Secularism Research Articles

K. H. TING'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONTEXTUALIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA

AbstractThe spirituality and theology of Chinese Protestant believers and pastors is rooted in the profoundly conservative Evangelical‐revivalist and Pietistic missionary background of the Chinese church. Bishop K. H. Ting (b. 1915), the most prominent church leader and theologian of the Protestant church of China during the last decades, intends to broaden the narrow theological scope of the Chinese Christians. He emphasizes Trinitarian theology, natural theology, the theology of creation, and ethical principles common to all human beings. On the basis of these concepts, Ting attempts to find points of contact between the Christian faith, on the one hand, and traditional Chinese culture and modern secular Chinese society, on the other.Some critics of K. H. Ting claim that he is trying to introduce into Chinese Christianity liberal theological views which would eventually destroy some of the main pillars of the Evangelical faith. The present essay argues that this, in fact, is not the case; rather, K. H. Ting speaks for theological perspectives which belong to the theological mainstream, the ecumenical heritage of classical theology commonly accepted by a large number of both Protestant and Catholic theologians.Moreover, the essay points out that the contextualization of Christianity in China has been successful in adapting the Christian faith and life to the social, historical, and political context where the Chinese Christians live today. But the cultural aspect of contextualization, or inculturation, is just in the beginning. Younger Chinese theologians have a great challenge in facing the question: How to relate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to five thousand years of Chinese cultural experience, and how to connect this with various global cultural, economic, and other influences which so deeply affect the life of all people on this planet?

Religion, Secularism, and the Nation

Religion, Secularism, and the Nation

Secularization: An Academic Truism or a Dubious Hypothesis?

Secularization: An Academic Truism or a Dubious Hypothesis?

Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth ‐ by Lori Branch

<i>Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth</i> ‐ by Lori Branch

The Relation Between Sexual Behavior and Religiosity Subtypes: A Test of the Secularization Hypothesis

Previous literature on religion and sexual behavior has focused on narrow definitions of religiosity, including religious affiliation, religious participation, or forms of religiousness (e.g., intrinsic religiosity). Trends toward more permissive premarital sexual activity in the North American Christian-Judeo religion support the secularization hypothesis of religion, which posits an increasing gap between religious doctrine and behavior. However, the recent rise of fundamentalist and new age religious movements calls for a reexamination of the current link between religion and sexual behavior. The use of dual definitions of religiosity, including religious affiliation and dimensional subtypes, may further characterize this link. The present cross-sectional study evaluated patterns of sexual behavior in a young adult sample (N = 1302, M age = 18.77 years) in the context of the secularization hypothesis using religious affiliation and a liberal-conservative continuum of religious subtypes: paranormal belief, spirituality, intrinsic religiosity, and fundamentalism. Results indicated few affiliation differences in sexual behavior in men or women. Sexual behaviors were statistically predicted by spirituality, fundamentalism, and paranormal belief, and the endorsement of fundamentalism in particular was correlated with lower levels of female sexual behavior. The secularization hypothesis was supported by consistent levels of sexual activity across affiliations and is contradicted by the differential impact of religiosity subtypes on sexual behavior. Findings suggested that the use of religious subtypes to evaluate religious differences, rather than solely affiliation, may yield useful insights into the link between religion and sexual behavior.

Sect and Secularism in Reading the Modern

Cet article examine l’historiographie occidentale des mouvements « sectaires » chinois et montre comment les chercheurs ont repris à leur compte les constructions de l’État impérial d’une tradition sectaire unifiée, décrite comme l’ennemi de l’État et de la société. Cette construction a empêché les chercheurs de voir les continuités entre les mouvements religieux populaires de l’époque impériale et les nouveaux mouvements du XXe siècle (redemptive societies depuis les années dix, Qigong des années quatre-vingt et quatre-vingt-dix, etc.) ; cette analyse vise à repenser les catégories utilisées en sciences sociales de la religion en Chine (notamment la catégorie de « secte »), mais aussi à clarifier les rapports entre les analyses scientifiques des mouvements religieux en Chine et leur traitement politique.

Chieftaincy in Transition:

Secularisation and Tribute in Pre-cession Fiji

Secularism and the Imaginary Polemic of Israeli Intellectuals

Secularism and the Imaginary Polemic of Israeli Intellectuals

The Sacred Paradox of English Law

Extending the application of the work of Bailey (1997, 1998) and Smart (1998) to law, this article explores in more detail the construction of English law as an implicit religion, arguing that English law carries within it a ‘sacred paradox’ created by the tension between two aspects of law’s religious patterning. The first aspect is the secularising tendency within law, which is patterned by Christianity and constructs law as an implicit religion. The second aspect is a powerful motivational Christian discourse embedded in the texts of law. Again patterned by Christianity, it constructs within the law as an implicit religion a strong voice of the explicit religion of the implicit religious form. The article sets out in detail the proposed basic theoretical model of the sacred paradox of English law. It argues that the contours of this sacred paradox can be located in the language of certain types of legal judgement; particularly at the micro level of figurative language, and the macro level of narrative structure and discourse. Concrete examples of law, as an implicit religion in conflict with the structuring influence of its explicit templating religion, Christianity, are given through the analysis of the language of two law cases dealing with New Religious Movements: a conflict that reveals the sacred paradox at the very heart of English law.

