Search Results (71)

This study aimed to investigate food insecurity (FI) and its association with sociodemographic characteristics and behavioral and dental alterations in adolescents from a county in the inland of northeastern Brazil. Data on 192 adolescents aged 11–14 years were analyzed in the public school system in Juripiranga, Paraíba, Northeast Brazil. The adolescents and their guardians responded to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire for the caregiver, the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire for children and adolescents, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Academic performance was observed by calculating the median of the final assessments of basic school subjects. The prevalence of FI was 69.19, and FI was associated with a family income of up to one minimum wage per month (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.90; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.20–3.01), no practice of religion by the guardian (PR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.04–1.73), behavior considered inappropriate by the guardian (PR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.02–1.73), and academic performance (PR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.05–1.72). FI is considered a complex and multifactorial problem that requires appropriate intervention to deal with multiple social determinants. The results point to the need for integrated public policies between the health, education, social assistance, and food security sectors. Full article

This article examines the role of religion in Russia’s national security system through the lens of ontological security, assessing whether contemporary Russia is undergoing a process of desecularisation or, conversely, an intensified form of secularisation. Employing the theoretical framework of ontological security, this study argues that Russia’s securitisation of religion serves as a mechanism for consolidating state control, legitimising authoritarian governance, and constructing a distinct civilisational identity in opposition to Western liberalism. The Russian Orthodox Church, rather than functioning as an autonomous religious institution, has been absorbed into the state apparatus, where it operates as an instrument of state ideology. Religious rhetoric permeates Russian strategic security documents, reinforcing narratives of national exceptionalism, historical continuity, and moral superiority, particularly in justifying Russia’s geopolitical ambitions and military actions, including its war against Ukraine. The analysis challenges prevailing interpretations of religious resurgence in Russia, arguing that the increasing presence of religion in public life does not necessarily signify desecularisation. Instead, the instrumentalisation of religion for political and security purposes suggests a process of extreme secularisation, wherein religious institutions lose their autonomy and doctrinal substance, becoming tools of state power. Full article

Enabling gender equality by empowering women to fully engage in modern society is fundamental for building resilient and sustainable communities. While Iceland is recognized as a global leader in gender equality, the experiences of various immigrant groups can differ considerably, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery. Given the rapid increase in the immigrant population in Iceland, it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of the processes surrounding immigrant women’s integration strategies, with an emphasis on gender equality through the lens of intersectionality. The main objective of this qualitative study is to explore the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on female immigrants by examining how intersecting identities—including gender, ethnicity, religion, motherhood, and immigration status—shape their integration experiences in Iceland. Focusing on small, remote urban and rural communities in the Northeastern Region of Iceland (Norðurland eystra), this study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with immigrant women conducted in 2022 and 2023, using both strength-based and deficit analyses. The study reveals key constraints and strengths in the integration of immigrant women, examined through the lens of underlying and pandemic-driven factors influencing immigrant women’s experiences in personal and social domains of integration. The findings indicate that, despite government gender equality standards and support programs, as well as the considerable resilience demonstrated by immigrant women during the pandemic, they continue to encounter significant barriers to achieving full integration. The findings suggest that acknowledging immigrant women as important constituents in policy development is a crucial step toward formulating and implementing more comprehensive, gender-responsive, and locally adaptive decentralized integration policies. Such policies are vital for securing Iceland’s long-term social sustainability and reinforcing its stature as a global leader in gender equality. Full article

In a country where almost the totality of the native population is baptized and raised in the Catholic Church, recent surveys have shown several inconsistencies, especially among the young who claim that they do not believe. This study is a follow-up of another one that showed marked differences between the younger generation and older ones regarding the importance of religion in their life. Other surveys gave a similar picture. This study seeks to acquire a deeper understanding of the religiosity of these adolescents and young adults, this time with the use of two validated instruments. The first, the Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS), was meant to capture the essence of religion as a meaning-making mode. For the second, since the majority of the participants came from an organized religion, it was worth investigating the reasons why these adolescents were abandoning their religion and where they were going. This was attempted through the administration of the Adolescent Deconversion Scale (ADS). In addition, to detect deconversion-related changes, the participants were asked to undertake the Retrospective Analysis of Religiosity, a graphical method representing their religious development over the years by the plotting of a “religiosity line”. Following a number of contrasts between the test variables and others from the demographic information, a more defined and detailed picture of the religiosity of this segment of the population emerged. The absolute majority of the participants continue to profess their religion, and faith continues to be a major source of meaning in their life. In addition, there is a strong correlation between their personal sense of security and religion and the family, particularly for two-parent families. This study exposed a particular critical point in their religious journey, marking the beginning of a decline in their religion. This also coincides with the major developmental changes that take place during puberty. For the rest, perseverance in the faith journey was very strongly related to having participated for a number of years in a faith group. The family of origin and, later, belonging to a faith group seem to be decisive factors in the transmission and preservation of religiosity. As for those who left religion, the main reasons differed, including existential quests, peer influence, or simply indifference. Most, however, do not seem to have migrated to another religion or sect, and there are signs that many of them might have retained their own personal spirituality privately. Finally, it could be argued that, for some, their religious journey might not be over yet. Full article

