scholarly journals Transformation of Religious Communication Under the Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Chernichkin

The article analyzes the transformation of forms of religious communication against the background of the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus, that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the advanced opportunities offered by the virtual space, various religious organizations and individual leaders have the opportunity to acquaint all users with their religious doctrines. But if in ordinary times the virtual religious space often functioned as an "addition" to the real religious space, then in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, it became almost the main channel for broadcasting religious teachings and ideas. In this regard, the capabilities of the virtual environment made it possible to search and experiment. For some people this can lead to a deeper understanding of their religious traditions and practices, while for others it can open up completely new ways of worshiping God, generating a variety of new ideas and trends. The closure of prayer facilities during the coronavirus pandemic has forced most religious institutions around the world to communicate with their followers online, and most of the self-isolated believers have also turned to virtual space in order not to interrupt their religious practices. By itself, virtual religious activity is not a new phenomenon, but in a crisis situation it has become an adequate substitute for real religious activity, making it possible to maintain the epidemiological situation and curb the outflow of the flock, adjusting their religious rituals to the new conditions. On the example of some religious institutions operating on the territory of Russia, it was revealed that during the period of restrictive measures in the country, some forms of religion have undergone significant changes and accelerated digitalization.

Spiritualita ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukron Romadhon

Spirituality and a new religious awakening, are seen by religious elites as a stage of religious directness in carrying out religious traditions and rituals. New civilizations can instead be a threat to conventional religious traditions and rituals. Without the willingness of religious elites to criticize and re-interpret conventional ritual traditions and patterns, the functions of the world's major religions could fade. The world's major religions are increasingly alienated from the objective world and awareness of the lives of the people and their people. It seems that there will be a new form of religion or a new religion that is completely different from the tradition of religious rituals that have been carried out by the major religions of the world. While the religious elite is still attached to classical religious interpretations. But on the other hand, the emergence of modern society, encouraging the argument of secularization is part of modernization. The values underlying socio-political and economic relations also appear to be beginning to enter an irregular stage, when viewed conventionally, the spiritulitas of global civilization, rather than lies in the format of values, traditional systems and structures or modern rationality. New civilizations in social systems and Science and Technology (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) began to be directed at a more intuitive spirituality stage. Then came the act of social piety that proved impartiality over the duafa wal mustad'afin, workers and the poor who were oppressed by the economic system. The emergence of the term left theology only wants to explain about righteousness and belief based on the ability to perform acts of liberation of the proletariat. This action is not only done after the reality of the proletariat appears, but creates a social and economic system that has impartiality towards the proletariat.Keywords: Spirituality, Secularization, Social Piety


Author(s):  
P. Clint Rogers ◽  
Scott L. Howell

Internationally, religious institutions are developing online learning for a variety of reasons and purposes. The overall interaction of religion and the Internet has been varied (Dawson & Cowan, 2004). However, as Christopher Helland (2007) observes, “[By 2006] this medium has been embraced by most of the world religious traditions, to the point that not having Internet representation is a rarity for a religious organization, even if it is luddite in its beliefs and practices” (Introduction ¶4). The religious applications of formal online education comprise three main areas: extending the reach of theological education (primarily for the training of clergy), expanding opportunities for higher education from religious-sponsored universities and colleges, and facilitating other lifelong learning opportunities for members of the laity. It remains the case that “little has been written and published on distance education in North American theological education” (Amos, 1999, p. 126). Despite an expanding usage of online learning by religious institutions, there has been little published on any of these international efforts. Accordingly, this paper is a synthesis of original research, the authors having contacted leaders and academics from international institutions affiliated with major world religions to discover more about their various applications of online learning.


