XIII. THE CHANGING ROLE OF RELIGION IN PRE-COMMUNIST CHINESE SOCIETY

Russian Orthodox Christianity has served as a major if not principal taproot of Russian culture, and has done so in varying forms and to varying degrees since the formal adoption of the Eastern Orthodox rites as official religion by Prince Vladimir of the Kievan Rus' in June of 988 A.D.1 The specific role of Russian Orthodoxy in the governance of Russia has been closely investigated.2 In addition, the political role of religion, particularly Russian Orthodoxy, during the Soviet era has been the subject of close scholarly examination.3 This paper focuses on the changing role of Orthodoxy under current conditions.

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This Show Was Religious?!: Online Reactions to Religion in Lost and Battlestar Galactica Finales

Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture ◽

10.1163/21659214-90000083 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 297-314

Author(s):

Charlotte Howell

Keyword(s):

Science Fiction ◽

Case Studies ◽

Discussion Forums ◽

Battlestar Galactica ◽

Popular Television ◽

Role Of Religion ◽

Changing Role ◽

Religious Elements

As the American populace is increasingly identifying as non-religious, religious representation is surprisingly also increasing on television, leading many to discuss the limits and boundaries of acceptable representations of religion through the cultural forum of television. The series finales of Lost and Battlestar Galactica serve as a particular pair of case studies I place in discussion with each other about religious-representational and generic concerns. Online reactions in discussion forums or comment sections to the religious elements in these finales generally occur in one of two ways: negative reactions that set the religious endings in opposition to the genre expectations viewers had for the shows or generally positive reactions that focus on the religious themes as successful affective tools that provided adequate or at least justified narrative closure. In both discursive strains, the tone was overwhelmingly respectful and occasionally aware that those entering into the discussions were engaging in larger cultural debates, providing one site of exploring the changing role of religion in popular television through a study of expectations of science fiction narratives and their conclusions.

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Maurice and Religion

Twenty-First-Century Readings of E. M. Forster's 'Maurice' ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781789621808.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 154-174

Author(s):

Krzysztof Fordoński

Keyword(s):

First Century ◽

British Society ◽

Religious Institutions ◽

The Novel ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

The World ◽

Twenty First Century ◽

Role Of Religion ◽

Changing Role

This chapter explores the role and representation of religion in the text of Maurice and in critical readings of the novel. Concentrating primarily on the text itself, the chapter offers close readings of those parts of the novel where religion/religions play a part, stressing their importance in the structure of the novel. This analysis retraces the influence of religion (predominantly Christianity but also ancient Greek and pagan religious thought) on the main characters’ psychological development and behaviour, especially on the way they try to deal with irreconcilable demands of religion and their own psyche. The chapter thus reflects on Forster’s attitude towards religious institutions and the changing role religion played in early twentieth-century British society and among Edwardian writers. The chapter also considers the role of religion in the reception of the novel, both in scholarship and among twenty-first-century readers. The chapter concludes by considering questions of reception and the relevance of Maurice to twenty-first-century (queer) readers as concepts of homosexuality have undergone considerable changes in parts of the world.

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Party Ideology and the Changing Role of Religion: From “United Front” to “Intangible Cultural Heritage”

Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques ◽

10.1515/asia-2015-0017 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 69 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Philipp Hetmanczyk

Keyword(s):

Social Factor ◽

Religious Activities ◽

Religious Policy ◽

Party Ideology ◽

United Front ◽

The One ◽

Role Of Religion ◽

Changing Role ◽

Religious Actors

AbstractIn recent years, religious policy in China has faced an increasingly dynamic panorama of religious actors. The implementation of particular policies has proven to be at times pragmatic, at times incoherent and arbitrary. This may be interpreted as an intentional strategy that allows for a certain flexibility arbitrarily to tolerate or to suppress religious activities. At the same time, it can just as well be a result of institutional incoherence and incompetence. As this incoherence has the potential of endangering the legitimacy of religious politics, authorities resort to ideology as a means to solve these contradictions by integrating religion as a growing social factor, while still leaving space for flexible and sometimes inconsistent administration. The present paper shows that religious policy is framed into two directions: on the one hand, the inherited United Front approach is modified by a gradual revaluation of religion. On the other hand, what used to be labeled “superstition” is transformed into a resource for propagating cultural nationalism and patriotism.

