The article notes that the theme of culture and cultural policy for modern Iran is not a marginal issue. Culture is seen by the country’s leadership as an important component of its state political and ideological doctrine. There is analyzed the role of the Islamic factor and cultural heritage in the cultural policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran over four decades of its existence. Particular attention is paid to the role of the theory of the dialogue of civilizations proposed by M. Khatami as well as to the changing attitude towards it in the public consciousness of Iranian society. It is emphasized that the theme of “Iran and the West” is becoming particularly acute in the country today, contributing to its politicization. An attempt is being made to show that Iranian culture is increasingly becoming an important factor in the foreign policy activities of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, contributing to the strengthening of the country’s position in the world arena as a whole and the country’s leading role in the region, the realization of the idea of exporting the Islamic Revolution and implementing Iranian cultural expansion outside the country.
{"title":"CULTURE FACTOR IN THE POLICY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN","authors":"M. Kameneva, E. Paymakova","doi":"10.54561/prj1401055k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401055k","url":null,"abstract":"The article notes that the theme of culture and cultural policy for modern Iran is not a marginal issue. Culture is seen by the country’s leadership as an important component of its state political and ideological doctrine. There is analyzed the role of the Islamic factor and cultural heritage in the cultural policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran over four decades of its existence. Particular attention is paid to the role of the theory of the dialogue of civilizations proposed by M. Khatami as well as to the changing attitude towards it in the public consciousness of Iranian society. It is emphasized that the theme of “Iran and the West” is becoming particularly acute in the country today, contributing to its politicization. An attempt is being made to show that Iranian culture is increasingly becoming an important factor in the foreign policy activities of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, contributing to the strengthening of the country’s position in the world arena as a whole and the country’s leading role in the region, the realization of the idea of exporting the Islamic Revolution and implementing Iranian cultural expansion outside the country.","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":"42936496","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 necessity for peaceful coexistence today makes the study on tolerance a must have. The vast region from Central Asia-Khorasan to the Balkans has had its ups and downs for centuries. The diversity of nations and tribes along this path highlights the attention to common cultural components. Meanwhile, the existence of various Sufi groups throughout the history in the region has a special character. The idea of Sufism was essentially based on tolerance and grew into a Peaceful coexistence. However, various Sufi groups have experienced violence at historic junctures by entering the political arena. But it must be said that the distinction between cultural and ideological Sufism has shown peaceful life. This article endeavor to introduce the Sufism growth and development in different regions so that a significant and plausible path can be drawn as a Sufi Road. In addition, the legacy of Sufism has been activated by its cultural image in the areas in question, showing many similarities between different Sufi groups in various countries. The homogeny among the cultural components of Sufism in the geography of the region are a way for dialogue. As a result, one can experience cultural exchange in the form of coexistence and tolerance.
{"title":"TOLERANCE HERITAGE: THE ROUTE OF SUFISM FROM KHORASAN TO THE BALKANS","authors":"M. Nouraei, Bahman Zeinali","doi":"10.54561/prj1401085n","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1401085n","url":null,"abstract":"The necessity for peaceful coexistence today makes the study on tolerance a must have. The vast region from Central Asia-Khorasan to the Balkans has had its ups and downs for centuries. The diversity of nations and tribes along this path highlights the attention to common cultural components. Meanwhile, the existence of various Sufi groups throughout the history in the region has a special character. The idea of Sufism was essentially based on tolerance and grew into a Peaceful coexistence. However, various Sufi groups have experienced violence at historic junctures by entering the political arena. But it must be said that the distinction between cultural and ideological Sufism has shown peaceful life. This article endeavor to introduce the Sufism growth and development in different regions so that a significant and plausible path can be drawn as a Sufi Road. In addition, the legacy of Sufism has been activated by its cultural image in the areas in question, showing many similarities between different Sufi groups in various countries. The homogeny among the cultural components of Sufism in the geography of the region are a way for dialogue. As a result, one can experience cultural exchange in the form of coexistence and tolerance.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48700455","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 LIGHT OF CHRIST IN PHILIPPINE POLITICS: THE INTERVENTIONS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN STATE AFFAIRS (1972 – 2005)\"","authors":"Brian U. Doce","doi":"10.54561/prj1302381d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302381d","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43153131","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}
Attitudes towards homosexuality and same-sex marriage in the Americas and Europe have been found to be tightly related to religion, and especially, how religion is practiced. However, religious individuals are not consistent in their rejection of homosexuality. We explore how religions and religious individuals differ among each other in attitudes towards not just homosexuality, but also other policy areas they consider sins, such as marihuana consumption, abortion, euthanasia, use of contraceptives, and pre-marital sex. Using data for Colombia, we find that Evangelicals are the most reliable opponents of LGBT rights in the country and reject homosexuality more deeply than other sins. They thus target homosexuality distinctively. We also find that attitudes toward homosexuality among Evangelicals seem unresponsive to education. Because of this more pronounced homophobia among Evangelicals, we thus conclude that countries like Colombia that are experiencing increases in the population and levels of organization of Evangelicals are likely to face greater backlash against the expansion of LGBT rights.
