The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere
Abstract
The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role doesor shouldreligion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jürgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "the political" in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.
... In recent decades sociologists of religion have debated whether modern societies are secularizing (Bruce 2002;2011;Norris and Inglehart 2004;Pollack and Rosta 2017;Voas 2008;Voas and Chaves 2016;Voas and Crockett 2005;Voas and Doebler 2011), encountering return, resurgence, or increased visibility of religion (Berger 1999;Butler et al. 2011;Casanova 1994;Herbert 2011;Hjelm 2015;Kepel 1994;Micklethwait and Wooldridge 2009;Ward and Hoelzl 2008), moving towards new forms of religion beyond national churches (Hunt 2005;Lyon 2000), transforming religion into a provider of welfare services (Bäckström et al. 2010;2011), or facing religious diversity (Martikainen 2013;Stringer 2013;Weller 2008). In some cases the role of the media has not been theorized (or even mentioned) as part of these developments, but it has become increasingly obvious that there is a need to consider how religion-related media discourses and portrayals and the almost ubiquitous media outlets are entangled with social changes in their capacity to direct and reflect the public presence and boundaries of the groups and practices conventionally named 'religious'. ...
... In recent decades sociologists of religion have debated whether modern societies are secularizing (Bruce 2002;2011;Norris and Inglehart 2004;Pollack and Rosta 2017;Voas 2008;Voas and Chaves 2016;Voas and Crockett 2005;Voas and Doebler 2011), encountering return, resurgence, or increased visibility of religion (Berger 1999;Butler et al. 2011;Casanova 1994;Herbert 2011;Hjelm 2015;Kepel 1994;Micklethwait and Wooldridge 2009;Ward and Hoelzl 2008), moving towards new forms of religion beyond national churches (Hunt 2005;Lyon 2000), transforming religion into a provider of welfare services (Bäckström et al. 2010;2011), or facing religious diversity (Martikainen 2013;Stringer 2013;Weller 2008). In some cases the role of the media has not been theorized (or even mentioned) as part of these developments, but it has become increasingly obvious that there is a need to consider how religion-related media discourses and portrayals and the almost ubiquitous media outlets are entangled with social changes in their capacity to direct and reflect the public presence and boundaries of the groups and practices conventionally named 'religious'. ...
... In recent decades sociologists of religion have debated whether modern societies are secularizing (Bruce 2002;2011;Norris and Inglehart 2004;Pollack and Rosta 2017;Voas 2008;Voas and Chaves 2016;Voas and Crockett 2005;Voas and Doebler 2011), encountering return, resurgence, or increased visibility of religion (Berger 1999;Butler et al. 2011;Casanova 1994;Herbert 2011;Hjelm 2015;Kepel 1994;Micklethwait and Wooldridge 2009;Ward and Hoelzl 2008), moving towards new forms of religion beyond national churches (Hunt 2005;Lyon 2000), transforming religion into a provider of welfare services (Bäckström et al. 2010;2011), or facing religious diversity (Martikainen 2013;Stringer 2013;Weller 2008). In some cases the role of the media has not been theorized (or even mentioned) as part of these developments, but it has become increasingly obvious that there is a need to consider how religion-related media discourses and portrayals and the almost ubiquitous media outlets are entangled with social changes in their capacity to direct and reflect the public presence and boundaries of the groups and practices conventionally named 'religious'. ...
This article introduces the topic of this special issue: religion in Nordic
newspapers. It provides a general framework for the following four
articles based on a longitudinal study of religion in Danish, Finnish,
Norwegian, and Swedish newspapers by clarifying what characterizes
selected ‘Nordic’ countries, their media spheres, and their religious
landscapes. Furthermore, this article suggests that despite significant
changes in the media sphere, including factual media production and
consumption, there are good reasons to study religion-related media
content produced by the dominant and conventional media outlets,
including newspapers. However, this should not be done by isolating
newspapers from society and the rest of the media. This introduction
and the following articles therefore propose that the selected key
concepts and debates among sociologists of religion are particularly
useful in thinking about religion-related newspaper content.
... According to Rawls, the domain of public reason apply primarily to: (1) candidates for public office, (2) government officials, and (3) judges when they decide on matters of constitutional essentials and basic justice. These are also the spheres Habermas calls as the formal public political sphere i.e "parliaments, courts, ministries and administrations" [38,9]. Here public justifications must be guided by the restrictions of public reason (e.g. ...
... MPs, ministers, judges, civil servants). Habermas claims, "[their] strict demand can only be laid at the door of politicians, who within state institutions are subject to the obligation to remain neutral in the face of competing world views; in order words, it can only be made of anyone who holds a public office or is a candidate for such" [38,[8][9]. ...
The paper examines the public justifications regarding the contentious pledge of the Uniform Civil Code versus Personal Laws in India, from its historical evolution to the deliberative processes followed in the transition from pledge to policy. Using a Habermasian framework of deliberative democracy, the study empirically maps the public reasons provided by various stakeholders, including political parties, religious organizations, and civil society groups, spanning the period from 1947 to 2023. The findings reveal diverse arguments for and against the UCC, mostly anchored in shared constitutional values. While proponents emphasize national integration and gender equality, opponents advocate for cultural diversity and religious freedom. The contentious nature of the pledge highlights the broader ideological conflicts and the necessity for consensus-building through public deliberation to achieve democratic legitimacy.
... The researchers follow the inspirational, pacifist feminism of the American Jewish scholar Judith Butler [12,13,110,111], who, like Abu-Lughod [14,29], is fiercely critical of Western feminist stereotypes of the weakness of "oppressed" Muslim women. Butler [111] describes the suffering of Gazan women as a dignifying experience, and she offers a rapprochement between Arab and Jewish feminists in her pacifist arguments for womenled solutions to international conflicts, such as that between Palestine and Israel [110,111]. ...
... The researchers follow the inspirational, pacifist feminism of the American Jewish scholar Judith Butler [12,13,110,111], who, like Abu-Lughod [14,29], is fiercely critical of Western feminist stereotypes of the weakness of "oppressed" Muslim women. Butler [111] describes the suffering of Gazan women as a dignifying experience, and she offers a rapprochement between Arab and Jewish feminists in her pacifist arguments for womenled solutions to international conflicts, such as that between Palestine and Israel [110,111]. Inspired by Butler's ideas, we have used her writings as the intellectual "under-labourer" in our critical realist analysis. ...
