This article discusses religion and politics in contemporary Iran, with an emphasis on Shia radicalism, revolution, and national character. The relationship between religion and politics in Iran is analyzed in an historical context from the ancient time, the role of religious leaders in the Iranian political movements is discussed with a focus on the Iranian Revolution and on the Islamic Government, and aspects of Shia radicalism and Iranian national character are analyzed in some details. It is argued that the Iranian innovation in introducing Shi'ism as a minority, radical sect of Islam has been a manifestation of Iranian national character of independence and of her historical tradition as a great regional and world power. Shi'ism is a byproduct of the Iranian ancient traditions of state, religion, and politics, and of her cultural contributions to the Islamic and world civilizations; hence a remarkable continuity in Iran's past heritage of asserting her independence in the modem world of global transformation led by the superpowers. Iran is the motherland and springboard of Shi'ism and Shi'ism is an inalienable part of Islamic Iran, just as Zoroastrianism was of the ancient Sasanid Persia.
{"title":"RELIGION AND POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY IRAN","authors":"A. Farazmand","doi":"10.1163/157181196X00074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/157181196X00074","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses religion and politics in contemporary Iran, with an emphasis on Shia radicalism, revolution, and national character. The relationship between religion and politics in Iran is analyzed in an historical context from the ancient time, the role of religious leaders in the Iranian political movements is discussed with a focus on the Iranian Revolution and on the Islamic Government, and aspects of Shia radicalism and Iranian national character are analyzed in some details. It is argued that the Iranian innovation in introducing Shi'ism as a minority, radical sect of Islam has been a manifestation of Iranian national character of independence and of her historical tradition as a great regional and world power. Shi'ism is a byproduct of the Iranian ancient traditions of state, religion, and politics, and of her cultural contributions to the Islamic and world civilizations; hence a remarkable continuity in Iran's past heritage of asserting her independence in the modem world of global transformation led by the superpowers. Iran is the motherland and springboard of Shi'ism and Shi'ism is an inalienable part of Islamic Iran, just as Zoroastrianism was of the ancient Sasanid Persia.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/157181196X00074","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49661265","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 : 2020-03-30DOI: 10.54561/10.54561/prj1401039t
Bogdana Todorova
The geographical position of Iran as a transit country between the Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus, makes the Islamic Republic of Iran a new geostrategic factor with main influence to the future of the Islamic world and international world system. The Welayat-e-Faqih imposes serious changes in the government and society. Renovation of Islamic dogmas and their adaptation to changing conditions of the social-political life is the challenge to the Shiite clergy, who firmly follow the practices established by Imam Khomeini. His revolution carries not only the spirit of the Iranian modernization but also the pathos of social democracy. The “Theo-democratic” government is based on both the Islamic and democratic principles, and it can be said that due to the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini, a unique new project – the national-Iranian project is arguably developed. There are the three aims of this project: the territorial integrity, national sovereignty and national prosperity of the country, intended to protect Muslims and establish Islamic government based on the Shi’ite principles. The Islamic revolution is an important event worldwide. It makes us rethink the current relation religion – politics, giving the first serious notice of taking political power by Islam.
{"title":"KHOMEINI’S POLITICAL-RELIGIOUS APPROACH OF THE ‘IRANIAN NATION’","authors":"Bogdana Todorova","doi":"10.54561/10.54561/prj1401039t","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/10.54561/prj1401039t","url":null,"abstract":"The geographical position of Iran as a transit country between the Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus, makes the Islamic Republic of Iran a new geostrategic factor with main influence to the future of the Islamic world and international world system. The Welayat-e-Faqih imposes serious changes in the government and society. Renovation of Islamic dogmas and their adaptation to changing conditions of the social-political life is the challenge to the Shiite clergy, who firmly follow the practices established by Imam Khomeini. His revolution carries not only the spirit of the Iranian modernization but also the pathos of social democracy. The “Theo-democratic” government is based on both the Islamic and democratic principles, and it can be said that due to the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini, a unique new project – the national-Iranian project is arguably developed. There are the three aims of this project: the territorial integrity, national sovereignty and national prosperity of the country, intended to protect Muslims and establish Islamic government based on the Shi’ite principles. The Islamic revolution is an important event worldwide. It makes us rethink the current relation religion – politics, giving the first serious notice of taking political power by Islam.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48170079","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}
This is a polemical essay concerning the "wall of separation" between church and state in the United States of America. The author observes that there is a political struggle between defenders of religion, primarily Christians, on the one hand, and secularists on the other. Typical reasons given by secularists for a hard and fast division between church and state, and/or religion and politics, are historical, constitutional, and cultural. Underlying all of these reasons perhaps is the idea that faith is cognitively inferior to knowledge and therefore has no place in the public square. The author vigorously contests each aspect of the secularists' position and explores in further detail the epistemological distinctions between faith and knowledge.
