Traditional Religious Organizations Research Articles

ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ РЕЛИГИОЗНЫХ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЙ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИСПРАВЛЕНИЯ ВЕРУЮЩИХ ОСУЖДЕННЫХ В ПРОЦЕССЕ ОТБЫВАНИЯ НАКАЗАНИЯ И ПОСЛЕ ИХ ОСВОБОЖДЕНИЯ

The research is devoted to the issues of the activities of religious organizations in institutions of the Russian penal system. The article identifies trends in changes in penal enforcement legislation in the field of strengthening traditional spiritual and moral values in the penal policy of the Russian Federation. The article examines the social concepts of traditional religious organizations in Russia in terms of providing assistance to convicts, as well as the main directions and forms of participation of clergy, religious and non-profit organizations in the implementation of basic means of correction of convicts. Special attention is paid to the study of the role of religious organizations, as well as religiously oriented non-profit organizations in promoting the re-socialization and social adaptation of convicts. Proposals have been made to develop means of legal regulation and law enforcement practice in the field of interaction between institutions and bodies of the penal enforcement system with traditional centralized religious organizations in Russia.

Sociocultural activity of the UGCC at the current stage in Ukraine: religious and philosophical view

The article presents the religious-philosophical perspective of the socio-cultural activity of the UGCC. The religious factor plays a visible role in the state-forming processes of Ukraine during the modern period. The social sphere and culture of Ukraine is an environment in which traditional religious organizations often realize their abilities, and at the same time demonstrate their own civic position. Thematic forums and projects claim that the church can be a worthy state's partner by organizing the socio-cultural life of the society. The purpose of the study: religious-philosophical analysis of the role of the UGCC in the socio-cultural sphere at the present stage. The methodological basis of the research is a systematic approach to the study of socio-cultural activities of the UGCC at the present stage, an interpretive research paradigm, a descriptive method, an interdisciplinary analysis, and a methodological approach to everyday analytics. The information base of this study were scientific publications of religious studies scholars, theologians, historians, cultural scientists, as well as the dissertation abstracts, documents and materials of theological period, which were presented on the official websites of the UGCC. The article covers the religious and philosophical view of the sociocultural activity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). It is determined that the models of social and culture-generating activity of the UGCC are established as early as in the period of Andrey Sheptytsky's archpastorate; a powerful experience of socio-cultural church work was also formed at the times of the underground, at the beginning of Ukraine's acquisition of its inependence, during the periods of patriarchal leadership of cardinals Myroslav Lyubachivsky and Lyubomyr Huzar. In the current publication, the modern phase of socio-cultural activity of the UGCC we tie to the beginning of Svyatoslav Shevchuk's patriarchship. It is researched that at this stage, the UGCC in large part employs the possibilities of modern digital technologies for the spread of Christian doctrine, presentation and popularisation of its activity. The participation of Greek Catholic clergy and laypeople in social and cultural spheres takes place simultaneously, they complement one another. The UGCC pays much attention to offering social aid to vulnerable categories of the population (orphans, lonely people of advanced age, etc.), strengthening the family institution, family values; develops chaplaincy; realises potential capabilities of clergy and laypeople in such areas of culture as education, literature, various kinds of art, theatre, media. A powerful contribution by the UGCC both at the beginning of the 20th century and in the modern era has been in the development of Ukrainian-language environment in the field of liturgical and ceremonial practice, and also in vectors of activity expanded upon in the current research. The prospects for studying this problem will be studying of the experiences of the UGCC regarding spiritual and social support of Ukrainian society during the war, the development of social and cultural initiatives in the post-war period using the experience of many cells (archdiocese, dioceses, monastic congregations, parishes).

Unchurched Christian Nationalism and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election*

Prior research found that Christian nationalism was strongly associated with voting for Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. However, the effects of Christian nationalism may depend on voters’ religiosity. Using national data, we assess whether the association between Christian nationalism and Trump support differed for churchgoers and nonchurchgoers and find that Christian nationalism is not significantly associated with Trump support among churchgoing voters. Instead, Christian nationalism is only significantly associated with Trump support among unchurched voters. These results suggest that while religious sentiments remain key correlates of political attitudes and behavior in the United States, these ties may have less to do with embeddedness in traditional religious organizations and more to do with the ways people use religious narratives in everyday life to construct and defend symbolic boundaries. At a time when fewer Americans attend religious services, religious narratives about Christian nationhood may have their strongest political effects when, and perhaps because, they are detached from religious institutions.

ДЕСЕКУЛЯРИЗАЦИЯ В РОССИЙСКОМ ОБЩЕСТВЕ: ПРЕДПОСЫЛКИ И ПРОЯВЛЕНИЯ

законных основаниях, хотя и в очень узких пределах. Она включала обращение к религиозной проблематике в сфере культурного творчества и культурной деятельности, а также оживление религиозных и мировоззренческих исканий в советском обществе в 60-80-е годы ХХ века. Позднесоветское и постсоветское возрождение религии не возникло внезапно, но представляло собой развитие и разрастание десекуляризационных тенденций, начавшихся в советском обществе еще в середине ХХ века, несмотря на продолжавшуюся политику ограничения религиозной деятельности и атеистического воспитания.
 Перспективы использования результатов исследования. Результаты исследования могут использоваться в дальнейшем изучении религиозной динамики российского общества.