1998 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
V. Tolkachenko

One of the most important reasons for such a clearly distressed state of society was the decline of religion as a social force, the external manifestation of which is the weakening of religious institutions. "Religion," Baha'u'llah writes, "is the greatest of all means of establishing order in the world to the universal satisfaction of those who live in it." The weakening of the foundations of religion strengthened the ranks of ignoramuses, gave them impudence and arrogance. "I truly say that everything that belittles the supreme role of religion opens way for the revelry of maliciousness, inevitably leading to anarchy. " In another Tablet, He says: "Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable fortress that ensures the safety and well-being of the peoples of the world, for God-fearing induces man to adhere to the good and to reject all evil." Blink the light of religion, and chaos and distemper will set in, the radiance of justice, justice, tranquility and peace. "


2020 ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Saifudin Asrori ◽  
Ahmad Syauqi

Abstract. The Islamic education, Islamic boarding schools and madrasas, have made a very significant contribution to the implementation of education and social reform. Through the teaching process, in which the kyai as the main figure and the use of the ‘yellow book’, traditional Islamic ideas colored the early days of growing awareness as a nation and a State. When the New Order government carried out the development and modernization of society, there was a revival of a Muslim group called the “new middle class santri”, which took place in line with the modernization that occurred in the traditional Islamic educational institutions of the pesantren. Then in the era of democratization, the world of Islamic education experienced growth and development in various religious institutions and styles. Most of the pesantren are still committed to maintaining a moderate religious style, recognized as the foundation for the development of civil society and the formation of a ‘distinctive’, friendly, moderate, and tolerant social-political identity of Indonesian society. The Muslim character is different from other regions, especially the Middle East which is the axis of the Islamic world. However, a small proportion of pesantren are thought to promote the growth of religious chauvinism, teach a ‘narrow’ interpretation of Islam and provide a framework of thought and action in responding to socio-political change which often takes the form of a ‘jihad’. This article tries to explore the contribution of Islamic education to social change in the Indonesian Muslim community. Abstark. Dunia pendidikan Islam, pesantren dan madrasah, memberikan kontribusi sangat berarti dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan dan reformasi kemasyarakatan. Melalui proses pengajaran, di mana kyai sebagai figur utama dan penggunaan ‘kitab kuning’, gagasan Islam tradisional mewarnai masa-masa awal tumbuhnya kesadaran sebagai bangsa dan Negara. Ketika pemerintah Orde Baru melakukan pembangunan dan modernisasi masyarakat, terjadi kebangkitan kelompok Muslim yang di sebut “kelas menengah santri baru”, berlangsung sejalan dengan modernisasi yang terjadi dalam lembaga pendidikan Islam tradisional pesantren. Kemudian pada era demokratisasi, dunia pendidikan Islam mengalami pertumbuhan dan perkembangan dalam beragam kelembagaan dan corak keagamaan. Sebagian besar pesantren masih tetap istiqomah dalam mempertahankan corak keagamaan yang moderat, diakui sebagai pondasi berkembangnya masyarakat sipil dan pembentukan identitas sosial-politik masyarakat Indonesia yang ‘khas’, ramah, moderat, dan toleran. Karakter Muslim yang berbeda dengan kawasan lainnya, khususnya Timur-Tengah yang merupakan poros dunia Islam. Namun ada sebagian kecil pesantren dianggap mendorong tumbuhnya chauvinisme keagamaan, mengajarkan penafsiran Islam yang ‘sempit’ dan memberikan kerangka pemikiran dan aksi dalam merespons perubahan sosial-politik yang seringkali berbentuk panggilan ‘jihad’. Artikel ini mencoba mengeksplorasi kontribusi pendidikan Islam dalam perubahan sosial masyarakat Muslim Indonesia.


Author(s):  
Greg Garrett

Hollywood films are perhaps the most powerful storytellers in American history, and their depiction of race and culture has helped to shape the way people around the world respond to race and prejudice. Over the past one hundred years, films have moved from the radically prejudiced views of people of color to the depiction of people of color by writers and filmmakers from within those cultures. In the process, we begin to see how films have depicted negative versions of people outside the white mainstream, and how film might become a vehicle for racial reconciliation. Religious traditions offer powerful correctives to our cultural narratives, and this work incorporates both narrative truth-telling and religious truth-telling as we consider race and film and work toward reconciliation. By exploring the hundred-year period from The Birth of a Nation to Get Out, this work acknowledges the racist history of America and offers the possibility of hope for the future.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Rachel Wagner

Here I build upon Robert Orsi’s work by arguing that we can see presence—and the longing for it—at work beyond the obvious spaces of religious practice. Presence, I propose, is alive and well in mediated apocalypticism, in the intense imagination of the future that preoccupies those who consume its narratives in film, games, and role plays. Presence is a way of bringing worlds beyond into tangible form, of touching them and letting them touch you. It is, in this sense, that Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion with a “new visibility” that is much more than “simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is now manifesting itself once more.” I propose that the “new awareness of religion” they posit includes the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms. Whereas religious institutions today may be suspicious of presence, it lives on in the thick of media fandoms and their material manifestations, especially those forms that make ultimate promises about the world to come.


