Religion and State Research Papers (original) (raw)

With two new publications, the Museum of Mormon History in Mexico has firmly established itself as a leading venue for the production of Mormon history in Mexico. The Spanish translation and English commentary on Part 1 of F. LaMond Tulllis's Mormons in Mexico is a significant contribution to both Spanish and English readers. This text, published through Deseret Book, makes a valuable resource available to Spanish speakers. It also offers an impressive correction of documentary errors in Tullis's interpretation and historical data. A second significant contribution to the literature on the same subject is a series of four articles available in Spanish or English by Fernando R. Gómez Páez (museum president). Read side by side, the translation of Tullis's book and this new selection of articles by the museum's president provide a worthwhile and balanced introduction to Mexican Mormon history. Readers will recognize that Mormon history in Mexico extends well beyond the colonies in Chihuahua and Sonora. The most interesting stories may very well come from central Mexico. Mexican Mormons now have a significant voice in the writing of their own Mormon histories.

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- Latin American Studies, Mexican Studies, Race and Racism, Political Science

The Jamaican government reconsidering the Obeah Act in the summer of 2019 highlighted the legacy of prejudice and criminalization of Africana religious systems and practices left by colonization across ethno-linguistic borders and the broader Black Atlantic. It also highlighted how some traditions such as Béninois Vodun, Candomblé, Santería, and oriṣa worship in parts of Nigeria have successfully managed to combat state policing and prejudice to gain official recognition and legal protection. However, this article analyzes the way even the legal and conceptual success of Africana religions in the modern world places them in a Catch-22. Drawing attention to the fundamental differences between modern conceptions and assumptions of what constitutes “religion,” the article traces the history of how modern political and legal structures either exclude and oppress Africana traditions or exert subtle pressure on them to conform to conceptions of “religion” that are more intelligible and ac...

- by Therese O'Toole and +2
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights

טַעַם וָדַעַת: בין אדם לאדם, למקום ולזמן, נפתלי רוטנברג, ירושלים תשפ"ב, 2022.
Naftali Rothenberg
Reason and Opinion
Among Person to Person, God and Time
טַעַם וָדַעַת: בין אדם לאדם, למקום ולזמן, משתף את הקוראים בניסיונות חוזרים ונשנים למפגשים בין אדם לעצמו, לקרוב ולרחוק. במשך כשלושה עשורים בחן המחבר נושאים רבים העומדים במוקד הדיון הציבורי בתרבות היהודית, בחברה ובפוליטיקה הישראלית: נגישות לידע וסמכות הפרשנות; זמנים ומועדים של חיבור וריחוק; מקומות קדושים כזירת-קרב; דמוקרטיה ומדינת-הלאום; רוב ומיעוט; דת ומדינה; זרמים ויחסים בין קבוצות ועוד. כמה מן הסוגיות הנדונות, נתונות מזה שנים רבות, במחלוקות קשות וסוערות. קובץ המאמרים בספר זה הוא הצעה לניסיון אחר להבעת דעה ולהשתתפות פעילה בדיון הציבורי, בלי לטשטש את ההבדלים והמחלוקות. עמדה ביקורתית ומחלוקת חריפה ועמוקה יכולה להישמע תוך הקשבה לדעות מנוגדות ולאמיתות של אחרים.
לרכישת עותק מודפס 60₪ כולל משלוח: נא לכתוב לחיה, במייל hayatikoch@gmail.com

- by Naftali Rothenberg
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- Jewish Studies, Rabbinics, Faith, Jewish Thought

Religion’s effect on individual tendency to engage in political protest is influenced both by the resources available to citizens at the individual level and opportunities provided to religious groups and organizations at the country level. Combining data from last two waves of the World Values Surveys with aggregate data on religious regulation, we show that private religious beliefs reduce an individual’s protest potential while involvement in religious social networks fosters it. At the country level, we find that government regulation of religion decreases individual tendency to protest, and has an especially detrimental effect on the likelihood of religious minorities joining peaceful protest activities. These findings are in line with opportunity structure theories that stress the importance of system openness for fostering political protest.

