Search Results (81)

This article examines the works of three iconic Iranian intellectuals of the 1960s—the Muslim thinker Jalál Ál-i-Aḥmad, the Islamist ideologue ‘Alí Sharí‘atí, and the Marxist theorist Iḥsán Ṭabarí—and argues that their shared underlying assumption is the claim that the Bahá’í religion has foreign roots and that its leaders maintain clandestine ties with foreign powers. By uncritically accepting the master narrative of Bahá’í espionage—shaped in large part by The Confessions of Dalgurúkí in the 1940s—these intellectuals, contrary to their role as agents of change and critics of authority, helped further consolidate and perpetuate this narrative. In doing so, and given their significant influence, they contributed to the distancing of their readers from their Bahá’í compatriots. Full article

The Byzantine iconoclastic controversy (726–843) has sparked a debate among Byzantine scholars. The literature on iconoclasm and Byzantine history links the onset of the Iconoclasm period to various indirect factors, including the dual nature of Christ, the ban on idols in the Old Testament, the expansion of the Muslim empire, natural disasters, schisms, Leo III’s political motives, and many others. Debates in the Iconoclasm age between iconodules and iconoclasts created confusion in the literature, and researchers concluded that iconodules altered records of the first phase of iconoclasm by introducing theological concepts. However, theological debates over the nature of Christ obscured the iconoclastic emperors’ political intentions, as theology was generally exploited as a political tool in the Byzantine Empire. The complex interaction between Orthodox and Muslim religions, the wealth of monasteries, and the political ambitions of both Byzantine and Umayyad emperors were some of the leading causes of the process that led to the development of iconoclasm. This study proposes that theological arguments were used to conceal the emperors’ political motives by blaming others for violating the pillars of Christianity. Secrecy in foreign policy and covert operations contributed to the lack of direct evidence, hiding political motives behind theological arguments. Full article

Asian film displays a range of perspectives on ritual and political issues of contest and contestation. Using modified snowball and purposive sampling, film and some television is selected for the presence of ritual politics, political theater, and important Asian cultural, religious, and/or political perspectives. Some perspectives identified are localized, regional, or may have resonance (not representativeness) in many parts of Asia from Kazakhstan, Nepal, India, and eastward; a few preliminary observations are offered in this regard. The current work is an effort in cultural de-coding, and perhaps cultural translation, using qualitative content analysis, coding, and comparative historical–institutional analysis at the intersection of culture and politics. The argument is methodological (qualitative), encouraging political scientists and others with interests in cross-national, comparative, and international religion and politics to delve into thick description using international, foreign-language film as a (relatively unmined) source of cultural data and cultural, values-oriented, and political messaging. Ritual politics is treated herein as formal or informal ritual involving symbolic activities occurring in a religious, semi-religious, or secular context that is used for political purposes, in a political context, or to effect a political message. The current work is preliminary and is part of a larger project; it provides a preliminary spreadsheet of 24 out of over 100 canvassed films seeking to combine conceptual variables with binary coding. Full article

The origin of the Wutong deity, a controversial figure in Chinese folk religion, has long been an unresolved academic issue, hindering a clear understanding of its complex godhead and its derivative cults, such as the Five Road Deities of Wealth. This study aims to provide a comprehensive etymological solution to this long-standing problem. Through a systematic investigation combining cross-cultural linguistic analysis, comparative mythology, and socio-historical contextualization, this paper traces the deity’s evolution from its prototype to its final forms. The study argues that the Wutong deity’s prototype is the Buddhist Yakṣa General Pañcika, known in early China as the “Wudao Dashen” (Great Deity of the Five Paths). Its core godhead was formed by inheriting Pañcika’s attribute as a wealth deity, while degrading his myth of prolificacy into a licentious characteristic by conflating it with indigenous stereotypes of Yakṣas. Its name resulted from an orthographic corruption of “Wudao” to “Wutong,” and its “one-legged” image from a phono-semantic misreading of its transliterated name, “Banzhijia (半支迦).” This transformation was catalyzed by the severance of the Tangmi (唐密) lineage and the concurrent rise of commercialism in Song-dynasty Jiangnan. This evolutionary chain reveals the complete process by which a foreign deity was seamlessly integrated into the indigenous Chinese belief system, a “Flowing Pantheon,” through misreading and reconstruction, vividly illustrating the pluralistic and harmonious nature of Chinese religion. Full article

