Societal Level of Religiosity and Religious Identity Expression in Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 959-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanda van der Noll ◽  
Anette Rohmann ◽  
Vassilis Saroglou
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Elevated Level ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Multilevel Analyses ◽  
Cultural Characteristics ◽  
Religious Symbols ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Identity Expression

Growing diversity in terms of values and worldviews is one of the main challenges in current European societies. It is often argued that, in these societies, suspicion toward some aspects and forms of religion, if not religion in general is one of the main obstacles toward the acceptance of minority religious practices. In this article, we focused on the role of religion as a part of culture across European societies in allowing or inhibiting the expression of a religious identity by wearing visible religious symbols in the workplace. We examined the, intuitive but still to be tested, assumption that religious identity expression is more accepted in societies with an elevated level of societal religiosity in a European context. Using the 2006 data of Eurobarometer 65.4 on discrimination, we examined differences in the acceptance of religious identity expression through support for wearing visible religious symbols in 26 European societies. Results of multilevel analyses showed cross-societal variation in the acceptance of wearing visible religious symbols and that societal religiosity positively predicts the acceptance of religious identity expression. Our results showed that it is meaningful to differentiate between European countries when examining the role of cultural characteristics at the societal level when analyzing individual attitudes related to identity expressions and their acceptance.

Desecularization as Phenomenon at the Turn of 21st Century

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Sergey V.  Lebedev ◽  
Galina N.  Lebedeva
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Islamic Revolution ◽  
Islamic Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
Rational Alternative ◽  
Role Of Religion

In the article the authors note that since the 1970s, with the rise of the Islamic movement and the Islamic revolution in Iran, philosophers and political scientists started to talk about religious renaissance in many regions of the world. In addition, the point at issue is the growing role of religion in society, including European countries that have long ago gone through the process of secularization. The reasons for this phenomenon, regardless of its name, are diverse, but understandable: secular ideologies of the last century failed to explain the existing social problems and give them a rational alternative.

scholarly journals Religious Identity and National Conflict in the 20th Century Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Andreas Jonathan
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Nation ◽  
Role Of Religion

This study attempts to discuss on how religious identities contribute to or was in conflict with the emerging national identities, with focusing issue on the struggle of Islam in its relation to Indonesian identity as a multi-religious nation and Pancasila state. Based on the critical analysis from the various literature, the result of the study showed that Islam did both contribute and was in conflict with the Indonesian national identity. The Islamist fights for the Islamic state, the nationalist defends Pancasila state. As long as Islam is the majority in Indonesia and as long as there is diversity in Islam, especially in the interpretation of Islam and the state, Indonesian national identity will always be in conflict between Pancasila state and Islamic state. Even though, the role of religion in society and nation change is very significant. The Islamist is always there, although it is not always permanent in certain organizations. In the past, NU and Muhammadiyah were considered as Islamist, but today they are nationalist. At the same time, new Islamist organizations and parties emerge to continue their Islamist spirit. Keywords: Islam, Religious identity, Pancasila, 

scholarly journals Migration and religiousness

2020 ◽  
pp. 486-493
Author(s):  
Nemanja Vukcevic ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Religious Factor ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Academic Authors ◽  
Role Of Religion

The subject of the research is the relationship between the phenomena of religion and migrations. The problem of their interaction has been inherent in human society since the ancient times; this problem is relevant one in nova days too. The consequences and prospects of development of this complex phenomenon in contemporary society are not sufficiently examined in science yet, especially in Sociology. In the paper, the role of religion in migration processes is studied based on the analysis of various sources, synthesis, induction, analogy, and abstraction. In course of research were analyzed numerous religious treatises, fiction works and classical sociological works, as well as works by foreign and Russian contemporary academic authors. The paper notes that the migration discourse has now shifted from the geographic and demographic to the socio-political domain. Religion has begun to play an important role at all stages of migration, both from the perspective of neoliberal and humanistic approaches. The paper aims to identify the role of the religious factor in the migration process and the role and logic of migration not only in inter-faith but also in intra-faith relations. It is shown that migration either serves as a catalyst for religious feelings and behavior or it strengthens the existing religious identity of migrants and enhances the quality of their religious feelings. The study highlights the need to improve the legislative framework of religious freedom, but also raises the question of how far religious communities can go in the process of advancing religious practice. In this regard, migrations often become a challenge for a secular state. Therefore, it is concluded that only an integrated approach would contribute to solving this problem.

Russian Christ

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor A. Shnirelman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Role Of Religion

Interest in the social role of religion, including religious education (RE), is on the increase in the European Union. Yet whereas Western educators focus mostly on the potential of religion for dialogue and peaceful coexistence, in Russia religion is viewed mostly as a resource for an exclusive cultural-religious identity and resistance to globalization. RE was introduced into the curriculum in Russia during the past ten to fifteen years. The author analyzes why, how, and under what particular conditions RE was introduced in Russia, what this education means, and what social consequences it can entail.

scholarly journals Is There a Role of Religion? The Moderation Role of Religious Identity and Religious Practice between Traditional Media Usage and Moral Evaluation

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Sheng Zeng ◽  
Zijian Peng ◽  
Lin Wu
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Moral Evaluation ◽  
Situational Factor ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
Role Of Religion

Although the relationship between traditional media usage and moral evaluation has been studied in China, it is not clear what role religion plays in this relationship. The 2013 Chinese General Social Survey was used to examine the moderation role of religious identity and religious practice in this correlation. The STATA 15.1 and PROCESS macro for SPSS (Model 2) was employed. This research confirms that religion has a moderating role in the correlation between traditional media usage and moral evaluation. Specifically, religious identity, no matter whether it is polytheistic or monotheistic, will strengthen the correlation between traditional media usage and moral evaluation. However, religious practice will weaken the correlation between traditional media usage and moral evaluation, except the religious practice of monotheism in China. Furthermore, our findings prove that religion is an important situational factor in the correlation between traditional media usage and moral evaluation. We should take religious identity and religious practice as independent factors to conduct a richer study in the future. Most importantly, our findings further confirm that the rationalization of society does not necessarily lead to the secularization of religion.

