Pub Date : 2022-03-30DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10030
Niels De Nutte
Although Belgium has been a pioneer in dynamics related to the legalisation of euthanasia since the early 2000s, the historical work done on the subject is still very limited. Quite some work has, however, been done on the legal and ethical aspects and implications of euthanasia laws. Questions about societal dynamics in end-of-life issues’ acceptance and debate in the twentieth century in Belgium are to this day unanswered. It is clear, however, that before 1970, no advocacy groups on the matter existed. In this paper, we look at the scope, tone and volume of Belgian newspaper coverage in three events linked to euthanasia, which occurred prior to the emergence of advocacy groups on the subject. The three cases covered are the 1936 bill put forward by Lord Arthur Ponsonby on euthanasia in Great Britain, the 1949 trial of Dr. Herman Sander, the American physician who was charged with the murder of a patient suffering from cancer, and the 1950 release of the film “Meurtres” by Richard Pottier in which famed French actor Fernandel played a man mercy-killing his wife, based on the eponymous book written by Belgian novelist Charles Plisnier in 1943. With this paper, we shed light on the portrayal of euthanasia as a subject and the societal attitude that corresponds to it. The highly pillarised nature of 20th century Belgian newspapers makes this source material highly suited to this endeavour.
{"title":"In the Face of Death","authors":"Niels De Nutte","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10030","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Although Belgium has been a pioneer in dynamics related to the legalisation of euthanasia since the early 2000s, the historical work done on the subject is still very limited. Quite some work has, however, been done on the legal and ethical aspects and implications of euthanasia laws. Questions about societal dynamics in end-of-life issues’ acceptance and debate in the twentieth century in Belgium are to this day unanswered. It is clear, however, that before 1970, no advocacy groups on the matter existed. In this paper, we look at the scope, tone and volume of Belgian newspaper coverage in three events linked to euthanasia, which occurred prior to the emergence of advocacy groups on the subject. The three cases covered are the 1936 bill put forward by Lord Arthur Ponsonby on euthanasia in Great Britain, the 1949 trial of Dr. Herman Sander, the American physician who was charged with the murder of a patient suffering from cancer, and the 1950 release of the film “Meurtres” by Richard Pottier in which famed French actor Fernandel played a man mercy-killing his wife, based on the eponymous book written by Belgian novelist Charles Plisnier in 1943. With this paper, we shed light on the portrayal of euthanasia as a subject and the societal attitude that corresponds to it. The highly pillarised nature of 20th century Belgian newspapers makes this source material highly suited to this endeavour.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"21 3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85432836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10022
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme
{"title":"Narratives of Secularization, by Peter Harrison (ed.)","authors":"Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10022","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87825995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10021
Jacqui Frost
{"title":"Secularization, by Charles Turner","authors":"Jacqui Frost","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"25 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72429814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10025
I. P. Okpaleke
The relationship between language, music and cultural identity has always been of special interest in the social sciences, especially in the areas of anthropology, social psychology and ethnomusicology. The main argument revolves on how language reflected through music positively impacts on the identity of a social group, and what happens where this is lacking. Cultures die and languages go into extinction when there are no creative ways of keeping them alive. The aim of this essay is to investigate how the culture and language of a particular society could be safeguarded through music. Beyond the theoretical framework, I shall substantiate this investigation with the example of the Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria, whose cultural identity is seriously threatened by the lack of interest in the local language among the people. Part of this disinterestedness is caused by the unique tendency of Igbo people to travel outside their original communities and to culturally adapt in their diaspora communities. This essay therefore aims at a) addressing this problem of identity through a sociological analysis of communal identity, and b) seeking how identity could be rediscovered through music that is delivered in a local language, illustrated with the example of Igbo cultural group. It is hoped that such analysis would aid in presenting another means of safeguarding endangered local languages, which invariably has a lot of implications for the cultural identity of the group involved. Of course, the analysis that is advanced here is not limited to the Igbo since the argument is based on a general epistemological function of music and language with respect to cultural identity.
