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Research on religiosity and health has generally focussed on the United States, and outcomes of health or mortality but not both. Using the European Values Survey 2008, we examined cross-sectional associations between four dimensions of religiosity/spirituality: attendance, private prayer, importance of religion, belief in God; and healthy life expectancy (HLE) based on self-reported health across 47 European countries (n = 65,303 individuals). Greater levels of private prayer, importance of religion and belief in God, at a country level, were associated with lower HLE at age 20, after adjustment for confounders, but only in women. The findings may explain HLE inequalities between European countries.

Religious faith, despite being a protected characteristic under UK law, is under-studied in higher education. In this article, I answer the call for studies that demonstrate the difference that religious adherence can make to the student experience of higher education instruction and assessment. In my qualitative study, I used ideas from ethnomethodology, FOUCAULT's archaeological work, academic literacies, and the Wittgensteinian perspective of WINCH to characterise the meeting of religious faith and sociological constructionism as a discursive problem occasioned by a born-again Christian student. I show how this discursive problem was described after it had been solved, pragmatically if not academically, in the student's writing. The solution comprised an interdiscursive technique of presenting faith-inspired ideas without pressing them into the service of an argument structure. My analysis of materials demonstrates a series of considerations that would not be relevant to non-religious students., Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol. 23 No. 3 (2022)

The impact of occult belief on legitimacy of the state and on aid for democratization in Africa: Among politicians and development experts in Africa alike there is a growing awareness of the never decreasing importance of the belief in magic and witchcraft on political decision making since pre-colonial times. Demonstration of the control of occult forces as a means of enhancing legitimacy of traditional or charismatic rule had been considered for over a century to be the prerogative of traditional chiefs and their marabouts; now it proved to be effective for the modern political elite and the state as well. An increasing number of African states officially recognized the existence of magic and witchcraft, and they adapted the imposed colonial law accordingly. In addition magic-religious belief systems, as represented by the vodun or African independent churches (e.g. the Kimbanguists), boasting to control witchcraft, are promoted by African political leaders to enhance legitimacy both of the political class and of state governance. At the same time, development experts tried to take into account the socio cultural dimension of development; they called for an "endogenization" of development aid. This call was justified, because endogenization should be considered as a pre-requisite of sustainable aid; however, under certain conditions it may be ambiguous and dangerous as well. Concerning the consideration of occult belief it may lead to the promotion of illegitimate rule and violation of basic human rights. - Version révisée et améliorée de l'auteur en français de: (1997): Zum Einfluß des Okkulten auf staatliche Legitimität und Demokratisierungshilfe in Afrika, Sociologus, 47, 1997, 1, p. 24-50. Layout revised, hyperlinks to sources added, 13 janvier 2022. Unter Politikern und Entwicklungsexperten in Afrika wächst das Bewusstsein für die immer geringer werdende Bedeutung des Glaubens an Magie und Hexerei für die politische Entscheidungsfindung seit vorkolonialer Zeit. Die Demonstration der Kontrolle über okkulte Kräfte als Mittel zur Stärkung ihrer Legitimität war über ein Jahrhundert lang das Vorrecht der traditionellen Herrscher und ihrer Marabouts. Heute ist es auch für die moderne politische Elite und den modernen Staat wirksam. Immer mehr afrikanische Staaten haben die Existenz von Hexerei und Magie offiziell anerkannt und passen das auferlegte Kolonialrecht entsprechend an. Neben magisch-religiösen Glaubenssystemen, vertreten durch Vodun oder unabhängige afrikanische Kirchen (zum Beispiel die Kimbanguisten), die von der Kontrolle der Hexerei profitieren, werden von afrikanischen politischen Führern gefördert, um die Legitimität sowohl der Klassenstaatspolitik als auch der Regierungsführung zu stärken. Gleichzeitig haben Entwicklungsexperten versucht, die kulturelle Dimension der soziokulturellen Entwicklung zu berücksichtigen. Sie forderten eine "Endogenisierung" der Entwicklungshilfe. Diese Forderung war berechtigt, weil die "Endogenisierung" als Voraussetzung für nachhaltige Hilfe zu sehen ist. Unter bestimmten Bedingungen kann es jedoch auch mehrdeutig und gefährlich sein. Bei der Berücksichtigung okkulten Glaubens kann dies zur Förderung des illegitimen Staates und zur Verletzung grundlegender Menschenrechte führen. Among politicians and development experts in Africa alike there is a growing awareness of the ever decreasing importance of the belief in magic and witchcraft on political decision-making since pre-colonial times. Demonstrating control over occult forces as a means of strengthening their legitimacy had been the prerogative of traditional rulers and their marabouts for over a century. Today, it is effective for the modern political elite and the modern state as well. A growing number of African states have officially recognized the existence of witchcraft and magic, and they are adapting the colonial law imposed accordingly. In addition to magico-religious belief systems, represented by vodun or independent African churches (for example, the Kimbanguists), benefiting from controlling witchcraft, are promoted by African political leaders to strengthen the legitimacy of both the class state policy and governance. At the same time, development experts have tried to take into account the cultural dimension of socio-cultural development. They called for an "endogenization" of development aid. This call was justified, because "endogenization" should be seen as a prerequisite for sustainable aid. However, under certain conditions it can be ambiguous and dangerous too. Regarding the consideration of occult belief it can lead to the promotion of the illegitimate state and the violation of basic human rights.