Adopting the theoretical traditions and methodological approaches of Chinese religious studies, this paper systematically reviews the scholarly development, theoretical contributions, and methodological characteristics of research on Korean Christianity conducted by Chinese scholars. Through an in-depth analysis of the academic literature spanning the past five decades, the study unveils the developmental logic, theoretical innovations, and prospective research directions within this field. It finds that Chinese scholarship has progressed through distinct phases—from preliminary exploration to diversified inquiry—marked by an increasingly expansive academic vision. Core findings include: in-depth interpretations of mechanisms underlying the indigenization of foreign religions, nuanced examinations of the complex interplay between religion and socio-cultural dynamics, and the construction of theoretical models for cross-cultural religious transmission. The study also highlights current methodological limitations and proposes future research strategies such as interdisciplinary integration, empirical approaches, and theoretical innovation. These efforts aim to offer fresh perspectives for the study of religious history in East Asia. Full article

This article examines how populist radical right parties (PRR) in three contrasting European contexts—Slovenia, France, and Poland—strategically instrumentalize Christianity within their anti-immigration agendas. Rather than using religion as a matter of faith, these parties recast Christianity as a cornerstone of national and European identity, positioning it in opposition to Islam and non-European migration. The study argues that such instrumentalization serves not only to construct a religiously defined national identity, but also to legitimize exclusionary policies. By analyzing selected political speeches, party manifestos, and media discourse, we explore how far-right actors frame Islam as incompatible with European values, reinforcing the division between “Christian Europe” and “foreign non-Christian migrants.” Drawing on recent scholarship on civilizational populism and religious boundary-making, we further assess how processes of globalization and European integration have been interpreted by populist parties to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment. Methodologically, we employ qualitative content analysis to identify recurring themes and rhetorical strategies, with a focus on the intersection of religion, nationalism, and migration. The findings contribute to debates on religious pluralism in contemporary Europe, shedding light on how far-right populism reframes pluralism and challenges secular principles across different political and cultural settings. Full article

Background/Objectives: Despite legal frameworks acknowledging the need to protect the rights of female prisoners, penitentiary systems often neglect gender-specific needs, particularly for foreign women. Among them, Muslim women face distinct challenges linked to cultural and religious practices, which are frequently unmet in prison contexts. This review aims to explore the academic literature on the experiences of Muslim women in detention. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using three major bibliographic databases—Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science—covering the period from 2010 to 2024. Inclusion criteria focused on peer-reviewed studies examining the condition of Muslim women in prison. Of the initial pool, only four articles met the criteria and were included in the final analysis. Results: The review reveals a marked scarcity of research on Muslim women in prison at both national and international levels. This gap may be due to their limited representation or cultural factors that hinder open discourse. The selected studies highlight key issues, including restricted access to services, limited ability to practice religion, and language and cultural barriers. These challenges contribute to increased psychological vulnerability, which is often underestimated in prison settings. Conclusions: There is an urgent need for targeted research and culturally competent training for prison staff to adequately support Muslim women in detention. Greater academic and institutional attention is essential to develop inclusive policies that consider the intersection of gender, religion, and migration, particularly in the post-release reintegration process. Full article

The United States national identity is changing as the non-religious population is growing and fewer Americans follow traditional Christian faiths. When Alexis De Tocqueville visited the United States, he found that the national government gained legitimacy and support from the popular national religion. This faith was nominally Christian but lacked any meaningful theological content. The national creed was a simple monotheism that was supported through the public’s integration of a Cartesian methodology. This national religion was critical in providing the foundation for American economic growth and identity. Today, fewer Americans identify as Christians than at any point in its history, and more citizens have no religious preference or creed. The dominant religious culture is changing, and to understand the United States future, it is important to identify the political preferences of the non-religious population. This paper looks at the most recent Cooperative Election Survey and assesses the non-religious population’s political participation and its aggregate support for U.S. military aid to Ukraine. The data show that the non-religious population is less politically active and more opposed to miliary aid to Kyiv. United States is becoming more secular. The division between the traditional religious and the growing secular populations is generating a cultural conflict—one that has a fundamental consequence for the American national identity. Full article