{"title":"AN UNSTEADY ‘WALL OF SEPARATION’: A FEW CONSIDERATIONS","authors":"L. Smith","doi":"10.54561/prj1401173s","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401173s","url":null,"abstract":"This is a polemical essay concerning the \"wall of separation\" between church and state in the United States of America. The author observes that there is a political struggle between defenders of religion, primarily Christians, on the one hand, and secularists on the other. Typical reasons given by secularists for a hard and fast division between church and state, and/or religion and politics, are historical, constitutional, and cultural. Underlying all of these reasons perhaps is the idea that faith is cognitively inferior to knowledge and therefore has no place in the public square. The author vigorously contests each aspect of the secularists' position and explores in further detail the epistemological distinctions between faith and knowledge.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41335424","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 : 2020-03-30DOI: 10.54561/10.54561/prj1401019a
Anna Ardashnikova, Tamara Konyashkina
The aim of the article is to analyze the first attempts to establish republic in Iran in 1920s. The revision of monarchical principles brought to life two independent republican projects, one of which, proclaimed on behalf of the traditional leader Kuchik Khan, was essentially a Soviet replica, and the second, initiated by Prime Minister Reza Khan, was the way to establish a dictatorship based on the principles of nationalism. An obstacle to the implementation of both republican plans was not only the denial of the religious authorities, but also a wide popular protest. As part of an interdisciplinary study, the article analyzes the arsenal of propaganda tools used to proclaim their political views by supporters and opponents of the republic. The work is based on archival documentary materials and works of a literary and journalistic origin, which are first introduced into scientific circulation.
{"title":"MODERNIZATION VERSUS TRADITION IN THE STRUGGLE FOR A REPUBLIC IN 1920s IRAN","authors":"Anna Ardashnikova, Tamara Konyashkina","doi":"10.54561/10.54561/prj1401019a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/10.54561/prj1401019a","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of the article is to analyze the first attempts to establish republic in Iran in 1920s. The revision of monarchical principles brought to life two independent republican projects, one of which, proclaimed on behalf of the traditional leader Kuchik Khan, was essentially a Soviet replica, and the second, initiated by Prime Minister Reza Khan, was the way to establish a dictatorship based on the principles of nationalism. An obstacle to the implementation of both republican plans was not only the denial of the religious authorities, but also a wide popular protest. As part of an interdisciplinary study, the article analyzes the arsenal of propaganda tools used to proclaim their political views by supporters and opponents of the republic. The work is based on archival documentary materials and works of a literary and journalistic origin, which are first introduced into scientific circulation.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46870328","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}
“Hello, brother” were the last words uttered by Haji-Daoud Nabi, an elderly man who opened the doors of a Christchurch mosque in New Zealand in March 2019. Moments later, he was shot down and killed in a brutal terrorist attack carried out by an Australian white supremacist. This recent tragedy captures the increasingly precarious position that Muslims in the West presently occupy that is no longer confined to discursive racialization and verbal abuse, but is now starting to become a life and death challenge, quite literally. The Christchurch mosque attacks occurred in a local and global context of persisting Islamophobia and rising far-right nationalist fringe groups entering the mainstream in Australia and elsewhere. This paper discusses contemporary attitudes towards Islam and Muslim Australians through an examination of the historical context for the settlement of Muslims communities in Australia from the early days of the nineteenth century to the contemporary era, which has seen a more diversified migration from many parts of the Muslim world. The paper discusses the critical factors that shaped this migration and examines the contemporary social experiences of Muslim Australians in a global context of hyper-securitized agendas often connecting Islam and Muslims to extreme violent ideologies.
