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The object of this paper is to analyze the ideas and criteria on which the status hierarchy among South Asian Muslims is founded. This question is a hotly debated one in Western academic circles as well as among Muslims themselves. Both tend, for ideological reasons, to build sharply contrasted models: equalitarian Islam opposed to hierarchical Hinduism. The contention of this paper is that both Muslim and Hindu society share basic preconceptions about social hierarchy; it is erroneous and misleading to contrast them on this point. It is more rewarding to start from this basic homology in the social structure, and then to search for differences; such differences are to be found only at the top of the social hierarchy. As a consequence there is no reason to avoid the word "caste": the Muslim society appears as a truncated caste system. The ethnographic material used in this paper is reinterpreted in the light of medieval jurisprudence and of its reformulations by modern reformers; it is contented that the medieval view of a hierarchical society has not been seriously challenged to this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originally from Canada and sent to the Philippines in 1921, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MIC) were entrusted with the administration of the Chinese General Hospital in Manila. This mission put them in contact with many immigrants and residents from China. This paper examines the multiple challenges that the sisters met in dealing with a dying population they were trying to convert in the face of well established Buddhist and Taoist beliefs and practices. The sisters fought against these practices, turning the hospital where they worked into a place of ontological confrontation. Distributing medals and images of the Virgin Mary, the sisters also contributed to the plasticity of the existing Chinese religious traditions, especially the devotion to Santa Maria. The dedication of the sisters to care and education as well as their tolerance allowed them to develop lasting and profitable relationships with their patients. The Christianization of the Chinese nevertheless remained incomplete, their centuries-old traditions persisting. In the anthropological study of missions, this case study shows that misunderstandings often remain at the heart of the conversion process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Brazil, the cult of saints brings into focus differences between formerly hegemonic Catholics and an increasing number of Evangelicals. In the context of a small town where a vernacular saint is worshipped, the practice of hagiographic narratives is viewed as a means of testing certainty. Analysis of these narratives (motifs or plots), the order of their episodes and the situations in which they are spoken reveals differing ways of exploring doubt and certainty. The missing elements that leave the story open are seen as ‘commonalities’, which contribute to social cohesion, allowing for creative reinterpretations of past and present events. The paper concludes with a brief comparison of the implications of exchanges of goods and exchanges of words, which demonstrates the role of the latter in the construction of the group’s social temporality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is based on fieldwork among Portuguese, Italians, Catalans and Spaniards influenced by the transnational Goddess spirituality movement. Through an analysis of ritual narratives the author analyses the role of doubt and uncertainty in contemporary rituals created within Goddess spirituality. She will show that contemporary crafted rituals offer a privileged window on the uncertainty intrinsic in ritual because participants feel less constrained by a long-standing religious tradition and talk more openly about their doubts and their strategies to neutralize them than in the case of secular ceremonies. Drawing on Simon Coleman’s analysis of pilgrimage and ritual (2009, 2013) she suggests that uncertainty may play an important role not only in rituals created in the context of ‘New Age’ spirituality but also in other contemporary rituals created in plural and increasingly secularized Western contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses papers presented at the 2011 conference of the Société Internationale de Sociologie des Religions/International Society for the Sociology of Religion, on topics including monastic utopias, Pentecostalism in French Polynesia, and evangelical Protestantism in Lebanon.

Fatiha Kaouès focuses on evangelical activities in Lebanon, where religious communities are the foundation of public order rather than the State and each denomination has its own social and economic network. This raises the question as to the definition of citizenship and the construction of social ties in the context of a strong religious communitarianism and a weak state. This paper considers a few development projects supported by evangelical movements and the various frameworks, limits and challenges of their activities in Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Presents an introduction to papers related to sociology that appeared in the 2005 issue of the journal "Social Compass."

