Significance Of Religion Research Articles

Discourses of Love, Compassion, and Belonging: Reframing Christianity for a Secular Audience

Religious plurality has implications for religious organisations active within the public realm. Using semi-structured interviews, I examine how Christians and Christian organisations are framing faith discourses so that they resonate with religiously neutral discourses dominant in the public sphere. There are indications of a shift towards the use of profane terms instead of sacred terms to explain aspects of the Christian faith and Christian teachings of love, compassion, and belonging are amplified to counter criticisms that Christianity is a threat to liberal rights and beliefs. This article conceptualises these discourses as two social action frames: the ‘Love Frame’ and the ‘Inclusivity Frame’. I do not refute claims that the social significance of religion is declining but argue that Christians and Christian organisations are working within the confines of secular discourses to disseminate their messages in order to build credibility as egalitarian public service providers.

Welfare and religion in Europe

This article considers the persistent links between religion and welfare across Europe. It does so by drawing on an extensive body of comparative material brought together by the Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre. A central question is addressed: why is it that the churches are doing more than they used to as agents of welfare despite the fact that Europe itself is becoming more rather than less secular? The findings reveal the continuing significance of religion (and indeed of theology) as an independent variable in this increasingly studied field.

"Hidden in Plain Sight": The Significance of Religion and Spirituality in Secular Organizations

Through examples from our own research and that of others, we argue that there is much to learn about religion through the study of its presence in secular organizations where it is “hidden in plain sight.” Making “invisible religion” visible furthers arguments about why sociologists should care about religion and shows how religion can be conceptualized to help us understand religious history, social change, and social processes. Additionally, we show that better understanding how individuals piece together a bricolage of meanings, including those forged from religious beliefs and practices, will come only from also paying attention to the social contexts—many of them secular—that contribute to shaping individual lives. We conclude by suggesting that sociologists of religion model how sociologists of gender and race have conceived of gender and race at individual and structural levels in ways that integrate their concerns more thoroughly with the discipline of sociology.

Négocier les différences religieuses dans les organisations laïques : l’exemple des chapelles d’hôpitaux

Research about religion and community is more likely to look at religious communities than at the presence and significance of religion in secular settings. The author considers religion in such settings by asking how religion and spirituality are present in one set of large academic hospitals in the United States. She focuses on the physical spaces – typically called chapels or meditation rooms – these hospitals demarcate for religious or spiritual purposes. She finds hospitals increasingly removing religious symbols and objects from these spaces in an effort to make them more versatile and accessible to a range of people. Rather than multi-faith spaces shared by people from a range of religious backgrounds, hospitals are creating seemingly neutral spaces focused on art or nature that sometimes nevertheless continue to reflect underlying Christian assumptions. A clearer picture of how religion is present in secular organizations is essential to a complete understanding of how it operates in a range of institutions, sectors and national contexts.

The Social Significance of Religion in the Enlarged Europe: Secularization, Individualization and Pluralization

The Social Significance of Religion in the Enlarged Europe: Secularization, Individualization and Pluralization

'We are All Enlisted': An LDS Family and the Persian Gulf War

On August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. In the next month, political discussion centered around how the United States should react to this invasion. Not just political parties or groups of citizens debated about what to do in the face of war, individual families struggled through politics, patriotism, and ideology to deal with the possibility that one of their own would be marching off to war. As opposing groups argued their cases, families around the world stood at attention waiting to hear the fate of their enlisted members. When faced with the threat of separation, relocation, even possible death, it is fairly common to assess, even reassess politics, patriotism, and ideology. More importantly, it is not uncommon for individuals to reassess the meaning of life itself. For one family this war thrust its members into just such a dialogue. For this family, where traditions were cherished yet envisioned differently among each generation and each individual, the significance of religion, love, and the very meaning of family became the central focus of daily letters sent to their soldier activated in the Persian Gulf War.

Playing with Religion in Contemporary Theatre

Contemporary theatre sometimes uses religious language, symbols, and poses. What do these references mean? Reflection on four productions shows the usefulness of tools developed in the study of liturgy. First, this helps to produce an account of the roles of the sacred and of community in theatre shows. Secondly, this throws light on the appearance of religion in ‘liquid modernity’. Thirdly, the study of religion in theatre shows how boundaries between fields are fluid – not only between arts and religion, but also between the field of arts and the academic field. Both deal with the significance of religion in a world where religious traditions are questioned and used, both in and outside the religious sphere.

