Muslimer och postmuslimer i Svenska kyrkan

The demographical changes during the last decades have created a sit­uation where Sweden has become one of the most secular and one of the most multireligious countries at the same time. This situation stands in stark contrast to the country's modern history in which its population have been largely homogeneous, and its religious landscape almost completely dominated by state-church Lutheranism. The growth of Sweden's Muslim population is what has caused most debate. According to calculations made by the Pew Research Center, one fifth of the country's total population is likely to be Muslim by 2050. This change also has consequences for the former state church, which now finds that also Muslims take part in its activities. In this article we present and analyze a novel survey-investigation on Muslims who self-identify as members of the Church of Sweden. In our analysis we differentiate between Muslims and what we call post-Muslims. While the former of these categories refers to those who self-identify as Muslims, the latter refers to people who do not refer to themselves as Muslims but who come from a Muslim family. These categories are mirrored by the Christians and post-Christians, who are selected by equivalent criteria. We conclude that most Muslims and post-Muslims have no affiliation to organized religious communities in Sweden and that among those who do, Christian churches are as important as the Muslim congregations. Among the churches, the Church of Sweden is the one in which most Muslims and post-Muslims are members. The Muslim and post-Muslim members of this church, we find, differ from each other. The Muslims are mostly Swedish-born 50–65-year-old women. They do not take part in any religious activities, and they celebrate Christian, but not Muslim, holidays. In terms of beliefs, they believe in a life after death, but mostly not in God or hell. The post-Muslims are mostly 30–49-year-old men who have come relatively recently to Sweden from the Middle East. They take part in congregational activities and celebrate both Muslim and Christian holidays. They also largely believe in God, a life after death, and hell. In terms of representation, they feel represented, primarily, by Muslim communities.

THE AESTHETIC DISCOURSE OF DECORATIVE ART )ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION AS A MODEL)

Islam is a major turning point in the life of the nation in particular and humanity in general, because the impact of the Arab-Islamic civilization on human life as a whole is still visible. Art was a manifestation of the Arab Islamic culture and that it represents a pattern of human civilization patterns. Arab Islamic art is one of the important tributaries that accompanied the life and development of the Arab Muslim man. Islamic religious buildings, such as statues, pictures, and other tools used by the Christian churches in their rituals, as these teachings prevented from imitating nature completely. The abstract of the reality of the Creator. This spiritual identity of art is the prominent feature that has marked the history of Islamic art, in all its diverse fields, from diagnosis to abstraction. The Arab-Islamic personality crystallized under the Islamic religion, and art and its aesthetics became a source of interest for Muslim philosophers of beauty, including Al-Ghazali, Abuhyan Al-Tawhidi and Al-Farabi, because Islamic religious thought is far from everything that is analogous in Islamic art so as not to be an emulation of the Creator. From here, the research problem started with the following question: What distinguished the decorative art from the rest of the Islamic arts through its vast civilization from the other arts? And to what extent does it include the aesthetic dimension within the opinions of Muslim philosophers who are interested in the aesthetics of art? 1-As for the importance of the research, it focused on: the possibility of considering it a source for those interested in studying decorative. 2-The possibility of seeing the aesthetics of decorative art and the artist's orientation to this type of art.

Death or Resurrection? Christian Church Leader Responses to External Change

Christian churches in many Western countries have been confronted with a general decline in church membership and participation due to significant, society-wide shifts. This study seeks to better understand how church leaders at the local level work through the challenges posed by these external developments. Using a combination of semi-structured interviews and panel sessions conducted in The Netherlands, our analysis reveals a wide variety of change responses by local church leaders, even within church traditions. Based on these differences, we develop a process model of how and why local church leaders will differently engage with external change, thus opening up the debate around the contingencies and activities that may support local churches and their leaders in reversing local church decline. Our research also highlights the importance of local level processes and dynamics in understanding how Christian churches interact with their external contexts.

Religion and the Political Process: the Fourth Wave of Democratization

The article analyzes the role of religion in socio-political processes in Europe, in the post-Soviet space, and more broadly in the Western world. The structural and functional approach, methods of sociological and political analysis of the religious factor as a political phenomenon are applied. The purpose of the study is to analyze the role of religion (mainly Christian churches) in democratic processes on the example of the EU member states and the post-Soviet space. Special attention is paid to the participation of various Christian churches in socio-political transformations, conflicts and “orange” revolutions, as well as to the opposition of religion to the ideology of modern liberal democracy from the standpoint of traditionalism (identity). It is concluded that religion has become an important marker of a global phenomenon that can be called the “fourth wave” of democratization (following the periodization of S. Huntington). If within the framework of the third wave, religion was one of the elements and at the same time objects of democratization, then since the 2000s religion is the main impulse factor of the entire process of traditionalist democratization in social, political and cultural dimensions. The civic activity of believers corrects liberal democracy, makes it more “moral,” and not archaic. The merit of religion is that it has clearly defined the boundaries beyond which the democracy of the future should not be transgressed: the recognition of the right to traditional moral foundations for entire societies and states along with the usual liberal freedoms, i.e., equality of all races and peoples, the value of every person, the freedom of speech.