{"title":"The Rhythm of Communal Identity","authors":"I. P. Okpaleke","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10025","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The relationship between language, music and cultural identity has always been of special interest in the social sciences, especially in the areas of anthropology, social psychology and ethnomusicology. The main argument revolves on how language reflected through music positively impacts on the identity of a social group, and what happens where this is lacking. Cultures die and languages go into extinction when there are no creative ways of keeping them alive. The aim of this essay is to investigate how the culture and language of a particular society could be safeguarded through music. Beyond the theoretical framework, I shall substantiate this investigation with the example of the Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria, whose cultural identity is seriously threatened by the lack of interest in the local language among the people. Part of this disinterestedness is caused by the unique tendency of Igbo people to travel outside their original communities and to culturally adapt in their diaspora communities. This essay therefore aims at a) addressing this problem of identity through a sociological analysis of communal identity, and b) seeking how identity could be rediscovered through music that is delivered in a local language, illustrated with the example of Igbo cultural group. It is hoped that such analysis would aid in presenting another means of safeguarding endangered local languages, which invariably has a lot of implications for the cultural identity of the group involved. Of course, the analysis that is advanced here is not limited to the Igbo since the argument is based on a general epistemological function of music and language with respect to cultural identity.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81699574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10024
Yaron Katz
Post-true is defined as partial information that is aimed at achieving a political goal while using the truth but not the whole truth. The paper examines the impact of post-true politics in political systems, concentrating on the secular-religious relations in Israeli politics. The significant of Israeli politics as a test case to examine the validity of post-true in modern politics is since a long-standing compromise has identified Israeli politics and society on religious issues. This compromise consists of an agreed status-que under which all segments of society accept a post-true environment and agree not to agree and not to argue on the volatile issue of state and religion relations. The examination is based on analysis of post-true in Israeli politics according to four leading theories of truth: correspondence, coherence, pragmatic and pluralistic. The purpose of explicating the four theories is to show that the relations between secular and religious groups can be examined according to different standards for truth. The paper predicts that the social, political and religious conflict that identifies Israel since its establishment is going to continue with full force in the years to come, since the post-true environment that this conflict is based upon serves the social aspirations and the political interests of different political parties.
{"title":"Post-true Politics and Secular-Religious Relations","authors":"Yaron Katz","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10024","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Post-true is defined as partial information that is aimed at achieving a political goal while using the truth but not the whole truth. The paper examines the impact of post-true politics in political systems, concentrating on the secular-religious relations in Israeli politics. The significant of Israeli politics as a test case to examine the validity of post-true in modern politics is since a long-standing compromise has identified Israeli politics and society on religious issues. This compromise consists of an agreed status-que under which all segments of society accept a post-true environment and agree not to agree and not to argue on the volatile issue of state and religion relations. The examination is based on analysis of post-true in Israeli politics according to four leading theories of truth: correspondence, coherence, pragmatic and pluralistic. The purpose of explicating the four theories is to show that the relations between secular and religious groups can be examined according to different standards for truth. The paper predicts that the social, political and religious conflict that identifies Israel since its establishment is going to continue with full force in the years to come, since the post-true environment that this conflict is based upon serves the social aspirations and the political interests of different political parties.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73131003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10023
J. Byrne, Caleb W. Lack, Kara Taylor
This study explores the experiences of non-religious clients in psychotherapy, specifically with regard to unwanted religious interventions. Because individuals who identify as non-religious often experience negative judgments of various kinds, they need a safe and accepting therapeutic environment. In the present study, clients expressed that 36 % of therapists reportedly engaged in either unwanted or unhelpful religious discussion, with 29 % explicitly suggesting a religious intervention for their non-religious clients, such as prayer or attendance at church services. For a small percentage of clients, these suggestions led to premature termination. Implications for professional practice, education, and public policy are suggested.
{"title":"Experiences of the Non-religious in Psychotherapy","authors":"J. Byrne, Caleb W. Lack, Kara Taylor","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study explores the experiences of non-religious clients in psychotherapy, specifically with regard to unwanted religious interventions. Because individuals who identify as non-religious often experience negative judgments of various kinds, they need a safe and accepting therapeutic environment. In the present study, clients expressed that 36 % of therapists reportedly engaged in either unwanted or unhelpful religious discussion, with 29 % explicitly suggesting a religious intervention for their non-religious clients, such as prayer or attendance at church services. For a small percentage of clients, these suggestions led to premature termination. Implications for professional practice, education, and public policy are suggested.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78948799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10020
B. Beit-Hallahmi
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.
