ZORUNLU BİR YAPILANDIRMA İHTİYACI: DEVLET ve DİNİ CEMAATLER İLİŞKİSİ

Author(s): Fatih Yaman / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 45/2020

The historical process around modernization being experienced by Turkey has led to various transformations in the structures of religious orders and communities that are social realities. Alongside the community system that disintegrated by transition from the Ottoman social structure to the modern nation-state, religious orders today started to be visible with a new community identity in the public sphere on an urban scale and from the periphery to the center. While the nature of the relationship that has been established between the state and religious communities in Turkey varies depending on the conjunctional structure of the period, this mainly originates from the borders between the two institutions becoming ambiguous and emergence of a broad sphere where this situation is open to exploitation. This study discusses the relationship between the state and religious communities within the modernization journey of Turkey and proposes recommendations towards restructuring of the aforementioned relationship.

Pastoral Care as the Church’s Response to the Phenomenon of Secularization

Author(s): Dariusz Lipiec / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The ongoing process of the secularization of European societies has been present for a few decades now. It is a great challenge for the Church who is trying to resist it in a variety of ways. Pastoral care, meant as the organized saving activity of the Church aimed at saving the man, is one such way. However, resisting the process of secularization is not the direct goal of pastoral care. If pastoral care is run in a proper way, it can be a powerful and meaningful tool of the Church in resisting laicization. The article presents various forms of ordinary and extraordinary pastoral care which contribute to the development of religiousness of believers and to spreading the Gospel in the common social life. The author first presents the role of ordinary pastoral care in this process. He then lists proclaiming God’s word, various forms of the cult and the ministry of Christian love as ways of reviving religious life. He also indicates the role of extraordinarypastoral care, especially the branch which aims at the cooperation with new developing working groups and other informal secular associations.

Religious Component in a State’s Foreign Policy. A Case Study of the Russian Orthodox Church

Author(s): Martin Solik,Vladimír Baar / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The recent “conservative turn” in Russian politics has raised to new levels the role of spiritual and moral values in political discourse. The partnership formed between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state has also affected Russian foreign policy. Although the Church largely plays a subordinate role in this relationship, it is far from being merely the Kremlin’s tool. This investigation seeks to shed light on the Church’s distinct approach to politics, and show on the basis of what criteria is the co-operative relationship between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church created in Russian conditions and by what means does the Kremlin promote its influence in the Post-Soviet space through the Russian Orthodox Church. In other words, this study shows where it draws the line on cooperation the Russian Orthodox Church with the state. The paper also exposes the role of this Church in the Kremlin foreign policy in the Post-Soviet space and presents specific activities pro-Russian Christian Orthodox Churches under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Post-Soviet space.

Religion und postsäkulare Vernünftigkeit

Author(s): Alessandro Ferrara / Language(s): German Issue: 31/2006

Today we are experiencing profound shifts in the relationship between religion and politics that cannot go unanswered. What they might look like will be discussed below. Basically, I think the demand in Western democracies for a "public role" of religious belief or at least its de-privatization is justified and legitimate. If one accepts this request, it is necessary to examine the nexus of religion, modern society and politics in more detail.

Toleranz im Islam

Author(s): Abdessalam Cheddadi / Language(s): German Issue: 31/2006

Its wealth and blurriness make the concept of tolerance vulnerable and question its efficiency. In order for it to be practical for us today, we have to constantly adapt its content and its conditions of use to the new circumstances. It undoubtedly has the advantage of uniting values such as freedom, justice, willingness to engage in dialogue, openness and understanding, and thus indirectly to outlaw also the most diverse forms of oppression and violence against the spirit, all varieties of totalitarianism and harmonization of thought, all forms of racism, foreclosure, and discrimination.

RELIGIOSITY AND POLITICAL TOLERANCE: REASSESING THE RELATIONSHIP

Author(s): Jonathan R. Peterson / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Political tolerance––the willingness to afford basic civil rights to individuals or groups that one finds disagreeable––is fundamental to liberal democracy. For several decades, political scientists believed that widespread religious adherence in the United States threatened political tolerance. Recent research casts doubt on the direct relationship between religiosity and political tolerance. However, this research is based on decades-old data or a sample collected from a single county. My study tests the relationship between religiosity and political tolerance using more recent national survey data. It confirms that, although religiosity is related to dogmatism, no direct relationship exists between religiosity and political tolerance.