‘God As We Understood Him’

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) draw upon beliefs, practices, and experiences they deem spiritual in order to help them get and stay sober. This article traces how AA emerged from its evangelical parent to become a “spiritual rather than religious organization” by encouraging members to engage with “God as we understood Him.” Interviews with thirty-four current and former AA members in the greater Los Angeles area, as well as ethnographic observation at AA meetings and related events, reveal how a significant number of modern AAs have adopted a personal “spiritual but not religious” orientation, seeking a healing truth outside of traditional religious organizations. Emerging from the Twelve Steps and sometimes in imitation of one of AA’s founders, this perennialist orientation touts a loving and forgiving Higher Power and a notion of spirituality as a profound interconnection with other alcoholics, challenging scholarly assumptions about narcissism and social disengagement in contemporary spirituality.

“The world food crisis is not a fad”: TheMore-with-LessCookbook and Protestant Environmental Spirituality

ABSTRACTThis article examines the spirituality reflected in the 1976 cookbookMore-with-Less. Written by a former Mennonite missionary hoping to provide religious households with a practical way to respond to world hunger, the cookbook's message of a simple diet that could transform users' influence on the world is an early example of the religious environmentalism that has grown increasingly popular among middle-class American Protestants in the last several decades. By examining its historical context, narrating its genesis, and critically assessing the spirituality it recommended, this article argues that the cookbook provides a useful window into Protestant environmental spirituality, its version of which allowed practitioners to maintain traditional institutional relationships and conceptions of the divine while cultivating the individuated religiosity increasingly sought after in modern culture. Emerging in the institutional overlap of traditional religious organizations and the putatively secular formations of mass media, globalization, and consumer culture, the cookbook leveraged the incipient emphasis on lifestyle choices within consumer culture to craft an individuated response to a vision of the world in permanent crisis.More-with-Lessand the Protestant environmental spirituality it represents shed light on current scholarly debates about the form religion takes within modern contexts of secularity, especially when religious practitioners seek adaptations that can maintain traditional theological and organizational commitments.

Spirituality and Tourism in Japanese Pilgrimage Sites

Contemporary society understands spirituality as an individualized "quest of self-discovery and reflection" that combines eclectic elements, while disregarding traditional religious organizations. This social context has shaped how sacred sites are managed and promoted in tourism, as well as tourist motivation and behaviour. Still, the information on religious and spiritual-related tourism remains Euro-centric, although around half of an estimated 600 million religious and spiritual travels take place in Asia and the Pacific (UNWTO 2011). In order to contribute to studies on the area, the purpose of this article is to explore the intersection of spirituality and tourism in a non-Western pilgrimage site utilizing the three categories of Olsen (2015) to interpret and organize research materials in a coherent format. The Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails in Japan were selected as case study. Results showed a variety of Japanese-specific research materials related to contemporary spirituality and tourism that still draw some parallels to the West. Following Olsen's categories, the case study showed mainly elements from spiritual tourism, with some from New Age tourism as well. Wellness was a particularly emphasized characteristic. Further research is suggested to develop Olsen's categorization and to deepen the study of non-Western tourism contexts of contemporary spirituality in different areas.

Being Done: Why People Leave the Church, But Not Their Faith

Institutionally organized religious life in the United State is undergoing a dramatic transformation. While individual beliefs and practices remain relatively stable, institutional affiliation and participation has declined dramatically. In this article, we explore the religious “Dones”—those who have disaffiliated with their religious congregations but, unlike the Nones, continue to associate with a religious tradition. Drawing on a unique dataset of 100 in-depth interviews with self-identified Christians, we explain the “push” and “pull” factors that lead a person to intentionally leave their congregations. We find that a bureaucratic structure and a narrow focus on certain moral proscriptions can drive people away, while the prospect of forming more meaningful relationships and the opportunities to actively participate in social justice issues draw people out. From these factors, we show that an “iron cage of congregations” exists that is ill-suited to respond to a world where religious life is increasingly permeable as people enact their spirituality outside traditional religious organizations. We conclude by questioning whether the spiritual lives of the Dones are ultimately sustainable without institutional support.

