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Bioethical Entanglements of Race, Religion, and AIDS

Michele Goodwin

David E. Guinn (ed.)

in Handbook of Bioethics and Religion

The domains of religious doctrine and practice provide ground for double bind analysis, particularly as applied to race, religion, and bioethics. In these spheres, reconciling church doctrine with ... More

The domains of religious doctrine and practice provide ground for double bind analysis, particularly as applied to race, religion, and bioethics. In these spheres, reconciling church doctrine with social or medical practice is often challenging; the demands from each sphere are unique and sometimes irreconcilable. This chapter uses double bind theory as a framework to engage in a dialogue concerning race, religion, and bioethics. It offers a dialogue that scrutinizes conservative religious thought in what is colloquially known as the “black church” regarding the challenges of medical ethics and race.Less

The Protection of Doctrine and Worship

Norman Doe

in Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction

Doctrine and worship are of central importance to most religious faiths. This chapter examines crimes against religious belief and doctrine — the offence of blasphemy (including its abolition in many ... More

Doctrine and worship are of central importance to most religious faiths. This chapter examines crimes against religious belief and doctrine — the offence of blasphemy (including its abolition in many States and its revival in others), defamation of religion, outrage to religious feelings, and a comparison of these offences. The chapter then discusses crimes against religious worship — the disturbance of religious worship, its relation to religious freedom, and the disruption of funeral rites. The chapter closes with an examination of the portrayal of religion in the media — how national laws and other regulatory systems address coverage of religious affairs in the press, radio, and television. National laws studied tell us much about how States approach the value of religion in society and how freedom of expression does not extend to the unjustified vilification of any religion.Less

Challenges for Secularism

Kitcher Philip

in Preludes to Pragmatism: Toward a Reconstruction of Philosophy

This chapter begins with a brief review of the reasons for thinking that religious doctrines about deities and other “transcendent” entities are doomed. It then addresses the challenges for any ... More

This chapter begins with a brief review of the reasons for thinking that religious doctrines about deities and other “transcendent” entities are doomed. It then addresses the challenges for any thoroughly secular (naturalistic) perspective. Naturalists have to explain why the death of the gods (and the other inhabitants of the supernatural realm) does not undermine all values, including moral values; why it does not deprive human lives of purpose and meaning; why it does not leave us hopeless in the face of our inevitable deaths; and how we can continue to feel the uplift that oft en moves the deeply religious. The chapter shows that there are secular possibilities other than the blunt version of naturalism that acquiesces in the demise of values and purpose; that commends tough stoicism and scorns what it views as sentimentality about “uplifting experience.” There are human needs that religion has met, and the fundamental challenge for secularism cannot be turned back by blunt denial of those needs: we need positive substitutes that are freed from myth and superstition, the kinds of substitutes that (following Dewey) the chapter attempts to outline.Less

Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

in The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction

This chapter examines the influence of the theosophy works of Helena Blavatsky on the revival of Western esotericism in the modern era. The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by ... More

This chapter examines the influence of the theosophy works of Helena Blavatsky on the revival of Western esotericism in the modern era. The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by Blavatsky played a vital role in propagating esotericism in the modern era. Theosophy was a major factor in the revival of the indigenous Western esoteric tradition and Blavatsky's writings presented the idea of an ancient wisdom handed down from prehistoric times by combining Neoplatonism, Renaissance magic, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Greco-Roman mythology, religion, and Eastern religious doctrines.Less

Representing the Sacred in Mundane Politics: The Ideologies and Leaders of Mafdal and Shas

in Beyond Sacred and Secular: Politics of Religion in Israel and Turkey

This chapter explores the ideologies of Mafdal and Shas, the leading religious political parties in Israel. It examines how religious parties engage in democratic and anti-democratic ideas, and ... More

This chapter explores the ideologies of Mafdal and Shas, the leading religious political parties in Israel. It examines how religious parties engage in democratic and anti-democratic ideas, and suggests that the contribution of religious parties to their particular democratic systems is not a question of whether their respective doctrines are democratic or antidemocratic. The chapter also explains that like religious parties which establish themselves as pivotal actors, Mafdal and Shas actually deal with the secular world and face the question of how to incorporate the problems and issues posed by different groups into their ideologies.Less