- by Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom
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- Religion, Political Participation, Religion and Politics, Political Science

The United States has long grappled with the question of how to maintain an appropriate combination of religion and politics in the public sphere. The current electoral cycle is no different, as Presidential candidates attempt to negotiate both the political and religious landscapes. This essay introduces a special forum on rhetoric and religion in contemporary politics and touches on some recent instances of how religious differences have played out in the current political environment. Some of the issues discussed include the separation of church and state, Mitt Romney’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Rick Santorum’s conception of the “war on religion,” and the controversy over contraceptives at religious institutions and Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on a Georgetown law student.

- by Brett Lunceford
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- Rhetoric (Languages and Linguistics), Religion, Sociology, Cultural Studies

Until 1993 there were conducted first excavations in what promised to be the site of one of the most important buildings of Petra, the stunning capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Its construction, whose initiation century BC, several changes, reconstructions and landslides along its more than five hundred years of operation. But despite this still unknown for certain functions for which it was designed and that, regardless of the construction elements, materials have been located just still less inscriptions that shed some light on a mystery that will try here exhibit various theories that enable closer to resolution.

- by Arturo Sanchez Sanz
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- Architectural Engineering, Religion, History, Ancient History

Between 1753 and 1836, the institution of marriage in Britain saw transformative change through the introduction of legislation by the State.This dissertation is a reevaluation of the the nature of marriage legislation between 1753 and... more

- by William Parsons
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- History, Canon Law, Civil Law, British History

This study examines separation of religion and state in Western democracies and the Middle East using five measures from the Religion and State dataset. These variables measure the official relationship between religion and the state, the comparative treatment of different religions, discrimination against minority religions, regulation of the majority religion, and religious legislation. The results show that while all of these factors are more prevalent in the Middle East, all of them are also present in at least some Western democracies. Also, all Western democracies, except the US, have at least some of these five forms of government entanglement with religion. This implies US separation of religion and state is the exception for liberal democracies rather than the rule and that religious democracy, including Islamic democracy, is possible.

This article is a case study of a lay Buddhist community that employs a business model called “living hall” (Shenghuo guan 生活馆) to facilitate the practice of Tibetan Buddhism among its members. The living hall model is explored in the context of the politics of religion in the People’s Republic of China (prc) and the dynamics of Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese in the past decades. The author investigates the model’s origin, its implementation in a contemporary Buddhist community, and its interaction with the discourse on Buddhism in the prc. The article joins a recent academic endeavor to illuminate the different modalities in which lay practitioners carry out Buddhist practice outside the sphere of institutionalized Buddhism. The article sheds light on the delicate dynamics between religion and state control in the prc and the role of entrepreneurs and materiality within lay Tibetan Buddhism.

- by Kai Shmushko
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- Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Contemporary Religion, Anthropology of China
- by Aviad Hacohen
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- Jewish Law, Religion and State, Halacha, Israeli Law

This study elaborates the interaction between nationalism and religion in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia between two world wars. It analyzes the relationaship
between the Serbian Ortodox Church, representative of Eastern Christianity, and
Serbian nationalism.Focusing on religion or Serbian Ortodox Church, discourse and
dimensions of interaction between modern nation and modern nationalism have been
explained. Due to the fact that so-called interaction affected both modernisation and
secularisation processes, it has been a requirement to examine Church-State, Church-
Nation interactions pertaining to de facto status, past and rhetorics of Serbian
Ortodox Churh. However, evolution of nationalisation notion in what institutions
through what incidents have been discussed within the framework of political history
of The First Yugoslavia.
In that sense, this study aims atanalyzing the events, commemorating
ceremonies, myths and discourses about the interaction between Church and state,
Church and Serbian identity with their political implications.