In the late Joseon dynasty, many Koreans crossed the border between Joseon and Qing for survival. They then migrated to Manchuria, in the Qing territory, around Mt. Baekdu. In the late 1900s, Japan seized diplomatic and military control of Korea, and in 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan. Many Koreans then moved to the Manchurian region of China. Religion played an important role in the large Korean community formed in Manchuria after the 1910s. During this period, Korean immigrant communities that were centered on religion were established in Manchuria. Among the many religions, Daejonggyo (大倧敎) places great emphasis on national consciousness, and it was an active component of the anti-Japanese armed independence movement to restore national sovereignty. In particular, Daejonggyo claimed that Dangun (檀君), the founder of the Korean people, came down from heaven, established the first nation of the Korean people on Mt. Baekdu, and governed the surrounding area. Accordingly, Daejonggyo considered the Manchurian region to be the ancient territory of the Korean people. In addition, Daejonggyo presented the concept of the Baedal nation as a Dangun lineage and included not only the Korean people but also various northern ethnic groups, such as the Manchurian people. By doing so, Daejonggyo converged not only the Korean Peninsula and the Joseon nation (minjok, 民族) but also the Manchurian region and various ethnic groups in Manchuria into its own territory and people. Through this, Daejonggyo believers not only secured the legitimacy of residing in Manchuria but also gained the justification to drive out the Japanese and restore the Korean peninsular ancient territory. Full article

Religion in international relations should not be viewed solely as a source of conflict or cultural differences; it also has a constructive dimension, as demonstrated by the international activities of faith-based organizations (FBOs). FBOs have benefited from the post-Cold War expansion of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in global affairs. Their growth is often linked to raising awareness among various social groups about security challenges or issues traditionally addressed by state and inter-governmental actors, as well as increasing international interconnectedness. While FBOs differ from classical NGOs in their strong religious motivation, they too often organize around specific missions or messages. The Community of Sant’Egidio (CSE) is a distinctive example of a faith-based organization that operates both as a religious community within the Roman Catholic Church and as an internationally active NGO. Unlike many NGOs, which are founded in response to a singular issue, CSE has broadened its scope over time, addressing a wide range of concerns, from poverty alleviation and peacebuilding to humanitarian aid and, more recently, environmental issues. This paper explores the process by which the CSE has discursively constructed its identity and examines how this process has contributed to its growing influence on the international stage. Full article

The relations between religion and the state in the socialist-governed states of Eastern Europe in 1945–1989 are generally framed using the term “persecution of religion”. On the other hand, significant differences existed in the region, from limited freedom of religion in Yugoslavia to a prohibition of religious practice in Albania. From the side of religion, these relations were significantly formed by the attitudes and activities of religious leaders. Which options were adopted by key religious actors in a political environment hostile to religion? What is to be learned about religion in authoritarian systems? This qualitative study draws on the case of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), governed in 1949–1989 by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. We studied professional biographies of prominent religious dignitaries and a comprehensive volume of files from the Ministry for State Security of the GDR in order to conceptualize their attitudes and activities according to a two-dimensional classification (towards the state and towards society), which enabled an overview of the range of their options, and identified the types of religious dignitaries in authoritarian systems. This analysis revealed that a variety of attitudes and activities of religious leaders existed in the GDR. Full article

The renewed growth of immersive “faith-unit” programs operating inside U.S. maximum-security prisons has brought with it a heightened emphasis on the practice of religion in correctional settings. Modeled from a prototype Christian seminary planted inside Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, newer programs utilize outside religious educators for the credentialing of inmates into work assignments on behalf of prisons. As resource-challenged wardens deploy religiously credentialed inmates for leading new forms of prison ministry inside state facilities, research has not kept pace with the rapid growth of programs. Based on previous research, this article offers a retrospective account of the establishment of “offender ministries” at the Angola prison seminary planted at Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1994. While correctional leaders are obliged to accommodate the diverse religious identities of prisoners, private sponsors of immersive religious programs must balance doctrinal fealty with religious pluralism. Drawing from fieldnotes and on-site interviews in previous research, lessons from the history of Angola’s ecumenical prison seminary and “inmate ministry” programs are discussed while strengths and weaknesses are also highlighted. Full article

