The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Catalyst for Religious Polarization in Poland

In theory, the coronavirus pandemic, with its wide-ranging implications for the functioning of societies around the world, cannot fail to have an impact on religiosity. We test whether this is really the case and investigate the scope and trend of changes in religious commitment using the example of Polish society. We make use of survey research conducted at various times on representative samples of Poles. Many studies have shown that in the face of destabilization and uncertainty, religious engagement gives hope and support, and therefore religiosity should be expected to increase during a pandemic. On the other hand, it can be assumed that a superficial and traditional religiosity, associated only with customary participation in Sunday religious practices, may weaken or even disappear when churches close. It emerges that both these phenomena can be observed in Polish society and, consequently, in the context of the pandemic, they are leading to religious polarization.

Pendidikan Politik dan Isu Agama dalam Pilpres (Studi pada Mahasiswa IAIN Manado dan UIN Makassar) (Political Education and Religious Issues in the Presidential Election (Study on Students of IAIN Manado and UIN Makassar))

Abstrak The purpose of this research is tofind out student opinions on religious polarization on social media in the 2019 presidential and vice presidential elections, and how social media educates new voters (melinial). The method used is qualitative, the reason is because this research requires field data that is actual and contextual, qualitative methods have a very high degree of adaptability so that researchers can adjust to situations and conditions that are constantly changing when data collection. This research found some important notes that manysocial media which makes use of religious issues and a religious polarization strategy to win certain candidates in the 2019 presidential election, because it is considered effective in influencing the attitudes of voters, especially from millennials (students), even though many political experts claim / admit that playing religious sentiment violates ethics and is not good for millennial generation political education. Apart from being a campaign tool, social media is also used as an effort and strategy to provide political education for the millennial generation by stakeholders, such as the KPU and Bawaslu, in order to avoid exposure to hoax news, black campaigen, money politics and so on which can injure the greatness of the democratic party. Abstrak Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pendapat mahasiswa terhadap polarisasi agama di media sosial pada pemilihan presiden dan wakil presiden Tahun 2019, dan bagaimana media sosial mengedukasi pemilih pemula (melinial). Metode yang digunakan yakni kualitatif, alasannya karena penelitian ini membutuhkan data lapangan yang bersifat aktual dan kontekstual, metode kualitatif memliki tingkat adaptabilitas yang sangat tinggi sehingga peneliti bisa menyesuaikan dengan situasi dan kondisi yang senantiasa berubah saat pengambilan data. Penelitian ini menenemukan beberapa catatan penting bahwa banyak media sosial yang memanfaatkan issu agama dan strategi polarisasi agama untuk memenangkan calon tertentu pada pemilihan pilpres 2019, karena diangap efektif untuk mempengaruhi sikap pemilih terutama dari kalangan milenial (mahasiswa), padahal banyak pakar politik yang menyatakan/mengakui bahwa memainkan sentiment agama melanggar etika dan kurang baik untuk pendidikan politik generasi milenial. Selain sebagai alat kampanye, media sosial juga dimanfatkan sebagai usaha dan strategi untuk memberikan pendidikan politik bagi generasi milenial oleh pemangku kepentingan, seperti KPU dan Bawaslu, agar terhindar dari paparan berita Hoax, black campaigen, money politik dan sebagainya yang dapat menciderai khitmadnya pesta demokrasi. Kata kunci: isu agama, pendidikan politik, media sosial.

Introduction: Divided by Death? Staging Mortality in the Early Modern Low Countries

This special issue examines the multifaceted phenomenon of death in the early modern Low Countries. When war, revolt, and disease ravaged the Netherlands, the experience of death came to be increasingly materialised in vanitas art, funeral sermons, ars moriendi prints, mourning poetry, deathbed psalms, memento mori pendants, grave monuments, épitaphiers, and commemoration masses. This collection of interdisciplinary essays brings historical, art historical, and literary perspectives to bear on the complex cultural and anthropological dimensions of death in past societies. It argues that the sensing and staging of mortality reconfigured confessional and political repertoires, alternately making and breaking communities in the delta of Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt. As such, death’s ‘omnipresence’ within the context of ongoing war and religious polarization contributed to the confessional and political reconfiguration of the early modern Low Countries.

Konflik Sunni-Syi’ah di Indonesia Kontemporer: Polarisasi, Diskriminasi dan Kekerasan Agama

This study examines the conflict between Sunni groups and Syi'ah groups in post-New Order Indonesia. Many studies have revealed the problem of religious sectarianism conflict between the two. Some argue that conflict is triggered by differences in religious identity and theology. Others see economic and political aspects as the main factors triggering religious conflict and violence. Starting from the case of the Sunni-Syi'ah conflict in Jambesari Village (Bondowoso), this study finds an interesting finding that the conflict occurred due to sharpening religious polarization and contestation. At the same time, the infiltration of intolerant religious elites from outside the village also contributed to sharpening polarization, escalating tensions, and even triggering mass acts of violence that were suspected to have originated from Sunni groups over the Syi'ah minority group. Alienation, discrimination, dissolution of recitation, vandalism, and burning of houses belonging to Syi’ah elites are forms of violence both physically and psychologically due to the occurrence of this religious conflict.

ole of New Opinion Leaders on Social Media in Political and Religious Polarization (Jordanian case study)