This study examines the acoustic properties of vowels in foreigner-directed speech (FDS) in interactions between female Omani-Arabic-speaking employers and their foreign domestic helpers (FDHs). Particularly, it investigates whether Arabic corner vowels /i:/, /a:/, and /u:/ undergo acoustic adaptations in FDS. The study also explores the influence of foreign interlocutors’ psycholinguistic characteristics, such as degree of foreign accent, religion, and length of residence (LoR), on the extent of these adaptations. Data were collected from 22 Omani-Arabic-speaking women interacting with their 22 FDHs and with a native speaker (NS) confederate using a spot-the-difference task. Acoustic measures including vowel space area, formant frequency measures (F1 and F2), fundamental frequency (f0), intensity, and duration were compared across speech directed at FDHs and the NS. The results revealed that FDS exhibited greater vowel space expansion, higher F1, and increased pitch (f0) and intensity compared to speech directed at the NS confederate. However, FDS did not significantly affect F2 values. Unexpectedly, vowel duration in FDS was shorter than in speech directed at the NS. Furthermore, the psycholinguistic factors of foreign interlocutors had no significant effect on vowel space expansion in FDS. These findings provide evidence that FDS is characterized by heightened prosodic and acoustic features, potentially contributing to clearer speech. Additionally, the study highlights that NSs employ FDS when interacting with foreigners perceived to have a foreign accent. Full article

This article critically examines the star persona of Lola Flores, an iconic Spanish flamenco artist, within the historical and political context of Francoist Spain (1939–1975). It argues that Flores’s carefully constructed star image not only persisted into post-Franco Spain but also served as a covert vehicle for the continued propagation of National-Falangist Catholic ideology. The article primarily focuses on two major productions: the book Lola en carne viva. Memorias de Lola Flores (1990) and the television series El coraje de vivir (1994). Both portray a linear and cohesive version of her life from childhood to her later years, carefully curated to defend and rehabilitate her image. While many view Flores as a self-made artist, the article argues that her star persona was a deliberate construct—shaped by Suevia Films, a major Francoist-era film studio, and media narratives that aligned her with traditional gender roles, Catholic values, and Spanish nationalism. Despite emerging in post-Franco Spain, Flores’s narrative does not mark a rupture from the ideological frameworks of the past. Instead, it repackages Francoist values—particularly those surrounding patriarchal gender norms, suffering, and the glorification of sacrifice—to ensure her continued relevance. Suevia Films (1951) played a significant role in shaping her star persona as a symbol of Spanish folklore, aligning her with Francoist ideals of nation, Catholic morality, and submissive femininity. Her image was used to promote Spain internationally as a welcoming and culturally rich destination. Her persona fit within Franco’s broader strategy of using flamenco and folklore to attract foreign tourism while maintaining tight ideological control over entertainment. Flores’s life is framed as a rags-to-riches story, which reinforces Social Spencerist ideology (a social Darwinist perspective) that hard work and endurance lead to success, rather than acknowledging systemic oppression under Francoism. Her personal struggles—poverty, romantic disappointments, accusations of collaboration with the Franco regime, and tax evasion—are framed as necessary trials that strengthen her character. This aligns with the Catholic ideal of redemptive suffering, reinforcing her status as the mater dolorosa (Sorrowful Mother) figure. This article highlights the contradictions in Flores’s gender performance—while she embodied passion and sensuality in flamenco, her offstage identity conformed to the submissive, self-sacrificing woman idealized by the Francoist Sección Femenina (SF). Even in her personal life, Flores’s narrative aligns with Francoist values—her father’s bar, La Fe de Pedro Flores, symbolizes the fusion of religion, nationalism, and traditional masculinity. Tico Medina plays a key role by framing Lola en carne viva as an “authentic” and unfiltered account. His portrayal is highly constructed, acting as her “defense lawyer” to counter criticisms. Flores’s autobiography is monologic—it suppresses alternative perspectives, ensuring that her version of events remains dominant and unquestioned. Rather than acknowledging structural oppression, the narrative glorifies suffering as a path to resilience, aligning with both Catholic doctrine and Francoist propaganda. The article ultimately deconstructs Lola Flores’s autobiographical myth, demonstrating that her public persona—both onstage and offstage—was a strategic construction that perpetuated Francoist ideals well beyond the dictatorship. While her image has been celebrated as a symbol of Spanish cultural identity, it also functioned as a tool for maintaining patriarchal and nationalist ideologies under the guise of entertainment. Full article

In 2002, the Justice and Development Party came to power in Turkey, while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became its leader in 2003, and both have remained in power until today. Initially, Erdoğan had a predominantly Islamist discourse, and in that period, Islam became gradually more visible in public space and foreign relations. However, that Islamist discourse later increasingly gave way to realpolitik due to domestic requirements and international economic and political changes. This article deals with this transition from Islamism to civil religion and secularism during Erdoğan’s power and explores its nature and characteristics as well as the impact on politics. I suggest that while still sometimes making use of an Islamist rhetoric, Erdoğan’s focus in recent years has been more on various secular–sacred items of civil religion, like homeland, nation (as a chosen people), national flag, (sacralized) state, and, additionally, national development. I examine the civil religion Erdoğan advocates by analyzing his official and casual speeches, interviews he gave, and some of the slogans he used. I also suggest that Erdoğan’s transition to civil religion also represents a shift to secularism, as modern civil religions undermine and subordinate established religions to a great extent and also create their own secular sacredness. Full article