This paper aims to explore the nature of Work–Life Balance (WLB) policies offered within a developing country (Gaza; Palestine) by two telecommunication companies. Firstly, the cultural context is described, in which two semi-public companies have developed a particular set of family-friendly policies, which have attempted to serve the needs of employees of a country enduring blockade and bombardment. Then, ideas are developed exploring why the adoption of Work–Life Balance (WLB) policies in these organisations may have taken a particular pathway. Using the value assumptions of an Islamically informed critical realist approach, qualitative studies have been undertaken in which 20 managers and 42 employees (one third female) have been interviewed in two semi-public companies during a time of turbulence (2015 to 2021) in the political economy of Gaza. These interviews have been subjected to systematic qualitative analysis and interpreted from the methodologies of critical realism and auto-ethnography. The reasons for the provision of WLB benefits identified by respondents were often different in kind and degree from those found in studies in Western countries. These assumed reasons also differed between managers and professional employees. Generally, WLB benefits supported women in an Islamic and Arabic culture in ways which were resonant with cultural settings, but which also reflected local political and union pressures, government regulations, and international influences. The reasons for the provision of WLB benefits identified by respondents were often different in kind and degree from those found in studies in Western countries. These reasons also differed between managers and professional employees. Generally, WLB benefits supported women in an Islamic and Arabic culture in ways which were resonant with cultural and religious settings. This study, the first of its kind in a Muslim, Arabic culture deserves replication with both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
... You understand what he means." [20] A secular person like Habermas understands King not because he (Habermas) knows the basics of Christianity and has read the book of Exodus, but because the Exodus narrative touches on a moral intuition he shares: the desire for liberation from injustice. [21] Of course, if King's speeches were to enter public policy or society's background consensus, they would require translation. ...
... Public Theology, when linked to spirituality, does not merely theorise but actively engages with real-world issues, informing and being informed by practical actions. In our understanding, 1.This theological perspective (i.e., notions of the public sphere) is most often related to the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas (Butler et al. 2011;Habermas 1991;Habermas in Calhoun 1992:421-480). ...
This article starts from the premise that the ordinary is the mystical. It does so by delving into the dynamic relationship between Spirituality and Public Theology against the backdrop of Christianity’s societal roles. It explores how Christian theology extends beyond private faith to address broad societal issues. Through a critical examination of Public Theology’s distinct contributions to contemporary discussions, the article emphasises the necessity of engaging Spirituality – with its focus on the divine-human relationship into this discourse.Contribution: This synthesis aims to enrich our comprehension of Christianity’s impact on public life, advocating for a faith that actively contributes to societal transformation across diverse contexts.
... Before addressing this question, a reviewer has encouraged us to comment on "the heritages of political activism and sources that we are drawing on when arguing for th[e] way of working" that we explore in the following section. We are informed by prior work articulating past, present, and possible future roles for religious discourse in the public life of nation states (e.g., Asad, 2003;Butler et al., 2011;Gorski, 2003;Gorski, 2017: Noll, 2016, but more significantly by work embracing and working with "the hybridity of histories and the displacement of narratives" (Bhabha, 1990, p. 319) that constitute ongoing and contested nation formation processes. These processes include the performative categorization of groups imperially designated as "internal enemies, " for example constructed through racialization processes (Stoler, 2022, p. 20). ...
If the White Christian nationalist movement has significantly galvanized parent, community, and larger-scale political groups whose guiding ethos challenges teacher professional roles in shaping literacy curriculum and instruction, then how can literacy teachers and teacher educators better understand this movement, its interpretive orientation to biblical proof texting, and implications for literacy scholarship and education? We focus on the locality of Ottawa County and surrounding areas of western Michigan, where Reformed [Calvinist] Christianity became the dominant ethnoreligious group after Dutch immigrants colonized the area in the 1800s. Grounded in this context, the essay describes the Christian nationalist movement, distinguishing it from the American evangelical movement and exploring the significance of biblical proof texting to it. We then discuss implications of our argument about biblical proof texting and White Christian nationalism, focusing around three questions: (a) What is the significance of naming, identifying, and situating the White Christian nationalist movement (as a type of ethnoreligious nationalism) for literacy stakeholders? (b) How, if at all, can the Bible and biblical interpretation be engaged in US public school literacy classrooms—and other commons concerned with literacy teaching and learning—without embracing “cultural uniformity through coercion”? and (c) How can Christian school literacy educators engage the Bible in ways that challenge White Christian nationalism appropriations of it? We engage these questions by sharing examples from our own teaching and from an elementary teacher whose literacy pedagogy in a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) school in western Michigan gently challenges the core assumptions of this movement and its orientation to biblical interpretation.
... Any given society produces its secularisms both in response to and out of its religions. Consider Butler's (2011) assertion that "secularization may be a fugitive way for religion to survive" (p. 72). ...
Here we offer an accounting of the exchange that has occurred across the pages of this journal over the course of the last two years in Glanzer (2022); Small et al. (2022); Glanzer and Martin (2023); Edwards et al. (2023) and Glanzer (2024). As we don't see there being any satisfactory conclusion to the parties engaged and the discourses and communities of scholars we might assume they represent-coming from our jumping into the fray. We choose to instead avail ourselves of the queer practice of arguing to the side of things (Burke & Greteman, 2022).
... One result of this ongoing contestation is the dual processes of the politicisation of religion and morality and the renormalisation of the public spheres of economics and politics (1994,(5)(6). Although the forms of religious influence and role have changed, religion has found a way to actively participate in the public sphere (Calhoun 2011;Herbert 2011;Butler 2011), even to the extent of influencing political decisions. One of the ways of influencing the happenings of the secular world is through public speeches and certain direct or indirect actions. ...
Religion plays a public role in gender politics in a variety of ways. In public discussions, religious actors often oppose gender as a concept based on social construction and imposed by what they call “gender ideology.” Concerns that this “ideology” could hijack the legal discourse is a common basis of their argumentation in the discussions on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. This paper presents the main results of the analysis of Lithuanian and Latvian secular and religious media coverage of the Istanbul Convention between 2011 and 2021. Both countries have signed but not ratified the Convention. The analysis shows that actors linked to religious organisations entered the mass media discourse by presenting arguments against the ratification of the Convention, which overlap with and support the opinions expressed by conservative political actors. These arguments are based on the idea that the Istanbul Convention is a threat to the future legal support of the natural rights of men and women, their natural roles and traditional and Christian values. The media discourse and the arguments used are similar in both countries, but the discursive strategies of religious and political actors differ. In Lithuania, where the Catholic Church is supported by tradition, religious actors are more often and more directly involved in the public debate than in Latvia. Nevertheless, in both countries, the religious voices analysed contributed to the rise of anti-genderist discourse in the post-secular public sphere and to the politicisation of religion.
... In both countries, LGBTI teachers feel the power of the Catholic Church doctrine regardless of the legislative context. The role of religion in the state is not new to scholars (Butler, Habermas, Taylor & West, 2011) and, as our study reveals, is an ongoing topic for discussion and debate; the future of religion and individual rights are imperative for both Australian and Canadian societies. ...
... Habermas takes seriously the capacity of religious communities to "become a transformative force in the center of a democratic civil society, " particularly when their distance from secular positions "on normative issues. . . stimulate[s] an awareness of their relevance" (Butler et al., 2011;p. 25). ...