NIGERIA: THE PARADOX OF A SECULAR STATE

Author(s): Ekwutosi E. Offiong,Charles E. Ekpo / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

By its virtue of not declaring any religion as state religion, the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences governance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria’s profanity. Adopting the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions – Islam and Christianity – have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Nigeria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country’s political orientation, by action, to a theocratic diarchy amidst the aura of secularism. There is, therefore, a need for nomenclature revision.

Recenzia cărţii „Ce se ascunde în spatele Boko Haram”

Author(s): Tiberiu Tănase / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2016

PRZEMIANY RELIGIJNOŚCI MŁODZIEŻY I DOROSŁYCH W POLSCE – PRÓBA DIAGNOZY NA PODSTAWIE WYBRANYCH BADAŃ SONDAŻOWYCH PEW RESEARCH CENTER ORAZ CBOS

Author(s): Wojciech Kućko / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2019

The aim of the article is to analyze two surveys of religiosity in Poland. The first was published in 2018 by the American Pew Research Center, covering more than a hundred countries around the world. On their basis, it was found that Poland is a country in which the world’s largest generation gap between younger and older adults in terms of religious practices and recognizing religion as important in life was recorded. The second study was published in 2019 by the Polish Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS) on the religiosity of young people entering adulthood (the research was conducted in 2018). Since 2010, another drop in the level of their religiosity has been noted and their participation in religious practices is becoming increasingly rare. These results turned out to be significantly lower than for the total population of Poland. The comparative analysis of the research made possible to make a reliable diagnosis of religious life in Poland, above all, significant differences in this matter between younger and older adults.

Vjera, narod i nacija u bosanskoj političkoj strategiji

Author(s): Taner Alićehić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 1/2019

By overcoming the religious dimension of the Serbian national ideology, all future Serbian politicians by definition accepted as natural pretensions towards the territory in which the same or similar language was spoken, and where the Orthodox population existed. Later, as reaction to such activity, the same process took place within the Croatian national movement, where the Catholic Church took over the leading role, and ultimately with the same consequences for the population who did not accept Croatian-Catholic identity. Recently, Bosniak identities have begun to develop in the same way, where the Islamic Community (IC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina took over the leading role. The term Bosniak „remained“ at the level of national identity as a substitute for „Muslim“ people, and no national state-forming identity was constitutionally defined. In order to strengthen Bosnia as a state, it remains to build a national identity by creating a collective awareness of belonging according to the will of each individual. The goal is to be a civil state according to the mentioned postulations, nationality based on citizenship, not on national or religious grounds.

FRANSA’NIN ÜÇÜNCÜ CUMHURİYET DÖNEMİ İLE TÜRKİYE’NİN TEK PARTİ DÖNEMİNİN LAİKLİK UYGULAMALARI AÇISINDAN MUKAYESESİ

Author(s): Mukaddes Aksoy / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2019

The concept of secularism that emerged in the political, social and cultural spheres followed different developmental trends in Western and Eastern societies. The intellectual ideas such as positivist philosophy, nationalism and freedom that emerged after the French Revolution influenced the Ottoman Empire during the modernization period. This group of intellectuals were sent to France during the period have been the catalyst in the coming years in the position of the Republic of Turkey from the Ottoman Empire until the bureaucratic mechanisms through ongoing modernization adventure. Inspired by the experiences of France, which is the pioneer of laicism, the Kemalist cadre has subjected the religious field to change and control during the time it holds the executive power. Thus, a religious structure was established which was allowed to develop under state domination. In this study, after the first conceptual frameworks have been clarified, the stages of French secularism at the institutional level are examined in detail. Then the modernization adventure that continued from the Ottoman empire to the Republic of Turkey was examined; secularism programs implemented in the single-party period dominated by official ideology were discussed in detail and various inferences were made on the similarities and differences of both systems

Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya: Understanding Media Bias

Author(s): Dominika Kosárová / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Several studies have been dealing with the question of whether state-sponsored Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are biased. Their findings suggest that the message of both media reflects the interests of their respective state-sponsors. This article aims to validate this assumption, however in contrast to already existing literature it will test the hypothesis on a non-conflict related case study: the coverage of Muslim Summit which was held in December 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. To achieve the objective, we seek to first identify Al Jazeera’s and Al Arabiya’s bias, its specific features and the message delivered by means of comparative discourse analysis, namely manipulative strategies and ideological square as defined by Blass and van Dijk, respectively. Afterwards, we examine how the identified bias fits into the strategic interests of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, their respective state-sponsors. The analysis shows that both media, when covering Muslim Summit, used manipulative techniques to deliver the opposite message about the Summit, which is in line with their state-sponsors’ often incompatible regional ambitions and foreign policy. This article contributes to already existing literature on Arab media discourse analysis by focusing on a specific non-conflict-related issue not covered by other studies making thus the hypothesis applicable more broadly.

Shia Islam and its Influence on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Policy in President Rouhani’s Era

Author(s): Ľubomír Čech,Kristina Krupova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 had a significant influence on Iran’s developments and its foreign relations. The key factor of this process was a new revolutionary ideology, which became the basis for new foreign policy agenda of the Iranian regime. Islam, which acted as a catalyst for social changes and a source of political conflict, became a characteristic feature of Iran’s foreign policy. The study aims to analyse the philosophical and ideological foundations of Twelver Shia and explain the characteristics of Iranian foreign policy taking into account practical applications of Twelver Shia as well as specific periods and events. An examination of the extent to which Shia Islam shapes the foreign policy positions was a prerequisite for achieving the goals and drawing the conclusions. We tried to find out whether the Islamic Revolution ideology has a long-term impact on developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign relations and determine to what extent it impedes the efforts of pragmatic politicians to open up the country to the outside world. To conduct our study, we used international political sociology, which involves analyses and comparisons related to state’s foreign policy, its domestic policy, security as well as religious and social interactions that influence political and ideological thinking of Iran’s regime. What is more, this approach enabled the synthesis necessary for examination of the issues and the logical sequence of research. According to the conclusions, Shia Islam presented a significant platform for development of Iran’s foreign policy attitudes. In Rouhani’s foreign policy, it reflected perpetual conflicts of interest, different ideas about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy behaviour as well as the conflict between the state ideology and the natural need for political pragmatism resulting from the current situation in Iran and its international position.

Charting A Distinctive Course: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Religious Pluralism, and Church-State Relations

Author(s): Lincoln E. Flake / Language(s): English Issue: 7/2020

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has a chance to be an outlier in a region otherwise inhospitable to religious diversity. Less than two years after gaining autonomy in the Orthodox community, signs are promising that church elites are neither frightened by religious choice or inclined toward state sponsorship. Such a posture would contrast glaringly with the ethos of its once overseer, the Russian Orthodox Church. I argue that, although the church’s development is still embryonic, several factors suggest a more tolerant attitude toward the operations of other nontraditional may prove durable. Hopefully, the approach is not simply a matter of the church conforming to pro-democracy sentiments in Kyiv, but rather is rooted in experience and deep-seeded beliefs. If this proves to be the case, religious pluralism and constructive church-state relations has the chance to be irrevocably engrained in the country. Such a development would dispel the notion that Eastern Orthodoxy and authoritarianism are somehow inextricably connected. Even more importantly for Ukraine’s future, a modern and transparent national church may help anchor Kyiv to its current democratizing orientation, preventing a cyclical return to autocracy.