This paper explores the argumentative strategies employed by Daoism and Buddhism in their debates during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Despite being significant in Chinese intellectual history, these debates, particularly the strategies behind them, remain understudied, and two gaps remain. First, the argumentative strategies of the two teachings are yet to be fully examined. Secondly, few studies have examined why Daoism was consistently defeated in the debates. This paper aims to address the two gaps. The paper first examines the argumentative strategies of the two teachings. Overall, the strategies employed by Buddhists were far superior to those employed by Daoists. Buddhists excelled in exposing contradictions and illogical reasoning in their opponents’ arguments. In contrast, the strategies employed by Daoists were often weak, superficial and aimless, primarily serving to undermine Buddhism, whether as a branch of Daoism or a foreign religion. The second part of the paper identifies three reasons for the disparities in argumentative strategies between the two teachings. Firstly, Buddhist doctrines and scriptures underscored the significance of debates, whereas Daoism, both from philosophical and religious perspectives, often overlooked or even discouraged their significance. Secondly, Buddhists actively learned from previous sources and debates, while Daoists displayed limited inclination to do so. Thirdly, Buddhists possessed extensive knowledge of various schools, including Daoism, while Daoists exhibited limited proficiency beyond their own tradition. Full article

The establishment of the United Church of Christ in Japan (nihon kirisuto kyōdan 日本基督教団) marked the culmination of the Church Union Movement in Imperial Japan. Although the Church Union Movement can be traced back to the Meiji era, no significant breakthroughs were made until 1939 due to the refusal of some denominations. In this article, I aim to clarify the process and causes behind the formation of the united church, while also attempting to understand the interaction pattern between the State and Christianity under an increasing wartime totalitarian regime. In April 1939, the Diet passed the Religious Organizations Law (syūkyō dantai hō 宗教団体法), a bill aimed at strengthening state control over religions, which required Christian denominations to establish religious organizations. With the war intensifying Japan’s antagonism toward Western countries, Christianity as a foreign religion faced progressive attacks from the nationalist sects. Some denominations, like the Salvation Army, were accused of espionage due to their international connections and were monitored by gendarmerie (kenpeitai 憲兵隊). Facing harsh pressure, Christians sought to project a patriotic image, ultimately leading to the formation of the United Church as a survival strategy amidst a hostile social-political environment. Full article

Population growth in Austria means that school classes—including those in apprenticeship training—are no longer homogeneous. Apprentices, too, often come from different cultural backgrounds and therefore belong to different religions and worldviews, which makes the classes “multi” in every respect. This can lead to encounters in their everyday working life that are not always smooth because they are accompanied by prejudices and misunderstandings. Can cooperative religious education based on didactics of facilitation and TCI help to gain new insights into religions/worldviews and thus reinforce social cohesion? It has been shown that cooperative religious education gives pupils an insight into religious communities to which they themselves do not belong but does not give much concrete knowledge. It creates an awareness of being different without devaluation and the importance of dialogue that leads to a better mutual understanding and consequently to an awareness of one’s own prejudices and judgements towards others. It cannot be said that the attitudes towards religions/denominations/worldviews that were foreign to the pupils have changed with KORU but effects on social interaction are recognisable. The evaluation according to Philipp Mayring (content analysis) was carried out using a triangulation of data: Observation of religious education lessons, lesson preparations and interviews with the participating teachers and two group interviews with students and their written reflections. Full article

On the level of fundamental didactic decisions and hermeneutic clarifications, this article examines the possible orientations of Shared Religious Education. The prerequisite for this is the assumption that in such lessons, the opportunity should be used to empower children and young people to become personally and creatively involved in teaching and learning when different denominations, religions, and worldviews come together in education. Against this background, four modes of possible activation are proposed as a structuring aid for didactic decisions: Pupils can (a) plan appropriate forms of encounter themselves and develop ways of dealing with mutually experienced foreignness and with bridges and gaps between traditions; (b) they can be activated to engage in existential discussions about ultimate questions, (c) they can carry out small-scale “research” projects into each other’s religious practices and concepts; and (d) they can get involved in joint (ethical, ecological, neighbourly) projects that have an impact on the region around the school that may also have global applications. The model of these four modes can be represented graphically and this helps to analyse and locate existing concepts and approaches to RE. The article concludes with a closer look at the underlying concept of religion and current research. Full article