Goal 16 of the UN sustainable development goals, which calls on the global community to “build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels,” can be conceptualized as aiming at fostering communicative action, a concept developed by Jürgen Habermas to describe a mode for coordinating society grounded in deliberation. However, Habermas simultaneously provides an account of the structural transformation of the public sphere that suggests a hard limit on the capacity of mainstream capitalist liberal democracies to foster genuine communicative action in the relationships between institutions, individuals and communities. This paper therefore argues for the critical role of prefigurative politics, in which communities strive to internally embody desired socio-political forms rather than focusing on changing the wider socio-political order, as a vital resource for generating examples to inform institutional progress. The prefigurative example of the Baha'i community demonstrates norms and practices that may illustrate a path out of the dynamic Habermas identifies of system colonizing lifeworld, by fostering and protecting communicative action as the mode of social coordination. The form of communicative action found in the Baha'i community is situated in a context of a telic- organic model of relationships between individuals, communities and institutions. The paper contrasts the conceptual underpinnings of this model with individualistic conceptions of human nature that are argued to undermine liberal democracy's capacity for communicative action. At the core of communicative action within a Baha'i context is a distinctive model of deliberation, known within the community as “consultation”. The paper argues that rational-critical consultation can offer a vital nuance to Habermas' ideal of communicative action as rational-critical debate in the public sphere. The formal democratic structures and processes of the Bahá'í community are also explored as an institutional example that arguably meets the challenge of Goal 16. The paper concludes with initial reflections on a process by which the prefigurative example of a Baha'i model might be brought to bear on institutional performance in wider society.
... Third, a few scholars have debated whether normative theories of the public sphere(s) could be grounded in norms and values other than democratic ones. They have discussed the relation between principles of the public sphere and generalized sets of norms like human rights (Jørgensen, 2019), for example, as well as the possibility of grounding principles of the public sphere(s) on religious premises (e.g., Butler et al., 2011;Regus, 2022). ...
Theories of the public sphere—or more recently, of plural public spheres—are core elements of communication and media research. A lively and dynamic debate exists about the respective theories, and the approaches employed to do so have diversified in recent years. This special issue of Communication Theory aims to assess the role and future of public sphere(s) theory in digital societies: if, and where, are concepts of the public sphere(s) still useful and needed, which criticisms are (still) valid, which not, which new ones might be necessary, and which concepts need to be developed or elaborated to respond meaningfully to the digital transformation? This editorial introduces the topic of and contributions to the special issue as well as nine theses on the development of public sphere(s) theorizing.
... At least in the US, when Anabaptists such as the Old Order Amish, scientisitic scientists such as Richard Dawkins or Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and postmodernists such as Judith Butler or Edward Said interplay in the public sphere, they are all coming from very different starting points and often occupying quite different geographies. Contemporary discourses of science and faith mostly ignore this complexity as teasing apart such complexity has largely been the work of anthropologists (to understand cultural difference) and philosophers (to understand the grounding of claims based upon varying epistemologies) (Butler et al, 2011). What I point towards is a new view towards framing religious discourse vis-a-vis science as a form of Aristotelian virtue ethics, albeit cut off from ultimate grounding. ...
... This concept can evoke the public sphere. Butler et al. (2011) consider the use of religion from the public sphere for interactions essential in structures, common values, the realization of communicative rationality, and social development. Thus, religious tourists can be considered one of the most important actors in the public sphere and social participation. ...
Arbaeen event is the most significant religious tourism event for Shiites. Using the social interpretation approach, this study explores the context for Iranian Shiite participation and understanding of the Arbaeen event. The research methodology is qualitative. Data were collected using ethnography methods and analyzed by grounded theory. According to the results, the inefficiency of the internal decision-making system as a result of the government and its administrative system facing a variety of crises in various political, economic, social, and cultural arenas, as well as social inequality, contribute to this event's attendance. A feeling of religious discrimination and a lack of rights for the participants leads to this inequality. The meaning reconstruction of the pilgrims' experience and perception serves as a channel for social participation and solidarity, cultural change, and a bridge between stakeholders and officials. The core category also refers to the Arbaeen event as an alternative to existing bottlenecks.
... Mechanical solidarity is reinforced through quoting religion which becomes an immense necessity in such critical times. Moreover, several studies have proven that amid the crisis the presence of religion became stronger in the public sphere (Butler, Habermas, Taylor, & West, 2011;Hjelm, 2014;Vancsó & Zoltán, 2021). ...
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the quality of life for all humans all over the world, it was reported that the pandemic succeeded in bringing people closer to each other by activating mechanical solidarity and a sense of acknowledgment. On the other hand, the forced immigrants were more affected during the pandemic compared to other groups, but there is no evidence that the pandemic made the hosts get closer to the forced immigrants. Looking from the religion-based solidarity point of view, this paper tries to investigate if the Turkish community became closer to the Syrians during the pandemic. Using an original data set, the result of the Mann-Whitney U test shows that there is moderate evidence of the role of religion in bringing the hosts closer to the forced immigrants in Turkey, anticipating that there is a small role of religion-based solidarity in Turkey during and after the pandemic.
... This space, which he deems the "public sphere," is made up of private individuals who come together, in one way or another, to discuss their common concerns and interests (Fraser, 1992). This theoretical framework has been used to explore a variety of circumstances including the role of religion in society, the internet, and ideas of transnational democracy (Bohman, 2004;Mendieta & VanAntwerpen, 2011;Papacharissi, 2002). However, as feminist philosopher Nancy Fraser identifies, this conception of the public is filled with assumptions about who is included in this public sphere, whose affairs are considered "common," and whether or not these publics represent a true move toward democracy (Fraser, 1992). ...
The annual Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride represents the longest continuous example of Lakota memorial and resistance rides in contemporary Lakota activism. First held in 1986, this commemoration of the journey of Chief Big Foot’s band of Lakotas and the subsequent Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 now reaches beyond the confines of the ride itself through the use of social media profiles that serve to both publicize and document the ride. This article seeks to understand the way that photographs from the rides influence the types and amount of engagement it receives on social media. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, 304 images and their associated engagements from the 2018 ride were analyzed using content analysis and a grounded theory approach. This revealed that certain characteristics gave rise to the construction of a counterpublic around this ride. Findings suggest that both the content of photos and types of authors for posts influenced the number and types of engagements received by certain photographs. Given the relative isolation of many Indigenous communities in the Americas, these findings suggest that certain strategies for social media posts by Indigenous social movements can overcome these barriers to spread their message to a wider audience through strategic use of imagery associated with these movements.