Bei der brasilianischen Religion Umbanda - die sich im Bundesstaat von Rio de Janeiro am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts auf der Grundlage von afrikanischen, indigenen und europäischen Religionen bildete - steht die Kommunikation mit Geistwesen im Zentrum, die an die brasilianische Geschichte erinnern. Seit den 1940er Jahren ist sie weltweit verbreitet und ab ca. 2010 auch im Zuge der transatlantischen sakralen Globalisierung im deutschsprachigen Europa angesiedelt. Dennoch ist ihre Ausbreitung bislang kaum erforscht. Die Autorin schließt hier eine Forschungslücke, indem sie sich auf der Grundlage einer über fünfjährigen ethnologischen Feldforschung mit der spirituellen Gemeinschaft des Ilê Axé Oxum Abalô (auch Terra Sagrada genannt) befasst, die ihr Mutterhaus in den Schweizer Bergen im Kanton Appenzell verortet und mit sieben Ablegern in Graz und Wien, Zürich und Bern, Berlin und Cumuruxatiba in Brasilien ein überregionales Netzwerk bildet. Jedes Kapitel der Studie wird durch das Porträt einer Gottheit (Orixá) sowie Narrative aus den mythischen Überlieferungen gerahmt und zu Textpassagen von Oswald de Andrades 'Manifesto Antropófago' und Umberto Ecos 'Foucaultschem Pendel' in Bezug gesetzt. Dabei verdeutlicht die Autorin, wie die religiöse Praxis der Trance als Einverleibung von Bewusstseinsstrukturen zur Reflexion der Wissensproduktion ihrer Religion und darüber hinaus zu einer Dekolonialisierung des Denkens in Europa beitragen kann.

Auf Grundlage einer interdisziplin��ren qualitativ-empirischen Studie mit muslimischen, christlichen und ezidischen Familien widmet sich dieses Buch der Bedeutung von Religion f��r die Bew��ltigung (Coping) traumatisierender Erlebnisse in Fluchtprozessen. Mithilfe des Konzepts der VulnerAbility zeigt dieses Buch, wie die Kinder und ihre Eltern durch ihren Glauben und die Zugeh��rigkeit zu einer Religionsgemeinschaft (Belonging) Handlungsf��higkeit im Sinne einer Agency generieren. In individuellen Adaptionsleistungen passen sie ihr religi��ses Erbe, das sich in Gottesbildern und religi��sen Relevanzsystemen offenbart, sinnstiftend an neue Lebenskontexte an. Dies erlaubt ihnen durch einen R��ckgriff auf ihren Glauben positive Zukunftsimaginationen zu entwickeln, auch wenn sie Religionszugeh��rigkeiten als Gegenstand gesellschaftlicher Konfliktlinien erlebt haben, die im Herkunftskontext, auf den Fluchtwegen und im deutschen Asylsystem durch Praktiken der Diskriminierung etabliert werden. (DIPF/Orig.)

This article deals with the different religious counterpoints or beliefs that traditions of philosophy and thought have fundamentally defined around five positions or options: atheist, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, and belief. The aim is to explore the sociological conditioning factors behind these profiles, offering a meaningful explanation to help us understand the trends and recent changes in Spanish society. To this end, we analyzed two surveys, for the years 2008 and 2018, of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) on Religion in the context of Spain. The results highlight the variables of gender, age, and ideology to describe specific profiles, explain religious choices, and understand trends. In addition to the trend towards secularization, the results manifest an increase in the number of atheists and a decrease of believers, show increasing radicalization and right-wing ideology among believers, and a greater grounding of the meaning of life in the existence of God alone.

Es wird versucht, auf diesem sehr hohen Niveau eine Verbindung zwischen Informationswissenschaft und Religion herzustellen.

We used the three latest rounds of the religion module of International Social Survey Programme to study secularization in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, focusing on belief in God. We restricted our sample to the affiliated with the majority Protestant churches and the unaffiliated and analyzed the trends toward disaffiliation and disbelief in God. Then, we studied the association between confidence in churches, religious/secular upbringing, and demographic controls with belief in God using multinomial logistic regression models. Our treatment of belief in God as a nominal variable allowed the inclusion of both the element of doubt and different images of God in the analyses. The trends toward disbelief in God and disaffiliation suggest that secularization in Scandinavia accelerated in 2008–2018 relative to 1998–2008. In Norway, these trends were already significant in 1998–2008. Disaffiliation and disbelief in God are strongly associated, as both ‘believing’ and ‘belonging’ decayed in the three countries and seem to be strongly intertwined. We found that confidence in churches, and the frequency of attendance at church services (even if only about yearly) during the formative years are powerful predictors of belief in God. The strength of the association between confidence and attitude toward the church’s power in society suggests that these two variables are fundamental to the conceptualization of belonging in the Scandinavian countries and very likely in a more general context. publishedVersion

Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht, inwiefern das in anderen westlichen Ländern nachgewiesene Phänomen der Kohorten-Säkularisierung auch für die Schweiz gilt. Nach dieser Theorie kommt die Säkularisierung zustande, weil religiösere durch weniger religiöse Kohorten ersetzt werden - und nicht weil die Religiosität von Individuen im Lebensverlauf abnimmt. Der Artikel untersucht die Entwicklung der christlichen Religiosität und holistischer (ganzheitlicher) Spiritualität auf der Basis mehrerer großer Sozialumfragen. Die These der Kohorten-Säkularisierung kann für christliche Religiosität bestätigt werden: Die Säkularisierung entsteht zu einem wichtigen Teil, weil jede neue Generation etwas weniger religiös ist. Es handelt sich um "Generationen abnehmenden Glaubens". Hingegen finden wir keine Hinweise darauf, dass viele Personen ihren Glauben behalten und nur die Kirchenmitgliedschaft ablegen ("believing without belonging"). Auch eine holistisch-spirituelle Revolution hat nicht stattgefunden.