The XVI book of the Theodosian Code contains a title, the seventh, which collects 7 laws on the topic of apostasy, emanated from Theodosius I (CTH 16, 7, 1, year 381) and up to 426 (CTH 16, 7, 7 ), behind the publication of the Codex. The... more

- by Alessandro Saggioro
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- Religion, Law and Religion, Identity (Culture), Religious Persecution

A family dispute in 1960, in which a grandfather refused to return his grandson Yossele Schumacher to the custody of his parents, developed into a conflict between secular and religious communities in Israel. Neturei Karta, an anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox movement that had opposed the State of Israel since its founding twelve years earlier (1948), orchestrated the kidnapping of the boy while smuggling him outside of Israel.
In confronting the abduction affair, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, needed to show that no group, even if it is governed by religious principles, has any privileges that put it above the law. After two and a half years of unsuccessful investigations, Ben-Gurion recruited the Mossad to find the boy. Eventually, Yossele was found in New York and was returned to his parents.
In this article, I discuss the conditions that led to the crisis and the measures taken to resolve it. The first part of the article discusses the founding of the Neturei Karta movement, its radical and insular ideology, and the deterioration that led to the kidnapping of Yossele. The second part presents Ben Gurion’s principle of Mamlakhtiyut (statism) and his attitude toward the conflict. The third part examines theoretical aspects of liberal thought regarding religious minorities that help analyze the ways in which the State of Israel confronted and resolved this episode.

- by Motti Inbari
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- Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, Religion and State

Çetin Özek is a scientist once appearing with his ideas as an ideo-logical leader in Left Wing. İlhan Arsel is also a scientist well known with his criticism towards the Religion -Islam and he also participated in process of preperation of 1961 Constitutional Law. The opinions of both scientists above about the State-Religion re-lation are to be evaluated. In this study, Islam-Democracy and Is-lam-Secularism approaches of these two scientists will be dis-cussed and to points of similarities and differances between these two arguments will be referred.

- by abdullah ince
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- Religion, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Religion and State

This article reviews recent government efforts to address the “Alevi issue” and identify their successes and failures. It demonstrates that the “Alevi openings” constituted paradoxical processes: tracing various components of the “openings” through news media, it shows that, on one hand, they enabled the “Alevi issue” to be brought to public attention. On the other hand, once Alevis were made more visible in public, non-sympathizers could mobilize their representation for their own ends. These empirical findings have profound theoretical implications. They prove that “discursive claims of democratization” at the state level do not necessarily result in democratic mechanisms, which can resolve the demands of a civil society. The author argues that what she calls the “tutelary secularism” in Turkey, in other words, the management and disciplining of religious groups, continues under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule. This model not only fails, but also produces new sources of conflict in Turkey.

- by Derya Ozkul
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- Religious Pluralism, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Turkey, Islam in Turkey

This paper discusses the compatibility of Sharia, or Islamic law, with the Canadian legal system and liberal values. The paper examines the key components of Sharia, including financial regulations, marriage and divorce laws, and penal law, and compares them to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and John Rawls' theories of social justice. The paper also considers the potential for conflict between Sharia and the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 and parliamentary tradition. The paper ultimately concludes that Sharia is incompatible with the Canadian legal system due to its patriarchal and discriminatory nature, and potential violations of the Charter and international human rights laws. The paper also discusses the challenges of dealing with a religious legal system within a Western state, such as the potential for discrimination against non-Muslims and suppression of freedom of thought and speech.

- by Winston Ly
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- Religion, Sociology, Comparative Law, Theology
- by Andreas Goerke
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- Religion, Islamic Law, Comparative Law, Gender Studies

The objective of this article is to highlight the impact of regulatory issues of the Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB) on Shari’ah compliance in the contemporary Islamic finance industry. For institutions offering Islamic Financial Services (IIFS) to gain the trust of their Muslim clients, financial institutions normally incorporate a religious board in the form of an SSB. In theory, the function of the SSB is to ensure that IIFS operate within Shari’ah norms and teachings. However, given that SSBs in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and the United Kingdom are generally unregulated, concerns have been raised about the feasibility of a viable and functional Shari’ah governance culture in IIFS. Doubts relate mainly to the unclear functions and legal settings of SSBs; a lack of accountability and transparency; conflict of interests and the lack of independence of SSBs, as well as poor training and the inadequate qualifications of SSB members. The key argument in this article is that the prevalence of these critical governance issues largely reduces the level of Shari’ah compliance in the Islamic finance industry. Thus, the article argues that regulators in Islamic and secular countries need to intervene and regulate Shari’ah governance in IIFS so as to ensure a sound financial system and investor confidence.