The study of Durkheim's writings shows clearly how he was profoundly committed to religious or quasi-religious convictions. This paper puts to one side the legacy of his Jewish origins to concentrate upon the kind of faith he himself called "humankind's religion" ("la religion de l'humanité"). The paper starts with a discussion of the literature on "civil religion" (Bellah, Wallace, Schoffeleers) in order to argue that this form of religion constitutes a minimal element of Durkheimian beliefs. The textual analysis proves consistently that neither patriotism nor any kind of internationalism is the object of Durkheimian faith. Durkheim has sometimes professed a faith in science, but in an analogical sense, as we can easily understand. In the last analysis, the real object of the Durkheimian cult is the human condition, "a fully religious ideal". In opposition to those forms of theocentrism or cosmocentrism which occur in other religions, Durkheim maintains an anthropocentric concern. For him the human being is to the highest degree, a very sacred thing, a being who "possesses this transcendent majesty which the churches of all times attribute to their gods". To him, this human is never an isolated individual; far from it. Through the individual, one recognizes "humankind which is truly respectable and sacred". The paper stresses the importance of this insight in order to elucidate Durkheimian sociology and, more generally, the Durkheimian commitment to "the science of human beings". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exploratory of social analysis from the historical viewpoint. Spain's modernization, in the background of Carlos III's Enlightenment (1756-1788), begins with the Peninsular War and the Bourgeois Revolution (1808-1834/37). The two great institutions of the "Ancient Regime", the aristocracy's and the Church's late medieval systems of privileges, were wiped out. But the Spanish "Third Estate" not as powerful as France's, rather than eliminating the power and agrarian wealth of the old ruling class, chose to join forces with it, combining to build up a dominant block which retained its basic social and political structure, despite political change, up until the IInd Republic (1931-1936). This state of affairs was morally and ideologically legitimated by traditional Catholicism's system of values and myths. Liberal Catholicism, supported by bourgeois, professionals, through its "Institucion Libre de Enseñanza", was wiped out by the Syllabus, to come back only after the IInd Vatican's Council. "Social Catholicism", strongly backed by Rome, is issued from a rather traditionalist background. Spanish, popular Catholicism or "popular religion", with its holy week "procesiones", "virgenes", light and life "fiestas", coming from old, neolithic and mediterranean religions, via Islamic and Christian creeds, kept within the confined of Church ritual, but flowed beyond the dogmatic and ritualistic walls, in an old, agrarian culture now in the process of disintegration. A stream of Christian humanism flowed out of this popular religion and way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can Weber's theory of charisma be of use in the study of religious orders, of the founders themselves and the foundation process more especially? In that perspective, the present paper raises the question whether the founder, when he is a priest, can enjoy personal charisma, and if so, with what consequences, particularly in the case of quasi prophetic charisma. The problem is here approached both in theorical and historical perspective, around the case of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), the founder of the Missionaries of the Society of Mary (Montfortian Fathers) and the Daughters of Wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was Bryan R. Wilson who once remarked that the Jehovah's witnesses are so much concerned with recruitment that their whole movement is organised essentially towards the work of "publishing the good news" (Wilson, 1967:15). In a sense this remark is somewhat deceptive. The work of "publishing the good news" should not be mixed up with genuine recruitment, the latter being a possible--but not a necessary--sequel to the former. All Witnesses are engaged in publishing their message, convenient or inconvenient ; they are engaged in straight recruitment, however, only when and where they see their chance. Not all individuals outside the Watch Tower movement are, as it were, cut out for becoming serious candidates for membership, and the ordinary Witness is fully aware of this. Therefore, trying to avoid casting pearls before swine, he only proceeds to deliberate recruitment alter having separated non-promising and promising outsiders. In this paper the latter category is examined on the basis of Dutch research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an introduction to this issue containing papers from the 29th Conference of the ISSR (International Society for the Sociology of Religion) that dealt with the tension between secularity and religion.

The article introduces this issue of the journal citing a paper by Reinaldo Prandi on Evangelicalism in Latin America and a report examining religion and social science in Latin America by Daniel Gutiérrez-Martinez.

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article introduces this edition of the journal and cites a number of reports contained in it including Karel Dobbelaere's comments on various views of secularization in China, Michael Szonyi's investigation of Chinese sociology of religion and an examination of rituals used in legal cases by Paul Katz.

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article introduces this issue of the magazine and cites an essay by David Lehmann on aspects of the social capital of religious organizations, Kristin Strømsnes' examination of religious involvement and social capital in Norway and the study of the economic aspects of religious social capital undertaken by Christian Karner and David Parker.

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents an introduction to this issue, which includes articles about public opinion towards religion in Switzerland, the relationship between the clergy and the laity in French churches, and personal faith of church employees in Finland.

