⬜⬛
DEBUNKING ARGUMENTS GAIN LITTLE FROM COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
By Lari Launonen, University of Helsinki
Abstract
Cognitive science of religion (CSR) has inspired a number of debunking arguments against god‐belief. They aim to show that the belief‐forming processes that underlie belief in god(s) are unreliable. The debate surrounding these arguments gives the impression that CSR offers new scientific evidence that threatens the rationality of religious belief. This impression, however, is partly misleading. A close look at a few widely discussed debunking arguments shows, first, that CSR theories as such are far from providing sufficient empirical evidence that the belief‐forming processes behind god‐belief are unreliable. Thus, appealing solely to CSR theories makes a debunking argument weak. Second, there are strong arguments that also invoke CSR, but these gain their strength primarily from more familiar claims about evolutionary epistemology and religious diversity. What CSR actually does in these arguments is providing an explanation of why people might believe in gods even if gods did not exist. But explaining is not debunking.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12683
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #CSR #Religion #Science #Philosophy
⬜⬛
God, Father, Mother, Gender: How Are Religiosity and Parental Bonds During Childhood Linked to Midlife Flourishing?
By Laura Upenieks, Matthew A. Andersson, Baylor University, Markus H. Schafer, University of Toronto
Abstract
While research in the United States reveals favorable associations between religiosity and well-being during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, whether childhood religiosity improves flourishing among U.S. adults remains unclear. Following a life-course approach, we examine whether childhood religiosity, measured in terms of the importance of religion growing up, associates with improved midlife flourishing. Drawing on national longitudinal data from the United States (1995–2014 MIDUS study), we find significant and large associations between childhood religiosity and midlife flourishing, measured in terms of overall and domain-specific flourishing. Its effect size was on par with key demographic predictors. However, in line with the deeply interlinked nature of family and religion, childhood religiosity was linked to midlife flourishing only in the presence of a favorable mother–child relationship growing up. Men raised in religious homes with high maternal warmth reported nearly three-quarters of a standard deviation higher flourishing than those with low maternal warmth. Further analysis confirmed that this combination of religion and family among men in particular increases the odds of adult religiosity, as men seem more susceptible to “losing their religion” when experiencing strained maternal relationships. Analysis of 20-year follow-up data collected in 2005 and 2014 finds continued associations between childhood religiosity and later-life flourishing, suggesting a beneficial trajectory carrying into old age. Overall, we conclude that any robust effects of religion on well-being across the life course are likely to be interwoven with family, gender, and other social institutions, perhaps tracing in part to the distinctive, personalized culture of American religion.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00363-8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Sociology #Religion
⬜⬛
The Clash between Scientific and Religious Worldviews: A Re‐Evaluation
By Louis Caruana S.J., Pontifical Gregorian University
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.13914
---------------------------------
Tags: #Science #Religion #Descartes
⬜⬛
Al-Ghazālī and Descartes on Defeating Skepticism
By Saja Parvizian, Coastal Carolina University
Abstract
Commentators have noticed the striking similarities between the skeptical arguments of al-Ghazālī’s Deliverance from Error and Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. However, commentators agree that their solutions to skepticism are radically different. Al-Ghazālī does not use rational proofs to defeat skepticism; rather, he relies on a supernatural light [nūr] sent by God to rescue him from skepticism. Descartes, on the other hand, relies on the natural light of reason [lumen naturale] to prove the existence of God, mind, and body. In this paper, I argue that Descartes’ solution is closer to al-Ghazālī’s than commentators have allowed. A close reading of the cosmological argument of the Third Meditation reveals that there is also a type of divine intervention employed in the Meditations, which helps Descartes defeat skepticism. This reading may buttress the case made by some that al-Ghazālī influenced Descartes; but more importantly, it requires us to rethink key features of Descartes’ epistemology.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5840/jpr202045162
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Ghazali #Religion #God #Descartes #Epistemology
⬜⬛
Can God Be Perceived? A Phenomenological Critique of the Perceptual Model of Mystical Experience
By Daniel So, University of Toronto
Abstract
