Secular Reasons Research Articles

Selfhood Beyond Death

Abstract There is a strong secular consensus that death terminates subjective consciousness. In this paper I show that this consensus can be meaningfully doubted for entirely secular reasons. After formulating the strongest possible argument which supports this consensus, I argue that it inconsistently excludes Constitutive Russellian Panpsychism (CRP) from consideration. CRP, I maintain, is fully consistent with the possibility of post-thanatological consciousness. To flesh out this account, I develop an account of the Panpsychist Self (PS) that can be axiomatically derived from CRP. I then show that the PS has the right metaphysical structure to ensure that the persistence of consciousness beyond brain death aligns with the persistence of our individual selves.

Crisis management in family firms: do religion and secularization of family decision-makers’ matter?

PurposeThe unique dynamics of family firms (FFs) shape the management of financial crises. Religious and secular reasons, as a defining characteristic of this type of firm, provide a reference system for key management decisions. This paper aims to explore the under-researched topic of differences in FFs' crisis management between religious and secular family decision-makers (FDMs), considering secularization in developed countries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a qualitative-empirical study of 14 large FFs from the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), through both a media analysis and semi-structured interviews with FDMs who have significant influence on key management decisions.FindingsDespite secularization, religion continues to influence managerial decisions such as crisis management in the DACH region. The findings show that crisis management differs across religious and secular FDMs, demonstrating the substantial impact of religious and secular reasons on operational and financial measures. Thus, religious and secular reasons may partially explain the complex and ambivalent crisis management of FFs. This indicates that religion shapes FF's key management decisions in the increasingly secularized DACH region. Religious FDMs are accountable to both the firm and to God, which fosters their own personal and financial resources during crisis management.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the impact of religion and secularization within developed countries. Further, it offers deeper insights into FF's crisis management and is one of the first studies to assess the impact of religion and secularization on operational and financial measures. This research derives five propositions for further research and discusses a broad range of original implications for theory and practice.

EXPLORING THE MOTIVES OF PILGRIMAGE TOURISM IN SELECTED DIOCESAN SHRINE AND PARISH CHURCHES

The purpose of this study is to know the motives of tourist visiting the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Nuestra Senora De Candelaria in Silang, Cavite and Diocesan Shrine and Parish of the Our Lady of the Pillar-Imus Cathedral. The two parishes were chosen in the study because the two churches are both heritage sites. By conducting survey, the researchers will know if the tourist visits for religious or secular purposes. Quantitative Research will be used by the researchers. The sampling method will also be used. Based on the results, the purpose of most tourists for visiting was for secular purpose. It has a percentage of 56.66% while the religious purposes have a percentage of 43.33 % percent. The study aims to determine the tourist’s preferences on visiting two selected churches in Cavite. The study’s finding tells that the tourists’ motivational visits are for secular reasons. It was found that religious motives significantly prevail as very important factors for visitors to set out on journey in comparison to secular motives which is regarded as not very important travel motivator towards religious sites.

Mormon Studies after Viper on the Hearth

Mormon Studies after <i>Viper on the Hearth</i>

How to Spot a Usurper: Clinical Ethics Consultation and (True) Moral Authority

Abstract Clinical ethics consultants (CECs) are not moral authorities. Standardization of CECs’ professional role does not confer upon them moral authority. Certification of particular CECs does not confer upon them moral authority (nor does it reflect such authority). Or, so we will argue. This article offers a distinctly Orthodox Christian response to those who claim that CECs—or any other academically trained bioethicist—retain moral authority (i.e., an authority to know and recommend the right course of action). This article proceeds in three parts. First, we discuss recent movements toward the certification of CECs in the United States, focusing primarily on proposals and programs put forth by the American Society for Humanities and Bioethics (ASBH). Second, we outline two secular reasons to be concerned about the relevant trends toward certification. For one thing, certification is currently being advanced via political dominance, rather than gaining authority by reliance on rigorous philosophical argument or reason. For another, the trends operate on the assumption that there exists a secular, content-full, canonical, morality. There is no such morality. Next, we argue that Orthodox Christians should resist the current trends toward certification of CECs. Specifically, we unpack ways in which the ASBH’s certification program (and those like it) conflict with Orthodox claims about moral authority and the moral life more generally. We conclude that Orthodox Christians should resist the current certification trends.

On the Parity between Secular and Religious Reasons

The contributors to this Special Issue all suggest that Christianity is compatible with political liberalism. In this paper, I first illuminate the grounds of this compatibility. I then focus on one distinctive – yet unexplored – premise of the compatibility argument. This is the thought that religious and secular reasons are essentially on a par, in terms of their contribution to public reasoning. I critically examine Christopher Eberle’s claim that, as their epistemological status is equivalent, both secular and religious reasons may play a decisive role in justifying coercion-related state policies, including in contexts of war.