MIT O BOŠNJAČKOM PANISLAMIZMU: POKUŠAJ NAMETANJA KOLEKTIVNE STIGME

Author(s): Amir Karić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 1/2020

Starting from the thesis that Bosniaks were exposed to attempts of collective stigmatization during the 20th century due to alleged ideology of political pan-islamism, the author proves the unfoundedness of such claims whose echoes are heard till these days from certain ideological and political centers from neighbouring countries. The author analyzes all relevant facts related to this topic: the emergance of pan-islamic movement in the Muslim world; the first mention of that term in European languages; researches whether the ideology of pan-islamism has had an impact on Bosniaks; indicates the difference between political and religious pan-islamism; analyzes academic discussions from the first half of 20th centuries about pan-islamism and caliphate; analyzes meaning of pan-islamism in the Islamska deklaracija of Alija Izetbegović.

RELIGIJA I POLITIČKE STRANKE U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI

Author(s): Elma Huruz Memović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 1/2020

The victory of ethno - nationalist parties in the 1990 elections was substantially encouraged by the activities of religious institutions. Since then, there has been an evident interweaving of the religious - confessional and national - political spheres, with the prominent role of religious leaders in the processes of legitimizing political and party leaders. Religious institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been more or less instrumentalised by ethnic political elites in order to establish ethnic homogenization. In this text, we will analyze the complex relationship between religion and politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily by analyzing statutes and programs of political parties that are most relevant according to their political and social engagement in contemporary Bosnian- Herzegovinian reality.

MUSLIM WOMEN AND THE NIGERIAN PARTY POLITICS

Author(s): AbdulGafar Olawale Fahm / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Women’s participation in party politics in Nigeria has been largely marginal. This has led to the clamour for more involvement of women in political decisions and increased presence in political sphere. The objective of this paper is to examine the participation of Muslim women in the Nigerian party politics. Muslim women have made significant contributions in Nigerian society through their efforts in educational, economic, health, and humanitarian services i.e. playing a social responsibility role. Descriptive and analytical methods were adopted for this purpose. The study revealed that the involvement of Muslim women in party politics in Nigeria was impeded by cultural and religious bottlenecks and not lack of participation. It concluded that emphasis should be placed on the complementarity roles between men and women in order to suppress the intolerance often encounter by Muslim women in Nigeria party politics. Hence, there is a need for the existing political parties and most especially the ruling party to take advantage of the complementary differences in order to create balance in political decision-making.

Odnos personalizovane religioznosti i političkog aktivizma kod građana Srbije

Author(s): Adrijana Maksimović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 02/2020

This paper uses the data collected by the empirical research of personalized religiosity and political activism, as well as the secondary data analysis of European Value Study - EVS. Personalized religiosity is defined through the following aspects: the belief in a divine being / spirit / life force; inner spirituality; interest in the sacred / supernatural; finding solace in faith; prayer and / or meditation. In operational terms, political activism consists of five variables: sign petitions and join boycotts, participate in legal demonstrations, join unofficial strikes, occupy business facilities or factories. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between a so-called personalized. secular religiosity and political activism as a form of political participation among Serbian citizens. Using regression analysis, we found that personalized religiosity is a positive but not statistically significant predictor of political activism.

Однос Српске Православне Цркве и државе у Црној Гори од 1997. до данас

Author(s): Vladica Todorović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2020

In this paper, we analysed the relationship between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the state in Montenegro from 1997 until present. We begin our analyses in 1997, considering it was a turning point on Montenegrin political scene. Since, in 1997, the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro split into a party that retains the name (DPS) and the Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro (SNP). Milo Đukanovic from the DPS defeated the SNP candidate Momir Bulatovic in the 1997 presidential elections. In 1998 the coalition gathered around the DPS overpowered the SNP in parliamentary elections. The Serbian Orthodox Church, that is, the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, backed M. Đukanovic at the time believing that he would democratize Montenegro. However, his only goal was an independent Montenegro, with an autocephalous church, which quickly affected relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, that is, the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

Проблематика захтева за аутокефалном црквом у Црној Гори

Author(s): Vladica Todorović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2016

The request for an independent church in Montenegro is primarily politically motivated. The regime and parties with similar political programme believe that the Montenegrin nation and state can not survive without the autocephalous church and will not consider Montenegro truly independent until the project is completed. On the other hand, the Serbian parties and the Serbian people in Montenegro consider the protection of the Serbian Orthodox Church, therefore the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of utmost importance for the survival of their identity.