The purpose of the article is a conceptual identification of religiosity tendencies in Western Europe at the end of the XXth - the beginning of the XXIst centuries. The methodological bases of the study were socio-philosophical analysis of the religiosity phenomenon, as well as historical systemic and analytical synthetic methods. The Scientific Novelty. In Western Europe new religious processes go beyond the classical contours of modernity. The dynamics of change in the field of religion takes place under conditions of uncertainty, nonlinearity, ephemerality of social processes, as well as the continuing aggravation of relations between secular culture and religion. It is necessary to be critically aware of the fact that the institutional and socio-cultural return of religion (post-secularity) causes vulgarization, the creation of various distorted forms of religiosity. Our point of view is that the decline of a traditional religiosity continues in Western Europe, which is not a localized tendency and a civilizational integration project, a transnational paradigm are being actively promoted. The Conclusions. Western societies remain a relatively secular part of the global world and differ in the level of a religious diversity and the dynamics of a religious change among their population. From the point of view of the confessional identification, Western European countries can be attributed to one Christian culture (unfortunately, practically lost). According to the criterion of religiosity level, "high religion" is characteristic of countries with the maximum number of Orthodox and Catholics. In Western Europe, there is a situation where religion is often engaged with "vicariously". In Western Europe, an important tendency in religiosity is the subjectivation of faith and practice, which complicates the preservation and transmission of religious traditions. As a result, religiosity is of a situational character.

Artikel zum Buch: Damit der Himmel auf die Erde kommt

Durch aktuelle gesellschaftspolitische und rechtliche Debatten um geschlechtliche und sexuelle Vielfalt ist einiges in Bewegung geraten: Tradierte (Zu-)Ordnungen von Geschlecht sind durchlässiger geworden, strikte Regulierungen von Sexualität(en) sind aufgebrochen. Soziale Wirklichkeiten scheinen nun pluralisiert und neue Chancen für selbstbestimmte Lebens­weisen eröffnet. Zugleich haben institutionalisierte Vorstellungen von binären Ge­schlech­terdifferenzen und von Heterosexualität Spuren hinterlassen, die als ‚Einschreibungen’ der sozialen Verhältnisse weiter existieren. Der vorliegende Band ist das Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Reflexionen in den Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften. Die Beiträge geben einen Einblick in unterschiedliche disziplinäre Perspektiven auf Gender- und Sexualitäts(zu)ordnungen. Sie spannen die Breite der For­schungsfelder mit ihrem jeweiligen Bezug zu Alltagspraktiken auf; vor dem Hintergrund der Fachkulturen und wissenschaftlichen Entwicklungen beleuchten sie begriffliche Konzepte, Fragestellungen sowie Arbeitsweisen und reflektieren vor allem auch die Gleichzeitigkeit von Kontinuität, Wandel und neuen Normierungsprozessen.Der vorliegende Band ist das Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Reflexionen in den Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften. Die Beiträge geben einen Einblick in unterschiedliche disziplinäre Perspektiven auf Gender- und Sexualitäts(zu)ordnungen. Sie spannen die Breite der For­schungsfelder mit ihrem jeweiligen Bezug zu Alltagspraktiken auf; vor dem Hintergrund der Fachkulturen und wissenschaftlichen Entwicklungen beleuchten sie begriffliche Konzepte, Fragestellungen sowie Arbeitsweisen und reflektieren vor allem auch die Gleichzeitigkeit von Kontinuität, Wandel und neuen Normierungsprozessen

Globalisation, widespread immigration and despair about totalising ideologies have led to a reconsideration of religion and secularism. Previously, civic education, while respectful of religious beliefs and practices observed in the private sphere, endorsed secular perspectives for the public sphere. Currently, the growing presence of religion in political discourse raises questions about its impact and consequences in the social sphere in general and education in particular. Interest in this topic developed recently but has not yet led to an increase in research studies of civic and religious education and is especially rare with regard to marginalised migrant and minority families. In this article, we show why the family is important for understanding religious and civic education and discuss how they are relevant to migrant and minority family life. We conclude that there is a need for more comprehensive research into religious and civic education that includes the migrant and minority family as a highly important factor in education. (DIPF/Orig.), Globalisierung, weltweite Migration und die Verbreitung totalitärer Ideologien haben zu veränderten Auffassungen über Religion und Säkularität geführt. Während zuvor eine zivilgesellschaftlich-demokratisch orientierte Bildung säkulare Perspektiven im öffentlichen Raum unterstützte, zugleich aber religiösen Glaubensvorstellungen und Praxen Respekt entgegenbrachte, nimmt aktuell die Präsenz des Religiösen in den politisch-gesellschaftlichen Diskursen zu. Es stellen sich neue Fragen hinsichtlich des Einflusses und der Folgen dieser Entwicklung für Bildung und Gesellschaft. Zwar ist das Interesse an dieser Thematik gestiegen, allerdings gilt dies noch nicht für die Forschung. Es fehlen insbesondere Studien zur Bedeutung von Religion in Zusammenhang mit zivilgesellschaftlicher Bildung für Familien in der Migration und Familien in der Minderheitensituation. Im vorliegenden Beitrag zeigen wir, warum die Familie für das Verständnis religiöser und zivilgesellschaftlicher Bildung wichtig ist, und diskutieren dies bezogen auf marginalisierte Familien. Deutlich wird der Bedarf an Studien, die Familie im Kontext von Migration und Minderheitensituation als zentralen Faktor von Bildung fokussieren. (DIPF/Orig.)

