Tagged: religion

Opinion / Sociology of Religion

Analysing Religious Public Discourses: Categories of Thought and Value Differences

The religious field, as defined by Pierre Bourdieu (1991a), is not uniform, static or monolithic. Although there are common dogmatic doctrines and ritual practices, their perception and interpretation may differ even within the same community at the same period, especially as religious and lay actors, who occupy different positions within the field, engage in a struggle in order to implement their own visions about the place and role of the church in the world. That cannot be done without legitimizing...

Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture

The Other (Religious) Dimensions of Sexuality

(Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Religious_items#/media/File:Fastentuch.jpg)   One of the main ideologies of religion, which Ninian Smart has pointed out, is that of the ethical, and legal dimension. Smart states, “the law which a tradition or subtradition incorporates into its fabric can be called the ethical dimension of religion” (Smart 18; 1998). History has proved how social customs, usually stemming from religious ideologies, tend to become laws, and govern social norms. When thinking about American society, society claims there is a separation between the Church,...

Special Issue

Free Special Issue on the Geography and Sociology of Religion

Interdisciplinary research has much to offer scholars of different fields – widening perspectives and opening up avenues to new research. The burgeoning field of the geography and sociology of religion is one such field. As the global economy and increased migration result in more complex and rich societies, so the resultant intersections of cultures and faiths from across the world become more interesting and multifaceted. In this Wiley-Blackwell Virtual Issue encompassing “Religion and Place”, we have sought to bring together...

Gender & Sexuality / Political & Economic Sociology / Science & Technology / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Religion, Abortion, and the Law in the United States

  If one’s religion teaches that abortion is murder, is the believer then obligated to stop abortions from happening, by any means necessary? Today, a Kansas judge decided that this is not a viable defense strategy under the law. On May 31, Kansas resident Scott Roeder is accused of shooting and killing Dr. George Tiller. Roeder had wished to use something that has been termed the “necessity defense,” which would justify using lethal force. Although the judge’s reasoning for not...

Gender & Sexuality / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Religion and Child Custody Cases

by NickieWild What are the limits of free expression in the United States today? Are we still living under what many would consider a theocratic state? Although the “Protestant Ethic” as defined by Weber is often thought of in terms of the realm of work, it includes other moral dimensions. The U.S. has often been mired in controversies about what role religion should play in the formation of law. Abortion, school prayer, displaying religious symbols like the 10 Commandments on...

Opinion

Virtual Conference – 6 days to go

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Opinion

On the mutual exclusivity of science and religion and other cognitive clashes

Dena T. Smith This week’s Science Times profiled Dr. Francis S. Collins, the recently appointed director of The National Institutes of Health. The article (below) points to clashes between Collins’  belief in God and his identity as a scientist. Collins, who is best known for his involvement in the Human Genome Project, which set out, in the early 1990’s to do just what it sounds like it might – map the human DNA – is also a religious man. Further,...

Political & Economic Sociology / Social Psychology & Lifecourse

Health care and emotions – the politics of preaching

By Dena T. Smith Since his inauguration, President Obama has used just about every forum possible to stress the need for health care reform. We’ve heard the pragmatic arguments: in the current system, we spend too much money on treatment rather than focusing on preventative care or that all the power is in the hands of private interests inflates costs. And we’ve also heard plenty of opposition to government intervention from the right. Two Tuesdays ago, I wrote about the...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change

Racism, the Holy Ghost and 12-stepping

by enteringthewhirlpool 1.) There is a conjecture that the decline of organized religion in Western societies has not led to more rational modes of thought, but rather to a disaggregation of magical thinking as people find other ways to express the innately human religious impulse. This may manifest itself, for example, through belief in horoscopes. In fact, according to a recent survey in the UK, belief in ghosts is now much higher than it was in the immediate aftermath of...

Sociology of Culture

The Rise of a Secular America?

by NickieWild This week, the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut was released. Regions are seeing religious shifts – the Northeast is losing its religious population, while the South is gaining. Clearly, this is due to migration within the country, as well as the more typically religious Hispanic population increasing in numbers in the South. But there has been an overall decline in those who identify with a particular religion. This systemic change can be...

Sociology of Culture

Guest Post: Finding ‘Religion’ in Asia: personal reflections on a Singaporean appointment

Bryan S. Turner National University of Singapore     In general dons don’t leave Cambridge University. They die there or they get thrown out, but generally speaking the charm and prestige of the place are sufficiently strong to secure life-long loyalty. I was unusual; I left.  Having been appointed in 1998 as the new professor of sociology, I was soon teaching four ‘papers’ (lecture courses), supervising six PhD students, giving supervisions to college students, managing MA candidates, and sitting on...

Sociology of Culture

The myth of religious tolerance

nmccoy1     As a recent incident in Olympia, WA shows (see article below), the belief that American is a place of religious tolerance is in some aspects a myth or perhaps even ideology.  Despite the imposition of more generalized Christian holidays in public schools, the pledge of allegiance, and the colloquial invocation of Christian beliefs (love thy neighbor for example), we can also find that religious tolerance only encompasses a very particular definition of religion.  It is clear from...

Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Culture

Of Malls and Mosques

by theoryforthemasses Classical sociologists, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, all suggested that as societies modernized, religion would begin to lose its influence on individuals and become more of a personal choice than a public mode of cohesion and control.  This secularization thesis is exemplified by Dubai, a place where Islam has converged with contemporary material luxuries, consumerism, and new notions of religious identity.  The secularization of Islam here is obvious as young and middle-aged Muslims, many of whom...