Religion, Politics and the Everyday Moral Order in Bangladesh

Commentaries on contemporary Bangladesh give increasing attention to the role of religion, particularly its more “fundamentalist” forms, in public politics. Here we offer an alternative analysis that explores the significance of religion in people's everyday lives, concentrating on its articulation in community politics. We draw on an important local distinction between dharma understood as a moral foundation for life and dharma understood more narrowly as “religion.” Our empirical analysis suggests that it is the former sense of dharma which has greater relevance for the moral order of the community, and is used to evaluate and structure its social and political institutions, including those identified as “religious.” This perspective furnishes fresh insights into the dynamic relationship between religion, politics and social change in modern Bangladesh.

The significance of religion in Hamlet

The tragedy Hamlet is one of the most important of Shakespeare’s plays published and performed as part of the rainbow of world literature. This study investigates the role of religion in Hamlet, and attempts to provide a new interpretation to understand how religious beliefs influence the characters’ motives. Text analysis shows Hamlet’s social surroundings are receptive to metaphysical beliefs. Hamlet is fundamentally more religious than his religious community; therefore, he seems reluctant to take a position on his father's murderer because of his fearing to be a sinner. The paper concludes that, although Christianity is the main influence on Hamlet, the playwright also uses Hellenic religious symbols for purely rhetorical purposes. Hamlet, having suffered a psychological shock, re-evaluated events in light of his religious views. Even if the ghost’s appearance is the result of mental illness caused by the trauma of his mother's marriage to his uncle and the story of killing his father is imagined, Hamlet's attitudes and behavior are religiously based. Hamlet reveals how Shakespeare uses rhetoric to create a religious message about the church and re-create the values of right and wrong according to his own view, so he punishes sinners by creating disastrous endings. Key words: Hamlet, Shakespeare, religion, Christianity, hesitation, revenge, Hamlet's shock, Hamlet's faith.

The Secularisation of the British Constitution

In recent years, the relationship between law and religion has been subject to increased scholarly interest. In part this is the result of new laws protecting religious liberty and non-discrimination, and it may be that overall levels of litigation have increased as well. In all this activity, there are signs that the relationship between law and religion is changing. While unable to address every matter of detail, this article seeks to identify the underlying themes and trends. It starts by suggesting that the constitutional settlement achieved by the end of the nineteenth century has often been overlooked, religion only appearing in the guise of inadequately theorised commitments to individual liberty and equality. The article then considers the role of multiculturalism in promoting recent legal changes. However, the new commitment to multiculturalism cannot explain a number of features of the law: the minimal impact of the Human Rights Act 1998, the uncertain effect of equality legislation, an apparent rise in litigation in established areas of law and religion, and some striking cases in which acts have been found to be unlawful in surprising ways. In contrast, the article proposes a new secularisation thesis. The law is coming to treat religions as merely recreational and trivial. This has the effect of reducing the significance of religion as a matter of conscience, as legal system and as a context for public service. As a way of managing the ever-deepening forms of religious diversity present within the United Kingdom, such a secularisation strategy is implausible.1

God is Not Dead or Violent: The Catholic Church, Just War, and the “Resurgence” of Religion

AbstractWhile scholars have recognized a resurgence of religion, their focus mainly has been on religion's more violent aspects, overlooking its peaceful capacities and effects. This oversight is due in part to the lack of theoretical rigor when it comes to the study of politics and religion. Using the Catholic Church's opposition to the United States’ 2003 war in Iraq, this article highlights the political significance of religion's moral, symbolic voice, which is as important as the hard power that has traditionally dominated international relations. The post-Vatican II Catholic Church's modern articulation of human dignity and interpretation of just war theory challenges both scholars and policymakers to utilize the peaceful, diplomatic methods that international relations theory and practitioners have made available. Religion's role in politics, therefore, can be one that is supportive of modern political societies and it need not be violent.

Spirituality and caring in old age and the significance of religion – a hermeneutical study from Norway

Spirituality is an important part of caring for the whole human being. However, there is lack of consensus about the concept parameter, and there is an ongoing discussion in nursing regarding the relation between religion and spirituality. Spirituality and religion is found to support health and well-being in old age, and this article portrays how older Norwegians understand religion and religious support as part of spirituality and caring. The theoretical framework in this study is Eriksson's caritative caring theory, and the research aim is to broaden the understanding of spirituality from a caring science perspective. The methodology is hermeneutical according to Gadamer. The study is based upon qualitative content analysis of 30 interviews with 17 participants above 74 years, six men and 11 women. The findings portray connectedness with a Higher power, including how Christianity has influenced upon the philosophy of life of the participants, wonders about the end of life/afterlife, and the meaning of religious symbols and rituals. The study also portrays how religious support may foster dignity, especially near the end of life, and experiences and opinions regarding support from nursing personnel. The study concludes that religiousness cannot be separated from spirituality, and that nurses should be able to provide spiritual care to a certain extent. Spiritual care including religious support according to patients' desires may foster health and preserve human dignity.

