Secularity

Abstract McCaffree's challenge to traditional definitions of religion, and his suggestion that religiosity is about individual integration into a moral community are discussed. This is taken as an opportunity to examine difficulties in defining religion, and attempts to go around the definition issues by offering analogies. Religious emotion, as discussed by William James and Emile Durkheim, is found to be no different than strong emotions directed at our secular commitments. Devotion, and self-sacrifice are discussed in both religious and secular context. The denial of death and fantasies about an afterlife are central to religion, and are unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future.

Democratic Backsliding and the Instrumentalization of Women's Rights in Turkey

AbstractThis article examines the instrumentalization of women's rights and the transformation of the gender rights regime in the context of democratic backsliding in Turkey. I show how the Islamically rooted Justice and Development Party governments and their allies used women's rights in constructing authoritarian rule and promoting a conservative gender agenda. The governing elites had different needs at different political stages and instrumentalized women's rights to meet those needs. First, they needed to legitimize their rule in a secular context, so they expanded liberal laws on women's rights. Second, in the process of backsliding, they sought to construct and legitimize their conservative ideology, so they reinterpreted existing laws to promote conservative goals. Finally, they wanted to mobilize conservative women in support of the newly authoritarian regime, so they built new institutions and marginalized existing women's NGOs. The article contributes to the literature on regime types and gender rights by shifting the focus from regime type to regime change.

“And the Word was made flesh?” – Exploring young people’s situated learning in leadership and spirituality in a secular context

Abstract This article explores the situated learning found among 18 young volunteers taking part in an education programme about leadership and Christian spirituality in the Church of Sweden. Focus group interviews and observations are analysed in the framework of situated learning, using legitimate peripheral participation as a lens. The study shows how the young people, through the education programme, formed a safe community where new identities were shaped through participating in new ways of worship, making pilgrimages, engaging in peer dialogue, and in reflection. They also gained new perspectives and models for volunteering. The young people´s experience of living in a secular culture presents challenges to their identity formation and to their ongoing spiritual practice and development. The use of situated learning provides a deeper understanding of the process of learning in spirituality and of the problems associated with conflicting communities of practice.

The emancipation of mindfulness from its religious context

The present paper argues that if the so-called mindfulness movement is to reach its full potential it needs to emancipate from its religious context and ally itself fully with psychological science. The argument that mindfulness meditation needs a religious context for ethical reasons is untenable. Although mindfulness skills may well be used for un-ethical purposes, this applies equally to both religious (e.g., Buddhist) and secular contexts, and is best handled by an open-minded philosophical-ethical discussion. One problem with present mindfulness-based treatments and mindfulness research is that they are still partly enmeshed with Buddhist conceptualizations of the world, which are thought to represent “seeing things as they are”. If the full potential of mindfulness meditation is to be understood, research methods are needed which focus on the phenomenological practices involved in terms of psychological processes such as the regulation of attention and attitudes.

A Mere Kentucky of a Place: The Elkhorn Association and the Commonwealth's First Baptists by Keith Harper

Reviewed by: A Mere Kentucky of a Place: The Elkhorn Association and the Commonwealth's First Baptists by Keith Harper Jeffrey Thomas Perry (bio) A Mere Kentucky of a Place: The Elkhorn Association and the Commonwealth's First Baptists. By Keith Harper. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2021. Pp. 197. $49.00 cloth; $49.00 ebook) In this brief but valuable history, Keith Harper examines the Elkhorn Association of Baptists, the trans-Appalachian West's first such organization rooted in Kentucky's Bluegrass Region. He focuses primarily on ministers, using their experiences to uncover how they, and Kentucky Baptists more broadly, navigated the shifting cultural, social, and political landscape of the post-Revolutionary period, all the while trying to balance "being a good 'Christian'" within the prevailing world of acquisitiveness and debates over slavery's righteousness (p. xvii). Ideologically Jeffersonian Republicans, these ministers, far from seeking simply religious liberty, migrated to Kentucky to take advantage of its bounties. While they held some democratic impulses, the institutions they established were not radical democracies, but a blend of local self-rule and deference to ministers and the governing association. Harper's analysis of "Elkhorners" falls in line with recent scholarship by Janet Moore Lindman, Randolph Scully, Jewel Spangler, and others, arguing that Baptist society was cut through with the same social and economic tensions as "worldly" society—not a set apart utopia of democratic values. Harper begins with an overview of the prominent ministers who left Virginia during and immediately after the Revolutionary War, men he argues were seeking both "moral and material advancement" in Virginia's western-most county of Kentucky (p. 15). Brief backgrounds of well-known Kentucky Baptists—from the Craig brothers, John Taylor, David Barrow, William Hickman, and several others—frames chapter one, as Harper discusses the Baptists' persecution and [End Page 315] political activities in Revolutionary Virginia. Though seeking a New Eden, Baptist migrants instead arrived in Kentucky and faced continued conflict with Native Americans, the vagaries of weather, distant and unresponsive governing authority, as well as the often-corrupt designs of absentee-land speculators. The Craig brothers and others began establishing churches in the 1780s, organizing the Elkhorn Association deep in the heart of the Bluegrass Region in 1785, which attracted wealthy migrants hoping to transplant the power structure from the East. Though Elkhorn Baptists constituted churches based on communal values and spiritual equality, Harper notes that they also accommodated the secular context of southern honor and Jeffersonian republicanism. "Honor" was reserved for white males, and rarely cut across class lines. Meanwhile, pursuit of riches on the land required church leaders to synthesize their communal values with economic opportunity. Whether slavery would be permitted in Kentucky vexed some Kentucky Baptists ahead of the state's 1791 constitutional convention. Despite an early memorial against allowing bondage in Kentucky, Elkhorn Baptists' resistance soon dissipated. Not only were Baptists willing to engage in political issues, as landed gentry joined Elkhorn's churches in greater numbers, they failed to effectively combat slavery. They were "at best reluctant activists and reformers, if they became such at all" (p. 37). Some Kentucky Baptists continued to protest against slavery, though their voices were largely silenced by the 1810s. Doctrinal disagreements proved just as serious to church stability as debates over slavery. While associations like Elkhorn were simply advisory councils, they also fostered a "ministry culture" and sought to purify their member churches' theology. The turn-of-the-century revivals proved fruitful opportunities to fill membership rolls. These often free-wheeling revivals were important, but also invitations to faction and dissension, as subsequent debates over Calvinism and Arminianism demonstrate. In the end, Harper argues the Elkhorn Baptists' embrace of the missionary movement after 1810 was a less [End Page 316] controversial "rallying point" that "challenged neither slavery nor individual acquisitiveness," helping forge a consensus among Kentucky Baptists while shaping their denominationalism through the nineteenth century (p. xix). Relying on a variety of primary sources, Harper dives deep into the personalities that shaped Kentucky Baptists' experience from the Revolutionary period through the 1810s. Readers will enjoy this book's narrative qualities and fine-grained focus on Elkhorn's history (no existing work examines the Elijah...