Redefining Europe – Islam, Secularism and Diversity: “The Search for Europe’s future: Nations, religions, and politics”

not available&#x0D; &#x0D; Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v4i2.198

Redefining Europe – Islam, Secularism and Diversity: “The Search for Europe’s future: Nations, religions, and politics”

not available

Rethinking the ‘Problem’ of Religious Pluralism in Canada and the European Union

In recent years the nature of secularism and the rights of religious minorities have come to the fore as issues in debates concerning citizenship, multiculturalism and immigration, both in Canada and the European Union. Unlike earlier campaigns of secularization, these recent discourses of secularisation concern not only the institutional separation of Church and State but seek to protect modern secular society from the perceived threat of various externally rooted religious threats through the secularisation of subjects within public spaces. In an attempt to more fully understand this new form of secularisation, the consequences it has had and the debates it has generated in both Canada and the EU, the proposed paper will proceed on four fronts. First, it will outline the earlier discourses and practices of secularisation. Second, the article will posit that we are presently witnessing a different discourse of secularisation, one that is distinct from this earlier form. Third, the article will offer a critique of both discourses, arguing that both involve the deployment of essentialised conceptions of the religious, the secular, and their interaction. Fourth, an alternative approach will be offered, one that seeks to denaturalise the aforementioned categories. The article argues that it is only in this manner that a space and possibility for genuine dialogue concerning secularism and religious pluralism in Canada and the EU can be created.

Rethinking the ‘Problem’ of Religious Pluralism in Canada and the European Union

In recent years the nature of secularism and the rights of religious minorities have come to the fore as issues in debates concerning citizenship, multiculturalism and immigration, both in Canada and the European Union. Unlike earlier campaigns of secularization, these recent discourses of secularisation concern not only the institutional separation of Church and State but seek to protect modern secular society from the perceived threat of various externally rooted religious threats through the secularisation of subjects within public spaces. In an attempt to more fully understand this new form of secularisation, the consequences it has had and the debates it has generated in both Canada and the EU, the proposed paper will proceed on four fronts. First, it will outline the earlier discourses and practices of secularisation. Second, the article will posit that we are presently witnessing a different discourse of secularisation, one that is distinct from this earlier form. Third, the article will offer a critique of both discourses, arguing that both involve the deployment of essentialised conceptions of the religious, the secular, and their interaction. Fourth, an alternative approach will be offered, one that seeks to denaturalise the aforementioned categories. The article argues that it is only in this manner that a space and possibility for genuine dialogue concerning secularism and religious pluralism in Canada and the EU can be created.&#x0D; &#x0D; Full ext available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v4i2.197

Secularism, Liberalism and the Problem of Tolerance&lt;BR&gt; The Case of the USA

Secularism, Liberalism and the Problem of Tolerance&lt;BR&gt; The Case of the USA

Lori Branch.Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth.:Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth

Lori Branch.<i>Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth</i>.:Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth

Secularization (Religion in Belgium and France)

Secularization (Religion in Belgium and France)

Effects of competition on religious markets: some empirical evidence

The aim of this article is to assess, from an empirical point of view, the relative explanatory capacities of two hypotheses that address the link between economics and religion: the religious markets and the secularization hypothesis. First, we estimate a baseline model that takes into account both hypotheses jointly. Secondly, we study in a separate way the influence of socioeconomic development and market structure. Finally, we investigate the relationship between group size and religious commitment. Overall, the results suggest some supporting evidence for the predictions derived from the hypothesis of religious markets that emphasize the over-riding importance of the degree of competition as a determinant factor of religious behaviours.

Secularism and coercive freedoms

Secularism and coercive freedoms

Fundamentalism and the masculine body: The case of Jewish Ultra-Orthodox men in Israel

The predominant model in the literature on fundamentalism focuses on the tense relationship between contemporary radical religious movements and their environment. The characteristic violence that has made fundamentalism notorious is conventionally explained in terms of defensive or offensive reactions to the challenge of the modern secular society. In light of recent developments in the fundamentalist world, we propose to employ a novel analytic framework to update and revise the current conceptualization. Our argumentation is based on extensive fieldwork in a particular case of Jewish fundamentalism. We introduce into the agenda of fundamentalism research a category conspicuously absent thus far: the body. Results of ethnographic study of Ultra-Orthodoxy in Israel throw light on the very existence of fundamentalist body, and emphasize its implications for better understanding the fundamentalist predicament. The body poses a major problem to fundamentalists and plays a key role in their typical behavior and particularly in their violence. Discussing fundamentalism in terms of the body allows us to see its militancy as a solution to intra-fundamentalist problems that emerge in advanced stages of the movements' life, on the one hand, and paradoxically as a means towards reconciliation with the movements' environment normally regarded as its enemy, on the other hand. In the case presented here the fundamentalist violence is manifested in various hitherto unexplored ways including an enthusiastic service in the military of the nation-state. Such peculiar violence indicates present-day fundamentalist experimentation in an attempt to establish new possibilities of coming to terms with ever changing social and political reality, while at the same time to pursue revolutionary options of radical religious experience.

El porvenir de una des-ilusión: Hacia un examen pluriaxial de la secularización

El presente articulo aborda el topico de la secularizacion como concepto, tesis, teoria, paradigma, proceso socioempirico y dogma/fe, intentando dar cuenta de los profusos debates registrados en el marco de las ciencias sociales de los ultimos 20 anos en torno a la vitalidad/ agonia y porvenir de sus postulados en cada una de dichas acepciones. Asumiendo la excepcionalidad de Europa occidental, se destaca y discute una serie de desconfirmaciones empiricas -con particular atencion en America Latina- que parecen venir minando lo que fuera el paradigma de la secularizacion, generando una interesante dinamica entre autores criticos y defensores, asi como un conjunto de interrogantes en torno al futuro de la nocion de secularizacion.