Search Results (590)

Since at least 2020 public concern around “cults” in Australia has emerged from a period of relative abeyance to once again become headline news, attracting significant free-to-air television coverage, numerous podcasts, and growing online activism. This has led to the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry in the State of Victoria. Drawing on a contextual constructionist framework, this article traces the social construction of this episode of “cult controversy” by mapping the contemporary Australian “cult scene,” examining how what groups wider Australian society perceives as “cults” has shifted in recent years and some of the changing dynamics of how these groups and their opponents interact with wider society. This article suggests that this so-called “cults crisis” has been primarily driven by three significant and overlapping changes in the “cult scene”: a younger generation of media-savvy anti-cult activists, comprising journalists, content creators, and (primarily) Second Generation Adult (SGA) former members; a more receptive socio-political and legal context in which the “cult problem” has converged with wider societal concerns around child abuse and domestic and family violence; and a broadening of the definitional parameters of what is classified as a “cult” in contemporary Australia public discourse to include a number of conservative evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Full article

In the 1930s and 1940s, Kumbum Monastery (Tibetan: sku’ bum byams pa gling) emerged as a significant spatial node in visual culture during the period of war and modern nation-building in the Republic of China (1912–1949). Through photography, painting, and film, a diverse range of visual media depicted the monastery’s architectural layout, inscribed plaques and steles, Cham dance (Tibetan: འཆམ་, Wylie: ’cham) rituals, lamaic prayers, and scenes of temple fairs and marketplaces. These visual representations not only documented historical detail but also constructed a composite space in which sacredness, transcendence, and secularity intersected. Due to its unique geographical location, religious doctrines, historical narratives, and political entanglements, Kumbum functioned as both a spiritual center and a politically charged symbol. Within this visual discourse, cham rituals and collective prayers were imbued with wartime ideological meanings, aligning religious transcendence with the national aspiration for resistance and victory. The inscribed plaques by state officials visually asserted political authority over sacred religious spaces, while the depiction of temple fairs foregrounded the entanglement of religious practices with everyday secular life, becoming key arenas for ethnic integration and political mobilization. Artists and photographers actively engaged with and reproduced both the symbolic and the quotidian landscapes of the monastery. These visual materials contributed to the broader project of narrating the Republic’s frontier and constructing the nation’s image. By examining how both monastic actors and external observers visually constructed Kumbum Monastery’s political and spiritual space, this study illuminates the complex interplay between religion and state power, and shows how visual media articulated ideological meanings and negotiated spatial relationships as collective responses to the site within the conditions of modernity. Full article

Background: Black Sub-Saharan African immigrants are among the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the United States, and their mental health needs, particularly with respect to depression, remain understudied. Cultural beliefs, linguistic frameworks, and coping practices in this population often diverge from Western psychiatric models, suggesting that conventional approaches may fail to capture how distress is experienced and expressed. Objective: This scoping review mapped literature on how Black Sub-Saharan African immigrant adults in the United States perceive, report, and respond to depression. Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, six electronic databases were systematically searched for empirical studies published between 2000 and 2026. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data using a standardized form. Data were analyzed using a narrative synthesis approach combining deductive thematic categorization across three predefined review domains with inductive identification of subthemes through iterative team discussion and consensus, with sociocultural, religious, linguistic, and structural factors examined as cross-cutting themes. Findings were synthesized narratively across three domains: perceptions of depression, reporting and communication, and responses to depression. Results: A total of 19 studies met the inclusion criteria (7 quantitative, 10 qualitative, 2 mixed methods; total N ≈ 1900), generating 24 themes. Perception themes highlighted cultural non-recognition of depression (12 of 19 studies), absence of equivalent terms in African languages (7 studies), spiritual explanatory models, and profound stigma. Reporting patterns showed predominant somatic symptom expression and very low disclosure to providers (2.6–4.2%), with depression prevalence ranging from 8.1% to 100% and no validated screening instrument identified for this population. Response themes emphasized religion and social support as primary coping strategies, with formal mental health utilization virtually absent due to structural, cultural, and intersectional barriers. Conclusions: Depression among Black Sub-Saharan African immigrants is widely experienced yet rendered invisible through interlocking cultural, linguistic, somatic, and institutional mechanisms, which this review terms an architecture of invisibility, leaving it largely unaddressed by formal mental health systems. The identification of only one intervention study underscores a substantial gap between documenting the burden of depression and advancing evidence-informed solutions. Culturally validated measures, faith-based intervention models, longitudinal designs, and attention to structural determinants are urgently needed. Full article

