Evaluation of the religious influence on the feeling of guilt in patients with chronic pain - a review

Introduction / Objective: Based on the assumption that pain can be perceived as punishment (pain = penalty), and that this concept of guilt is present in the Judeo-Christian civilization, we decided to review the literature on relevant religious and guilt - which is also a source of suffering - in the management of chronic pain. Methodology. Three searches were carried out that included all articles listed until July 2021 within the PUBMED database. MeshTerm and Boolean operators were used in the following combinations: chronic pain AND religion AND guilt NOT yoga NOT meditation; Chronic pain AND religion NOT yoga NOT meditation; chronic pain AND guilt. Results. Studies carried out in different countries point to the relevance of the chronic relationship of chronic pain to the patient, interfering in a positive way in their evolution, without, however, investigating their relationship with feelings of guilt. Conclusions. The literature is rich in articles on the influence of religiosity in coping with pain, but mentions of feelings of guilt are limited to a single article.

A laicidade do Estado como limite da atuação religiosa na esfera pública | The laicity of the State as a limit of religious action in the public sphere

A religião contribui para o debate de questões importantes à sociedade, favorecendo que o Estado estruture regras aplicáveis à coletividade. Contudo, se crenças religiosas de determinado grupo forem usadas como único parâmetro de fundamento para a tomada de decisões com afetação geral, há possibilidade de um pressuposto individual ser aplicado ao coletivo sem que efetivamente tenha cabimento e importância a todas as pessoas, eventualmente privilegiando apenas o grupo de onde emergiu tal crença. Assim, o problema que surge, e que impulsiona esse estudo, envolve a laicidade como eventual limite da atuação de grupos religiosos na esfera pública, entendida para fins desse estudo como o poder estatal. Os objetivos da análise envolvem - a partir do pressuposto da laicidade estatal, relativa à ausência de uma religião oficial do Estado – analisar se essa laicidade é um limitador da atuação de grupos religiosos no poder. Para isso, conceituam-se estado secular e estado laico, e sobre a liberdade religiosa prevista constitucionalmente, destacam-se garantias e os limites de atuação dos movimentos religiosos no exercício de funções públicas. A metodologia utilizada é a bibliográfica, e segue a estrutura dos direitos fundamentais, com vistas a uma relação com os direitos humanos. Os resultados apontam que o aspecto laico do estado brasileiro - que tem no pluralismo seu fundamento, e assegura a todos o direito de exercer seus direitos políticos, sem discriminação por motivos de origem, raça, cor, sexo, crença religiosa -, é limitador da influência religiosa nas decisões que atingem toda a coletividade. Religion contributes to the debate on issues that are important to society, favoring the State to structure rules applicable to the community. However, if the religious beliefs of a given group start to suit as the only basic parameter for decision-making with general affectation, an individual assumption is seen applied to the collective eventually without actually having a place and importance to all people, which it favors only the group from which such belief emerged. Thus, the problem that arises, and that drives this study, involves secularism as an eventual limit to the performance of religious groups in the public sphere, understood for the purposes of this study as state power. The objectives of the analysis involve - based on the presupposition of state secularity, relative to the absence of an official state religion - to analyze whether this secularity is a limiting factor in the performance of religious groups in power. For this, the secular state and the secular state are conceptualized, and on the constitutionally foreseen religious freedom, guarantees and limits of action of the religious movements in the exercise of public functions stand out. The methodology used is bibliographical, and follows the structure of fundamental rights, with a view to a relationship with human rights. The results show that the secular aspect of the Brazilian state - which has pluralism as its foundation, and ensures everyone the right to exercise their political rights, without discrimination for reasons of origin, race, color, sex, religious belief -, is limiting the religious influence in decisions that affect the whole community.

The Roles and Activities of Tatar Mullahs in Kazakhstan, 18th to Mid-21st Century

This article is devoted to the study of the functions by the Institute of Tatar mullahs in Kazakhstan at different historical periods. The author examines the activities of clergymen in the region, analyzes the internal policy of the Russian and later Soviet state, which regulated their activities by legislative acts, creating certain political contexts. Research interest is also caused by the internal policy of the state, which regulated Tatar mullahs activities by legislative acts and it created certain political contexts. The sources for writing the work were materials of personal origin and office work, legislative and regulatory documents stored in the archives of Kazakhstan and Russia. In the initial period of the Kazakhstan's colonization the institute of Tatar mullahs was integrated into the management system of the newly-joined territory. In these conditions, the Tatar clergy had rather large powers in the Kazakh steppe. They conducted civil proceedings, document management, taught the Kazakhs literacy and agriculture, participated in government decisions, and carried out diplomatic missions. Their work gave legitimacy to the actions of the empire for the Kazakhs and promoted loyalty to the new government. In the middle of the 19th century, the attitude of the tsarist officials towards the mullahs changed dramatically. Activity of Tatar clergy was significantly limited by the Temporary Provision of 1868. Despite the prohibitions being undertaken, the political and religious influence of the ulama on the Kazakhs remained quite strong. In Soviet times, a significant part of the Tatar clergy was destroyed and completely removed from the legal field. However, although they were in an illegal situation, they continued to perform religious functions. After some religious relaxation during the Great Patriotic War, they made a significant contribution to the formation of Kazakhstani Kaziyat. The author considers that Tatar mullahs were the elite of the mobilized diaspora оn the basis of the analyzed material. Tatar ulemahs conspicuous influence was until the middle of the 19th century and occurred outside the religious sphere as well.