On the Parity between Secular and Religious Reasons

The contributors to this Special Issue all suggest that Christianity is compatible with political liberalism. In this paper, I first illuminate the grounds of this compatibility. I then focus on one distinctive—yet unexplored—premise of the compatibility argument. This is the thought that religious and secular reasons are essentially on a par, in terms of their contribution to public reasoning. I critically examine Christopher Eberle’s claim that, as their epistemological status is equivalent, both secular and religious reasons may play a decisive role in justifying coercion-related state policies, including in contexts of war.

Religion &amp; Democracy: Interactions, Tensions, Possibilities

Religion &amp; Democracy: Interactions, Tensions, Possibilities

Secular Reasons for Confessional Religious Education in Public Schools

The cultural importance of religion and its ambiguous potential effects on the stability of liberal democracy and the rule of law recommend including information about religions in public school curricula. In certain contexts, there are even good secular reasons to have this done by teachers approved by the religious communities for their respective groups of pupils, as is being practiced in various European states (with a possibility of opting out, with ethics as a substitute subject in some schools). Is this practice compatible with the religious neutrality of states? An illustrative analysis shows how suitable criteria for the admission of religious groups to offering religious education can block the objection of undue preference. Like any solution in this field, it is not immune to theoretical and practical problems.

Religion as a Communicative System: the reasonableness of religious contents in the public sphere

Recently, Jürgen Habermas has dedicated many of his works to the discussion of the relationship between religion and the public sphere, in light of democratic possibilities of mutual learning. He contends that even though religious contents can inspire motions of solidarity, constitutional and legal arrangements should reflect universal, secular reasons only. Drawing on the sociology of religion, I will demonstrate that religious narratives contribute to shape moral views and self-perceptions, impacting on the ways societies define political norms. Assessing the flaws of deontological theories, I resort to an Aristotelian view of democratic justice, whereby historical traditions and religious narratives come to inform the contents of evaluative moral discourses. Analyzing the case of South Africa, where communitarian notions of forgiveness prevailed over retributive justice, I argue that principles of public morality stem from contextual struggles, negotiations and exchange of aesthetic-cognitive meanings. With this in mind, I finalize with a formulation of the concept of religion as a communicative system, affirming the capacity of religious traditions to impart reasons that can be generally accessed and apprehended by participants in historical processes of learning.

RECONCILING JOHN MILBANK AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: “LIBERALISM” THROUGH LOVE

ABSTRACTJohn Milbank's critique of the secular as a violent distortion of Christian theology is well established. Less clear is how Milbank's framework might bear upon secular liberalism as it specifically relates to liberal ideas of religious freedom and public or secular reasons in political contexts. This is especially worthy of investigation since “religious freedom” is part of the liberal framework Milbank so stridently critiques. This article attempts to reconcile Milbank's theological critique of secular liberalism with the idea of religious freedom by applying Milbank's theology and the law of love to liberal notions of public discourse for the purpose of redeeming and transforming that discourse. This redeemed “liberalism” provides a framework for persuasion to the Good by recognizing that all public positions (including secularism) are ultimately faith positions, and advocates a discourse governed by the law of love to produce genuine religious freedom that paradoxically transcends and fulfils the liberal ideals that secular liberalism proclaims but can never attain.

Objection de conscience et aide médicale à mourir : une étude qualitative auprès de médecins québécois

Les patients québécois peuvent légalement obtenir une aide médicale à mourir s’ils sont aptes à donner un consentement éclairé, atteints d’une maladie grave et incurable, en fin de vie et ont des souffrances qu’ils jugent intolérables. Depuis l’arrêt Carter (2015) de la Cour Suprême du Canada, l’accès, sous certaines conditions, à l’AMM est même devenu un droit constitutionnel. Les médecins québécois sont ainsi maintenant susceptibles de recevoir des demandes d’AMM de leurs patients. Les lois québécoise et canadienne reconnaissent aux médecins un droit à l’objection de conscience, mais le droit est contesté tant dans les écrits en éthique médicale que dans le débat public. L’article présente les résultats d’une étude qualitative menée auprès de vingt médecins québécois qui n’ont pas intégré l’AMM à leur pratique médicale en raison de leur opposition ou ambivalence à l’égard de l’AMM. Les entrevues visaient à explorer les raisons – religieuses et séculières – expliquant l’opposition ou l’ambivalence par rapport à l’AMM. Les raisons séculières exprimées par les participants ont ensuite été regroupées en quatre catégories et analysées. Les quatre catégories sont : 1) Finalités de la médecine et identité professionnelle, 2) Philosophie de la médecine palliative et allocation des ressources en soins palliatifs, 3) Paternalisme bienveillant, « bonne mort » et intérêts du soi futur, 4) Risque de la pente glissante et protection des personnes vulnérables.