Literati Interpretations of Chan Buddhism in Early Song China

Albert Welter

in Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism

This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the geographical and historical contexts of the official acceptance of Chan Buddhism in China. The evidence suggests that the presence of Chan ... More

This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the geographical and historical contexts of the official acceptance of Chan Buddhism in China. The evidence suggests that the presence of Chan monks in Buddhist institutions expanded greatly during the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty. This was followed by the organization of various Chan factions and the recognition of the need to understand this in relation to established Buddhist doctrines, practices, and precedents.Less

Sterility, Childbirth, Taboos, and Popular Religious Practices

Faegheh Shirazi

in Velvet Jihad: Muslim Women's Quiet Resistance to Islamic Fundamentalism

Issues of sexuality and reproduction are important aspects, especially in traditional societies. Since sterility is often associated with grave consequences, women would make several efforts to ... More

Issues of sexuality and reproduction are important aspects, especially in traditional societies. Since sterility is often associated with grave consequences, women would make several efforts to become pregnant and hopefully bear a son. A belief in the supernatural, various religious doctrines, and cultural taboos affect the traditional and patriarchal-based settings of a woman's reproductive life. In this chapter, attention is drawn to some popular religious practices that affect women, specifically Muslim women. The discussion considers how male power structures exercise dominance over women's bodies, and how medical technologies such as the sonogram are used to advocate gender preference practice. Also, the chapter provides a discussion of the survival strategies that women adopt in the face of restrictive and undermining environments.Less

Revelation

Paul B. Moyer

in The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America

This chapter presents Jemima Wilkinson's The Universal Friend's Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society, a pamphlet containing the Comforter's religious doctrines and practices. The primary ... More

This chapter presents Jemima Wilkinson's The Universal Friend's Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society, a pamphlet containing the Comforter's religious doctrines and practices. The primary focus of the Friend's Advice was to prescribe a set of behaviors, along with some details on how converts should lead their daily lives and engage in worship. In particular, it issued restrictions on how the faithful should dress, speak, and interact with nonbelievers. The article also shows that the Public Universal Friend's advanced coherent set of beliefs and behaviors were derived from the religious traditions of Quakerism, New Light evangelism, as well as Christian millennialism.Less

Membership

Jane Calderwood Norton

in Freedom of Religious Organizations

The first part of this chapter is concerned with the current English approach to the religious freedom claims of religious organizations in the context of becoming a member: admission to membership ... More

The first part of this chapter is concerned with the current English approach to the religious freedom claims of religious organizations in the context of becoming a member: admission to membership and the interplay between English law—most notably discrimination law—and religious freedom. It explores the English common law position, the impact of the Equality Act 2010, and the approach taken by the European Court of Human Rights The second part of this chapter is concerned with being a member: how a member is treated once admitted. Here the chapter specifically considers how English law responds to the disciplining and potential expelling of members by religious organizations. Through a review of case law and legislation it covers issues including individual religious freedom and group autonomy.Less

Chapter Four: The Modern Way

Luis Cortest

in The Disfigured Face: Traditional Natural Law and Its Encounter with Modernity

This chapter discusses the most fundamental ideas that characterize modern human rights doctrine in Europe. In his Letter on Tolerance, John Locke ... More

This chapter discusses the most fundamental ideas that characterize modern human rights doctrine in Europe. In his Letter on Tolerance, John Locke emphasizes the role of the individual in matters of religious freedom. For Locke, religious doctrine is less important than freedom of conscience and mutual respect. Locke holds that civil and ecclesiastical matters should remain entirely separate. Meanwhile, Immanuel Kant adds a universal dimension to personal action and right. While the individual will is extremely important for Kant, the personal must always find its place within the context of the universal. However, for Kant, right does not conform to an ontological order, but rather to a rational order. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel took the argument concerning right to the next level. In the Hegelian system, reason is no longer merely conceptual or static; the rational becomes the actual. For Hegel, freedom is always a matter of choice.Less

THE SELJUQS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE IN THE PERIOD OF SUNNI REVIVALISM: THE VIEW FROM BAGHDAD