- by Dr Ahmad A Alkhamees
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights
- by Aisha Musa
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights
- by Aviad Hacohen
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- Jewish Law, Lawyers, Religion and State, Lawyers and their Ethical values

Rothenberg, Naftali, Conversion in Transition: practical, conceptual and Halakhic changes in Israel, in: Leonard Greenspoon ed. Who Is A Jew? Reflections on History, Religion, and Culture, Purdue University Press, 2014
In this article I will introduce a general picture of the conversion status in contemporary Israel and a brief summary of the bureaucratic factors in the current crisis. Views of different streams in Israeli society like Ultraorthodox and Religious Zionists will be briefly referred too.
The main focus will be on the radical Halakhic changes regarding conversion that took place in rabbinical courts. We'll deal with questions flowing from and related to these changes through meta-halakhic discourse.

- by Naftali Rothenberg
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- Jewish Studies, Religion and Politics, Law and Religion, Religious Conversion
- by Ringo Ringvee
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- Law and Religion, Russian Orthodoxy, Religion and State, Estonia
- by Jalaledin Ebrahim
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights
- by Eirini Kakoulidou
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- Religion, Law, Islamic Law, Comparative Law
- by Rafael Bampi de Oliveira
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- Religion, Sociology, Comparative Law, Gender Studies

This article attempts to analyse a contemporary phenomenon from the sphere of alternative religiosity in the form of joke religions. The main subject of the analysis is a new religious movement called the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CFSM), founded in the USA in 2005. By referring to the theory of carnival fun, joining the sacrum and profanum, and passing through the various doctrinal threads of this religious movement, the author attempts to answer the question of whether the CFSM can be considered a genuine religion or only a joke.
The article begins with a short reflection on the possibility of joking about religion and faith, and the response to religious humour by people of faith, which may range from anger to disgust and sometimes even to aggression. Then, after a short history of this new (pseudo-)religious movement, a perspective is developed. It emerges that the whole structure of the so-called doctrine of this (quasi-)religion refers to other known religions and beliefs, including other new religious movements.

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

- by Arturo Sanchez Sanz
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- Religion, History, Ancient History, Sociology

גיורים וממסדים מתוך: פתח דבר, זהויות, כתב עת לתרבות ולזהות יהודית, גיליון 3, תשע"ג, 2013 תהליך הגיור עבר שינוי הלכתי ובירוקרטי מרחיק לכת בעשרות השנים האחרונות. מאמר קצר זה על פולמוס הגיור המתמשך, בעיקר בין קבוצות בציונות הדתית לבין עצמן,... more

גיורים וממסדים
מתוך: פתח דבר, זהויות, כתב עת לתרבות ולזהות יהודית, גיליון 3, תשע"ג, 2013
תהליך הגיור עבר שינוי הלכתי ובירוקרטי מרחיק לכת בעשרות השנים האחרונות. מאמר קצר זה על פולמוס הגיור המתמשך, בעיקר בין קבוצות בציונות הדתית לבין עצמן, מתאר שינויים אלה.

- by Naftali Rothenberg
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- Jewish Studies, Law and Religion, Rabbinics, Rabbinic Literature

Проблема истории властных отношений и институтов является сегодня одной из наиболее актуальных для целого ряда научных дисциплин: антропологии, истории, политологии, культурологии, философии. Особое значение данная проблематика имеет для все более активно развивающихся ныне междисциплинарных исследований в области общественных наук. Целью авторов коллективной монографии является изучение на материалах большого количества конкретных обществ древности, средних веков и раннего нового времени, комплекса явлений, обусловленных тем фундаментальным, но зачастую не понимаемым и игнорируемым фактом, что политическая культура, политическая организация являются частью, проявлением и отражением типа культуры, присущего данной цивилизации в целом. Этот цивилизационный тип культуры, разнящийся в разных цивилизациях, и определяет многообразие, вариативность темпов, форм, направлений, пределов социокультурной эволюции, в том числе форм и объема сакрализации власти и ее носителей. Книга рассчитана на ученых (антропологов, историков, политологов, философов, культурологов,), преподавателей и учащихся вузов, а также на широкий круг любителей истории и культуры.