Religion and Smoking: A Review of Recent Literature

Tobacco smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke are a major threat to human health worldwide. The effort to prevent tobacco use should be regarded as an important public health strategy. Given the significance of religion and spirituality in the daily life of more than 90% of the world's population, the relationship of religion and smoking should be seen as a critical research area. Religions are many and varied, but most value human well-being highly and so do not approve of tobacco use, even though they do not prohibit it entirely. In recent years, researchers have shown more interest in the subject of religion and health, including drug and tobacco use. Differences of focus and methodology notwithstanding, most studies have ascertained a deterrent role for religion as regards tobacco use, and several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the negative relationship between religion or spirituality and smoking. Many of the studies, however, suffer from shortcomings that need to be acknowledged and addressed, such as using nonstandard data-gathering tools, lack of a unified definition of religion or spirituality, and paucity of research in non-Christian and developing countries. Finally, the cross-sectional nature of many of the studies makes the meaningful interpretation of findings difficult.

Religion and American Public Life

In his 2000 best seller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Civic Community, Robert Putnam analyzed the links between social capital and civic engagement. Lamenting the decline of “civic America,” he called for a Tocquevillean renewal of voluntary association in the United States. In American Grace, Putnam and coauthor David Campbell—who also helped with the preparation of Bowling Alone—return to the analysis of American civil society, focusing their attention on America's changing religious landscape and its implications for democracy. Their basic argument is that while the United States is religiously diverse and pluralistic to a profound degree, and while in recent years it has witnessed growing religious polarization, it has also succeeded in muting religious tensions and hostilities. As they conclude: “How has America solved the puzzle of religious pluralism—the coexistence of religious diversity and devotion? And how has it done so in the wake of growing religious polarization? By creating a web of interlocking personal relationships among people of many different faiths. This is America's grace” (p. 550).Given the importance of religion in American life and the influence of Putnam's broad agenda on much current social science research on social capital and civic engagement, we have decided to organize a symposium around the book, centered on three questions: 1) How is American Grace related to Putnam's earlier work, particularly Bowling Alone, and what are the implications of the continuities and/or discontinuities between these works? 2) What kind of a work of political science is American Grace, and how does it compare to other important recent work dealing with religion and politics in the United States? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Putnam and Campbell's account of “how religion divides and unites us,” and what is the best way of thinking about the contemporary significance of religion and politics in the United States and about the ways that the religious landscape challenges U.S. politics and U.S. political science?

Religion and American Public Life

In his 2000 best seller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Civic Community, Robert Putnam analyzed the links between social capital and civic engagement. Lamenting the decline of “civic America,” he called for a Tocquevillean renewal of voluntary association in the United States. In American Grace, Putnam and coauthor David Campbell—who also helped with the preparation of Bowling Alone—return to the analysis of American civil society, focusing their attention on America's changing religious landscape and its implications for democracy. Their basic argument is that while the United States is religiously diverse and pluralistic to a profound degree, and while in recent years it has witnessed growing religious polarization, it has also succeeded in muting religious tensions and hostilities. As they conclude: “How has America solved the puzzle of religious pluralism—the coexistence of religious diversity and devotion? And how has it done so in the wake of growing religious polarization? By creating a web of interlocking personal relationships among people of many different faiths. This is America's grace” (p. 550).Given the importance of religion in American life and the influence of Putnam's broad agenda on much current social science research on social capital and civic engagement, we have decided to organize a symposium around the book, centered on three questions: 1) How is American Grace related to Putnam's earlier work, particularly Bowling Alone, and what are the implications of the continuities and/or discontinuities between these works? 2) What kind of a work of political science is American Grace, and how does it compare to other important recent work dealing with religion and politics in the United States? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Putnam and Campbell's account of “how religion divides and unites us,” and what is the best way of thinking about the contemporary significance of religion and politics in the United States and about the ways that the religious landscape challenges U.S. politics and U.S. political science?