Author(s):  
Anil Gopi

Food and feast are integral and key components of human cultures across the world. Feasts associated with religious rituals have special social and cultural significance when compared to those in any other festivities or celebrations in people’s life. In this study, an approach is made to comparatively analyze the feasts at religious festivals of two distinctive groups of people, one with a characteristic of simple society and the other of a complex society. The annual feast happening at the hamlets of the Anchunadu Vellalar community in the last days of the calendar year is an occasion that portrays the egalitarian nature of the people. While this feast is restricted within a single community of particular caste affiliation and geographical limitations, the feast associated with the kaliyattam ritual of village goddess in North Malabar is much wider in scope and participation. The enormous feast brings the people in a larger area and exhibits a solidarity that cuts across boundaries of religion, caste and community. Beyond the factors of social solidarity and togetherness, these events also illustrate its divisive characters mainly in terms of social hierarchy and gender. A comparative study of both the two feasts of two different contexts reveals the characteristic features of religious feasts and the value of food and feast in social life and solidarity and also how it acts as a survival of their past and as a tradition.


Author(s):  
Stephen E. Maiden ◽  
Gerry Yemen ◽  
Elliott N. Weiss ◽  
Oliver Wight

This case examines the queueing issues caused by the growth in popularity of one of the most visited Hindu temples in the world. On January 2, 2015, Ramesh and Vasantha Gupta visit Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, just a day after some 210,000 people crowded the 2,000-year-old site. The case describes the many enhancements that the temple administrator, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has implemented since its management of the temple complex began in 1932. The soaring popularity of the temple, however, has led to safety and comfort concerns for pilgrims. While challenging students to consider additional improvements that might benefit pilgrim throughput rate and time in the temple system, the case highlights the tension TTD must manage between maximizing efficiency and maintaining religious traditions. Additionally, the case demonstrates the importance of perceived waiting times in the management of queues.


Author(s):  
Elena Frolova

Today the whole world continues to look at the surrounding reality through the prism of the coronavirus. A few months ago, in our relatively prosperous life without quarantine, the world-famous Bloomberg agency compiled another rating of countries according to the health index, on top of which were Spain and Italy. When compiling this rating, the average life expectancy of the population, the level of economic development, geographical location, prevalence of bad habits, the availability of clean drinking water, etc. were taken into account. The combination of these indicators provides data for the formation of a health index, which in Spain amounted to 92.8, and in Italy - 91.6. It is believed that the main factor contributing to the high health index in these countries is the favorable climate and the ability to keep to the Mediterranean diet, which is based on olive oil, seafood and a large amount of fruits and vegetables. However, as the tragic reality shows, countries with the best organization of the healthcare system in the world were not able to withstand the epidemic. What is the situation in the country that is the third of the top three in the ranking compiled by Bloomberg - Iceland? There is neither a favourable climate, nor olive oil, nor fresh shrimps, and the average temperature in the summer months there is +10°C. Nevertheless, in terms of life expectancy, this country left behind all the Scandinavian countries and came close to Singapore and Japan. And if we talk about the prevalence of coronavirus, then as of early April, as a result of testing of 4.7% of the population 1364 cases were found in the country, and the number of deaths was only 4. A mass examination of citizens, notably free of charge for everyone, immediate tracking of the routes of infection and isolation of the ill allowed the Icelandic authorities to take control of the situation from the very beginning of the epidemic, even without the introduction of strict restrictive measures [1].


2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joerg Rieger ◽  
Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger

Across the globe, conditions of labour are worsening, providing both challenges and opportunities. As labour is one of the places where the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class is always at work, new models of resistance are created here as well. Deep solidarity describes what happens when the 99% who have to work for a living (including people who are excluded from the job market) realise what they have in common, in order to employ their differences productively in the struggle. In this article, a theologian and a labour and community organiser work together showing how the Abrahamic religious traditions and developments in the world of labour help us to shape deeper forms of solidarity.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document