{"title":"Love, Religion, and Secularity","authors":"B. Beit-Hallahmi","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 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.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72703672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-29DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10026
W. Elias
Visual art does not judge. That was the method advocated by the school of the skeptics of Pyrrho. Since everything was considered doubtful, they did not want to pass judgment on anything, with a view to achieving “ataraxia,” or the peace of mind. Nowadays “stress-resistant” people would say this means that resilience is thrown out of the window. Artwork is open, stated Umberto Eco. All serious interpretations are therefore possible. Contradiction, or at least ambiguity, is an important aspect of art. That is precisely what makes it such an interesting source of resilience. I will take as a case study the discussion that took place in the recent past about sudden unsolicited, inappropriate images painted on walls in Brussels. The artwork by Bonom, Vincent Glowinski, was not part of an urban beautification plan, but raucous protests against the absurd decisions of power and against the hypocrisy of our society.
{"title":"Unruly Visual Art as a Source for Liberal Humanist Resilience","authors":"W. Elias","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10026","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Visual art does not judge. That was the method advocated by the school of the skeptics of Pyrrho. Since everything was considered doubtful, they did not want to pass judgment on anything, with a view to achieving “ataraxia,” or the peace of mind. Nowadays “stress-resistant” people would say this means that resilience is thrown out of the window. Artwork is open, stated Umberto Eco. All serious interpretations are therefore possible. Contradiction, or at least ambiguity, is an important aspect of art. That is precisely what makes it such an interesting source of resilience. I will take as a case study the discussion that took place in the recent past about sudden unsolicited, inappropriate images painted on walls in Brussels. The artwork by Bonom, Vincent Glowinski, was not part of an urban beautification plan, but raucous protests against the absurd decisions of power and against the hypocrisy of our society.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77746502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-BJA10013
Éric Meunier, Jacob Legault-Leclair
The authors examine the relationship between religion and support for State secularism in the context of the recent passing of Bill 21 in Quebec. After contextualizing the transformation of Québécois’ regime of religiosity from the 1960s to the present day, the authors analyze two surveys on how the restrictive measures set out in Bill 21 have been received and supported. Public opinion data suggest something unexpected at first glance: support for the measures aimed at restricting the wearing of religious symbols in State institutions appears to come mainly from Francophones who are self-declared Catholics, rather than from the nonreligious. Language, religious (non) affiliation, age as well as place of residence appear to be major determinants when it comes to support for the restrictive State secularism measures.
{"title":"Nones and Catholics in Quebec","authors":"Éric Meunier, Jacob Legault-Leclair","doi":"10.1163/25892525-BJA10013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-BJA10013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The authors examine the relationship between religion and support for State secularism in the context of the recent passing of Bill 21 in Quebec. After contextualizing the transformation of Québécois’ regime of religiosity from the 1960s to the present day, the authors analyze two surveys on how the restrictive measures set out in Bill 21 have been received and supported. Public opinion data suggest something unexpected at first glance: support for the measures aimed at restricting the wearing of religious symbols in State institutions appears to come mainly from Francophones who are self-declared Catholics, rather than from the nonreligious. Language, religious (non) affiliation, age as well as place of residence appear to be major determinants when it comes to support for the restrictive State secularism measures.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"118 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80309377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10014
Zachary A. Munro
Defining nonreligion has raised conceptual uncertainties about its substantive ontology and its relational distinctions from religion, secularity, secularization, and the secular. The field’s early development has deployed the religious/secular binary as a methodological tool, rendering secularity and nonreligion visible through its discursive positioning of being in-relation to religion. Although this has proven productive in substantiating such concepts, it has also constrained the field by identifying its objects of study indirectly. This paper argues for a proximal distinction between secularity and nonreligion using the development of secular Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Toronto, Canada, as an example, locating them between borders that constitute a third space. Within this space, secularity and nonreligion operate, identifying locations of proximity, border phenomena, and religious/secular entanglements that have otherwise remained interstitial and have precluded analysis. In turn, borders are retained for methodological utility, while the third space opens new analytical possibilities to advance the field forward.
{"title":"Proximity of Borders","authors":"Zachary A. Munro","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Defining nonreligion has raised conceptual uncertainties about its substantive ontology and its relational distinctions from religion, secularity, secularization, and the secular. The field’s early development has deployed the religious/secular binary as a methodological tool, rendering secularity and nonreligion visible through its discursive positioning of being in-relation to religion. Although this has proven productive in substantiating such concepts, it has also constrained the field by identifying its objects of study indirectly. This paper argues for a proximal distinction between secularity and nonreligion using the development of secular Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Toronto, Canada, as an example, locating them between borders that constitute a third space. Within this space, secularity and nonreligion operate, identifying locations of proximity, border phenomena, and religious/secular entanglements that have otherwise remained interstitial and have precluded analysis. In turn, borders are retained for methodological utility, while the third space opens new analytical possibilities to advance the field forward.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79226622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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