The Covenant Connection Reexamined: The Nexus between Religions and Federalism in Asia

The covenant connection thesis forms an important basis from which to understand the religious source of federalism. Yet with its Judeo-Christian roots, to what extent does it apply to Asian countries that have different religious traditions? In this article, we explore whether the covenant connection thesis is relevant to Asian federalism in the context of Muslim-, Hindu-, and Buddhist-majority countries. We find that while the presence or absence of a covenantal tradition within a religion can partially explain acceptance of, or resistance to, federalism, there are other religious features that also play a role. These include the extent to which traditional religious organizations are internally centralized, the extent to which religion and state governance are intertwined or separate from each other, and the extent to which a religion that constitutes the core national identity is threatened by other religions that are or may be empowered by federal arrangements.

Participación comunitaria para la protección del patrimonio construido. Sistema de cargos: caso de San Bernardino Tlaxcalancingo, Puebla, México

Se presentan resultados de la investigación desarrollada acerca de organizaciones religiosas tradicionales, en las que el eje de la vida cotidiana es la actividad religiosa que contribuye a definir la identidad local y sustenta acciones comunitarias de protección del patrimonio tangible e intangible. Con el consiguiente fortalecimiento del sentimiento de arraigo al lugar y vocación por la participación en la conservación de todo aquello que le pertenece; para efecto de esta investigación la existencia de organizaciones comunitarias religiosas se torna relevante cuando se detectan, con alarma, dos aspectos fundamentales relacionados con la conservación del patrimonio construido, por un lado, la gran cantidad de inmuebles con valor histórico existentes en el estado de Puebla y, por otro, el acelerado grado de deterioro que la mayoría presenta.

The Natural Environment as a Spiritual Resource: A Theory of Regional Variation in Religious Adherence

A region's natural environment has profound social effects for an area. Previous work has connected the environment to tourism, migration rates, community attachment, and economic outcomes. In this article, we explore how nature may impact the religious structuring of a region. Specifically, we investigate if beautiful landscapes and good weather—what scholars call “natural amenities”—could be spiritual resources used by the population to connect with the sacred. We hypothesize that the environment, as a spiritual resource, would compete with more traditional religious organizations. Thus, we expect that regions with higher levels of natural amenities would experience lower rates of religious adherence. To test our hypothesis, we use spatial econometric modeling techniques to analyze data from the Religious Congregations and Membership Study, United States Department of Agriculture, the U.S. County Business Patterns, and the Census. Results show that counties with higher levels of natural amenities have lower rates of adherence to traditional religious organizations.

Give me that online-time religion: The role of the internet in spiritual life

Online religious forums allow individuals to meet and interact with others who share their faith, beliefs, and values from the privacy of their homes. Active membership in traditional religious organizations has been shown to fulfill important social needs and to be associated with a number of benefits for the individuals involved. The survey study we report here found that many of the self and social benefits derived from participation in local religious institutions also accrue for those who take part in virtual religious forums. These interactive online forums were found to attract both those who are actively engaged in their local religious organizations and those who are unaffiliated.

Cognitive Development, Socialization and Congnitive Mutation A Critique and Elaboration of Boyer’s Naturalness of Religion A Case Study of the Sukuma of Tanzania

The Sukuma of Tanzania have no traditional religious organizations, only a wide-ranging variability in their religious practices within a loose paradigm which makes socialization to specific practices unlikely. Religious practices as social mutation may survive or disappear.One mutant religious practice which failed to survive is described which shows the unlikelihood of a general developmental process from ideas present in the very young which could account for their basic religious ideas.Researchers may see few ceremonies and expecting to find a religious organization, construct one on slender evidence, thus showing their preferences for a systems rather than an action approach in field work.

Religious Involvement among Unmarried Adolescent Mothers: A Source of Emotional Support?

Distress in unmarried mothers is related to conflict between religious norms and behavior particularly when cohabitation is involved. There is a significant increase in distress scores for those attending religious services or in contact with fellow participants in the religious community. Bivariate analysis indicated only one significant relationship between any background variable and religious factors; this variable was the greater likelihood of having grown up in a 2 parent family. Background variables pertained to socioeconomic aspects of the adolescents family of origin and her marital status. Religious factors were not directly associated with social sport in terms of parents bonds or perception of support from the family. Previous findings do show an association between social support and depression but the bivariate results showed no significant relationship between any background variables and depression (CES-D) scores. There was no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between cohabitation and psychological distress alone. Higher depression levels were found among Catholics of whom 75% attended services compared to only about 50% of Protestants and 20% with no faith. Nonprotestants attending services also increased their depression scores by 70.7 points but whether or not Protestants attended services showed no effect on depression scores. Longitudinal data were obtained for bivariate and multivariate models from a study of 260 pregnant adolescents living in Southwestern Ontario Canadabetween 1984 and 1986. The sample included 22% who were <16 years of age and an average age of 17.6 years. About 33% were married or living with a partner. Almost 80% reported a religious faith. CES-D scores were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale of Radloff. Higher scores indicated greater depression. Social support was measured by Parkers Parental Bonding Instrument and by the Provisions of Social Relations Scale of Turner et al. Religious preference attendance and religiosity were measured. The aim was to examine the emotional consequences for unmarried women having a child while involved with traditional religious organizations.