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Citizenship and Religious Freedoms in Post-Revolutionary Egypt

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel12070516 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 516

Author(s):

Mohamed Fahmy Menza

Keyword(s):

Open Door ◽

Citizenship Rights ◽

The Social ◽

Political Forces ◽

State Actors ◽

Role Of Religion ◽

The Impact ◽

Changing Role ◽

Modern Nation State

The majority of the social and political forces that spearheaded and actively participated in the 2011 and 2013 waves of uprisings catapulted the demands to reestablish ‘citizenship’ as one of the main foundations of a new social contract aiming at redefining state–society relations in a new Egypt. Meanwhile, the concept of citizenship has been increasingly featured in the discourse and practice of a wide variety of state actors and institutions. In fact, Egypt’s experiences with the modern nation-state project concerning the conceptualization of citizenship, and the subsequent implications on religious freedoms and the role of religion in the polity at large, has gone through various ebbs and flows since the beginning of the 20th century. The concept of citizenship as such has faced a plethora of challenges and has been affected by the socioeconomic and political trajectories of state–society relations during the Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak, and, most recently, Sissi regimes. Dilemmas of geographical disparities and uneven access to resources and services, in addition to issues of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities such as Coptic Christians, Shiites, Nubians, Bedouins, or on the basis of gender, are among the main accompanying features of the neoliberal order that was introduced and then consolidated first by Sadat’s Open Door and then Mubarak’s state-withdrawal policies, respectively. To what extent did the conception and practice of citizenship rights and religious freedoms—as defined by state and non-state actors—change after the demise of the Mubarak regime? In addition, what is the role of the Egyptian civil society vis-a-vis the state in this process of conceptualizing and/or practicing citizenship rights and religious freedoms in the new Egypt? Focusing on the aforementioned questions, this paper aims at shedding some light on the changing role of religion in the Egyptian polity post 2011, while also highlighting the impact of the sociopolitical and economic ramifications witnessed within the society on the scope of religious liberties and citizenship rights as a whole.

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Sports Participation For Hong Kong Women And Hong Kong Initiatives

Asian Journal of Physical Education & Recreation ◽

10.24112/ajper.11162 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 28-30

Author(s):

Mee Lee LEUNG

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Chinese Culture ◽

Sports Participation ◽

Chinese Society ◽

Value System ◽

Women's Participation ◽

Child Bearing ◽

Wide Range ◽

Changing Role

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English; abstract also in Chinese.Historically, sports was globally understood within the context of a masculine value system both in the Eastern and Western Societies. The 'Ying' and the 'Yang' stand for female and male in the Chinese culture implied that the female are more fragile and submissive where as the male being more aggressive and stronger. With 90% of the population in Hong Kong being Chinese, the cultural belief in a Chinese society that "Women's place should be in the home" has confined women to attend household chores and child bearing activities. In early 20th century, with the changing role of women in China and especially in Hong Kong, women are more active that they were a decade ago. Women are equal nowadays in a wide range of activities because they are better educated, play a more committed role and live a more active life. Thus, their participation in sports has increased in the past decade both in recreation and in competition. This paper attempts to report on Hong Kong women's participation in major games and also to recommend strategies which can further enhance women's place in sports.歷史上，無論東西方社會，運動廣泛地被視為屬於雄性的項目。正如中國以陰陽來代表女男一樣，女性被認為較順從和脆弱的，而男性則較強壯和具攻擊性。在九成人口都是中國人的香港社會中，「女性應該留在家裡」的觀念曾規限著女性須要處理家務和照顧孩子的責任。踏入20世紀，女性對社會事務的參與也開始積極起來。時至今日，香港的女性在多方面都能跟男性般獲得平等對待。她們不單止得到較佳的敎育機會，在社會的角色也越來越重要。因此，無論在運動比賽及健體活動上，女性的參與比十年前的大為提高。究竟香港女性過去在主要運動競賽上的參與情況和未來女性在運動發展上方針應該如何?這都是本文探討的綱領。

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