Penelitian ini mengkaji konsep kepemimpinan dalam Gereja Katolik berdasarkan pandangan Anthony D’Souza serta kontribusinya bagi para pemimpin Gereja di Indonesia saat ini. Pemimpin yang dimaksud adalah para imam Katolik. Anthony D’Souza menekankan bahwa pemimpin dalam Gereja Katolik dipanggil untuk melayani. Seorang pemimpin yang melayani berarti menyerahkan dirinya sepenuhnya untuk mengabdi kepada Tuhan dan sesama. Penelitian ini menyoroti beberapa permasalahan utama dalam kepemimpinan Gereja, yaitu: pertama, adanya pemimpin yang bersifat otoriter sehingga tidak bersikap melayani, tetapi justru menyalahgunakan kekuasaan. Kedua, pemimpin yang lebih mementingkan kepentingan pribadinya, sehingga mengabaikan umat dan tidak memberikan bimbingan serta pengembangan yang diperlukan. Ketiga, pemimpin yang kurang tertib dalam administrasi, sehingga membuka peluang terjadinya korupsi. Oleh karena itu, pemahaman yang lebih dalam mengenai konsep kepemimpinan dalam Gereja Katolik diharapkan dapat menjadi kesadaran baru bagi setiap pemimpin dalam melaksanakan tugas pelayanannya di tengah umat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi konsep kepemimpinan menurut Anthony D’Souza dan relevansinya bagi pemimpin Gereja di Indonesia. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif dengan studi pustaka, yang bersumber dari karya-karya Anthony D’Souza serta literatur lain yang membahas kepemimpinan dalam Gereja Katolik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, menurut Anthony D’Souza, esensi utama kepemimpinan Gereja Katolik terletak pada tiga aspek fundamental, yaitu sebagai pelayan, gembala, dan pengurus.
This work is divided into three sections. The first outlines classical anarchist thought and its
proposal to dissolve the state, questioning its legitimacy. Anarchism is primarily a moral philosophy
with Aristotelian elements and a concept of individual autonomy rooted in Enlightenment ideals. The
second section, drawing on archaeologist Patrick Kirch's analysis of early Hawaiian society, discusses
cultural evolution in Hawaii and Polynesia, leading to shifts in ethical structures. Key concepts like
mana and kapu signified a transition from a chiefdom society to one founded on sacred sovereignty,
merging religious and political realms. In the final section, the emergence of the modern nation-state
is examined, emphasizing the split between religious and political spheres in European society. This
separation contributed to a rationalized concept of state legitimacy inherited from Greek and Roman
traditions. Hawaiian and European social structures are compared to critique the anarchist proposal
for state dissolution, concluding that the archaic Hawaiian state was not a random development.
Instead, classical anarchism’s notion of the state as a contingent outcome of societal evolution made
the idea of state dissolution conceivable. The Enlightenment’s autonomous individual, modernity’s
historical context, and secular conditions fostered the transformative possibilities envisioned by
classical anarchist thought.
Keywords: Anarchism, Sacred Sovereignty, Archaic State, Nation-State, Hawaii, Legitimacy.
Available at IUL-ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal, repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/34188
La doctrina del foro público ha desempeñado la función de delimitar los espacios de propiedad privada o del Estado en los que es admisible la actividad expresiva, bajo la protección de la Primera Enmienda. En el presente artículo revisaremos el criterio, según el cual la voluntad del propietario de autorizar la actividad expresiva es condición para la vigencia de los derechos de la Primera Enmienda. Para ello, aplicaremos el modelo de las esferas, que distingue entre la vida privada, social y de luz pública. Nos preguntamos cuáles son los criterios que permiten distinguir entre cada una de las esferas de la vida en sociedad, para luego proponer un concepto de foro público, basado en las características de la esfera de luz pública. Abordaremos la triple dimensión de los derechos fundamentales, especialmente con relación a la libertad de expresión, así como una propuesta de aplicación en el marco de las facultades de exclusión en redes sociales, en base al caso Knight v. Trump.
The paper presents a case study exploring how the everyday deliberation of public matters in the Arab world is epistemically traceable. Since processes of socio-political communication are deeply rooted in wider epistemological structures, and because social actors operating in the public sphere are socially informed, it is imperative to understand the underlying epistemic structures that determine everyday communicative practices. The paper seeks to identify the role played by religious discourse/reason in Arab public spheres. It begins by introducing the theoretical approach that informs the discursive analysis, Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). It then summarises the concept of the public sphere and its historical evolution in the Arab world. Following this, it identifies three epistemic stances that dominate Arab public spheres: (1) the traditionalist stance, (2) the revisionist stance, and (3) the stance of the epistemological break. The paper concludes with a case study that illustrates each of these epistemic structures and locates their epistemological stances by schematising their arguments on a prominent problematic issue in modern Arab thought: equal shares of inheritance for men and women. The data for analysis was derived from discussion and debate on this topic in the wake of the late Tunisian president's proposal.
Resumo O texto questiona se a crise da educação (isto é, do Pacto Educativo, na formulação dada pelo magistério pontifício) deve ser considerada como um aspeto constitutivo da crise da tradição que caracteriza, em geral, as sociedades de massa contemporâneas. Nenhuma resposta setorial de carácter exclusivamente pedagógico, por mais bem intencionada e reflexivamente bem elaborada que seja, pode ultrapassar o impasse no processo de transmissão transgeracional de códigos culturais - éticos e simbólicos - que se tem vindo a registar, cada vez mais, em todo o mundo. Para encontrar uma solução é antes necessário identificar as causas da atual crise generalizada da razão pública, isto é, as causas da desconfiança no poder normativo da racionalidade, e trabalhar no sentido da sua reconstrução, procurando evidenciar e corrigir o papel culturalmente distorcivo do primado funcional da racionalidade técnico-produtiva, inerente à própria modernidade enquanto tradição ainda preponderante a nível global. A descontinuidade com as autocontradições da modernidade torna-se assim a condição para salvar o seu núcleo normativo e, a partir da esfera educativa, reabilitar uma razão pública, uma razão intersubjetivamente vinculante de sentido, sem a qual não pode haver convivência livre, justa e pacífica.
While globally menstruators are increasingly receiving support through solidarity campaigns, the menstruating body remains an ambivalent subject in Swedish politics and feminist scholarship. Menstruation activists emphasise that periods are both a local and global political issue, urging menstruators to become more aware of how their bodily cycles impact them. This article aims to explore a selection of narratives on menstruation as a political and spiritual phenomenon and investigate the still residual ambivalence in the relationship between feminism and menstrual advocacy in a Swedish context. The study is empirically anchored in a campaign for menstruation awareness combined with interviews with feminist women about menstruation as an experience and as a cultural phenomenon. The campaign, here called PeriodPride, addressed different topics, such as body literacy and menstrual solidarity. Drawing on an ethnographic study combined with a narrative approach, three narratives have been identified: (1) the menstruating body as a ‘woman’s issue’, (2) menstruators in need, remembering period poverty, and (3) the forceful cycle, reclaim the value of bodies. These narratives elucidate the discursive complexity of menstruation advocacy, underscoring its entanglement with multiple frameworks of meaning and revealing some of the productive tensions inherent within Swedish feminist traditions.