THE STRUGGLE OF THE SOVIET AUTHORITY AGAINST THE «REMNANTS OF UNIAT» IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR AT THE BREAK OF THE 1970s – 1980s

The key methods of the Ukrainian SSR party authorities to counter the attempts of reviving the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the western Ukrainian regions at the break of the 80s-90s of the XX century were considered. It was noted that in the late 1970s in this region, particularly in Galicia, Greek-Catholic believers and the clergy measurably intensified their activity, which was evident mainly in houses of worship attendance, traditional rites observance, letters issued to the Council for Religious Affairs of the Soviet Union Ministers with the requirement to register religious communities, clandestine ordination of the clergy, etc. It was stated that in order to counter the religious influence intensification of the Russian Orthodox Church on the population, as well as to prevent negative anti-social manifestations of «remnants of Uniat», local Communist Party committees and Soviet authorities carried out a number of propaganda and mass political events to expose anti-Soviet religious ideology, in particular, «the reactionary role of the Uniat Church in the history of the Ukrainian people». It was noted that the Communist Party of Ukraine took concrete measures to step up anti-religious propaganda in Western Ukrainian regions, as well as to promote the advantages of the Soviet mode of life. It was alleged that the activities of Greek Ca¬tholic believers were discussed at the Council for Religious Affairs of the Soviet Union Ministers sessions of the Ukrainian SSR in the regions of Western Ukraine, party rallies at different levels, meetings of the ideological activists of the regions, seminars of cultural and educational wor¬kers, district and regional atheist conferences. It was noted that the Communist Party of Ukraine paid considerable attention to the media, which should have covered the historical aspects of the «anti-popular backbone of Uniat Church».

THE ISRAELI FACTOR IN IRAN-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS (2005-2013)

The article deals with Israel’s factor which influences Iran-Azerbaijan relations. The article highlights the following issues when assessing the impact of the Israeli factor on Iran-Azerbaijan relations: • Represent Israel’s foreign policy priorities on Azerbaijan, • Assess the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Azerbaijan-Israel cooperation and analyze Iran's policy within this context, • Analyze Azerbaijan's motives for strengthening cooperation with Israel. The nuclear program, Iran's missile systems, the Shia factor, the Iranian-speaking peoples of Azerbaijan (Tats, Talish), the activities of Azerbaijani Shia opposition figures, the 760-kilometer border between Azerbaijan and Iran – these are the main factors underlying Israel's policy towards Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan first of all justified the establishment of relations with Israel with the expectation of receiving military-political assistance from Israel in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. During the presidency of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), when one of the scenarios for suspending Iran's nuclear program was considered a military attack, the territory of Azerbaijan was considered a platform for attacking Iran. While Baku has made every effort to exclude the Iranian factor in Azerbaijan-Israel military cooperation, the Iranian military-political management has always been skeptical of Baku's assurances, claiming that Israeli drones could easily be used for reconnaissance against Iran. • During Hassan Rouhani's presidency, as compared with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, positive developments took place in the relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, and bilateral economic cooperation strengthened. In order to weaken Israel's influence in Azerbaijan, Iran replaced its policy of harsh response to Azerbaijan with economic cooperation. Iran was more concerned about the growing influence of Israel in various spheres in Azerbaijan than the use of a possible Israeli threat against Iran from the territory of Azerbaijan, which has always been raised in the past. • Azerbaijan tried to bring counterargument against Israel-Azerbaijan relations with Armenia-Iran relations. • In order to weaken Iran's religious influence, Azerbaijan, on the one hand, repressed the country's Shiite opposition figures, and on the other hand, Baku managed to obtain military-political support from Israel by exploiting the Iranian-Shiite "threat". • According to Iranian experts, the strategic relations between Azerbaijan and Israel have been established in the South Caucasus, in particular due to Iran's wrong policy towards Azerbaijan. • Currently, if in the Middle East, Iran more or less manages to control the threats appearing from the proxy war with Israel, than on its immediate border Iran is trying to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel. During the Second Artsakh War, the transfer of Israeli UVC of the territory of Iran, and in this regard, Iran's cautious statements are evidence of that.

Grønlands apostel i kampen mod Abraham Grønlænder – ofringsnarrativer i kim leines roman Rød mand/sort mand

The literary interest in Greenland has been growing steadily in recent years. Both the question of the countryʼs secession from Denmark and the handling of imperialism's historical heritage have occupied the public. The author Kim Leine diligently contributes to the debate with his works on the cultural encounters between Danes and Greenlanders. Following an overview of Leine’s description of the coexistence of colonizers and colonized and the political and religious influence of the former on the latter in the beginning of the 18. century this paper discusses how Leine tries to debunk the common perception of Danes as soft colonizers. The main purpose of the article is to investigate how the difference between the two cultures manifests itself in the father-son relations, with a special focus on the interpretation of the act of sacrifice in the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. The approach is inspired by postcolonial theory.