The German debate on male circumcision and Habermas' model of post-secularity.

This paper considers Habermas' model of a post-secular political order in the light of the debate on male circumcision that arose in Germany after a court ruled that male circumcision was an unjustifiable act of bodily harm. Central to this model is the idea that religious reasons can only become effective in central legal institutions when they are translated into secular reasons. My paper demonstrates that there are two distinguishable readings of this proviso. On the one hand, there is a broad reading according to which it is only necessary to reach a conclusion that is in line with the democratic principle stating that all citizens can be regarded as co-legislators even if non-generalizable value orientations might then shape the interpretation of fundamental rights (in the case of circumcision, the right to bodily integrity). On the other hand, a truly secular (narrow) reading would avoid the inclusion of non-generalizable value orientations. The debate on circumcision demonstrates that these two interpretations lead to different and conflicting modes of justification. The broad reading allows for a justification of male circumcision, whereas the narrow reading makes such a justification unlikely. In addition, the filtering function of the proviso is weakened in a broad reading.

Rationalising religion: The role of religion and conscience in Australian politics

This article investigates the complex problem of the role of religion in Australian politics. As a liberal democracy, Australia is a state in which the establishment of a state religion is prohibited and the free expression of religion is upheld. Religionists, like all citizens, are free to express their personal opinions but any religious motivations should be translated into secular reasons if their opinions are to be given any weight in public policy. I trace the development of the separation of church and state, and evaluate its contemporary usefulness for understanding religion and politics in Australia. Particular regard is paid to the idea that religious authorities command the beliefs of their adherents. A case study investigating the influence of religion in the debate surrounding communism in the 1950s is analysed. In a representative democracy like Australia, it is expected that politicians represent their electorate rather than being accountable to religious authority, so this article investigates its origins in theology and its effectiveness. I propose that it would be useful to reframe our thinking about how religion informs an individual’s convictions, by viewing religion as one of many influences that shape one’s conscience. Finally, I combine and evaluate existing threads in the literature to weave a starting point of a unified ‘systems theory of conscience’ to the extent its key determinants affect public policy.

Praying for America: The Constitutional Ban on Animus-Based and Theocratic Reasoning in the Establishment, Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses

In this essay I argue that the Constitution’s Equal Protection, Establishment, and Free Exercise clauses share a common principle prohibiting state action that is based on “theocratic” reasoning. Drawing on the free-exercise case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, I propose the “anti-theocracy principle” to describe the ban on theocratic state reasoning. According to the anti-theocracy principle, state action must meet two requirements. The first, “secular independence” requirement is that in addition to any religious reasons for laws, the state must have secular reasons available that can appeal to non-religious citizens. The second, “equal status” requirement is that state speech or reasoning must respect the equal status of citizens regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Although I develop and defend the anti-theocracy principle with reference to free exercise jurisprudence, I also argue that the anti-theocracy principle should be made explicit in the Court’s Equal Protection gay rights jurisprudence. Laws restricting gay rights are sometimes motivated by theocratic reasons. But laws discriminating against gays, like laws based in racial animus, lack a legitimate purpose. Having grounded the anti-theocracy principle in two fundamental constitutional provisions, I then extend it to recent controversies over the Establishment of religion. I argue that the anti-theocracy principle rightly constrains state expression, and not just state coercive action. It is therefore a more restrictive account of the Establishment Clause than Justice Kennedy’s “coercion test” from Lee v. Weisman, and it offers a way of clarifying and refining Justice O’Conner’s “endorsement test” from Lynch v. Donnelly.

An Introduction to Concept and Evolution of the Guardstone and Its Architectural Visualization of the Contemporary Religious and Cultural Diversities