Resumo: O presente trabalho tem como finalidade compreender, grosso modo, qual o papel das comunidades religiosas na sociedade, quais expectativas se espera do comportamento do cidadão religioso na sociedade civil, saber se argumentos religiosos podem ser aceitos nos debates públicos, se sim, em quais níveis do debate e sob quais condições, e se não, por que razões os argumentos formulados em linguagem religiosa devem ser vetados das discussões civis. Busca-se analisar a relação entre os cidadãos seculares e religiosos na democracia, as pressuposições cognitivas necessárias para se alcançar uma relação cooperativa, e o processo de aprendizagem necessário para que essas pressuposições sejam alcançadas no Estado secular. Palavras-chave: Habermas; Esfera Pública; Religião; Estado Secular State and Religious Communities in Between Naturalism and Religion, by Jürgen Habermas Abstract: The present work aims to understand, roughly, what is the role of religious communities in society, what expectations are expected of the behavior of religious citizens in civil society, whether religious arguments can be accepted in public debates, if so, at what levels of debate and under what conditions, and if not, for what reasons arguments formulated in religious language should be vetoed from civil discussions. It seeks to analyze the relationship between secular and religious citizens in democracy, the cognitive presuppositions necessary to achieve a cooperative relationship, and the learning process necessary for these presuppositions to be achieved in a secular State. Keywords: Habermas; Public Sphere; Religion; State Data de registro: 20/06/2023 Data de aceite: 02/02/2024
This article questions the idea of the ‘post-secular’ as a category for understanding Indian women’s experience of religion as an existential practice in neocolonised capitalist patriarchy. The majoritarian state’s manipulation of an identitarian regime of signification to use and control women’s lives is located in a plural, democratic society that is currently riven by the violent politics of conflicting religious and secular constructions of hijab , a head covering worn by Muslim women. From an engaged ideological perspective that seeks radical transformation, feminist struggle includes the right to practice and profess one’s faith, against a majoritarian norm that bulldozes difference and imposes its prescriptions as ideal. This article aims to show, from a feminist perspective, the manipulation of significatory practices in India, linking women’s ‘dress’ with progress to essentialise and politicise identity. It questions whether redressal against violence wrought on women by religious fundamentalism can be found in a secular state policy, based on the norm of equality of difference. Feminist practice would actively use the guarantees given to the citizen by a pluralist secular constitution to challenge the violence of interlinked discriminations, necessary for the survival of a plural society in which diversities co-exist.
This chapter provides an overview of the relevant works at the intersection of Islam, postsecularism, TED Talks, and new media storytelling. This chapter will explore this turn as an interdisciplinary dialogue. It makes an argument for a specific approach to that intersection, which is evident in the TEDified Islam. Divided into three key sections, it begins by examining the debates on postsecularism and its connection with secular media narratives on the sacred. The second section introduces TED to the context and outlines key arguments about the platform (TED) and its communication practices. The final section surveys existing literature on Islam and new media, focusing on the audiences and authorities, and develops a case for examining the discourse on Islam in the new media landscape that is neither Islamophobic nor produced with ritualistic importance. This chapter outlines TED’s narrative production on Islam as a storytelling on Islam that echoes the secular’s renewed interest in exploring the quintessential of Islam. Therefore, TEDified Islam resonates a nexus between postsecular ways of storytelling on Islam in the new media landscape.
The ecological crisis in the world necessitates the reconfiguration of the hegemony of modern science, theology, politics, economics and technology – the root cause of a pending ecological catastrophe. The aim is to redress a growing culture of apathy in the context of devastating weather conditions, social and political discord, and unrelenting violent wars. Public theology serves as a conceptual framework with transversal rationality as an interlocutor between the different theological (systematic, ethics, pastoral care and eco-theology), religious and philosophical perspectives. The theological ontology of care is presented followed by the role of communities of critical prophetic discourse. The notion of earth as a community leads to the prospect of a new eco-theology. Finally, the pending ecological catastrophe is reconceptualised in and through Christian eschatology. This is an inter- and intra-disciplinary discussion on the disastrous consequences of modernity and anthropocentric behaviour in terms of the current environmental crisis. Various scholars offer valuable insights into what the problem is, who responsible is for the environmental crisis, and how Christian communities should forge an accountability of care for the earth and vulnerable human beings. The eschatological reality of God’s preferred future remains a constant of hopeful and sustainable life in the Anthropocene age. It is recommended that we change the way we exist by transforming modernity as developed and sustained through theology, socio-political, economic and technological ‘advances’.Contribution: This article focussed on the ecological crisis because of anthropocentrism and distorted theological, political and socio-economic paradigms to serve human interests despite the consequences for the earth. We need to reconfigure interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary scientific approaches to embrace earth as a key scientific interlocutor. The ecological crisis should be conceptualised within the reality of Christian eschatology – Jesus Christ is ultimately, the eschaton.
Di satu sisi, ulama harus bisa menjaga kesalehan agama dan prinsip-prinsip yang telah ditetapkan dalam Islam, namun di sisi lain mereka juga harus menghadapi tekanan untuk mengikuti tren dan mengkomodifikasi agama demi mendapatkan keuntungan. Otoritas ulama merupakan salah satu aspek penting dalam Islam, yang bertugas sebagai pemimpin spiritual dan pemberi fatwa (keputusan) bagi umat Islam. Kini dengan bantuan media sosial ulama dapat mentransfer fatwa sekaligus melakukan praktik komodifikasi agama secara lebih mudah. Hal tersebut seperti apa yang dilakukan oleh Khalid Basalamah antara otoritasnya sebagai ulama dengan manhaj salafinya dan ambigurita bisnis yang ia miliki. Artikel ini mencoba untuk menakar kembali otoritas ulama dan membedah praktik kesalehan dan komodifikasi agama yang dilakukan oleh Khalid Basalamah. Dengan menggunakan studi analisis isi dan teori sosial otoritas Max Waber penelitian ini menemukan bahwa Khalid Basalamah mencerminkan bagaimana ketiga jenis otoritas Weber (rasionallegal, kharismatik, dan tradisional) berinteraksi dan bercampur dalam konteks otoritas ulama yang menghadapi tekanan antara menjaga kesalehan agama dan mengikuti tren bisnis. Khalid Basalamah terdorong untuk menjual produk-produk dengan branding agama demi meningkatkan popularitas dan pendapatan. Namun, terlalu banyak terpaku pada aspek komodifikasi dapat menjadi boomerang bagi otoritas ulama, karena dapat menurunkan martabat dan kesalehan ulama di mata umat. [On the one hand, clerics must maintain religious piety and the principles set out in Islam, but on the other hand they must also face pressure to follow trends and commodify religion for profit. The authority of the ulama is one of the most important aspects of Islam, serving as spiritual leaders and fatwa (decree) givers for Muslims. Now, with the help of social media, ulama can transfer fatwas as well as commodify religion more easily. This is what Khalid Basalamah has done between his authority as a cleric with his salafi manhaj and his business octopus. This article tries to reassess the authority of the ulama and dissect the practice of piety and commodification of religion carried out by Khalid Basalamah. Using a content analysis study and Max Waber’s social theory of authority, this research finds that Khalid Basalamah reflects how Weber’s three types of authority (rational-legal, charismatic, and traditional) interact and mix in the context of clerical authority that faces pressure between maintaining religious piety and following business trends. Khalid Basalamah is compelled to sell products with religious branding to increase popularity and revenue. However, too much focus on the commodification aspect can be a boomerang for the authority of the ulama, as it can lower the dignity and piety of the ulama in the eyes of the people.]