The aim of this study was to verify whether emotional intelligence and intrinsic religious orientation have a positive influence on a balanced time perspective (BTP) in the lives of Italian consecrated women. A positive, balanced time perspective, together with the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and those of others, is integral to people’s experience of religiosity in their lives. In this way, a balanced time perspective can open the experience of religiosity, contributing to a better world, along with all those who are engaged in a religious sentiment that is no longer limited to single segments of self-interest. In this study, we provided evidence that religious beliefs (not just participation in corporate religious life) can provide an alternative source of understanding emotions and perceiving time, for the religious people who live their consecrated life together. We tested whether this phenomenon was specific to the potential associations between various aspects of religious belief, emotional intelligence, and time perspective. This research was conducted on a sample of 283 Italian nuns, and it was verified that both emotional intelligence and intrinsic religiosity contribute significantly to a BTP. Furthermore, the fact that emotional intelligence is mediated by intrinsic religious orientation increases the benefits of emotional intelligence on the BTP of Italian nuns. Altogether, our results suggest that religiosity is linked to a balanced temporal profile and to a positive way of understanding emotions. More specifically, the pattern of relationships between religion, emotions, and time can influence and deepen both the individual and collective understanding of humanity among these religious women and create space for mutual engagement despite obvious differences. These results are in line with the requisites of Public Theology, as they allow us to specify selectively the developments on a more secure and empirical basis of how religiosity can affect the life of people, by exposing the submerged theological assumptions that characterize the internal beliefs of religiosity. Moreover, the research data indicate that the deep aspects of religiosity influence greatly the day-to-day living of religious women. This practical influence of religiosity confirms the urgency of opening up theological reflection in the public sphere of life. In fact, as long as the religiosity of the nuns is not reduced to private practice, theological reflection will also be opened to its public significance in the different fields of their apostolic mission. Full article

The article examines the impact of Plato’s views on atheism and impiety, relayed in the Laws, on Clement of Alexandria. Clement employed the adjectives godless (atheos) and impious (asebēs) often in his writings as accusations against pagan philosophers and/or heretics, but also in his defence of Christians against the very charge of atheism on account of their rejection of pagan gods (Stromata 7.1; cf. Tertullian’s Apologia 10). I argue that Clement, perceptive of Plato’s defence of philosophical contemplation (theōria) and its civic benefits in the Laws, reworked the latter’s association of disbelief with excessive confidence in fleshly pleasures (Leges 888A) in tandem with his stipulation of virtue as the civic goal of his ideal colonists of Magnesia who ought to attune to the divine principles of the cosmos. Thus, Clement promoted the concept of citizenship in the Heavenly kingdom, secured through contemplation and its ensuing impassibility. For Plato and Clement, atheism was the opposite of genuine engagement with divine truth and had no place in the ideal state. Although Clement associated the Church with peace, his views were adapted by Firmicus Maternus to sanction violent rhetoric against the pagans in the fourth century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Full article

On 26 May 2011, the Russian People’s World Council issued a document entitled The Basic Values: The Fundaments of National Unity. The document, prepared by the Synodal Department for Church–Society Cooperation, provided a catalogue of 17 traditional values whose general framework was constituted by a combination of freedom, unity, patriotism, family, and devotion. At that time, the Moscow Patriarchate considered religious faith to be the foundation of traditional values and it continues to do so. The defence and promotion of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values were also central in the Russian National Security Strategy (2015); this was the case in the updated version of this document as well, put out in July 2021. Furthermore, they have been the core of the Moscow Patriarchate’s participation in the Council of Europe and of Patriarch Kirill’s speeches about the war in Ukraine. Finally, on 9 November 2022, The Foundations Of State Policy For The Preservation Of Spiritual And Moral Values was approved. This framework permits us to understand the strict interplay between the Church and the State in the Russian Federation and to see why it is important to refer to the concept of post-secularism when talking about the role of religion in post-Soviet Russia. Proceeding from the Abstract, the present paper aims to analyse this interplay in a specific sector of visual culture: the cinema and television industries. Manuel Castells highlighted the relevance of cultural values in the age of information and the connection between the values and social mobilization that follows it. He pointed out that the Internet has become a way to render this connection predominant, inevitably leading to the development of social movements and networks that have a religious basis. This is unquestionably true; surveys conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (OJSC «VCIOM») and by Nevafilm Research confirm that a high percentage of Russians watch films not only at the cinema or on television (especially the older generations) but also on the Internet (as far as the younger generations are concerned). The importance of this market is also confirmed by the success of the cinema and TV distributor Orthodox Encyclopaedia (2005); in the words of the philosopher Sergei Kravets, who, commenting on it during an interview published in 2006 by the website Sedmits.ru, declared that the expression “orthodox cinema” can be understood as a way to express Russian culture. He asserts that “the fact that today Orthodox films have begun to appear on the central TV channels testifies that Russian film producers and viewers have apparently begun to be aware of themselves as Orthodox, to feel that they are bearers of a special Orthodox culture. [..]”. At the same time, consideration should be given to the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Minister of Culture’s condemnation of films such as Matilda or Monastery. In addition, it is important to consider that, according to a survey conducted in 2022 by the Levada Center, Russian people consider television the most reliable source of information (54%). The long-term implications of this tendency may have very important effects, not only in terms of its objectives but also in terms of the consideration that, after the beginning of the war, many Western film distributors withdrew their licenses from Russia. This paper will analyse “the effect of religion on the institutional system, the regulatory environment of the media and the public sphere” by studying the features of films and TV programs distributed by Orthodox Encyclopaedia, their relations with traditional values promoted both by the Kremlin and the Church, how these have contributed to strengthening the interplay between the Minister of Culture and the Moscow Patriarchate, and the impact this process has had on Russian society and Russia’s relations with the European and Western World in the 2005–2022 period. A list of the films and TV programs being discussed will be provided, and then statements about the project and reviews of the serials and films will be analysed. The analysis will be conducted mainly through the official sites of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin and by browsing the Integrum database. Full article