The cultic violation of the “strange fire” offered to Yahweh by Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1–11 has long puzzled commentators. Similarly perplexing has been the apparently related prohibition of imbibing intoxicating liquids (v. 8) prescribed for all officiating priests following the debacle. This paper considers the episode in the broader context of the use of mind-altering substances in religious practices of the ancient Near East attested to in texts, iconography, and archaeology, and includes specific interaction with the recent discovery of cannabis at the Judahite temple of Arad, as well as potential material paraphernalia from other Late Bronze and Iron Age sites. These archaeological finds provide a backdrop for a discussion of competing incense traditions preserved in the priestly texts and support the proposition that the story may be understood as polemic against the use of mind-altering substances propagated by at least one state-sponsored priestly group, in contrast to common religious practices of those around them and perhaps rival factions within them. Full article

The Abortion & Religion study has collected over 200 personal narratives of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women having abortions in the United States in the midst of an increasingly hostile and stigmatizing sociopolitical climate. Rooted in feminist theoretical claims about the epistemological value of situated knowledge, the Abortion & Religion study seeks to center the voices and experiences of people having abortions as a corrective to dominant negative attitudes about abortion in US cultural spaces. In this paper, three of the principal investigators engage in a methodological analysis of the study design using Tone Stangland Kaufman’s five categories of reflexivity to demonstrate how our epistemic insight as researchers who have also had abortions is a critical aspect of the epistemological insight that is foundational to the Abortion & Religion study. Since one of the goals of the study is to address the fictive “abortion imaginary” that shapes how people in the US think and talk about abortion, this methodological discussion of the study’s design demonstrates the epistemological value of centering the experiences of people who have had abortions as a corrective to the abstract, disembodied knowledge that shapes the epistemic injustice of the abortion imaginary. Full article

How did a school of Daoist internal alchemy flourish in the Ming and Qing dynasties without formal ordination, institutional affiliation, or a lineage of disciples? This paper challenges the conventional paradigms of Daoist transmission by examining the case of Lu Xixing 陸西星 (1520–1606), the founder of the Eastern Lineage (Dongpai 東派). Drawing on newly unearthed sources, including local gazetteers, Lu’s poetry collection Kouyin manlu 鷇音漫錄, a long-hidden manuscript Sanzang zhenquan 三藏真詮, and original fieldwork materials, this paper reveals that Lu’s multifaceted interactions with the local gentry class fostered what I term “gentry alchemy”. This gentry alchemy provided an alternative “covert” pathway for the transmission of the Eastern Lineage, operating outside formal Daoist institutions through patronage networks. The paper examines three mechanisms of gentry support: funding publications, engaging in intellectual exchanges, and providing access to elite political networks. It then analyzes motivations behind gentry patronage, including state religious policy, the perceived orthodoxy of Lu’s spirit-written revelations, and his innovative visualization of alchemical theory. The paper argues that gentry alchemy emerged from the demographic pressures that drove disenfranchised literati to convert scholarly capital into religious authority. This configuration was characterized by four features: Confucian-Daoist synthesis, the Neo-Confucian schematization and demystification of alchemical knowledge, promotion of dual cultivation (xingming shuangxiu 性命雙修), and the substitution of revelatory authority grounded in spirit-writing for the institutional authority of master-disciple lineages. Finally, the paper elaborates on the functions of gentry alchemy, showing how it offered literati both spiritual refuge and political capital, marked elite status, and shaped local society through temple construction and village lectures. The Eastern Lineage thus exemplifies a mode of alchemical transmission embedded not in monastic institutions but in the textual and social fabric of gentry life. This case illuminates both the spiritual world of Ming literati and the structural transformations of Chinese religion in late imperial China. Full article