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This paper considers Habermas’s translation proviso, which requires religious concepts to be translated into secular language when in the public sphere. Translation, for Habermas, protects the state from religious interference and elicits essential aspects of pre-rational thought—that is, religious and metaphysical thought, which post-metaphysics cannot generate for itself, e.g., social solidarity. The task undertaken by Habermas’s translation proviso is illustrated through his own work of translation: that of the translation of the biblical image of humanity as created in the image of God into the identical dignity of each human being. To provide context to and to highlight the difficulties involved in Habermas’s translation proviso, consideration is given to the thought of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI and Alasdair MacIntyre on these themes. What is demonstrated is that Habermas’s translation is, in essence, assimilation and re-appropriation. In practice, it manifests itself as the truncation of Christian metaphysics, in which the divine Logos is replaced by or collapsed into the logos of intersubjective human language. The relational image of humanity as a creature distinct from the Creator, in which human reason is analogous to divine reason, is erased, leaving autonomous human beings, from which human reason emerges out of the discursive communication of the logos of intersubjective human language. The conclusion is that the translation proviso fails in its objective. An alternative to Habermas’s translation proviso, the presupposition proviso, is presented as a more apt approach to addressing the underlying issues involved: facilitating human flourishing in an orderly, free, and just society.
Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pidato Megawati Soekarnoputri pada tanggal 22 Agustus 2023, yang merupakan bagian dari upaya konsolidasi relawan Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P). Pidato ini dianalisis menggunakan kerangka teoritis wacana politik untuk memahami konstruksi kekuatan politik yang dibangun oleh Megawati Soekarnoputri dalam pidatonya. Analisis ini mencakup aspek-aspek linguistik, retorika, dan konteks politik yang mempengaruhi makna dan dampak pidato tersebut dalam menggalang dukungan politik. Hasil analisis ini diharapkan dapat memberikan wawasan lebih dalam tentang peran komunikasi politik dalam membangun dan mengokohkan kekuatan politik suatu partai.
The Republican People's Party (RPP) of Turkey is currently the main opposition party against the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP). While the RPP has usually been identified with a “rigid” understanding of secularism, the party has been experiencing a process of ideational change for more than a decade under the leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. This study aims to describe and explain the party’s shift to a “softer” version of secularism. Under the light of party change literature, one internal and two external factors are identified. The impact of leadership change, the internal factor, is examined with reference to major strategic and ideational changes initiated by Kılıçdaroğlu. The first major external stimulus is the global and local hegemony of post-secularism, which refers to the idea and practice of a new balance between citizenship and difference, allowing a greater space for religious arguments and images in the public sphere. The second is the transition to presidential system in Turkey, which both forced and facilitated the RPP’s search for electoral alliances with conservative parties in a personalized winner-takes-all game. It is claimed that these factors have made the RPP reassess the effectiveness of its commitment to classical secularism in meeting the renewed party goal of vote maximization. Reverse pressures on the party will also be examined in the article, with an aim of foreseeing the RPP’s leaning in the near future. Key Words: Republican People’s Party, Secularism, Post-Secular Society, Party Change JEL Classification: Z1, D72, Y80
This article discusses managing religious diversity in post-secular societies by drawing lessons from business and human rights. Managing religious diversity has been traditionally played out in the realms of the state. A state’s primary obligation is to respect and protect religious diversity in its society. This article looks beyond the state by arguing that managing diversity is a two-way street. It submits that business and human rights standards are benchmarks by which state and corporations’ effective management of religious diversity should be measured and supervised. This article argues that business and human rights standards, such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, establish the obligations of business and other private actors, such as religious communities, to respect and protect human rights in private relations. Businesses carry negative and positive obligations to employ a human-rights-based approach to managing religious diversity in their business operations. Religious communities, for their part, have to manage religious diversity to the extent their autonomy and self-governance allow for it. Equipped with this knowledge, this article concludes that business and human standards, including the United Nations Guiding Principles, represent the standards that business and religious communities should comply with in managing religious diversity in private relationships.
Religion has a responsibility in the addressing of environmental issues and the promotion of sustainability. The involvement of religious leaders such as Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama in environmental causes highlights the significance of religion in sustainability. However, there are questions about how institutionalized religion and theology can contribute to a sustainable world system. This paper provides a general perspective and guidelines on how Religion, in dialogue with Science, can contribute to our sustainability goals. Theology must become more contextually aware and offer clear guidance to individuals. A partnership between theology and science is necessary to distinguish between constructive and destructive beliefs, both fields having their own unique competencies. In the face of the climate crisis, theology has the potential to educate and inspire its followers to adopt attitudes and lifestyles that lead to a more sustainable future. Religion gives a purpose and justification for making the necessary sacrifices for a sustainable system. This can only be achieved if theology establishes connections with other fields, including technology and the humanities, and initiatives focused on sustainability. This requires a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between religion, society, and culture, with religion playing a role in conjunction with other social systems.
The existing research on and conceptualization of the public presence of religion usually builds on the Habermasian understanding of the public sphere. This has centered the discussion on the public presence of religion around the question of where such a presence is justified. Discourse theories offer an alternative understanding, stating that the public sphere is an area of struggles where diverse discourses compete to establish a definition of social reality as taken for granted and hegemonic. This shift opens the question of how a given definition of social reality becomes taken for granted, pointing to the role of legitimation. Against this background, our article argues that religion’s ability to serve as a valuable “resource” for building justifications in discursive struggles for hegemony could serve as indicators of its presence in the public sphere. Along these lines, we analyze religion’s legitimizing role in abortion policy-making in Poland.
کرنل وست پیامبران را دارای دو خصوصیت عشق و شجاعت در برابر شیطان زمان خود میداند و با نامگذاری رویکرد خود تحت عنوان پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه، قصد دارد همین خصوصیات را پرورش دهد. او برای رسیدن به پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه، از سنت پراگماتیسم، مارکسیسم، فلسفه سیاهپوستان آمریکا و الهیات رهاییبخش مسیحی استفاده میکند. در مقاله حاضر با استفاده از روش تحلیلی-انتقادی به بررسی جایگاه الهیات رهاییبخش مسیحی در پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه وست میپردازیم. با توجه به اینکه بیشتر پژوهشهای صورت گرفته درباره پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه یا این رویکرد را به صورت کلی مورد بررسی قرار میدهند و یا به بررسی نتایج سنتهای دینی در آن توجه دارند، ارزیابی جایگاه الهیات رهاییبخش مسیحی در آن مورد غفلت قرار گرفته است. نتایج پژوهش حاضر نشان میدهد که عدالت اجتماعی منتج از الهیات رهاییبخش مسیحی در برابر اعمال قدرت قرار میگیرد و ضرورت وجود پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه را به وجود میآورد. اگرچه الهیات رهاییبخش تنها منبع وست برای استفاده در پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه نیست، اما بنیانی است که بدون آن این رویکرد امکان ظهور به دست نمیآورد. نقد آراء وست نشان میدهد استفاده او از الهیات رهاییبخش مسیحی با مشکلاتی روبرو است: ۱- عدم بررسی سنتهای دیگر الهیاتی مانند اسلام و یهودیت، ۲- بر خلاف تاکید او بر مسیحیت، نمونه بارز رهبر پیامبرانه مالکوم ایکس مسلمان است، ۳- گرچه مسیحیت از بنیانهای پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه است اما برای رسیدن به عدالت اجتماعی رو به سمت سکولاریسم میآورد.