Daphna Ephrat

in The Seljuqs: Politics, Society and Culture

During the period called the Sunni revival (late fifth/eleventh and sixth and twelfth centuries), a mainstream Sunni camp was emerging in the Islamic Near East. In their effort to end the religious ... More

During the period called the Sunni revival (late fifth/eleventh and sixth and twelfth centuries), a mainstream Sunni camp was emerging in the Islamic Near East. In their effort to end the religious ferment of the late classical period, Muslim scholars and others combined to delimit a commonly accepted form of Islam, eliminate sources of conflict within the Islamic community and set up a tone in the public sphere based on the Sunna and the Sharï،a. The process of homogenisation of religious doctrine and practice resulted to institutional and social dimensions. Associations and frameworks were developed to teach the Islamic religions and legal sciences, apply religious law, and harness mainstream Sufism. Four Sunni madhhabs combined as scholarly establishments, as pools for appointments to positions in legal apparatus, and as nuclei of the public sphere. This chapter discusses the Sunnisation process in Seljuq Baghdad. It examines the role played by the Seljuqs in the process of forming the Sunna and consolidating its forms of organisation. It discusses the character and significance of endowments (waaf) made by the members of the ruling class for the benefit of legal scholars, the involvement of the ruling elite in the sphere formed by leaders of Islamic piety and learning, and the nature of their relationships and encounters with those forwarding Sunni revival.Less

Lucifer’s Court: Ario-Germanic Paganism, Indo-Aryan Spirituality, and the Nazi Search for Alternative Religions

Eric Kurlander

in Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich

This chapter explores the Nazis' interest in Germanic paganism, witchcraft, Luciferianism, and Eastern spirituality in their attempt to find a suitable Ario-Germanic alternative to Christianity. The ... More

This chapter explores the Nazis' interest in Germanic paganism, witchcraft, Luciferianism, and Eastern spirituality in their attempt to find a suitable Ario-Germanic alternative to Christianity. The Third Reich embraced a range of pagan, esoteric, and Indo-Aryan religious doctrines that buttressed its racial, political, and ideological goals. That is why Nazism posed a different threat to Christianity than secular liberalism or atheist Marxism. Nazi religiosity was a ‘fluid and incoherent thing which expresses itself in several different forms’. Part of a shared supernatural imaginary, these various religious strains were to some extent embraced and exploited by the Third Reich in the process of building spiritual consensus across a diverse Nazi Party and an even more eclectic German population.Less

Kumi Mountain: Center of the World, 1861–1863

George L. Kallander

in Salvation through Dissent: Tonghak Heterodoxy and Early Modern Korea

Between 1861 and 1863, Ch'oe Cheu had spread his teaching throughout the south, attracted tens of thousands of followers, and became famous throughout the peninsula. Examining developments in the ... More

Between 1861 and 1863, Ch'oe Cheu had spread his teaching throughout the south, attracted tens of thousands of followers, and became famous throughout the peninsula. Examining developments in the doctrine, this chapter discusses Ch'oe's attempt to court rural notables to expand his teaching, as well as the relationship between texts and practice. An analysis of the interrogation records offers new angles on Tonghak, including medicine, spirit possession, popular rituals, and claims of Ch'oe's supernatural powers. The analysis reveals that Ch'oe's teachings were about spiritual renewal and social cohesion, though the clash with the government sent later generations of Tonghak followers in different directions.Less

Epilogue

James W. Heisig

in Nothingness and Desire: A Philosophical Antiphony

In this epilogue the author concludes that the final vocation of philosophy, and ultimately of religious doctrine as well, is to prepare us to watch and wait for the cracks that practice pokes into ... More

In this epilogue the author concludes that the final vocation of philosophy, and ultimately of religious doctrine as well, is to prepare us to watch and wait for the cracks that practice pokes into our guiding fictions. They are not simply white lies awaiting revocation by further insight or temporary crutches that can be set in the corner once reason has healed itself. The primary function of their guiding fictions is not referential; it is heuristic. Its truth lies not so much in describing what it sees as in finding how to act on what is seen. Everything the author has learned from philosophies East and West has convinced him that rational justification of one's beliefs is always subservient to the authority of practice. This, in large part, accounts for those elements of philosophies East and West that he has found inspiring and those that he did not.Less