The past few decades have witnessed significant increases in levels of education among women members of conservative religions. Contrary to the expectations of both researchers and policymakers, this trend has not been accompanied by decreases in levels of piety. The purpose of this article is to explore what it means to educated religious women to belong to conservative religious communities that embody values and practices that do not conform to the values of modernity associated with exposure to higher education. On the basis of a series of group interviews with educated Jewish Haredi women in Israel, we examined this very question. We found that the women we interviewed demonstrated a deep pride in their religious identity and an ongoing and strong commitment to their community. At the same time, they regarded membership in their community as a form of social capital enabling them to secure a wide array of benefits, which provided compensation for the demand to conform to conservative practices. We conclude that through a process of exchange (social capital against the price of conforming), the women challenge existing norms while maintaining strong religious identities, taking part in democratic processes, and, together, forging articulated bonds of membership and belonging. Full article

The relationship between human rights and religion cannot be seen as a relationship between two entirely distinct sets of values Human rights are deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. However, throughout history religious institutions have interpreted human rights differently and have supported or hindered their implementation. This paper discusses the relationship between human rights and religion in the social and cultural matrix of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Our statistical analysis focuses on Hungary as an example of the region. In our view, the variations in the relationship between human rights and religion in Central and Eastern Europe are primarily determined by the region’s wounded collective identity and the resulting overriding national and state security needs. Politically and culturally, the region is characterized by its betweenness, embodied in centuries of vulnerability to the great powers. Therefore, the social status and political discourse of human rights and religion should be tied to this primary regional marker. While examining the relationship between religion and human rights, we should be aware that the primary relationship is between human rights and the collective identity of the nation-state and between religion and the identity of the nation-state. Full article

Populations affected by humanitarian crises and emerging infectious disease outbreaks may have unique concerns and experiences that influence their perceptions toward vaccines. In March 2021, we conducted a survey to examine the perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccines and identify the factors associated with vaccine intention among 631 community members (CMs) and 438 healthcare workers (HCWs) affected by the 2018–2020 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A multivariable logistic regression was used to identify correlates of vaccine intention. Most HCWs (81.7%) and 53.6% of CMs felt at risk of contracting COVID-19; however, vaccine intention was low (27.6% CMs; 39.7% HCWs). In both groups, the perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, general vaccine confidence, and male sex were associated with the intention to get vaccinated, with security concerns preventing vaccine access being negatively associated. Among CMs, getting the Ebola vaccine was associated with the intention to get vaccinated (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05–1.94). Among HCWs, concerns about new vaccines’ safety and side effects (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.57–0.91), religion’s influence on health decisions (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.34–0.61), security concerns (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.37–0.74), and governmental distrust (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.35–0.70) were negatively associated with vaccine perceptions. Enhanced community engagement and communication that address this population’s concerns could help improve vaccine perceptions and vaccination decisions. These findings could facilitate the success of vaccine campaigns in North Kivu and similar settings. Full article

To date, no scientific literature on the issue of religion in prison has been published in Muslim countries. There, religious practice in prison does not seem to have received specific normative attention. The new political context after the so called “Arab Spring” has given new importance to religion in the space of state institutions. Under the pressure of security concerns, we are witnessing the emergence of new forms of religious intervention in prisons. On the basis of a multi-year research project in Europe, which was recently extended to the context of Muslim-majority countries, this article intends to take stock of the reality of the case of Tunisia, where the essential elements of this theme intersect, by calling on initiatives of state institutions, but also the development that has taken place in civil society. Full article