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Religion is bivalent. It can be argued that religion is an instrument of peace and equivocally the role of religion in conflicts can be voiced as well. Religion can be a motivation to perpetuate violence; it can also be a background to conflict or it can be the means and end for parties involved in the conflict. Armed conflict has been a key feature of contemporary world politics, and its relation with religion would be interesting to probe into. Kashmir has been a festering political problem with little global attention. Intangible political positions have led to shame and humiliation. Kashmir has to resort to 'scapegoating' in the form of a 'body of a militant' as a sacrifice. The failure of the secular world to deliver on its secular promises in the form of the right to self-determination is increasingly turning the local populace to transcendental means to achieve the secular. This paper will try to contextualize the quest for 'secular' while examining the construction of Muslim identity, the institution of martyrdom, and its societal basis in Kashmir. Keywords: Religion, Armed Conflict, Kashmir, Martyrdom, Identity, Secularism, Introduction In 1947, when India and Pakistan became political realities, Kashmir remained an ambiguity. In Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) the majority of the Muslim population (77 percent in whole of [...]

The late physicist Steven Weinberg may have had it exactly right when he said that the more comprehensible the world is, the more it may seem without point. What he [...]

How to Be an Antiracist BY IBRAM X. KENDI ONE WORLD, 320 PAGES, $27 White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism BY ROBIN DIANGELO [...]

Is there a connection between biography and sociology for Peter Berger? The short answer, as demonstrated by his own memoir, Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist, is 'yes.' But in his book, he traces this connection to his own arrival and training at the Graduate Faculty of the New School. I would like to suggest that the process begins earlier in his life. Known for his work on the sociology of knowledge, the examination of how 'society influences thought,' I suggest an examination of how one's biography influences thought, the environment in which Berger grew played a major role in his self-awareness, adjustment, human development, and identity. The paper applies this approach, along with Berger's concept of the sociology of knowledge to sketch a possible understanding of his ideas and work that emerge as a product of his life experiences. The idea here is that people's lives help frame and explain their own thinking and the way they see the world. Who one is, where and how one has lived and those with whom one has interacted create not only one's personality and identity but also epigenetically the blueprint of one's way of perceiving reality and shaping ideas. The intersection of the social and biographical facts of one's life create the person and his ideas, both the objective and subjective structures of meaning., Author(s): Samuel Heilman [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.212340.6, 0000000122985718, Queens College, CUNY, , 65-30 Kissena Blvd., 11367-1597, Queens, NY, USA Peter Ludwig Berger, whose life and work I wish to [...]

THERE HAS BEEN a spate of reports on disappearing churches, waning faith, changing religious attitudes, and the ways in which COVID has affected the religious landscape. The numbers reported are [...]

In 2002, in these pages, Peter Berger, the late American sociologist, offered a succinct summary of the health and status of sociology. In Invitation to Sociology (1963), he had praised [...]

The most outstanding characteristics of the African American male are the stereotypes promulgated by whites. He is presented in image physically, intellectually, socially, and sexually as dangerous and intolerable. Although he may have religious orientations to places of worship, he is generally held to be without commitment to theology with soundness of understanding and purpose. This study investigates the self-reported views held by African American men as a function of theology and religion. Employing a mixed descriptive-exploratory methodology, this study sets forth views held by African American men toward religion as it may impact their decision making and lives. The study findings have immediate significance to race relations as a function of religion and church holdings., The problem for African American men is that posited by William E. B. DuBois more than a century ago. In the Souls of Black Folk, DuBois offered that 'the problem [...]

Abstract The migration of South Asians from one country to another is becoming increasingly common. This movement comes with post migratory challenges that extend to second-generation South Asians who have [...]

Summary Uniquely among African countries, South Africa's Bill of Rights offers civil protection to individuals on the basis of vectors of identity including sexuality, gender and religion. Public opinion, however, [...]

Introduction This article explores the identity of the Siang of the upper Barito River, in the present-day Regency of Murung Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Who are the Siang? What makes [...]

There is a difference between the twentieth century and the twenty-first. Today, religious expression is all around us, often in forms we marvel at, that we question, or that we [...]