Durch aktuelle gesellschaftspolitische und rechtliche Debatten um geschlechtliche und sexuelle Vielfalt ist einiges in Bewegung geraten: Tradierte (Zu-)Ordnungen von Geschlecht sind durchlässiger geworden, strikte Regulierungen von Sexualität(en) sind aufgebrochen. Soziale Wirklichkeiten scheinen nun pluralisiert und neue Chancen für selbstbestimmte Lebens­weisen eröffnet. Zugleich haben institutionalisierte Vorstellungen von binären Ge­schlech­terdifferenzen und von Heterosexualität Spuren hinterlassen, die als ‚Einschreibungen’ der sozialen Verhältnisse weiter existieren. Der vorliegende Band ist das Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Reflexionen in den Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften. Die Beiträge geben einen Einblick in unterschiedliche disziplinäre Perspektiven auf Gender- und Sexualitäts(zu)ordnungen. Sie spannen die Breite der For­schungsfelder mit ihrem jeweiligen Bezug zu Alltagspraktiken auf; vor dem Hintergrund der Fachkulturen und wissenschaftlichen Entwicklungen beleuchten sie begriffliche Konzepte, Fragestellungen sowie Arbeitsweisen und reflektieren vor allem auch die Gleichzeitigkeit von Kontinuität, Wandel und neuen Normierungsprozessen.Der vorliegende Band ist das Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Reflexionen in den Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften. Die Beiträge geben einen Einblick in unterschiedliche disziplinäre Perspektiven auf Gender- und Sexualitäts(zu)ordnungen. Sie spannen die Breite der For­schungsfelder mit ihrem jeweiligen Bezug zu Alltagspraktiken auf; vor dem Hintergrund der Fachkulturen und wissenschaftlichen Entwicklungen beleuchten sie begriffliche Konzepte, Fragestellungen sowie Arbeitsweisen und reflektieren vor allem auch die Gleichzeitigkeit von Kontinuität, Wandel und neuen Normierungsprozessen., If current socio-political and legal discussions about gender diversity and sexual orientation are any indication, we are witnessing a paradigmatic shift: traditional mappings of sex and gender have become less strict, and formerly stringent regulations of both sexual practices and sexual orientation have lost some of their force. The very social fabric now seems to accommodate plurality, potentially allowing for more self-determined lifestyles. At the same time, however, gender binaries and heteronormativity continue to leave their trace – in the form of powerful inscriptions into social relations and institutional practices. This volume is a product of interdisciplinary reflexion. The essays collected here illustrate the different ways in which normative orders of gender and sexuality, and their dynamic reconfigurations, are addressed across a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Informed by current developments in the field and by their respective academic culture, they offer a wide canvas of research interests – and they highlight the respective terms, concepts, guiding questions and methods employed in each discipline today. Most importantly, they all reflect on the coexistence of continuity and change in normative (re)mappings of gender and sexual orientation., FAU Studien Gender Differenz Diversität, 1

In der BAMF-Kurzanalyse 2|2020 wird untersucht, welchen Religionen sich die befragten Geflüchteten zugehörig fühlen, welchen Stellenwert Religion und Glaube in ihrem Leben haben und wie sozial eingebunden die Angehörigen der unterschiedlichen Glaubensrichtungen sind. Anhand der Daten der 2. Welle der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten aus dem Jahr 2017 geht der Autor der Frage nach, welchen Glaubensrichtungen sich die Geflüchteten, die in den Jahren 2013 bis einschließlich 2016 nach Deutschland gekommen sind, zugehörig fühlen. Weiterhin zeigt er, welchen Stellenwert Religion und Glaube im Leben der Geflüchteten haben und in welchem Umfang sie am religiösen Leben in Deutschland teilnehmen. Abschließend wird untersucht, ob die Teilnahme an religiösen Veranstaltungen – als Indikator für die Teilnahme am religiösen Leben – mit der sozialen Integration in einem Zusammenhang steht. The BAMF's Brief Analysis 2|2020 examines to which religions the interviewed refugees feel that they belong, what significance religion and faith have in their lives, and how socially integrated the members of the different faiths are. The author uses the data from the 2nd wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees from 2017 to explore the question of the faiths to which the refugees who came to Germany in the years from 2013 up to and including 2016 feel that they belong. Furthermore, he shows the importance that religion and faith take on in the lives of the refugees and to what extent they take part in religious life in Germany. Finally, he examines whether attendance at religious ceremonies - as an indicator of participation in religious life – is related to social integration.

In der BAMF-Kurzanalyse 2|2020 wird untersucht, welchen Religionen sich die befragten Geflüchteten zugehörig fühlen, welchen Stellenwert Religion und Glaube in ihrem Leben haben und wie sozial eingebunden die Angehörigen der unterschiedlichen Glaubensrichtungen sind. Anhand der Daten der 2. Welle der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten aus dem Jahr 2017 geht der Autor der Frage nach, welchen Glaubensrichtungen sich die Geflüchteten, die in den Jahren 2013 bis einschließlich 2016 nach Deutschland gekommen sind, zugehörig fühlen. Weiterhin zeigt er, welchen Stellenwert Religion und Glaube im Leben der Geflüchteten haben und in welchem Umfang sie am religiösen Leben in Deutschland teilnehmen. Abschließend wird untersucht, ob die Teilnahme an religiösen Veranstaltungen - als Indikator für die Teilnahme am religiösen Leben - mit der sozialen Integration in einem Zusammenhang steht. The BAMF's Brief Analysis 2|2020 examines to which religions the interviewed refugees feel that they belong, what significance religion and faith have in their lives, and how socially integrated the members of the different faiths are. The author uses the data from the 2nd wave of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees from 2017 to explore the question of the faiths to which the refugees who came to Germany in the years from 2013 up to and including 2016 feel that they belong. Furthermore, he shows the importance that religion and faith take on in the lives of the refugees and to what extent they take part in religious life in Germany. Finally, he examines whether attendance at religious ceremonies - as an indicator of participation in religious life - is related to social integration.