- by Dmitri Bondarenko and +1
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- Religion, Buddhism, Ancient History, Anthropology
- by CC CHADBURN
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, History of Christianity

From an ethnographic and qualitative perspective, we will explore religious expression around the globe, including the major Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam but also Buddhism, Hinduism, African religions, and lesser-known faiths from small-scale, non-industrialized societies. Emphasis is placed on the analytic categories for understanding religious experiences and the prospects and challenges of cross-cultural comparison. We will adopt the techniques of anthropological inquiry to consider the social forces at work within religious life, including the political, colonial, gendered, and transnational dimensions of worship. Topics of ritual, mythology, ecology, witchcraft, trance, magic, and science will guide our exploration of belief and spirituality beyond the formal boundaries of institutional religions. Experiential assignments, including participant observation and interviews with practitioners of unfamiliar spiritual traditions, are combined with in-depth written exercises to strengthen intercultural and communication skills.

Содержание номера Дашковский П. К. Радиоуглеродное и археологическое датирование погребения скифского времени из могильника Чинета-II (Алтай) Сакович Е. Г. Тибетские источники о Чингис-хане Серегин Н. Н. Погребальный обряд... more

- by Petr Dashkovskiy
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- Religion, History, Archaeology, Central Asia
- by Anindya Bhattacharya
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- Discourse Analysis, Religion, Sociology, Cultural Studies
- by Hussein A . H . Hassan
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- Religion, Comparative Religion, Cultural Studies, Islamic Law
- by Suad Joseph
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Middle East & North Africa
- by George Grigore and +1
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights
- by Aswan Baba
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights

Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, it would be better to speak of 'equidistance' between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a 'balanced treatment' towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today's Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the 'epiphany' of well-armed, powerful 'Others' (Muslim, Christian or secular) which generated frustration and fear to such an extent that a religious nationalism (Hindutva) was born. Nehru and the Left of the Congress Party leadership thought that modernity would overcome religion, which is a remnant of the past. They were confident that a political culture based on pluralism and tolerance would become the foundations of the new society. This is exactly what Hindu Nationalism takes issue with: the 'pseudo-seculars' project of building the national identity without Hinduism or against Hinduism. Hindutva asserts that Hinduism is the basis of the Indian civilization. The Hindu ethos is the soul of the nation.

- by Gino Battaglia
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- Hinduism, Religion and Violence, India, Fundamentalism
- by Martin van Bruinessen
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Human Rights, Law and Religion

Dereje Feyissa
University of Bayreuth
Bruce B. Lawrence
Duke University
Abstract
Ethiopian Muslims have only had access to public space and opportunity for religious self-definition and collective influence since 1991. During little more than two decades, how have they advanced subjective agency within the political constraints of the current government, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front or EPRDF? This article addresses that question by backgrounding the history of Islamic expansion into Ethiopia, tracing Muslim engagement with Christian political elites over several hundred years, till the latter part of the 21st century. After the deposition of Haile Selasse in 1974, the DERG assumed power and in the name of a socialist agenda, suppressed all religions from 1975–1991. DERG socialism has been replaced by EPRDF pluralism, yet the structural constraints of the latter have weakened the efforts of Ethiopian Muslims to find their rightful place in the public square. Abetted and assisted by overseas immigrant communities, in both Western Europe and North America, Ethiopian Muslims continue to contest securitization and marginalization by the state, even as they struggle with regional, national and transnational issues that impact all Muslim identity politics in the second decade of the 21st century.

- by Dereje Feyissa
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- Religion and State
- by Martin van Bruinessen
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- Religion, Comparative Law, Theology, Human Rights