Copyright of Social Compass is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

French. L'auteur examine comme historien la thèse couramment admise selon laquelle la religion, en particulier sous sa forme monothéiste, est à l'origine du redoublement de violence (guerres civiles mais aussi conflits internationaux) dans le monde contemporain, surtout depuis la disparition de l'Union soviétique. Tout en reconnaissant la présence historique, plus ou moins forte à certaines époques, du facteur religieux parmi les causes de la violence, il défend la thèse selon laquelle la religion n'est pas la cause unique, ni même la cause décisive de cette violence collective. Prenant de préférence ses exemples dans le monde chrétien, il affirme que les guerres balkaniques (1991--2001) ne sont pas des guerres religieuses et que la religion y tient tout au plus un rôle de 'marqueur' d'identité. English. The author takes a historian's approach to the currently accepted theory that'religion, especially monotheism, is responsible for renewed violence in the contemporary world (both civil wars and international conflicts) after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. While recognizing the historical presence, to a greater or a lesser degree, of the religious factor among the causes of violence, the author defends the position that religion is not the only, or even the principal cause of that collective violence. Taking examples from the Christian world, he argues that the Balkan wars of 1991--2001 were not religious wars, and that here the role of religion is at most an assertion of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the remainder of the country where separation of church and state is the order of the day, eastern France (Alsace-Moselle) is characterized by a system of recognized cults; priests, pastors and rabbis are remunerated by the state, and a confessional religious education is dispensed in state schools... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the eve of the Lebanese civil war, the dominant tendency among analysts was to underestimate the importance of the specificities of religious communities of this country. During the last decade an orientation quite the opposite has developed, considering the depth of rootedness and the irreductible character of their singularisms. The Author of this article estimates that what separates the various Lebanese communities does not justify assimilating them into distinct ethnic groups and that their diversity is less a function of the distance separating them than of the interacting through which they are intermingled. It is the exact content of this interaction which constitutes the object of their coming together or spreading apart. And in the present state of things, this exact content is the distribution of political power in Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mass-media production of pontifical charisma made of the papal voyage to Canada a veritable mass-communication celebration. But, it is precisely in this that the event has taken on its specific religious dimension, structuring into one single emotional communion the paradoxical identity of a public otherwise dispensed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a general selective bibliography on French Canadian of Quebec Nationalism.

Evangelicalism: An American Protestant Version of Conservative Catholicism? American evangelicalism has often been presented in Europe as the new world counterport of similar conservative of traditionalist movements in the Catholic Church. The comparaison is tempting, and to determine its validity, this article presents an overview of evangelical doctrine, with a brief discussion of the movement place in American history and its current role in American Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text is based on the hypothesis that current anti-modernist movements are reacting to a break-down of meaning, and help to regenerate activities in which meaning can reinvest. It is in this context that we should like to reinterpret prestent-day religious effervescence. Does it indicate a fundamentalist return to the past, in the style of 19th century religious revivals? Or are we here beyond secularization? These religious forms are characterized less by their involvement in an ethical sphere than by their rediscovery of aesthetics in the original sense of the world. A socio-historical study of pilgrimage would help us to understand this evolution. How has the change from a pilgrimage which, in the Middle Ages, structured the life of Christianity, to a pilgrimage which, today, is associated with popular religions actually taken place, when in many other major religions such as Islam and Hinduism the pilgrimage helps to structure collective life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an interpretation of the principal results of a survey conducted in 1971 and 1973, regarding the attitude of chilean Pentecostals towards the political life of their country. On the basis of this study it appears that during Allende's period there was a big difference in the political sympathies between the Pentecostal leaders--mainly oriented towards the right--and the mass of the Pentecostal faithful--who in a large majority entertained sympathies for the left. In spite of this difference in political orientation, the leaders and the other Pentecostals joined in a common position of condemnation of active participation in the political struggle fought at that time, and in general they adopted an attitude of reserve in regard to anything concerning politics. This lign of conduct was not only caused by a concern about dissension in the ecclesial community, but it was also motivated by the idea that politics, as it existed before the coup of 1973, was morally reprehensible. If this background is taken into account, there should be not too much attention paid to the manifestations of support of the present system of government expressed by many Pentecostal leaders in the past Jew years. It is improbable that these manifestations reflect the feelings of the mass of the Pentecostal believers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Announces information on the 2003 International Society for the Sociology of Religion Conference XXVII which will be held in Turin, Italy. Theme of the conference; Duration of the conference; Speakers in the plenary sessions.