Sociological studies suggest that there is no decline in Central and Eastern European religious activities after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is true, that religion has individualised in some places in the region, but elsewhere there is an increase in traditional church attendance. These trends justify investigations of the effects of religion as a key factor in identity formation. The study is based on a one-year research on the impact of religious activity on the economies of Central and Eastern Europe. The project contains two main statements about the region: 1. There is a significant negative relationship between religious pluralism and church attendance; 2. Socio-economic indicators at macro level have significant correspondences with religious characteristics: there is an indirect linkage between religious belief and economic development in the region. This study focuses on the regional aspects of the research findings, in particular which forms of capital are accumulated by religious activities and organisations. By reviewing the most current theories of social capital, the study categorises the ways religion affects the accumulation of territorial capital. It describes the religious characteristics of Central and Eastern Europe and classifies thirteen countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) according to religious indicators. The classification shows in which countries religious belief is strong as indicated by active church attendance, which in turn can be used for measuring social capital. The results of the study strengthen those theories which interpret religious activity as an investment in human and social capital. According to the classification, in Poland and Romania religion could play a key role in the accumulation of social capital because of their strong religious belief and activity. Although further investigations are needed to highlight the direct linkage between the indicators of social capital and religion in the region, this study outlines the main theoretical correlations. Religion generates social capital by adding common norms for the communities, building trust, tolerance and solidarity. At the same time, religious organisations stimulate volunteering and open-handedness in solving social problems. In summary religion in Central and Eastern Europe is a key determinant of national and regional identity, as well as a source of capital accumulation which has a direct impact on the economy.

Evidence from some contemporary ethnic groups suggests that ethnic religion may play a strong role in the lives of second generation members. This is evident in recent studies on Muslims living in Europe. But Europe's immigrant population is not just Muslim in origin. Migratory flows from Latin America, the Philippines and Eastern Europe (i.e. Romania or Ukraine) bring people from Catholic and Christian countries to Europe. And - as in the Italian case - these groups are now the majority among the whole immigrant population. Consequently, the almost exclusive focus on the Islamic component has allowed little investigation of the increase of the Christian-Catholic component. The paper describes and compares the religious paths of immigrants' youth from Peru, the Philippines and Romania, considering the following questions: How do they interact with/develop their religious identity? Is this generation seeking less visible, less participatory means of contact with the church to better integrate with their peers? Or, on the contrary, do they choose, strategically, to reinforce the Catholic part of their identity in order to succeed better in the integration process in a Catholic country? (author's abstract)

On 7 May 2012, the Cologne regional court ruled that circumcising young boys was a form of previous bodily harm (körperverletzung). Although both Muslims and Jews circumcise infant boys as a religious practice, the Cologne court found that the child’s “fundamental right to bodily integrity” was more important than the parents’ rights, leaving Muslim and Jewish parents under suspicion of causing bodily harm to their children. After heated public discussions and an expedited legal process, legal authorities permitted the ritual circumcision of male children under a new law. However, the German debates on religious diversity are not yet over. On the third anniversary of the Court decision in 2015, thirty-five civil society organisations organised a rally in Cologne for “genital autonomy”, calling for a ban on ritual male circumcision. In this article, I will focus on religious diversity, which is undergoing changes through minority and immigrant claims for religious accommodation. Analysing the ongoing controversies of ritual male circumcision in Germany, I argue that this change is best observed with Muslim and Jewish claims for practicing their religion. By using political debates, news reports and information provided by lawyers and medical doctors who were involved in the public debate, I show that religious diversity debates are a litmus test for social inclusion: Muslims and Jews, in this context, are both passive subjects of social inclusion policies and active participants in creating a religiously diverse society in Germany.

Der kleine Essay skizziert den wissenschaftstheoretisch prekären Status der Theologie als einer akademischen Disziplin unter den Bedingungen unserer säkularen, religiös pluralen Gesellschaft. Unterschieden wird dabei zwischen den nach Gegenstand und Methoden unproblematischen literarischen, historischen, soziologischen usw. Studien der Theologie einerseits und ihrem grundlegenden Selbstverständnis als einer affirmativen Darlegung religiösen Glaubens anderseits., The small essay outlines the precarious state of theology as an academic discipline under the conditions of our secular, religiously pluralistic society. At that it differenciates between the unproblematic literary, historical, sociological etc. studies of theology on the one hand and its core self-conception as an affirmative reflection of faith on the other hand.

The 10-item scale measures the tendency to believe in supernatural entities such as immaterial agents, afterlife/otherworld places, and miraculous earthly events. The scale is intended to be a valid indicator of the cognitive component of religiosity, capturing ten cross-cultural beliefs that appear as religious themes in various religious contexts in the world. The scale was first tested in English by Jong, Bluemke, & Halberstadt (2013). The SBS aims to be applicable to people of different religious standing (atheists and believers alike), across various countries, with a multitude of religious backgrounds, if necessary by adapting the labels pertaining to the supernatural entities, while not altering the essence of the item content or response format. After its seminal application in New Zealand, and later in Croatia, among student samples with mostly a Christian cultural background, it was applied in Germany, yielding good reliability, a replicable factor structure, and cross-cultural measurement invariance (strict invariance across Germans and New Zealanders). The scale showed signs of construct validity and criterion validity in all samples (NZ, CRO, GER)., ZIS - The Collection Items and Scales for the Social Sciences