&lt;p&gt;This specific study deals with a unique piece of Buddhist architecture, the Guardstone found almost in every part of ancient kingdoms in Sri Lanka spanning from Anuradhapura to Kandy period significantly. The Guardstone is an excellent piece of structure placed on either side of the first step of the flight of stairs at the entrance of ancient religious buildings or palaces in Sri Lanka. The origin of this architectural masterpiece is still to determine. Nevertheless, it is widely accepted in an evolutionary point of view that the guardstone has passed through several developmental stages from a simple slab to a highly sophisticated artifact in its dimensions, complexity and artistry. The numerous inclusions as well as exclusions from time to time to this artifact still remain uncertain as to whether they were due to secular or ecclesiastical reasons or simply due to the creators own culture influenced imagination. This study will peruse all the possible evidence that are available architecturally and to develop a logical reasoning for any identifiable characteristic and to elucidate with reasonable legitimacy as to how and why such a character is present or absent in a particular guardstone. This study in no way has any intention of rejecting or amending any proposition available at present but will pursue its best to shed light only on the attributes of a guardstone and to concentrate on the diversities of this beautiful monastic artifact that deserves serious academic study and meticulous aesthetic evaluation.&lt;/p&gt;

Improving Nonmedical Vaccine Exemption Policies: Three Case Studies

Some communities that exempt parents from vaccine mandates have recently reformed their exemption policies by eliminating nonmedical exemptions, allowing nonmedical exemptions only for parents who object to vaccination for religious reasons, or making exemptions more difficult to obtain. We argue against eliminating nonmedical exemptions because there are weighty moral reasons to offer these exemptions and because eliminating them will likely have unfortunate social and political consequences. We also argue against allowing nonmedical exemptions only for parents who object to vaccination for religious reasons, on the grounds that doing so is likely to be unfair or ineffective. We conclude that nonmedical exemptions should (continue to) be available to people who object for both religious and secular reasons, and that the best way to decrease exemption rates is to make the application process more burdensome. We illustrate our arguments with examples of recent policy changes in three US states.

In the name of God: How children and adults judge agents who act for religious versus secular reasons

Many people are guided by religious beliefs, but judgments of religiously and secularly motivated individuals remain unclear. We investigated reasoning about religiously versus secularly motivated characters among 5- to 10-year-olds and adults. In Study 1, theist and non-theist children reported similar attitudes toward theists; however, large differences emerged between theist and non-theist adults. Study 2 obtained similar results using a continuous, rather than forced choice, measure of preference. Additionally, Studies 2–3 tested two explanations for the stronger influence of religious background on adults’ versus children’s responses. Study 2 did not find strong evidence for the theistic majority account, which posits that the greater perceived prevalence of theists as compared with non-theists influenced children’s responses more than adults’ responses. The results of Study 3 were consistent with the intuition account, which argues that non-theist adults had effortfully overridden the teleological intuitions that may have influenced children’s responses in Studies 1–2 and potentially led children to prefer characters whose beliefs were in line with children’s own intuitions. The degree to which teleological intuitions persisted implicitly among adults predicted those adults’ pro-theist preferences. These findings offer connections between religious judgments and other areas of social cognition, such as social preferences and teleology.

The Reconciliation of Religious and Secular Reasons as a Form of Epistemic Openness: Insights From Examples in the Philippines

Addressing the debate inspired by John Rawls's restrictive idea of the political role of religion, Jürgen Habermas proposes the institutional translation proviso as an alternative that corrects an overly secularist notion of the state. Maeve Cooke has suggested that religious arguments can be allowed without translation in the institutional level as long as they are non‐authoritarian. However, her definition of non‐authoritarianism requires an acceptance of the fallibility of the truths acquired by faith, which I argue is unnecessary. Instead, I propose that non‐authoritarianism is realized in the recognition of the reconcilability of religious and secular reasons. I demonstrate the viability of this form of non‐authoritarianism using particular examples from the Philippine context. I conclude that these attempts constitute an alternative form of epistemic openness to the more stringent forms that Habermas and Cooke have proposed.

Motivation factors for visiting religious sites: The case of Lesvos Island

This study investigates tourist’s motivations for visiting religious sites in Lesvos, a religious destination island in Greece. Data was collected in Lesvos during the Orthodox Easter period of 2013 implementing a sample of 210 tourists who had visited a monastery during their stay on the island. In order to measure tourists’ motivation for religious site visitation in Lesvos, 15 motivation components were used. Data analysis included descriptive analysis and factor analysis. The findings based on descriptive statistics (Mean Scores) suggest that the main reasons for visitation to monasteries and churches in Lesvos Island were pilgrimage motives, i.e. “To worship”, “I have made a vow” and “In order to get well (health reasons)”. On the other hand, the reasons with the lowest Mean Scores regarding visitation to monasteries and churches in Lesvos Island were secular reasons: “It is in “fashion”- it is trendy”, “To do shopping”, and for “Research /educational reasons”. Factor analysis of the motivations components identified 3 factors, interpreting 66.5% of the total variance, i.e. “Secular and cultural motives”, “Pilgrimage motives”, and “Spiritual motives”. The findings of this research offer important practical implications for promoting Lesvos for religion tourism.