{"title":"NOT ALL ‘SINS’ ARE REJECTED EQUALLY: RESISTANCE TO LGBT RIGHTS ACROSS RELIGIONS IN COLOMBIA","authors":"Javier Corrales, Iñaki Sagarzazu","doi":"10.54561/prj1302351c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302351c","url":null,"abstract":"Attitudes towards homosexuality and same-sex marriage in the Americas and Europe have been found to be tightly related to religion, and especially, how religion is practiced. However, religious individuals are not consistent in their rejection of homosexuality. We explore how religions and religious individuals differ among each other in attitudes towards not just homosexuality, but also other policy areas they consider sins, such as marihuana consumption, abortion, euthanasia, use of contraceptives, and pre-marital sex. Using data for Colombia, we find that Evangelicals are the most reliable opponents of LGBT rights in the country and reject homosexuality more deeply than other sins. They thus target homosexuality distinctively. We also find that attitudes toward homosexuality among Evangelicals seem unresponsive to education. Because of this more pronounced homophobia among Evangelicals, we thus conclude that countries like Colombia that are experiencing increases in the population and levels of organization of Evangelicals are likely to face greater backlash against the expansion of LGBT rights.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46250737","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":"RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY TURKISH-SPEAKING WORLD","authors":"","doi":"10.54561/prj1302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45130979","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}
Religion appears to be one of the factors that determine the political situation of a country. It has played a significant role in shaping the form of Nigerian politics. The objective of this paper is to examine the participation of a religious body in the Nigerian party politics. The body is the Tijāniyyah, a Ṣūfī (mystical) brotherhood and one of the major Islamic mystical organisations in the country, the other being the Qādiriyyah. Historical and phenomenological methods were adopted for this purpose. The study revealed that the involvement of the members of the Tijaniyyah in politics was circumstantial and reactionary to the unfriendly attitude of the Qadiri-dominated Sokoto Council. It concluded that intolerance and suppression of a particular religious group could lead to political instability and social unrest, hence the need for the existing political parties and most especially the ruling party to accommodate others irrespective of their disparity.
{"title":"THE TIJĀNIYYAH ṢŪFĪ BROTHERHOOD AND THE NIGERIAN PARTY POLITICS IN RETROSPECT","authors":"Yasir Anjola Quadri","doi":"10.54561/prj1302333q","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302333q","url":null,"abstract":"Religion appears to be one of the factors that determine the political situation of a country. It has played a significant role in shaping the form of Nigerian politics. The objective of this paper is to examine the participation of a religious body in the Nigerian party politics. The body is the Tijāniyyah, a Ṣūfī (mystical) brotherhood and one of the major Islamic mystical organisations in the country, the other being the Qādiriyyah. Historical and phenomenological methods were adopted for this purpose. The study revealed that the involvement of the members of the Tijaniyyah in politics was circumstantial and reactionary to the unfriendly attitude of the Qadiri-dominated Sokoto Council. It concluded that intolerance and suppression of a particular religious group could lead to political instability and social unrest, hence the need for the existing political parties and most especially the ruling party to accommodate others irrespective of their disparity.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47474937","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 Economy of Communion (EoC) movement is one of the most interesting phenomena both in today’s Catholicism and in the global field of spiritually oriented entrepreneurship. This model – first elaborated by the founder of the Focolare movement, Chiara Lubich – is focused on a ‘culture of giving’; on the development of a relation of ‘communion’ with employees, customers and even competitors; on transparency and fairness; and on environmental sustainability. Although grounded in the Gospel and the Catholic Church’s social doctrine, it is meant as a business model which can be adopted also by people belonging to other religious traditions, and even by non-believers. This paper, based on interviews to people involved in the EoC movement and on other primary and secondary sources, will analyse the movement in Italy, focusing on a side understudied by the literature: the complex web of organizations which provide it with a structure and a governance. Particularly, the paper will show how such organizations try to strike a balance between preserving the movement’s identity and Chiara Lubich’s message, and spreading the EoC model by trying to make it popular, also outside the Focolare movement.