Religion and American Public Life

In his 2000 best seller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Civic Community, Robert Putnam analyzed the links between social capital and civic engagement. Lamenting the decline of “civic America,” he called for a Tocquevillean renewal of voluntary association in the United States. In American Grace, Putnam and coauthor David Campbell—who also helped with the preparation of Bowling Alone—return to the analysis of American civil society, focusing their attention on America's changing religious landscape and its implications for democracy. Their basic argument is that while the United States is religiously diverse and pluralistic to a profound degree, and while in recent years it has witnessed growing religious polarization, it has also succeeded in muting religious tensions and hostilities. As they conclude: “How has America solved the puzzle of religious pluralism—the coexistence of religious diversity and devotion? And how has it done so in the wake of growing religious polarization? By creating a web of interlocking personal relationships among people of many different faiths. This is America's grace” (p. 550).Given the importance of religion in American life and the influence of Putnam's broad agenda on much current social science research on social capital and civic engagement, we have decided to organize a symposium around the book, centered on three questions: 1) How is American Grace related to Putnam's earlier work, particularly Bowling Alone, and what are the implications of the continuities and/or discontinuities between these works? 2) What kind of a work of political science is American Grace, and how does it compare to other important recent work dealing with religion and politics in the United States? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Putnam and Campbell's account of “how religion divides and unites us,” and what is the best way of thinking about the contemporary significance of religion and politics in the United States and about the ways that the religious landscape challenges U.S. politics and U.S. political science?

Religion and American Public Life

In his 2000 best seller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Civic Community, Robert Putnam analyzed the links between social capital and civic engagement. Lamenting the decline of “civic America,” he called for a Tocquevillean renewal of voluntary association in the United States. In American Grace, Putnam and coauthor David Campbell—who also helped with the preparation of Bowling Alone—return to the analysis of American civil society, focusing their attention on America's changing religious landscape and its implications for democracy. Their basic argument is that while the United States is religiously diverse and pluralistic to a profound degree, and while in recent years it has witnessed growing religious polarization, it has also succeeded in muting religious tensions and hostilities. As they conclude: “How has America solved the puzzle of religious pluralism—the coexistence of religious diversity and devotion? And how has it done so in the wake of growing religious polarization? By creating a web of interlocking personal relationships among people of many different faiths. This is America's grace” (p. 550).Given the importance of religion in American life and the influence of Putnam's broad agenda on much current social science research on social capital and civic engagement, we have decided to organize a symposium around the book, centered on three questions: 1) How is American Grace related to Putnam's earlier work, particularly Bowling Alone, and what are the implications of the continuities and/or discontinuities between these works? 2) What kind of a work of political science is American Grace, and how does it compare to other important recent work dealing with religion and politics in the United States? 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Putnam and Campbell's account of “how religion divides and unites us,” and what is the best way of thinking about the contemporary significance of religion and politics in the United States and about the ways that the religious landscape challenges U.S. politics and U.S. political science?

Check This One out: Analyzing Slang Usage among Iranian Male and Female Teenagers

Slang usage in modern age Iran is a popular phenomenon among most male and female teenagers. How pervasive this variation of language use is among various age and sex groups in Iran has been a question of debate given the significance of religion in a theological system of social structure. The work presented in this study aims to investigate the effect of age and sex on variability of slang usage. Sixty Iranian participants were selected, and then were divided into three age groups (i.e. primary school, high school, and senior university students) each group consisting of ten males and ten females. A self-made questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Test (DCT) describing nine situations of friendly conversations was given to the participants. They were asked to make their choice on the responses, which ranged from formal to very informal style (common teenage slang expressions), or to write down what they wish to say under each circumstance. The results of the chi–square tests indicated that slang usage among high school students is more frequent as compared with other age groups. Unlike the popular belief suggesting that slang is used by boys rather than girls, the findings suggested that young Iranians both male and female use slang as a badge of identity showing their attachment to the social group they wish to be identified with.

The Religious Roots of Irish Nationalism

The intensity of conflict in the Middle East tends to overshadow other instances where ethno-national conflict has a religious base. The author draws attention to one of them: Ireland. He considers the link between religion and nationalism in Ireland from three perspectives. The first is the significance of religion as an “ethnic marker”: as an indicator of geopolitical (and therefore ethnic) origin rather than of belief system. The second is the role of religious belief, and its potential to accentuate differences between communities. The third is the impact of social organization: the tendency of faith groups towards separate but internally integrated organization, and therefore towards the promotion of group solidarity. The author concludes by exploring the implications of this link between religion and nationalism following the partition of the island.

Religion, state and third sector in England

The revived significance of religion at the end of the 20th century throughout Europe poses important issues about the role of religious bodies, their beliefs and their relations with the state. In England, the state has attempted to reach various forms of accommodation with newly assertive faith groups. The approach taken by government is explored as is the provision of public education by religious bodies. The legitimacy of the claims made by faith groups, as part of civil society, and the terms of their engagement in the public realm remain to be resolved.