Machiel Kiel and his View of the Bulgarian Empire on the Eve of the Ottoman Invasion

Machiel Kiel’s attitude towards the culture of the Second Bulgarian Empire was extremely negative. In this regard, he blatantly manipulated and falsified the results of historical and archaeological studies. In his opinion, the Bulgarian cities of the 13th–14th centuries were small and unsightly, the churches were rough and impersonal, and the palaces of the kings were poky and ugly. Kiel told outright lies about the conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Turks in the late 14th century. A careful examination of the available data shows quite a different picture. According to demographic studies of world-renowned academicians, such as P. Bairoch, J. Batou and P. Chèvre, medieval Bulgarian cities ranked among the best developed cities on the Old Continent. Moreover, according to the latest study, the capital of Tarnovgrad was on par with Rouen, the second largest city in France, and the southern capital of Toulouse, and had almost as many inhabitants as Cologne, the capital in the Holy Roman Empire. In Tarnovgrad, a total of 64 Christian churches have been uncovered so far, almost all of which were icon-painted and had marble and ceramic artistic decoration. In comparison, in the early 15th century, there were 53 churches and 19 monasteries in Thessaloniki, the second largest city of the Byzantine Empire.

Kościoły chrześcijańskie a globalizacja – perspektywa europejska

In a globalized reality, Christian churches must rediscover its place. The task is extremely difficult as it’s impossible to know where the congregation’s spiritual needs are heading. Migration and mass media rise as well as problematic identities and roles influence the deepening of the differentiation process, which makes it difficult to define unambiguous scenarios regarding the future of the religious market. On the other hand, the prolificacy of the presented theories proves religion’s unusually complex nature and context. The article’s aim was to present the most significant forecasts on where Christian churches will stand in the today’s global village.

Aktualisasi Amanat Agung Yesus Melalui Tinjauan Historis Pertumbuhan Gereja Kristen Di Pulau Batam

Batam Island has diverse social characteristics that are shown by many ethnicities, traditions, and religions. This diversity exists as a result of the population on this island is dominated by domestic migrants from all around Indonesia. In line with the expansion of industry in Batam, the island's population is rapidly increasing, which is accompanied by the establishment of various types of worship places. Based on population growth, it is essential to examine the historical development of churches of all denominations as well as the establishment of worship places in other religions. The research method used in this writing is qualitative research method by conducting literature review related to church growth. The result of this historical review was, the growth of Christian churches in Batam is not as fast as the growth of mosques, but that does not mean it has decreased in number. They continue to grow and shift geographically in various ways. Clearly, Christianity has spread far from its historical origins and supports Jesus' great commission of making disciples of all nations, baptizing him, and teaching the gospel throughout the world. Abstrak: Pulau Batam merupakan wilayah dengan unsur masyarakat heterogen yang ditunjukkan dengan keberagaman suku, adat istiadat, serta agama yang dianut oleh masyarakat pulau Batam. Keberagaman ini terbentuk karena masyarakat di pulau Batam didominasi oleh pendatang yang berasal dari seluruh Indonesia. Seiring dengan pertumbuhan industri di pulau Batam, maka pertumbuhan penduduk juga meningkat pesat dan diikuti juga bertumbuhnya berbagai macam rumah ibadah. Berdasarkan latar belakang pertumbuhan penduduk tersebut, maka perlu dilakukan tinjauan historis perkembangan gereja dari semua denominasi dan juga berdirinya rumah ibadah agama -agama lainnya. Penulisan ini menggunakan metodologi kualitatif dengan melakukan penelitian kepustakaan atau kajian literatur yang berhubungan dengan pertumbuhan gereja. Hasil tinjauan historis ini adalah pertumbuhan gereja Kristen tidak sepesat pertumbuhan masjid tetapi bukan berarti berkurang dalam jumlah. Mereka terus bertumbuh dan bergeser secara geografis dalam berbagai cara, Jelas agama Kristen telah menyebar jauh dari asal usul historisnya dan mendukung amanat agung Yesus yaitu menjadikan semua bangsa murid, membaptiskannya dan mengajar injil keseluruh dunia.