{"title":"ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN AUSTRALIA: THE SOCIAL EXPERIENCES OF EARLY SETTLEMENT AND THE POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY RACE RELATIONS","authors":"F. Mansouri","doi":"10.54561/prj1401127m","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401127m","url":null,"abstract":"“Hello, brother” were the last words uttered by Haji-Daoud Nabi, an elderly man who opened the doors of a Christchurch mosque in New Zealand in March 2019. Moments later, he was shot down and killed in a brutal terrorist attack carried out by an Australian white supremacist. This recent tragedy captures the increasingly precarious position that Muslims in the West presently occupy that is no longer confined to discursive racialization and verbal abuse, but is now starting to become a life and death challenge, quite literally. The Christchurch mosque attacks occurred in a local and global context of persisting Islamophobia and rising far-right nationalist fringe groups entering the mainstream in Australia and elsewhere. This paper discusses contemporary attitudes towards Islam and Muslim Australians through an examination of the historical context for the settlement of Muslims communities in Australia from the early days of the nineteenth century to the contemporary era, which has seen a more diversified migration from many parts of the Muslim world. The paper discusses the critical factors that shaped this migration and examines the contemporary social experiences of Muslim Australians in a global context of hyper-securitized agendas often connecting Islam and Muslims to extreme violent ideologies.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41549238","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}
The main thesis of the article is that the matter of religious tolerance in the works by a concrete author shall be researched in a wider context of his worldview. An author’s worldview can be reconstructed at the basis of his texts, and the consistency in the main notions’ propositions can unveil the consistency of his thought. The research is based mainly on the works by one of the most prominent medieval Persian Sufi writers – Mahmud Shabistari (1288–1321). For the matter of religious tolerance is a very important part of his worldview, the research of general logic of his worldview structure will help us to see the reason of his special approach to interpret the matter of faith and infidelity. Hence, in the first part of the paper we show the propositions that link the main notions of Shabistari’s worldview together and reconstruct in general the consistence of his worldview on the basis of the researched notion system. In the second part of the paper, we use the obtained results to interpret the poet’s idea of the faith and infidelity relation in the context of his worldview.
{"title":"FAITH AND INFIDELITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NOTION SYSTEM IN THE WORKS BY MAHMUD SHABISTARI","authors":"A. Lukashev","doi":"10.54561/prj1401073l","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401073l","url":null,"abstract":"The main thesis of the article is that the matter of religious tolerance in the works by a concrete author shall be researched in a wider context of his worldview. An author’s worldview can be reconstructed at the basis of his texts, and the consistency in the main notions’ propositions can unveil the consistency of his thought. The research is based mainly on the works by one of the most prominent medieval Persian Sufi writers – Mahmud Shabistari (1288–1321). For the matter of religious tolerance is a very important part of his worldview, the research of general logic of his worldview structure will help us to see the reason of his special approach to interpret the matter of faith and infidelity. Hence, in the first part of the paper we show the propositions that link the main notions of Shabistari’s worldview together and reconstruct in general the consistence of his worldview on the basis of the researched notion system. In the second part of the paper, we use the obtained results to interpret the poet’s idea of the faith and infidelity relation in the context of his worldview.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42423074","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}
By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences governance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria’s profanity. Adopting the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions – Islam and Christianity – have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Nigeria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country’s political orientation, by action, to a theocratic diarchy amidst the aura of secularism. There is, therefore, a need for nomenclature revision.
{"title":"NIGERIA: THE PARADOX OF A SECULAR STATE","authors":"Charles E. Ekpo, Ekwutosi E. Offiong","doi":"10.54561/prj1401149e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401149e","url":null,"abstract":"By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences governance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria’s profanity. Adopting the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions – Islam and Christianity – have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Nigeria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country’s political orientation, by action, to a theocratic diarchy amidst the aura of secularism. There is, therefore, a need for nomenclature revision.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44262675","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}
Political tolerance –– the willingness to afford basic civil rights to individuals or groups that one finds disagreeable –– is fundamental to liberal democracy. For several decades, political scientists believed that widespread religious adherence in the United States threatened political tolerance. Recent research casts doubt on the direct relationship between religiosity and political tolerance. However, this research is based on decades-old data or a sample collected from a single county. My study tests the relationship between religiosity and political tolerance using more recent national survey data. It confirms that, although religiosity is related to dogmatism, no direct relationship exists between religiosity and political tolerance.
{"title":"RELIGIOSITY AND POLITICAL TOLERANCE: REASSESING THE RELATIONSHIP","authors":"Jonathan Peterson","doi":"10.54561/prj1401105p","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401105p","url":null,"abstract":"Political tolerance –– the willingness to afford basic civil rights to individuals or groups that one finds disagreeable –– is fundamental to liberal democracy. For several decades, political scientists believed that widespread religious adherence in the United States threatened political tolerance. Recent research casts doubt on the direct relationship between religiosity and political tolerance. However, this research is based on decades-old data or a sample collected from a single county. My study tests the relationship between religiosity and political tolerance using more recent national survey data. It confirms that, although religiosity is related to dogmatism, no direct relationship exists between religiosity and political tolerance.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41475227","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}
{"title":"“THE ARAB UPRISING AND MALAYSIA’S ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS INFLUENCE, IMPACT AND LESSONS”","authors":"Herdi Sahrasad","doi":"10.54561/prj1401193s","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401193s","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45062222","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}