Reciting the Goddess

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Role Of Religion

This book presents a new perspective on the making of Hinduism in Nepal with the first book-length study of Nepal’s goddess Svasthānī and the popular Svasthānīvratakathā textual tradition. In the centuries following its origin as a short local legend in the sixteenth century, the Svasthānīvratakathā developed into a comprehensive Purana text that is still widely celebrated today among Nepal’s Hindus with an annual month-long recitation. This book interrogates the ways in which the Svasthānīvratakathā can be viewed as a medium through which the effects of important shifts in the political and cultural landscape that occurred among Nepal’s ruling elite were taken up by the general public and are evidenced within one decidedly local, lay tradition. Drawing on both archival and ethnographic research, the book begins with a detailed examination of Svasthānī (“the Goddess of One’s Own Place”) and the Svasthānīvratakathā within the shifting literary, linguistic, religious, cultural, and political contexts of medieval and modern Nepal from the sixteenth century to the present. It then widens its scope to explore the complementary and contentious dynamics between Nepal’s heterogeneous Newar Hindu and high-caste hill Hindu communities and those of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom vis-à-vis Hindu India. The Svasthānī tradition serves as a case study for a broader discussion of the making of Hindu religious identity and practice in Nepal and South Asia, and the role of religion in historical political change. This book brings to the fore a neglected vantage point on the master narratives of Hinduism on the Indian subcontinent.

scholarly journals RELIGION AND THE PROBLEM OF NEW IDENTITIES IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-135
Author(s):  
AZAMAT ZH. IDRISSOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Role Of Religion

This article studies the role of religion in the formation of new identities. Religion is presented as an alternative to secular nationalism and the revival of new religious identities as a reaction to the crisis of the secular type of nation-building. The first part of the article shows the historical background of the crisis of the theory of secularization and the “religious renaissance”, which was an attempt to return religion to public discourse. Religious identity is considered as a strict construct that is formed by certain actors using various mechanisms. The types of construction of religious identity are considered from three sides using the terms of M. Castells as the problem of “legitimizing identity”, “resistance identity” and identity as a “project”. Analyzing the role of religion in the formation of new identities the author comes to the following conclusions: 1) religion acts as a factor of legitimacy in new religious communities, where religion offers a sacred justification for power; 2) religion acts as a factor of protection of one's own identity under the wave of globalization, which acts as a hostile dominant identity; 3) the religious community acts as a separate “imagined” construct, which in the global dimension erases linguistic and ethnic boundaries, but acts as a dividing factor in local conflicts...

scholarly journals Muslims by Ascription: On Post-Lutheran Secularity and Muslim Immigrants

Numen ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-335
Author(s):  
David Thurfjell ◽  
Erika Willander
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
Majority Culture ◽  
Christian Family ◽  
Role Of Religion

Abstract This article empirically explores the interplay between the secular, post-Lutheran majority culture and Muslim immigrants in Sweden. It presents the ambiguous role of religion in the country’s mainstream discourse, the othering of religion that is characteristic to this, and the expectations of Muslims to be strongly religious that follows as its consequence. Four results of a web-panel survey with Swedes of Muslim and Christian family background are then presented: (1) Both groups largely distance themselves from their own religious heritage – the Muslims do this in a more definite way; (2) the Muslim respondents have more secular values and identities than the Christians; (3) contrary expectations, Christian respondents show more affinity to their religious heritage than the Muslims do to theirs; and (4) the fusion between the groups is prominent. The article concludes that equating religious family heritage with religious identity is precipitous in the case of Swedish Muslims.

scholarly journals The role of religion and its influence on conflicts in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Boris Bursać
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The North ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Islam And Christianity ◽  
Role Of Religion

At the very end of colonial rule, UK established Islam and Christianity in Nigeria as the two dominant religions with the middle belt region of Nigeria as the battle ground. Before their final departure, they secured and formed several ethnic and religious lines, which in the postcolonial era were used by political elites as a way to fight for state power. As such, on the basis of the abuse of political and religious elites, and on the basis of ethnic, religious and regional divisions, a deeply fragmented Nigeria as we know it today emerged. With colonial domination, sudden transitions, the power of society was destroyed to such an extent that it became incapable of regulating human passion. The situation is further heated by leading elites who manipulate religious identity, where as a result appears that the north of Nigeria, mostly Muslim, tends to Islamize the whole Nigeria, and the south, mostly Christian, strives to defend Christianity and the constitutional secularism of the state. In such a situation, religion, instead of calming passions and tensions, thanks to its leaders, opens the way to conflict, violence, extremism, and, finally, terrorism. The central understanding of the formation of the identity of religion and its transformation from conflict to violence is the rise of religious extremism throughout the country. Extremist groups show significant intolerance towards members of their own and other religions, react to social, economic and political crises of Nigerian politics, of course in religious terms, which later leads to conflicts. The integration of religion into Nigerian politics, which we can thank the colonial rulers, is one of the leading problems and it is precisely this that stands behind religious violence and political instability in the country.

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