Centering on Yōitsu Honda, a leading figure in the Japanese Christian Church during the Meiji era, this paper examines how he actively sought to reconcile Christian doctrine with nationalist ideology in the context of the formation of the modern emperor-centered state and Japan’s overseas expansion. Honda’s thought and practice illustrate the adaptive reconfigurations of faith and the corresponding shifts in political orientation undertaken by some Japanese Christians under the pressures of the period, as they sought to secure space for the church’s survival and development. Although Honda’s strategy temporarily enhanced the social standing and political influence of the church he served, it also, to some extent, eroded the critical capacity and moral autonomy of his religious thought. Over time, his Christian faith increasingly aligned with Japanese state policy and, under specific historical conditions, became implicated in Japanese militarism. This case thus illuminates the dilemmas confronted by imported religions in contexts characterized by intense nationalism. Full article

In modern China, the introduction of Science from the West posed a significant challenge to Chinese Buddhism, which was already in a state of decline. The intellectual currents of the New Culture Movement (1915–1923) and the subsequent anti-religious movement, which initially targeted Christianity but expanded to include all religions, subjected Buddhism to severe criticism and pressure for reform. In response, Buddhist intellectuals developed the idea of “Buddhism being scientific” as a defensive strategy. On the one hand, they direct parallels between Buddhist concepts, such as the microscopic world described in scriptures, and modern scientific discoveries like microbiology and the theory of relativity, aiming to demonstrate Buddhism’s empirical validity and superiority. On the other hand, they argued that Buddhism could supplement the shortcomings of science, particularly in addressing spiritual and moral needs, thus positioning it as a necessary complement to a purely materialistic worldview. Under the dominant influence of the scientific paradigm, Buddhism underwent a profound academic transformation. Its teachings were systematically integrated into modern disciplinary frameworks, such as Buddhist history, philosophy, and psychology, shifting from a primarily faith-based practice to an object of scholarly study. This scientization process stripped many traditional elements of their sacred character, reinterpreting them through a rational lens and ultimately redirecting the course of modern Chinese Buddhism. Full article

Those who serve in the armed forces are shaped not only by incentives and opportunity structures but also by institutions that cultivate norms of duty, authority, and collective obligation. This study argues that religious institutions function as such socializing agents and play a measurable role in military enlistment in the United States. Complementing existing research that focuses on denomination or belief as key indicators, we introduce an institutional framework that emphasizes participation in religious communities. The focus is not on the affiliation but instead on the socialization offered and conducted in those institutions. Religious communities cultivate behavioral dispositions, such as discipline, hierarchy, and collective orientation, that align with the demands of military service. As such, they are associated with an increased likelihood of enlistment. Using data from the 2024 Cooperative Election Study (CES), we employ logistic regression models to distinguish between religious identity, institutional engagement, and individual religiosity. The results show that, per our sample, religious identity and evangelical affiliation are not significant predictors of enlistment. Instead, regular participation in religious institutions is strongly and consistently associated with a higher likelihood of military service. These findings suggest that institutional socialization can be an important factor in explaining the relationship between religion and military service. Full article

This study analyzes how state-level anti-conversion laws in India—ostensibly enacted to protect the religious freedom of vulnerable communities—can structurally generate minority–minority conflicts within Adivasi (tribal) populations. Similar patterns have surfaced across multiple regions. This study examines cases from Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand as illustrative modalities of this broader pattern: spectacular violence, everyday exclusion, and legal weaponization. The analysis identifies three mechanisms that produce these conflicts. Firstly, the “Hindu-plus” classificatory framework incorporates diverse indigenous traditions into an expanded Hindu category while positioning non-Indic religions as external. Secondly, anti-conversion laws frame religious change as a threat to indigenous cultural identity, and the state delegates enforcement to village councils, customary authorities, and judicial–administrative institutions. Thirdly, the politics of belonging translates these classificatory and enforcement practices into membership boundaries that operate through territorial control and cultural claims to authenticity, producing inclusion and exclusion. The findings suggest that anti-conversion laws operate as a political technology of protection, generating minority–minority conflicts while channeling disputes over rights into nationalist boundary-making over minority identity and belonging. Full article

By comparing the participation of diaspora and first-generation migrants in their country of origin through religious ceremonies, services, diaspora philanthropy, and volunteering, this study offers a literature review on how existing research on the integration process in the country of origin considers the role of religion and religiosity and the way these unfold. While some argue that religiosity can be an empowering factor in the integration of non-Western diaspora and migrants in Western Europe, this study suggests a research agenda that could state the opposite. Does religiosity truly help migrants and diaspora find their place in a new society, or, under certain conditions, does it separate them even further? This often-overlooked question lies at the heart of this literature review. Using several examples from various Western contexts and applying the grounded theory method, this study demonstrates a literature review on how religion and religiosity support the integration of diverse diaspora and migrant communities in Western Europe. Full article