Ever since the Princeton European Fertility Project on the decline of fertility, the question of how (changes in) cultural beliefs have influenced the historical fertility transition has been in the forefront of historical demographic research. Previous research has however mostly assessed the influence of religious denomination and has not examined the impact of wider beliefs or ‘cultural life scripts’. On the basis of a folklore questionnaire, this article examines the occurrence, content, and geographical patterning of popular beliefs about childbearing in relation to fertility patterns in 1,022 rural Dutch communities during the nineteen forties. Beliefs in isolation and churching of women existed in almost half of all communities, particularly among Catholic populations, while fear of enchantment of infants was still alive in about a fifth of all municipalities. To be sure, such popular beliefs were rapidly vanishing and remnants were still found in isolated and strongly religious areas. A multivariate analysis shows that in communities where beliefs in churching and witchcraft still existed, birth rates were significantly higher. The study shows the salience of including popular beliefs in studies of fertility behavior and fertility decline. Moreover, it extends the concept of cultural life scripts beyond that of age norms to include prescriptions on social contexts, conducts, and practices surrounding important life passages., Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung Vol. 39, No. 1 (2014): Focus: Cultural Life Scripts. Starting Point and Frequency: Year: 1979, Issues per volume: 4, Volumes per year: 1

To advance understandings of how religion manifests in subtle, nuanced ways in secular institutions, we examine student religiosity and spirituality at an elite liberal arts school marked by a strong intellectual collective identity. Using mixed research methods, we examine how the college’s structures and dominant culture influence students’ religiosity and spirituality. Despite an institutional commitment to promoting students’ self-exploration and inclusion of social “diversity,” we found both campus structures and mainstream culture deterred open spiritual and religious exploration and identification. The structure of the college and its dominant secular, intellectual culture reinforced: (1) a widespread stigma against religious and spiritual expression, (2) a lack of dialogue about the sacred, (3) discreetness in exploring and adhering to sacred beliefs and practices, and (4) a large degree of religious and spiritual pluralism. Our findings additionally illustrate that early exposure to the campus culture’s critical regard for religion had a long-lasting impact on students’ religiosity. A majority of students kept their religious and spiritual expressions hidden and private; only a marginalized minority of students embraced their expressions publically. To increase students’ comfort with religious and spiritual exploration, we propose that colleges foster intentional peer dialogues early in the college experience. Furthermore, we recommend that campus communities prioritize religious and spiritual literacy and respect. (author's abstract)

This paper is an outline of a lecture for health care professionals. Without an ambition to provide a comprehensive and theologically founded approach to the complex and sensitive topic of interaction among Abrahamic religions, I would like to provide a brief introduction to those who work with people from different faith traditions. There is no doubt that our globalized and interconnected world must face new challenges, with a special reference to the interaction of Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this complex mesh of cultural exchanges, it is crucial to understand how individuals with different religions perceive each other. Despite this fact, relatively few attempts have been made to perform a head-to-head comparison of the attitudes of Abrahamic religions. In this brief paper, I first elucidate the etymological and historical aspects of interfaith attitudes, and then describe more modern perceptions of disbelievers. Although there are some differences among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in their perception of individuals with other faith traditions, these seem to be exaggerated by the current political turmoil and hysteria. Every effort must be made to take into consideration the cultural and individual determinants of interfaith interactions in order to avoid potentially detrimental reactions, violence, close-minded prejudice, and political-religious fundamentalism and fanaticism.

Despite claims about the universality of religious belief, whether religiosity scales have the same meaning when administered inter-subjectively - or translated and applied cross-culturally - is currently unknown. Using the recent "Supernatural Belief Scale" (SBS), we present a primer on how to verify the strong assumptions of measurement invariance required in research on religion. A comparison of two independent samples, Croatians and New Zealanders, showed that, despite a sophisticated psychometric model, measurement invariance could be demonstrated for the SBS except for two noninvariant intercepts. We present a new approach for inspecting measurement invariance across self- and peer-reports as two dependent samples. Although supernatural beliefs may be hard to observe in others, the measurement model was fully invariant for Croatians and their nominated peers. The results not only establish, for the first time, a valid measure of religious supernatural belief across two groups of different language and culture, but also demonstrate a general invariance test for distinguishable dyad members nested within the same targets. More effort needs to be made to design and validate cross-culturally applicable measures of religiosity.

"Religious faith is based on a different economic logic. It is a double space-economy: the worldly space of human life and God's space of heaven, the last one as a space for a second-life of the soul. Religious men have to reflect their lifes in behalf of their placement in heaven. But it is no decision of man to enter heaven after death, it belongs to God's grace. So we cannot easily transform this economy of religion into modern economics. It is a different gift-economy, but without any mode of reciprocity." (author's abstract)

Den Bürgern begegnet der Islam in der täglichen Medienberichterstattung seit Jahren vor allem durch Terrorakte und die Destabilisierung ganzer Staaten. Die Gefahren, die weltweit von radikalen islamischen Gruppierungen und Regierungen ausgehen, werden entsprechend groß eingeschätzt. 87 Prozent der Bürger halten die Gefahren weltweit für groß oder sogar sehr groß; vor drei Jahren lag der Anteil bei 76 Prozent.

Le problème que je pose dans ce cadre consiste à voir quel sont les pratiques des médias de service public à l'égard des représentations de la diversité religieuse et, plus précisément, à l'égard des représentations de transmission et communication de la foi dans deux pays européens dont l'un fort religieux et l'autre fort laïc, la Roumanie et la France. Il est question de voir en quoi le discours des médias publics sur la diversité n'altère pas le principe de la laïcité, la neutralité, le respect du pluralisme et l'intégralité des consciences. Pour ce faire, je vais retenir deux cas de figure, deux émissions télévisées diffusées sur les chaînes publiques de télévision en France et en Roumanie: l'émission "Le jour du Seigneur", avec ses déclinaisons d'intitulé au fil du temps "Programme du dimanche" et "Les chemins de la foi", diffusée sur France 2 et "Universul credintei" ("l'Univers de la foi") diffusée sur TVR1. En considérant ces deux programmes de télévision, je vais tenter de répondre globalement aux questionnements suivants: est-ce que tous les mouvements religieux sont-ils présents dans les médias audiovisuels publics autant que les acteurs des confessions religieuses traditionnellement implantées? Oui, c'est une réalité, certains mouvements disposent de leurs propres chaînes, mais leur présence sur leurs chaînes privées ne remplace pas un droit par un autre. S’agit-t-il alors d'une situation de monopole et de visibilité maximale des courants religieux dominants dans l'espace public au travers des médias publics? Plus de normalisation garantit plus d'accès compte tenu que le principe de laïcité prévoit l'égalité et l'absence de hiérarchie entre les différentes croyances et cultes?

