Religious Nongovernmental Organizations: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper represents the first systematic attempt at an analysis of religious nongovernmental organizations (RNGOs). Largely ignored as an organizational field, RNGOs constitute a new breed of religious actors shaping global policy–an organizational hybrid of religious beliefs and social activism at local, national, and international levels. This paper proposes a definition of RNGOs, traces the emergence of RNGOs from an historical perspective, and situates them in their current religious and sociopolitical contexts. Drawing on interviews and documentary data from a sample of 263 United Nations-affiliated RNGOs, the author proposes an analytical framework to examine the religious, organizational, strategic, and service dimensions of these organizations. Religious nongovernmental organizations' unique contributions to the redefinition of a just society as well as the sociopolitical challenges arising from their religious identity are discussed.     

Religious affiliation and the family

The process of religious affiliation is mediated by institutions such as the family, which provide a network of ties to the public sphere. Variations in the likelihood of those with no religious affiliation in high school (N=900) becoming church members by the time they reach 30 are explained in terms of a combination of individual attributes, such as educational and spatial mobility, and changes in structural location, such as the transition to marital and parental status. Panel data from the Career Development Study show that women's chances of affiliation are more affected than are men's by parents' religious homogamy, getting married, and having children.     

A Significant Shift: A Pentadic Analysis of the Two Rhetorics of the Post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church Regarding Homosexuality

This paper argues that, since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), there has been a significant shift in the rhetorical stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward homosexuality in which the pre-council rhetoric, which condemned both act (i.e., homosexual behavior) and actor (i.e., the homosexual) has been replaced by two distinctly different rhetorics: a moral rhetoric, which continues the Church's long-standing condemnation of homosexual acts as sins, and a pastoral rhetoric, which argues that homosexuals should be ministered to and embraced. A Burkean pentadic analysis is used to define how the two rhetorics differ from each other and from the earlier rhetoric. The three major influences (i.e., Scripture, Tradition, and Catholic theology/philosophy) that have shaped, and continue to shape, the Church's position regarding homosexuality are described. Some of the socio-political implications of this shift are emphasized.     

略论宗教在社会主义和谐社会建设中的积极作用

构建社会主义和谐社会是一项浩繁的事业,需要社会各界共同奋斗。宗教教义中蕴涵许多有关和谐的思想资源,我们应积极挖掘这些资源,采取多种方式和途径,动员信教群众努力为建设社会主义和谐社会做出贡献。     

South Africa's 'Rainbow People', National Pride and Happiness

Since the first free elections were held in April 1994, South Africans are popularly known as the 'rainbow people'. The paper inquires whether South Africans who experienced pride in their nation in the first years of democracy also perceived a greater sense of subjective well-being. It is proposed that national pride in post-apartheid South Africa might be fused with or work through self-esteem to lift levels of happiness. The paper traces the history of the new integrating civil religion of the rainbow people and the acceptance of the rainbow as a political symbol of unity among the diverse people of South Africa immediately after the 1994 elections and two years later. The proposed link between national pride and happiness was explored with data from two independent national surveys, the 1995 South African World Values Survey conducted by Markinor and a June 1996 MarkData syndicated omnibus survey. The study found that the appeal of the rainbow as political symbol was inclusive of all groups in society and that feelings of national pride and support for the rainbow ideal were positively associated with subjective well-being. As indicated by intensity and frequency measures, the majority of South Africans were proud of their country and could name a national achievement that inspired pride. Better-off South Africans tended to be happier and more satisfied with life but less proud, while the poor were less happy but fiercely proud of their country. Results suggest that belief in South Africa's 'rainbow nation' ideal may have assisted in boosting happiness during the transition to a stable democracy, thereby preventing alienation among the losers under the new political dispensation. Supporters of the ideal of the rainbow nation were more optimistic than others about the future of their country.     

论《边境三部曲》中的文化隐喻

《边境三部曲》是美国当代作家科马克.麦卡锡描写西部牛仔的宏伟巨著,这一系列作品因其对大自然、对人性、对社会、对宗教等的深切关注而蕴含着深厚的文化隐喻。从《边境三部曲》中牛仔、荒原、宗教等文化符号入手探讨作品的文化隐喻。     

A political profile of Protestant minorities in Europe

This article uses a large volume of data – in particular, surveys – to explore the character of Protestant identity in contemporary European states. It distinguishes three contexts. First, in the Nordic and certain adjacent states, the dominance of Protestantism was complete, but more recent secularisation has provoked a reaction from Christian parties, which enjoy strong support from active Protestants. Second, in certain states that in the past were predominantly Protestant, and where the ethos of the state was aggressively so, a significant Catholic minority was counter-mobilised politically, but as the dominant state-building parties became increasingly secular, committed Protestants reacted in different ways, including the formation of splinter parties (as in the Netherlands and Switzerland) or working within the traditional parties (as in Great Britain and Germany). Third, in a few states there has traditionally been a small Protestant minority, which has played a significant role in national development, but in these cases (mainly successor states to the Habsburg monarchy) decades of communist rule have largely obliterated what might have been distinctive patterns of political behaviour. The article explores variation in group identity patterns and in attitudes towards the state in those cases for which appropriate survey data are available, and devotes particular attention to the position within the United Kingdom, where religion has played a prominent role in the state- and nation-building process.     

论藏族的丧葬风俗

为什么全民信仰藏传佛教的藏民族,其丧葬的主要类型不是佛教所推崇的火葬而是天葬?为什么最高级的葬法是塔葬而不是最流行的天葬?为什么土葬的兴衰史与苯教的兴衰史相一致?文章从藏族的地理环境、宗教文化与民族史方面进行了论述,提出了藏民族葬俗双因素决定理论:地理环境与宗教交互作用决定了藏民族葬俗,地理环境在很大程度上抵消了宗教的决定性影响,特别是苯教所推崇的土葬和佛教所推崇的火葬的影响;而宗教又削弱了地理环境对葬俗的限制和束缚。     

宗教应对:少数民族压力应对研究的新视角

宗教与应对密切相关,当宗教的行为和思想用于压力应对时,这样的应对便称为宗教应对。文中对宗教应对的内涵、宗教对我国少数民族压力应对的影响进行了阐述,指出宗教应对是少数民族压力应对的一种特殊方式,包括宗教行为应对和宗教思想应对。研究少数民族宗教应对具有重要的现实意义。     

关于宗教与社会主义社会相适应的思考

引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应是我国宗教工作的出发点和落脚点,是我国宗教工作方针的重要组成部分。本文从宗教与其所处的社会相适应是宗教历史和发展的必然、引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应原则的确立是马克思主义宗教观的丰富和发展、宗教从其自身条件来看是能够与社会主义社会相适应的以及探索宗教与社会主义社会相适应的途径和方法四个方面阐述了宗教与社会主义社会相适应这一论断的科学内涵和现实意义。