The distinction between signs and expressions is essential to unlock Deleuze’s interpretation of Spinoza. However, during a lecture delivered on 13 January 1981, Deleuze makes a passing remark that complicates this distinction. For Spinoza, Christ’s religion, like political society, is a systems of signs pertaining to the collective imagination that nevertheless is meant to facilitate the transition towards the domain of expressions, that is, to the domain of reason and philosophy. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this ambiguity between signs and expressions in Deleuze’s work on Spinoza. First, I discuss the scattered passages in Spinoza’s oeuvre dealing with the figure of Christ. I then go on to reconstruct Deleuze’s Spinozistic taxonomy of signs. Third, I reconstruct Deleuze’s comparison between Spinoza and Hobbes regarding the emergence of political society from the state of nature. I then propose a close reading of chapter 7 of the Theological-Political Treatise to argue that Christ’s religion, according to Spinoza, should be seen as fulfilling the function of political society in times of crisis. I end with an extensive analysis of Spinoza’s formula “the Spirit of Christ, that is, the idea of God” in light of Deleuze’s reading of the first half of Ethics V. To conclude, I suggest we look at Christ as the conceptual persona of Spinozism. Full article

The phenomenon of immigration, together with an increasingly interconnected form of globalization and the rapid development of scientific and digital technologies, has placed considerable pressure on contemporary Western constitutional orders. These dynamics have compelled States to confront complex challenges, particularly with respect to facts, rights, and freedoms relating to religion. While such trends are observable in numerous countries, this article focuses on Italy, which is particularly instructive in terms of its approach to contemporary cultural–religious pluralism. From this perspective, the Italian legal framework exhibits several distinctive features, most notably in the regulatory arrangements based on accordi (agreements) and intese (understandings) concluded between the State and religious denominations pursuant to Articles 7 and 8(3) of the 1948 Constitution. Full article

During his address to the World Council of Religions for Peace in the summer of 2025; Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople; the leading voice for ecological awareness in the Eastern Orthodox Church; issued a profound call for people of faith to unite together in common cause to develop a ‘new natural philosophy’ that unites the scientific and the spiritual and which can serve as a framework for what he called a “common sacred flourishing.” This essay seeks to contribute to this task in two ways. First; by proposing a science-engaged theological framework for the Orthodox Christian tradition; I will argue that Orthodox theology is compatible with the emerging scientific fields of biosemiotics and biomimicry; which I will suggest may serve as the basis for the new natural philosophy the Patriarch describes. Secondly; I will propose that we adopt the term euzoia to refer to this common sacred flourishing as a new ecologically synergistic state of thriving and will argue that we can work toward achieving it by following the “canon of nature’s laws” described by the biomimetic thinker Janine Benyus. In doing so; I will conclude with a discussion of how each of these “natural laws” may be applied to the organization of our social and moral lives as we all collectively pursue our common sacred flourishing. Full article

De-globalisation is reshaping the conditions under which religion is governed, mobilised, and contested. This article proposes a framework for analysing religion in this emerging conjuncture. It interprets de-globalisation not as the erosion of transnational connectivity, but as a politically driven re-bordering of global flows; that is, the selective reassertion of state sovereignty, national prioritisation, and domestic jurisdiction in domains that were previously managed through, or legitimated by, multilateral norms and institutions. By restoring the state as a central architect of borders and hierarchies, de-globalisation reconfigures the religion–society nexus worldwide. The article contends how sovereignty-forward programmes unsettle core markers of globalisation, including multilateral rulemaking, predictable mobility regimes, and cosmopolitan rights vocabularies. It then revisits discussions on secularisation, rational choice perspectives, and religiously framed violence, specifying what these approaches illuminate—and where they require retooling—when authority, legality, and mobility are re-territorialised. Finally, it identifies three interconnected research fronts—statecraft and nationalism, majority–minority relations, and migration and diaspora—and formulates guiding questions for comparative research across regions and regime types. Collectively, these strands constitute an agenda for elucidating religion’s renewed salience in the de-globalising present. Full article