{"title":"SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, INNOVATION, AND GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF THE ECONOMY OF COMMUNION IN ITALY","authors":"Luca Ozzano","doi":"10.54561/prj1302267o","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302267o","url":null,"abstract":"The Economy of Communion (EoC) movement is one of the most interesting phenomena both in today’s Catholicism and in the global field of spiritually oriented entrepreneurship. This model – first elaborated by the founder of the Focolare movement, Chiara Lubich – is focused on a ‘culture of giving’; on the development of a relation of ‘communion’ with employees, customers and even competitors; on transparency and fairness; and on environmental sustainability. Although grounded in the Gospel and the Catholic Church’s social doctrine, it is meant as a business model which can be adopted also by people belonging to other religious traditions, and even by non-believers. This paper, based on interviews to people involved in the EoC movement and on other primary and secondary sources, will analyse the movement in Italy, focusing on a side understudied by the literature: the complex web of organizations which provide it with a structure and a governance. Particularly, the paper will show how such organizations try to strike a balance between preserving the movement’s identity and Chiara Lubich’s message, and spreading the EoC model by trying to make it popular, also outside the Focolare movement.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45911319","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 paper aims to introduce an alternative research approach in dealing with migrant communities as religioscapes, from the perspective of religious aesthetic. Namely, it focuses on the Greek and Greek-Cypriot migrant communities in Germany and Great Britain and examines their religiocultural symbolic constellations in the public sphere, particularly, those which illustrate aspects of their self-perception and migration narratives. In both cases churches serve as arks of culture and identity. In the lapse of time, community and church, being closely knit, jointly constructed their migrant narratives of de- and re-territorialisation, cultural adaptation and hybridisation, essentially their own distinct sense of being and belonging. Therefore, one observes the phenomenon of interwoven migrant and church narratives. The particularities of these constantly under construction identities are manifest in the architectural, hagiographical/iconographical themes, aesthetics and concepts of their churches. It is typical, however, of the Byzantine iconographic tradition to include and demonstrate the socio-political conditions of its time and place; and, those visual manifestations, as part of a sociocultural reality, possess a contextual dimension in their symbolic content, while being an act and a medium of communication in their own right. It is therefore feasible to decode their aforementioned content and articulate the narrative therein.
{"title":"GREEK-ORTHODOX RELIGIOSCAPES AS DOMAINS OF MIGRATORY INTEGRATION AND HYBRIDISATION IN GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY","authors":"G. Trantas","doi":"10.54561/prj1302309t","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302309t","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to introduce an alternative research approach in dealing with migrant communities as religioscapes, from the perspective of religious aesthetic. Namely, it focuses on the Greek and Greek-Cypriot migrant communities in Germany and Great Britain and examines their religiocultural symbolic constellations in the public sphere, particularly, those which illustrate aspects of their self-perception and migration narratives. In both cases churches serve as arks of culture and identity. In the lapse of time, community and church, being closely knit, jointly constructed their migrant narratives of de- and re-territorialisation, cultural adaptation and hybridisation, essentially their own distinct sense of being and belonging. Therefore, one observes the phenomenon of interwoven migrant and church narratives. The particularities of these constantly under construction identities are manifest in the architectural, hagiographical/iconographical themes, aesthetics and concepts of their churches. It is typical, however, of the Byzantine iconographic tradition to include and demonstrate the socio-political conditions of its time and place; and, those visual manifestations, as part of a sociocultural reality, possess a contextual dimension in their symbolic content, while being an act and a medium of communication in their own right. It is therefore feasible to decode their aforementioned content and articulate the narrative therein.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44599658","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":"“FINDING W.D. FARD: UNVEILING THE IDENTITY OF THE FOUNDER OF THE NATION OF ISLAM”","authors":"Milos Vukelic","doi":"10.54561/prj1302385v","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302385v","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48613624","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 study examines patterns in societal and government-based religious discrimination (SRD and GRD) against 307 religious minorities in 67 Christian-majority democracies using the Religion and State-Minorities round 3 (RASM3) dataset. Despite expectations that all forms of religious discrimination, especially GRD, should be lower in Western liberal democracies, it is, in fact, lower in developing countries. I argue that three factors explain this discrepancy. Economically developed countries have more resources available for discrimination. Western democracies have higher levels of support for religion than Christian-majority developing countries and countries which more strongly support religion are more likely to discriminate against religious minorities. Finally levels of SRD are higher in the West and SRD is posited to be a cause of GRD. Empirical tests support these propositions.
{"title":"RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN CHRISTIAN-MAJORITY DEMOCRACIES FROM 1990 TO 2014","authors":"J. Fox","doi":"10.54561/prj1302285f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1302285f","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines patterns in societal and government-based religious discrimination (SRD and GRD) against 307 religious minorities in 67 Christian-majority democracies using the Religion and State-Minorities round 3 (RASM3) dataset. Despite expectations that all forms of religious discrimination, especially GRD, should be lower in Western liberal democracies, it is, in fact, lower in developing countries. I argue that three factors explain this discrepancy. Economically developed countries have more resources available for discrimination. Western democracies have higher levels of support for religion than Christian-majority developing countries and countries which more strongly support religion are more likely to discriminate against religious minorities. Finally levels of SRD are higher in the West and SRD is posited to be a cause of GRD. Empirical tests support these propositions.","PeriodicalId":41271,"journal":{"name":"Politics and Religion Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41604205","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}