Not a lonely crowd? Social connectedness,religious service attendance,and the spiritual but not religious

Using the 2006–2014 General Social Survey and 2006–2012 Portraits of American Life Study, I find that on three dimensions of social connectedness: social interaction frequency, core discussion network size, and number of close ties, that religious service attenders are more connected than religious non-attenders and then either spiritual nor religious, but there are few differences between attenders and the spiritual but not religious. Difference-in-differences and fixed-effects models show little evidence that switches between categories are associated with changes in connectedness, and additional models show that prior social connectedness explains only a small amount of future switches. This paper challenges assumptions that the non-religious are a homogenous group lacking the benefits provided though the social networks of religious congregations and has implications for research on what it means to be spiritual, measuring religion and spirituality, and understanding the role of formal organizations in social life.     

Challenges of implementing restorative justice for intimate partner violence: An Islamic perspective

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently recognized as a critical public health concern and a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, Muslims – a religiously and socio-culturally diverse faith-based populace – are not an exception. To address this complex area of criminal justice and social policy, some scholars advocate implementing restorative justice (RJ) approaches. While RJ approaches have been traditionally used in Islamic cultures for conflict resolutions, to date, few studies have investigated how RJ operates in dealing with IPV in Muslim countries and communities. This article explores how RJ approaches towards IPV operate in some Muslim countries/communities, and offers insights into developing culturally and religiously appropriate ways of implementing RJ in IPV situations among Muslims. Given the prevalence of IPV among Muslims, the question is particularly important and timely. Taking exclusively limited examples of RJ approaches that have been used to mediate IPV cases in Muslim countries and communities, this paper found one significant challenge in the RJ approaches among Muslims: community acceptance of IPV. To reduce IPV in Muslim society, it is necessary to develop treatment models and techniques that meet cultural and religious needs. This paper found that since RJ is not alien to Islamic teachings, RJ approaches can be implemented effectively in dealing with IPV among Muslims by ensuring justice and equity of the abused woman. The findings of this paper will assist policymakers, practitioners, and service providers in providing religiously and culturally appropriate care when addressing IPV issues among Muslims.     

Abused Women in Taiwan Who Seek Religious Support

ABSTRACT

This research explores the types of religious healing that abused women use and surveys their experiences with these practices in Taiwan. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of abused women, who had been recruited from 12 agencies. The findings show that participants sought religious healing for a variety of reasons, and that they had both positive experiences (e.g., useful religious support) and negative experiences (e.g., encountering deceptive jitongs and spending a large amount of money on services) regardingr the support provided by different religions. This study also found that women who believed in traditional Eastern religions had more negative experiences than women who believed in Western religions.     

Exploring the role of faith in resettlement among Muslim Syrian refugees

ABSTRACT

Over 95% of the refugees from Syria who have resettled in the United States are Muslim. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of the Islamic faith in contributing to resiliency among recently resettled refugees from Syria. Ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Syrian adults who had arrived in the United States between 3 months and 2 years prior to the study. Findings emphasized the primary role of the Islamic faith in the lives of participants. For participants in this study, identifying as Muslim was an essential part of their identity and served as a source of comfort, strength, pride, and humility. Parents in the study expressed fears that their children would lose their connection to their culture and would grow up to devalue the Islamic faith and traditional religious practices due to their exposure to American values which they viewed less strict regarding dress, alcohol consumption, and faith practices. Understanding the important role that the Islamic faith can have in providing a source of comfort, strength, and empowerment for Syrian refugees, and working to build infrastructure to support and sustain these faith traditions is an essential component of refugee resettlement in the United States.     

人口流动对基督教全球传播的影响

基督教流动人口是基督教在全球传播过程中的关键因素。在基督教存在的前五个世纪,广泛的人口流动将基督教变成了全球化的信仰。广泛的人口流动在其它主要的世界宗教在世界各地的传播过程中也发挥了重要作用,但是,就基督教来说,流动可能是这种信仰固有的因素。基督教超越罗马帝国成为全球性信仰是个非常复杂的过程,包含许多不同类型的人口流动。跨国界的领袖们、俘虏、难民和流浪者、商人是人口流动的四种主要类型。虽然,东部教会传教的成功是短暂的,但是东部教会在第一个千年形成的移民传教模式无疑为21世纪的基督教提供了典范。基督教在过去的两三个世纪里再次全球化,基督信仰作为新的中心在非洲、拉丁美洲和亚洲的某些地区出现,表明"人口流动"在基督教全球传播过程中的作用比以前更加明显。当代基督教的全球化与早期基督教的全球化在发展道路上有很大不同,但有一点是不变的,即基督教的全球化仍将主要依靠流动者的行动和决策。     

异地安置羌民的“第一个羌历年”——四川省邛崃市南宝山木梯村羌历年田野调查报告

羌历年是羌民族生活和文化的缩影。2010年11月6日,邛崃市南宝山“5·12汶川大地震”灾后异地安置点木梯村的村民迎来了灾后的第一个羌历年。通过对此次羌历年的仪式过程及其宗教内涵、文化意蕴的解读,分析了当地村民、政府和社会组织在此次庆祝活动中所扮演的角色和发挥的作用,并探讨羌历年在新的环境条件下所发生的文化空间和宗教空间的重构、神圣与世俗的冲突与协作。     

A Nation from the Sands

Abstract

Since its birth ninety years ago Tel Aviv has been a leading symbol ofthe Zionist, and subsequently, Israeli claim to be a modem, progressive, and essentially ‘Western’ nation. The power of this image has obscured both the intimate connection between the modern(ist) architectural and town-planning discourses upon which its identity has been constructed and the exclusivism of Zionism as a nationalist movement, and the fact that the neighboring town ofJaffa, long considered Tel Aviv’s ancient and backward alter ego, was in fact developing along similar lines as the Jewish city until its conquest in 1948.     