Marilynne Robinson's Gilead (2007), a meditative letter written by an aging minister, probes the need for forgiveness and grace. George Bernanos's The Diary of a Country Priest (1936) pictures the suffering and sacrifice of an unnamed young priest in his attempt to open his parishioner’s heart to the love of God. Both novelists explore themes such as forgiveness, love, peace, faith, and grace. This paper first discusses the prevalent Christian themes in these novels, and the ways each novelist presents the saving and life-giving power of God's grace in healing and restoring human soul, and then compares their treatment of these issues. The Protestant Robinson's sensibility regarding these religious themes seems very similar to that of the Catholic Bernanos. Indeed, the American writer seems to be considerably influenced by her French predecessor.

Cette communication tâchera de montrer dans la perspective d'une épistémologie sociale que les paradigmes de sens irréductibles pour toute type de médiatisation sont la foi et le langage. Elle produira une argumentation en faveur de l'hypothèse que ce qui est fondamentalement spécifique pour les différents approches médiatiques de la réalité ne réside pas dans la production de sens, mais dans la direction que chaque type de médiatisation se donne pour orienter la vie de l'individu, de la société et d’une manière générale du monde. Enfin, la communication apportera une lecture de la liberté de conscience dans ce contexte où l'être humain - un existant donné - doit s' "in-former" sous la pression de l'être social - un existant historique construit collectivement.

'Ob Ayurveda-Behandlung, Aromatherapie, Body- Work-outs, Massagen, Diäten oder eine gesunde Ernährung - im Zeitalter des Gesundheitsbewusstseins lassen sich all diese Begriffe unter dem magischen Wort 'Wellness' subsumieren.'1 So kann man in einem zeitgenössischen Entspannungs-Lexikon mit dem Untertitel 'Die Sehnsucht nach innerer Ruhe und Zufriedenheit' lesen...

Dass Religionen fromme Fiktionen seien – Produkte menschlicher Vorstellungskraft, Ausgedachtes – ist ein fundamentaler Vorwurf der Religionkritik. Die Auseinandersetzung damit kann Verlegenheit bereiten und beunruhigen; denn Fiktionales reicht vielfältig bis in die Mitte des religiösen Glaubens. Drei vorherrschende Arten werden in dieser hermeneutischen Studie unterschieden und in Bezug darauf erörtert, welche Bedeutung ihnen zukommt, nicht nur unter dem Blickwinkel der Religionskritik, sondern vor allem schon unter den Voraussetzungen der Religionen selbst. Um des gegenwärtig dringlichen interreligiösen Verständnisses willen wird dabei der Islam mit wahrgenommen, neben der Bibel der Koran. In the view of a widespread kind of criticism, religions are products of pious imagination, fantastic projections of worldly realities. The debate about that reproach may cause much embarrassment, for the characteristics of fictionality permeate religious faith up to its centre. The present hermeneutical study discriminates three dominant types of imagination and discusses them with regard to their significance on religious presuppositions themselves. For the sake of the currently urgent interreligious understanding, in addition to the Christian faith the Islam is considered likewise, the Qur’an beside the Bible.

Though beliefs in Heaven and Hell are related, they are associated with different personality characteristics and social phenomena. Here we present three studies measuring Heaven and Hell beliefs' associations with and impact on subjective well-being. We find that a belief in Heaven is consistently associated with greater happiness and life satisfaction while a belief in Hell is associated with lower happiness and life satisfaction at the national (Study 1) and individual (Study 2) level. An experimental priming study (Study 3) suggests that these differences are mainly driven by the negative emotional impact of Hell beliefs. Possible cultural evolutionary explanations for the persistence of such a distressing religious concept are discussed.

Fenomen religije Marxa ne zanima sa stajališta neke moguće »filozofije religije«, koja religiju promatra s obzirom na njezin konačni smisao i na ozbiljenje vjerničke egzistencije koja polazi od vlastitoga tubitka, tj. od vlastitoga razumijevanja božanske objave u toj faktičnoj egzistenciji. Naprotiv, Marxa poglavito zanima ideologijski, filozofijski, politički i ekonomski aspekt religije, gdje se ona pojavljuje kao »iskrivljena svijest«, koja se konstituira na jednako iskrivljenim otuđenim odnosima. Religija je teorijski izraz te otuđenosti, zbog čega pretvaranje »kritike neba u kritike zemlje« ima za cilj prevladavanje te religijske svijesti radikalnom promjenom proizvodnih i društvenih odnosa. U tom izmijenjenom stanju nije potreban nikakav ateizam, budući da bi religija – vjeruje Marx – morala u takvu društvu odumrijeti sama od sebe., Das Phänomen der Religion interessiert Marx nicht aus der Sicht einer möglichen »Religionsphilosophie«, die die Religion in Anbetracht ihres endgültigen Sinnes und der Verwirklichung einer gläubigen Existenz betrachtet, die von ihrem eigenen Dasein, bzw. von ihrem eigenen Verständnis der göttlichen Offenbarung und dieser faktischen Existenz ausgeht. Marx interessiert vielmehr den ideologischen, philosophischen, politischen und ökonomischen Aspekt der Religion, wo sie zuerst als das »verkehrte Bewusstsein« erscheint, das sich auf die gleichen verkehrten entfremdeten Verhältnissen konstituiert. Die Religion ist der theoretische Ausdruck jener Entfremdung, weshalb das Umsetzen der »Kritik des Himmels in die Kritik der Erde« die Überwindung dieses religiösen Bewusstseins durch die radikale Veränderung der Produktions- und Gesellschaftsverhältnissen zu seinem Ziel hat. In diesem veränderten Zustand ist der Atheismus selbst überflüssig, da die Religion – so glaubte Marx – in einer solchen Gesellschaft von sich selbst her absterben müsste.