Social media brings to the fore new opinion leaders. Due to their supposed role in public debate as well as persuasion and promotion of opinions and new behaviours among users of such networks, they are called Influences. In the last few decades, communication research has explored opinion leaders as effective influences on their environments and societies. They present and interpret information, give opinions and adopt innovation before the audience, in addition to mediating between the audience and media in the communication process. More particularly, Facebook represents a new space for discussion in the Arab World. The phenomenon spread during the Arab Spring in 2011 and even expanded later. It took different forms, like the transfer of information, interpretation of incidents, and mobilization for mass events, political and cultural polarization and new critical discourse. However, what is taking place in cyberspace is still debatable. The present study looks into the new opinion leaders’ phenomenon in the Arab public sphere and their part in political and religious polarization. The discourse of posts on three Facebook accounts of new opinion leaders (Influences) in Jordan is analysed. As these figures play disparate roles in national political and cultural events and dilemmas, lessons can be derived from such a rising phenomenon. The study aims at exploring the discourse features of the posts addressing public issues which sparked widespread controversies in the period 2017-2018, such as the civil state, theocratic state, school curriculum reform and political reform in Jordan. Study has found that the new opinion leaders’ phenomenon on social media in Jordan is on the rise, in terms of political and religious polarization. That would reveal some characteristics and roles of new opinion leaders, in addition to the features of their discourse with reference to major political and religious issues and values as well as political and religious polarization.

Map of Da’wah: Religious Polarization and Affirmation of Identity of Islamic Societies In Lombok, Indonesia

Temuan kajian ini adalah polarisasi keagamaan yang menegaskan identitas masyarakat Islam Lombok muncul sejak sebelum Indonesia merdeka dengan mengambil bentuk gerakan (faham) keagamaan. Faham keagamaan mainstream di Lombok adalah faham Sunni dan tidak seluruhnya di bawah bendera organisasi akan tetapi secara umum berbasis lembaga pendidikan. Faham non-sunni minoritas membawa pengaruh dan pola gerakan wahabi yang menekankan “pembedaan” praktik keagamaan, sehingga yang terjadi bukan lagi pergumulan ideologi melainkan kontestasi identitas. Kemudian identitas keagamaan masyarakat Islam Lombok berbentuk material-simbolik dan praktik keagamaan yang akomodatif. Akomodasi praktik keagamaan terjadi pada praktik amalan-amalan tasawwuf dan mengalami akulturasi sebagai identitas muslim Lombok. Identitas keagamaan Islam di Lombok Sunni ada jauh sebelum berkembangnya organisasi dan lembaga pendidikan keagamaan, sehingga identitas Islam Sasak mengalami pembauran hasil konstruksi alamiah masyarakat Islam Lombok. Keragaman organisasi, gerakan, dan peneguhan identitas dapat menjadi kekayaaan sejauh keragaman tersebut tidak dipertentangkan di ruang publik.

The Improbability of a Temple: Hindu Mobilization and Urban Space in the Delhi Shiv Mandir Agitation of 1938

The 1920s and 1930s were decades of intense religious polarization and violence in many parts of British India. These decades were also especially empowering ones for Hindu nationalist organizations in Delhi. So, it rankled Hindu leaders that Delhi’s built environment had a dearth of Hindu sacred structures to attest to their power, on account of the city’s past status as a Mughal capital. Instead, transitory spatial markers of local veneration made up its somewhat ephemeral Hindu sacred geography. The Shiv Mandir agitation of 1938 was a collective attempt by Hindu volunteers to forcibly occupy government land in a prominent arena of the city as a symbolic restitution of this historical inequality. The agitation itself had two parts—first, the occupation of a plot of land as a temple and, second, the aggregation of legal arguments supporting ownership of the plot for the Hindu public. By combining these two strategies, the Shiv Mandir agitation laid out the political and legal preconditions necessary for the production of a more conspicuous and enduring material landscape of organized Hindu religiosity in the city. Through this process, Hindu nationalist organizations consolidated themselves as the ultimate public custodians of temples and temple land. This was a powerful role that drew its prestige in good measure from control over prime urban property.

Measuring religious polarization: Application with American and Canadian data

Numerous studies suggest that polarization best describes the religious landscape of a growing number of Western countries. While a consensus is gradually emerging regarding the definition of religious polarization, no quantitative measure has been proposed to capture the concept. The present research note proposes two indices for the concept of religious polarization so that its degree can be compared across populations and its evolution can be traced over time. The proposed approach is applied to the US data of 2008–2016 and the Canadian data of 2008–2015. The relative ranking of the degree of polarization emerging from the computation of these indices accords with the previous literature, which has relied on the interpretation of distinct trends. These applications demonstrate the aptness of these indices for measuring religious polarization, as defined in the recent religious scholarship.

The Two Faces of Diversity: The Relationships between Religious Polarization, Religious Fractionalization, and Self-rated Health

A dominant discourse in the social sciences theorizes that religious diversity puts individuals’ health at risk via interreligious hostility. However, this discourse overlooks the different subtypes of religious diversity and the moderation of political institutions. To better understand the issue of diversity and health, in this study, we distinguish between two subtypes of religious diversity—polarization and fractionalization—and argue that their impacts on health are heterogeneous. Using a sample of 67,399 individuals from 51 societies drawn from the 2010–2014 wave of the World Values Survey, our multilevel analyses show that religious polarization is negatively associated with individual health, whereas the health effects of religious fractionalization are positive. Moreover, the associations between religious polarization/fractionalization and individual health are found to depend on the democratic level of the state. In more democratic countries, the negative effects of polarization on health are mitigated, and the positive effects of fractionalization are stronger.