宗教事务依法管理的路径及基础——以四川藏区依法治理为视角

Under the situation that traditional beliefs have remained basically unchanged while the social economy has developed and population mobility has increased, with the trend of an in-creasing diversity in beliefs, and an increasing number of religious followers and temples, the management of religious affairs has become more difficult. In ethnic areas, the speed of moderniza-tion has accelerated, ethnic interactions are fre-quent, and the beneficial conflict or cultural con-flict among various ethnic groups has become nor-mal; the impact of modernity, ways of life, the value and ideals of the temples’ traditional culture and educational model brings new social pressure for the monks who are adapting to modernization, and making a leap in development while safeguard-ing traditional rituals, culture, religious education and development. The number of criminal cases involving monks has increased, which brings a strong negative influence to the religious followers in Tibetan areas. All these factors are directly in-fluencing the stability and harmonious development of the Tibetan areas. As the second-largest Tibetan area, the geo-graphical location of Sichuan’s Tibetan areas is u-nique. In ancient times, the policy of “keeping the Tibetan areas stable means keeping Kham sta-ble at first” had been an important measure for the central government to manage all of the Tibetan ar-eas. From the Qing dynasty to the present times, it still has a practical use, and even has special val-ue in the process of safeguarding the “long-term stability of Sichuan”, especially when the people have but a hazy understanding of the relationship between the freedom of faith and managing reli-gious affairs according to the law in Tibetan areas, and one needs to have a legal response to it. Hence, “keeping Kham stable” needs to depend on the law, and legal means should be taken to safeguard the harmony and stability of the Tibetan areas in Sichuan. Management of the religious affairs according to the law is an inevitable requirement for China to promote the goal of ruling the country by law, com-prehensively deepen reform, and promote the mod-ernization of the country’s governance system and capability. Based on an active response to the guidance principle of strengthening the manage-ment of religious affairs according to the law pro-posed by the Central Government, and the Sichuan Provincial Government, we should standardize reli-gious activities and affairs, insist on a combination of legal management and policy guidance, adopt various measures, search for a practicable path to realize the significant goal of managing the religious affairs according to the law in Tibetan areas of Si-chuan. This article proposes some methods of man-aging the religious affairs according to the law as follows:1 ) To insist on the CPC’s leadership in reli-gious work and management of religious affairs;2 ) to actively and reliably promote the systematic con-
struction of the legalization of religious affairs;3 ) to insist on the combination of legal management and policy guidance;4 ) to encourage the public to manage religious affairs according to law; 5 ) to standardize the scale and number of monks by u-sing new methods of management;6 ) to strengthen the role of the “four troops” ( Party and Govern-ment leading cadres,ethnic religious work cadres, ethnic minority cadres and talents, and religious believers ) , especially religious believers; 7 ) to make full use of the regulatory framework of the Buddhist community; 8 ) to create conditions for those monks who wish to return to secular life;9 ) to distinguish the boundary between normal and il-legal religious activities, between folk custom and extreme religious concepts; 10 ) to identify and distinguish between “monks and lay people”, and“ordinary cases and religious cases”. At present, there are four foundations for managing religious affairs according to the law:1 ) the idea that freedom of faith is not only one’s right, but also one’s duty has gradually enjoyed popular support;2 ) there is a good policy base for managing religious affairs according to the law;3 ) there is a relatively strong theoretical basis for managing religious affairs according to the law;4 ) there exists good legal support for managing reli-gious affairs according to the law.     

从霍桑对齐灵渥斯的偏见看其宗教观

《红字》的读者深受霍桑对三位主角截然不同的描写影响,认为齐灵渥斯是罪恶最深厚的罪人,而他的诸多正常人的权利及人性需求却一直得不到理解和支持。由于霍桑矛盾而狭隘的宗教观,以及他对该人物存在一定的偏见,从而形成了笔下丑恶的魔鬼:齐灵渥斯。     

抗日战争时期中国共产党的宗教工作研究

抗日战争时期是中国共产党正确认识宗教问题和全面开展宗教工作的重要阶段.无论是在抗日民主根据地,还是在国统区、沦陷区,党都制定与抗日战争相适应的宗教政策,坚持和扩大抗日民族统一战线,积极引导宗教与抗日战争相适应,推动了抗日战争的胜利进程,积累了积极的理论成果和实践经验,为以后党的宗教工作提供了借鏊.