Kann es so etwas wie eine evangelische Toleranz geben oder stellt der Glaube nicht immer auch die Wahrheitsfrage und damit eher ein Hindernis dar für tolerante Haltungen? Die Wahrheit Jesu Christi ist unverfügbar und setzt dem Wahrheitsanspruch des Christentums eine Grenze. Dennoch darf Toleranz nicht so weit gehen, dass Verletzungen der Menschenrechte geduldet würden. Toleranz ist eine Fähigkeit, die mühsam erlernt werden muss.

Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2011; Aachen, 1 Online-Ressource (viii, 71 Seiten) : Illustrationen (2018). = Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2011, Purpose/Objectives: To identify coping- and pain-relieving methods of patients in pain receiving palliative care in Kerala, India. We wanted to investigate the use of different factors and their efficacy, bearing in mind the different religions of our patients. The cause of their pain and the role of pain in their respective lives also formed part of the interviews. Design: Qualitative interview study Setting: Participants´ homes in mostly rural and poor areas in Kerala, India Sample: 32 participants over the age of 18, who received palliative care from a non profit palliative care organisation (Pallium India) Methods: broad, semi-structured interviews, face-to-face audiotaped, translated from Malayalam into English back and forth, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a mixed content analysis containing qualitative as well as quantitative components. Findings: Reasons for pain were mostly: financial worries, social changes and the diagnosis itself. Patients had to suffer from their pain; this suffering mostly concerned their daily-activities, social changes, goals in/ attitude towards life as well as their family-life. Most often used coping- and pain-relieving-strategies in individual order were: medication, God and religion, social environment. Some patients also mentioned exercising, resting, operational procedures for those with physical problems, traditional ayurvedic medicine. We identified religious differences concerning the use of different coping- and pain relieving-methods. Conclusions: Coping- and pain-relieving-strategies seem to be specific to the patient. Overall it is important to combine medication with a social component in order to soothe pain. The respective partner, family, friends, a doctor, society as well as God could all provide this social component. The pain-categories (physical, emotional, unspecific) influence each other positively (pain-relieving) as well as negatively (pain-increasing)., Published by Aachen

In our current research project, we study how experiences such as hearing the voice of the Lord or having a vision of Virgin Mary are dealt with in psychiatry and Catholic pastoral practice. How is the status of these phenomena negotiated by the participants? Under what conditions do they become instances of legitimate religious experience or, alternatively, symptoms of mental illness? We approach the study of these issues "symmetrically"—we do not prefer a priori medical or spiritual explanations. Some time ago, we demonstrated and explained such an approach (which is common, e.g., in contemporary sociology of science), and its relevance for our research, in an analytic paper on the movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" (released in 2005). The paper discusses a highly ambiguous relationship, pictured in the film, between medical and spiritual interpretation of the story of a young girl who was considered possessed by demons and who died after unsuccessful exorcism (KONOPÁSEK & PALEČEK, 2006). The question that has inspired this paper is: can such a symmetrical approach be of any relevance also for people we are studying? In an attempt to get an answer, we have interviewed four Catholic priests on this particular issue. The priests had been asked to watch the movie on Emily Rose and read our paper on it in preparation for the interview. Based on the subsequent discussions (and also on some other empirical data of our current research), we wanted to shed some light on whether and in what ways our specific epistemic perspective coheres with the views and positions of our respondents. It turned out that this reflexive research experiment not only helped to clarify points of mis/understanding between us and our respondents, but also contributed to our own appreciation of the role of symmetry in our current research project as well as in the studied social practice. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101129, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 12, No 1 (2011): The KWALON Experiment: Discussions on Qualitative Data Analysis Software by Developers and Users

"Mindestens ein halbes Jahrhundert lang war die Religion in Europa auf dem Rückzug. Glaubten um das Jahr 1950 in vielen Ländern Europas noch rund 80 Prozent aller Menschen an Gott, so ging dieser Wert bis etwa 1990 überall deutlich zurück. Doch vor dem Hintergrund der niedrigen Geburtenraten in nahezu allen hoch entwickelten Industrieländern vermuten nun einige Wissenschaftler, der Anteil religiöser Menschen an der Bevölkerung nehme wieder zu. Nicht wegen einer Renaissance der Religiosität aus innerem Antrieb, sondern weil Gläubige deutlich mehr Kinder haben als Atheisten. Das Diskussionspapier „Glaube, Macht und Kinder“ des Berlin-Instituts für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung beleuchtet dieses Thema." [Autorenreferat] "Mindestens ein halbes Jahrhundert lang war die Religion in Europa auf dem Rückzug. Glaubten um das Jahr 1950 in vielen Ländern Europas noch rund 80 Prozent aller Menschen an Gott, so ging dieser Wert bis etwa 1990 überall deutlich zurück. Doch vor dem Hintergrund der niedrigen Geburtenraten in nahezu allen hoch entwickelten Industrieländern vermuten nun einige Wissenschaftler, der Anteil religiöser Menschen an der Bevölkerung nehme wieder zu. Nicht wegen einer Renaissance der Religiosität aus innerem Antrieb, sondern weil Gläubige deutlich mehr Kinder haben als Atheisten. Das Diskussionspapier beleuchtet dieses Thema." (Autorenreferat)