Cornel West considers the prophets to have two characteristics of love and courage against the devil of their time, and by naming his approach as Prophetic Pragmatism, he intends to cultivate these characteristics. He uses the tradition of pragmatism, Marxism, African-American Philosophy, and Christian liberation theology to arrive at prophetic pragmatism. In this article, using an analytical-critical method, we investigate the place of Christian liberation theology in West's Prophetic Pragmatism. Due to the fact that most of the researches conducted on Prophetic Pragmatism either examine this approach in general or focus on examining the results of religious traditions in it, the evaluation of the place of Christian liberation theology has been neglected in it. The results of the present research show that social justice that emerged from Christian liberating theology is opposed to the exercise of power and creates the necessity of Prophetic Pragmatism. Although liberation theology is not West's only source for Prophetic Pragmatism, it is the foundation without which this approach could not have emerged. Criticism of West's views shows that his use of Christian liberation theology faces problems: 1-Failure to examine other theological traditions such as Islam and Judaism, 2-Contrary to his emphasis on Christianity, the prime example of the prophetic leader Malcolm X is a Muslim, 3-Although Christianity It is one of the foundations of prophetic pragmatism, but it turns towards secularism to achieve social justice.
Contemporary American political culture is filled with complexity, defies simple characterizations, and manifests an uneasy tension between recognizing (even honoring) cultural diversity and practicing (even celebrating) class inequality. The belief in social inclusivity has increased and so has the belief in direct democracy, while at the same time increasing numbers of Americans have lost faith in government and converted to the religion of the free market. The half century since the beginning of the Sixties, a decade associated with hyper-liberalism, has witnessed a steady increase in the appeal of conservatism. In the name of individual freedom, some Americans question government’s right to monitor racial discrimination, while others challenge government’s right to legalize same-sex marriages. This paper will begin with a review of cultural politics and conservatism in American political culture, and then it will analyze recent research on the use of direct democracy by the opponents and proponents of affirmative action and same sex marriage, with a particular focus on the California experience. The paper will conclude with a reflection on how these contests may relate to the theory and practice of multicultural citizenship in the United States and other pluralist democracies.
This article presents some features, potentials, limitations, and bibliographies of the intersection of postcolonialism, postsecularism, and literary studies. It examines literatures, cultures, religions, indigenous beliefs and practices, and political imaginaries from Africa, Europe, and South Asia. The religions discussed include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. The article shows how the institutional and discursive emergence of postcolonial postsecularism, including its intersection with literary studies, can draw lessons from similarly contestatory fields of study, such as postcolonial theory, postcolonial feminism, and intersectional feminism. The article includes bibliographies of literary works that address secularism and postsecularism, including their intersection with postcoloniality.
هدف از این پژوهش تبیین و بررسی ارتباط میان اخلاق و هنر در پراگماتیسمِ پیامبرانة کرنل وست است. در این پژوهش ابتدا پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه، ضرورت و مضامین آن تبیین شده است، سپس جایگاه اخلاق در هنر از منظر این رویکرد بررسی و در پایان با نگاهی انتقادی-تحلیلی ظرفیتها و چالشهای این ارتباط به دست داده میشود. وست پس از بررسی سنت پراگماتیسم و نقد به آن، ضرورت رویکردی جدید در این سنت را درک میکند که به موضوع قدرت و نژادپرستی توجه عمیقتری داشته باشد. او ظرفیتهای بسیاری در پراگماتیسم آمریکایی مییابد و برای برطرف کردن خلاءهای آن از مارکسیسم، الهیات رهاییبخش و فلسفه سیاهپوستان آمریکایی بهره برده و پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه را بنا میکند. پراگماتیسمِ پیامبرانه با تصویری از زندگی اخلاقی آغاز میشود که بر وجود تفاوتها و منحصربهفرد بودن افراد تکیه میکند. در این رویکرد، اخلاق مبنای کلیه تحلیلها و ستون عدالت اجتماعی میشود. بر مبنای این نگاه اخلاقی، پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه در راستای دستیابی به عدالت اجتماعی حرکت میکند. هدف وست از عدالت اجتماعی به وجود آوردن فرصت برابر، برای بروز ظرفیتها و پتانسیلهای تمامی افراد، صرفنظر از تفاوتهایشان است. آنچه در مقابل اخلاق و بهتبع آن عدالت اجتماعی قرار میگیرد، قدرت است که تحت اشکال ظلم و ستم، امکان بروز ظرفیتها و پتانسیلهای افراد را گرفته و در پی آن اشکال نهیلیسم پدیدار میشوند. در برابر آثار قدرت و نهیلیسم ناشی از آن، پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه از سلاح هنر استفاده میکند. وست هنر را دارای قدرت تراژیوکمیک میداند که میتواند در برابر اشکال نهیلیسم قرارگرفته، ضمن نشان دادن واقعیت، با تقویت امید، امکان تاب آوردن در شرایط مبارزه با ظلم را فراهم سازد. در پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه به سه وجه هنرمند، مخاطب و اثر هنری توجه میشود. وست هنرمند را روشنفکری میداند که در صورت اتصاف به خصوصیاتی همچون عشق و شجاعت، میتواند اشکال شر و ظلم را نمایان کند و در برابر آن با ارائه تصویری از جهانی بهتر، امید را زنده نگاه دارد. او با رویگردانی از مخاطب بورژوا و عدم توجه به هنر جریان اصلی به مخاطبینی توجه دارد که اشکال ظلم را تجربه میکنند و هنر آنها را به عمل وامیدارد. در بررسی اثر هنری، وست به موضوع اثر، پیوند آن با تاریخ و فرهنگ و پرداخت هنری میپردازد. در پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه اصیلترین موضوع هنر، نمایش دغدغه افراد تحت ظلم و بیان شرایط واقعیت است. وست اثر هنری را ریشه یافته در یک تاریخ و فرهنگ میداند، اما همزمان هنر را ناجی همین ظرفیتهای تاریخی و فرهنگی میخواند. توجه به محتوا در هنر و اخلاق در پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه به معنای عدم توجه به پرداخت هنری نیست؛ بلکه در این رویکرد، تجربه هنری و اهمیت پرداخت آن بسیار مهم تلقی میشود. در مبحث زیباییشناسی، وست بهسوی دموکراتیک کردن آن گام برمیدارد. مخالفت با سلطه نگاه آکادمیک و انحصار معیار زیبایی به بدن سفیدپوستان و توجه به ابهت زندگی روزمره لوازم پراگماتیسم پیامبرانه برای دموکراتیزه کردن زیباییشناسی است. این رویکرد قصد دارد تا معیار ارزیابی، قضاوت و موضوع ارزیابی زیباییشناسی را گسترش و محدودیتهای آن را کنار بزند.