From China to Japan and Back Again: An Energetic Example of Bidirectional Sino-Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Transmission

Sino-Japanese religious discourse, more often than not, is treated as a unidirectional phenomenon. Academic treatments of pre-modern East Asian religion usually portray Japan as the passive recipient of Chinese Buddhist traditions, while explorations of Buddhist modernization efforts focus on how Chinese Buddhists utilized Japanese adoptions of Western understandings of religion. This paper explores a case where Japan was simultaneously the receptor and agent by exploring the Chinese revival of Tang-dynasty Zhenyan. This revival—which I refer to as Neo-Zhenyan—was actualized by Chinese Buddhist who received empowerment (Skt. abhiṣeka) under Shingon priests in Japan in order to claim the authority to found “Zhenyan” centers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and even the USA. Moreover, in addition to utilizing Japanese Buddhist sectarianism to root their lineage in the past, the first known architect of Neo-Zhenyan, Wuguang (1918–2000), used energeticism, the thermodynamic theory propagated by the German chemist Freidrich Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932; 1919 Nobel Prize for Chemistry) that was popular among early Japanese Buddhist modernists, such as Inoue Enryō (1858–1919), to portray his resurrected form of Zhenyan as the most suitable form of Buddhism for the future. Based upon the circular nature of esoteric transmission from China to Japan and back to the greater Sinosphere and the use of energeticism within Neo-Zhenyan doctrine, this paper reveals the sometimes cyclical nature of Sino-Japanese religious influence. Data were gathered by closely analyzing the writings of prominent Zhenyan leaders alongside onsite fieldwork conducted in Taiwan from 2011–2019.

The Motives and Obstacles in Iranian Women’s Participation in Political Life of the Country

The article deals with the overview of the main obstacles in the Iranian women’s participation in the country’s political life originating from the national, cultural, social and economic aspects of Iranian society. Much attention is paid to the factors that motivate both Iranian women and men to participate in politics, as well as the problems that Iranian women face while struggling for their place in the parliament. The peculiarities of the political parties’ activities, the financial aspect of the candidates allowing them to take part in election campaigns, distrust of women in Iranian society (in terms of their public role), the lack of electoral quotas for women are defined as the main factors of their non-participation in the elections. However, Iranian women’s motivation, on the one hand, and the country’s political system, on the other hand, play a significant role, because they are key internal and external factors to be taken into account. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978, the situation with women’s rights in the country improved supported by the Government’s constitutional establishment of equal rights of men and women in political life of Iran. However, other spheres remained unchanged due to strong religious influence. Only in the 1990s the rights of Iranian women to participate in the country’s politics were addressed by domestic and foreign scholars, though their studies do not provide an in-depth analysis of the problems of Iranian women concerned about the participation in political life of the present-day Iran and their solution.

The influence of religion on the norms of criminal law and process: an international-comparative study

Criminal law and process play a significant role in regulating public relations. It is expedient to study it in terms of the influence of religion in different legal systems, as religious norms are the broader regulators of public life. The study of the religious aspect of the formation and functioning of criminal law and criminal procedure relations in different countries is an open question that needs further consideration, as well as prospects for the development of legal institutions based on religious influence. The purpose of the research is to analyze and reflect the impact of religion on the rules of criminal law and process in a comparative international context. The subject of the research is religion and criminal law and process as interdependent phenomena, international comparative study of the influence of religion on the formation of criminal law and process. As a result of the study the mutual influence of law and religion was revealed, the influence of religion on the norms of criminal law and process in different countries was analyzed, it was determined that the religious legal system is most permeated by religious norms in comparison with the legal systems of European countries.

Religion and Party Politics in India and Pakistan

Until the 1990s, religious influence on party politics in India and Pakistan was primarily through street protests and pressure on mainstream nonreligious parties rather than by religious parties winning power directly. In India, such influence was constrained by the secular constitutional structure and the dominant role of the Congress Party. In Pakistan, however, politically deinstitutionalized parties, weakened by military interference, have never been strong enough to take on the clerics. Instead, party leaders and military regimes have increasingly tried to co-opt or accommodate Islamist parties and pressure groups to strengthen their own positions. Civilian and military governments in the 1970s and 1980s institutionalized much of the Islamist agenda within the state in a way that now seems impossible to reverse. Ironically, the very fact that much of the Islamist agenda is now institutionalized, makes it difficult for Islamist parties to expand much beyond the 10–20% of the votes they now receive. India’s secular consensus, which many observers saw as its greatest achievement, has been profoundly disrupted by the decline of the Congress Party over the past three decades and the rise of the BJP, headed by the dominant figure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has deep roots in the Hindu Nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its Hindu nationalist family (Sangh Parivar) of organizations. Modi, especially in his second term (2019–), has used his majority in parliament to try to radically remake India along Hindu nationalist lines, even though that was not central to his campaign platform, nor the reason why most development- and governance-minded voters elected him to office.