The Roles of Campus Ministry Leaders: Guiding Students through the Transition to Adulthood.

Despite historic existence of campus ministries at universities, little is known about the roles of campus ministry leaders. This research explored campus ministry leaders' engagement with students through interviews (n = 19). Analysis indicated interviewees' work includes building relationships with students, navigating the secular context of a public university, and tensions with others in campus ministry. Interviewees reported emotional strain resulting from extensive caring labor. Focused support for campus ministers would benefit both leaders and students.

Religious Participation and Civic Engagement in a Secular Context: Evidence from Sweden on the Correlates of Attending Religious Services

The aim of the present study is to investigate the potential link between religious participation and civic engagement in Sweden. Religious participation probably plays a different role in a secular context compared to a context where religion and politics are more intertwined. First, do those who regularly attend religious services in Sweden volunteer and participate in charitable giving more often compared with those who do not? Second, are those who regularly attend religious services more, or less, politically active between elections compared with those who do not in Sweden? Third, do those who regularly attend religious services in Sweden receive more requests to volunteer than those who do not? The study uses survey data on volunteering from random samples of individuals in Sweden. Results showed that volunteering was limited to a restricted group of organizations. There is a higher propensity among those who regularly attend religious services to volunteer within political parties. Those who frequently attend church were significantly more often requested to volunteer by someone else.

Cosmopolitanism, Sociability and Assemblages of Symbolic Resources among Youths Attracted by Islam

Abstract On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork carried out among youths living in Montreal (Canada) who are interested in Islam and adopt some elements of a Muslim lifestyle, I show how affinities with Islam arise from sociability practices with friends of Muslim background and relate to the cultural diversification of secular societies. By combining network analysis with narrative analysis, I examine how youths interpret and make sense of these interactions and propose a critical view of their cosmopolitan discourses. While the latter is grounded in a universalist rhetoric, I argue it also unfolds within the intimacy of sociability experiences and shared emotions. Youth’s cosmopolitanism draws on cultural repertoires that stem from public education programs and local strategies to promote peaceable cohabitation in secular contexts. Consequently, youth competencies for cosmopolitanism lead to ongoing conversations that make differences and divergences within sociability spaces new sites to negotiate intercultural encounters in highly diversified localities.

Archaeobotanical evidence of the use of medicinal cannabis in a secular context unearthed from south China

Ethnopharmacological relevanceAs one of the first plants used by ancient people, cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. The long history of medicinal cannabis use contrasts with the paucity of archaeobotanical records. Moreover, physical evidence of medicinal cannabis use in a secular context is much rarer than evidence of medicinal cannabis use in religious or ritual activities, which impedes our understanding of the history of medicinal cannabis use. Aim of the studyThis study aims to provide archaeobotanical evidence of medicinal cannabis use and analyse the specific medicinal usage of cannabis in a secular context in ancient times. Materials and methodsPlant remains were collected from the Laoguanshan Cemetery of the Han Dynasty in Chengdu, South China, with the archaeological flotation process and were identified based on morphological and anatomical characteristics. The examination of the medicinal significance of the remains relied on the investigation of the documentation on unearthed medical bamboo slips, the diseases of the tomb occupants, the cemetery's cultural background and Chinese historical records. ResultsThe botanical remains were accurately identified as cannabis. More than 120 thousand fruits were found, which represents the largest amount of cannabis fruit remains that have been statistically analysed from any cemetery in the world thus far. The cannabis fruits are suspected to have been used for medical purposes in a secular context and were most likely used to stop severe bleeding of the uterus and treat lumbago and/or arthralgia. ConclusionsThe cannabis fruit remains reported here likely represent the first physical evidence of medicinal cannabis use for the treatment of metrorrhagia, severe lumbago, and/or arthralgia. This study emphasizes the importance of the evidence of the diseases suffered by the occupants of the tomb in determining the medicinal use of cannabis in a secular context and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ancient history of medicinal cannabis.