Some contemporary social phenomena, despite secularization, are still linked to religion. However, this same secularization seems to have accompanied a progressive process of religious illiteracy. Therefore, the capacity to address religious inspired issues is lower than the magnitude of the problems at work, be violent right-wing movement and Islamist terrorism or ethical debates on the beginning and end of life, to name but a few. Hence, this paper aims to fulfil three goals: to revisit secularism and some liberal assumptions that might prevent a correct understanding of these phenomena, to assess some of the consequences of the critique of ideologies and to propose an alternative approach to address religious inspired social phenomena.
This article contributes to the debate on secularization and the return of religion by using the social science complexity frame of reference. A trend in many Western countries is the decline in individual religiosity, increase in ‘nones’, growth of non-Christian religions, changes in religion itself, and the visibility of religion in the public sphere. Many sociologists of religion have analyzed the situation by discrediting the theory of secularization and adopting the newer theories of the spiritual turn, desecularization, and post-secularity, while others have maintained that secularization theory is still valid. The complexity frame of reference offers a toolkit that can be useful in resolving this theoretical dilemma. This article contributes to the theorizing of multiple religious trends at various analytical levels. It criticizes the current approaches before it introduces the concept of religious complexity. Finally, it explores the implications of religious complexity for analyses of multiple and varied religious trends.
The digital era is an era where everything is done digitally, be it science or the journey of human spirituality. With the presence of digital space simultaneously there is also a public space in virtual form. In the past, humans were referred to as social creatures, in this digital era, humans are also referred to as digital creatures. So that the teaching of Christian religious education does not only stop in the private sphere, which is carried out in the church, but can also be done in a digital virtual sphere. By using a literature-based qualitative method, the author analyzes Habermas' thoughts on the public sphere. From the results of the analysis, it was found that in today's digital era, the public sphere in the digital realm is part of the virtual public sphere, in which the journey of human spirituality is carried out. Human interaction in the digital era does not only occur in physical public sphere, but also occurs in virtual public sphere. Therefore, this paper will examine Christian Religious Education in a virtual public space which of course starts from the analysis of the thoughts of Jürgen Habermas, a German philosopher and sociologist regarding the Public Sphere, then the author will discuss abaut Christian Religious Education in the public sphere a critical review. On Christian Religious Education in the private sphere, which then ends with the conclusion of this research Era digital menjadi era di mana segala sesuatu dilakukan secara digital baik itu ilmu pengetahuan maupun perjalanan spiritualitas manusia. Dengan hadirnya ruang digital, secara bersamaan hadir juga ruang publik dalam bentuk virtual. Yang dulu manusia disebut sebagai makhluk sosial, di era digital ini, manusia juga disebut sebagai makhluk digital. Sehingga pengajaran pendidikan agama Kristen pun tidak hanya berhenti pada ruang privat yakni dilakukan di dalam gereja, melainkan juga dapat dilakukan dalam ruang virtual digital. Dengan menggunakan metode kualitatif berbasis kepustakaan, penulis menganalisis pemikiran Habermas mengenai ruang publik. Dari hasil analisis, didapatkan bahwa di era digital sekarang ini, ruang publik dalam ranah digital merupakan bagian dari pada ruang publik virtual, yang di dalamnya perjalanan spiritualitas manusia dilakukan. Interaksi manusia di era digital tidak hanya pada ruang publik secara fisik, melainkan juga terjadi dalam ruang publik virtual. Dari sinilah penulis menggunakan ruang publik virtual atau virtual public sphere. Oleh karena itu, tulisan ini akan mengkaji mengenai Pendidikan Agama Kristen dalam ruang publik virtual yang tentunya dimulai dari analisis pemikiran Jürgen Habermas seorang filsuf sekaligus sosiolog asal Jerman mengenai Ruang Publik (Public Sphere), kemudian penulis akan membahas mengenai PAK dalam ruang publik sebuah tinjauan kritis terhadap Pendidikan Agama Kristen dalam ruang privat, yang kemudian diakhiri dengan kesimpulan dari penelitian ini.
The paper attempts to analyze the theoretical conditions of the possible conflict between the New Atheism and modern secular liberal democracies. After short presentation of a few main components of neoatheistic thinking I concentrate on the notion of secularism as proposed by Charles Taylor. I conclude that by identifying the religion as “the root of all evil” the New Atheists are revealing the unjustifiable lack of judgment, as their aggressive antireligious stance generates rather crises and conflicts than social harmony.
Through an analysis of Lebanon, this article investigates the secularism dilemma, namely, that secularism often leads to the politicization of religion and a high risk of conflict. Although this is the case in Lebanon, Lebanese political activists and youth movements advocate for secularism as the only alternative to the present consociational political system. The article introduces the worldview theory of the German philosopher Karl Jaspers and deconstructs the concept of secularism by focusing on philosophical and anthropological academic debates on the topic. The goal is to discover why Lebanese support of secular movements and parties is remarkably limited despite the massive support of civil society for a radical critique of the present political system. The article ends with a discussion of two concepts: “radical secularism,” coined by the philosopher Charles Taylor; and “asecular power,” introduced by the anthropologist Hussein al Agrama. It concludes that the Lebanese case teaches us that the relation been worldviews and secularism must be reformulated in new ways to solve the secularism dilemma.
This lecture engages a strange paradox that characterises contemporary life in South Africa. While 92,3% of South Africans indicate that they are religious (in fact, 85,6% of the population claim to be Christian), we continue to struggle with the individual and systemic indecencies of racism, sexism, poverty, violence and environmental destruction. What would be good, right and wise for a Christian theologian to profess in this situation? Answering this question requires careful and critical reflection on the complex intersections of faith and public life. The evils that we face are not only evidenced in the indecent behaviours and beliefs of individuals; they are also sustained and intensified by indecent systems and institutions (such as economic systems, political systems and religious institutions, to name just a few). The Christian tradition confesses that God, who created the world, is good. Moreover, Christians confess that what God created is good, and that God’s good creation is intended for good. This is a political claim that has consequences for both faith and public life. As persons who are being formed in the image of Christ, what is the fitting, proper and decent thing to do when encountering evil? To understand how we might live more decently, we should focus on practising patience, acting with courage and cultivating a prophetic imagination so that our hope for a better world does not remain a mere fantasy. This reflection will be grounded upon a critical understanding of the nature and responsibility of doing public theology in South Africa today. ISBN: 978-0-7972-1888-8
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