In the perceptual model of mystical experience, the mystics are said to “perceive” God much like ordinary people perceive physical objects. The model has been used to defend the epistemic value of mysticism, and it has been championed most vigorously by William Alston in his work Perceiving God. This paper is a critique of the model from a phenomenological perspective. Utilizing insights from Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, I show that models like Alston’s are based on an inadequate notion of perception, which fails to distinguish perception from other modes of intentionality; the result is that even if we assume the mystics have directly experienced God, it is not clear why we should say they have “perceived” God. Then, using a better and richer concept of perception, I show that the mystical experiences under discussion cannot be truly perceptual, because they lack some salient features of perception. The conclusion is that talks of “perceiving God” can only be analogical or metaphorical, but not literal.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-020-00810-8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Philosophy #Religion #God #Epistemology
⬜⬛
A new epistemological case for theism
By CHRISTOPHE DE RAY, King's College London
Abstract
Relying on inference to the best explanation (IBE) requires one to hold the intuition that the world is ‘intelligible’, that is, such that states of affairs at least generally have explanations for their obtaining. I argue that metaphysical naturalists are rationally required to withhold this intuition, unless they cease to be naturalists. This is because all plausible naturalistic aetiologies of the intuition entail that the intuition and the state of affairs which it represents are not causally connected in an epistemically appropriate way. Given that one ought to rely on IBE, naturalists are forced to pick the latter and change their world-view. Traditional theists, in contrast, do not face this predicament. This, I argue, is strong grounds for preferring traditional theism to naturalism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412520000529
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Philosophy #Religion #God #Epistemology #Naturalism #Metaphysics
⬜⬛
The Influence of Your Neighbors’ Religions on You, Your Attitudes and Behaviors, and Your Community
By Daniel V A Olson, Purdue University
Abstract
Weber argued that the predominance of particular religious subcultures in a geographic area can influence general cultural values which, in turn, affect the values, attitudes, and secular behaviors of everyone living in an area. Not until recently have methodological advances and greater access to geographically linked data made it easier for contemporary researchers to reexamine these kinds of questions. After discussing barriers to such research, I review example studies that demonstrate that religious groups that predominate in an area can influence the behavior and attitudes of all people living in that area. Moreover, these influences act upon a broad range of attitudes (e.g., tolerance, trust), behaviors (e.g., divorce), and community-level outcomes (e.g., crime rates, infant and adult mortality rates). Sociologists of religion should expand upon this promising agenda as a way of contributing to the broader discipline of sociology and to general knowledge concerning the influences of religion upon society.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srz001
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Sociology #Religion
⬜⬛
Pascal’s Wager: A Pragmatic Argument for Belief in God
By Liz Jackson, Ryerson University
Link: https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2021/01/04/pascals-wager-a-pragmatic-argument-for-belief-in-god/
----------------------------------------
Tags: #Philosophy #God #Logic
⬜⬛
In this video, Dr. Chad McIntosh (Cornell University) presents 86 (yes, 86) arguments for the existence of God. Each argument is presented in visual form followed by recommended sources for further research. At the end, we discuss what a similar list of arguments for atheism would look like (and what it would imply for the theistic list of arguments).
Link: https://youtu.be/Qi7ANgO2ZBU
------------------------------------------
Tags: #God #Philosophy #Science #Theism #Atheism
⬜⬛
Why the Hardship? Islam, Christianity, and Instrumental Affliction
By Christopher Nicolas Pieper
Abstract
Viewing hardship through the Western tradition of theodicy, Western theologians and philosophers sometimes approach their Muslim neighbors with questions about the Islamic perspective on suffering. But merely by asking about “suffering,” these Western friends already project a theological category foreign to most Muslims, particularly those from a non-Western background. In order for Christian and post-Christian Westerners to understand the Islamic approach to hardship, they must first learn to distinguish between affliction and suffering. This requires a careful look at the creation narratives each tradition tells: for example, does God initiate human affliction? And what does the answer to this question say about the nature of affliction, if God is also good? Answering these queries helps one to distinguish Christian and Islamic responses to catastrophe, pain, and even violence. Furthermore, examining the koranic reply may redirect Western persons to teachings within the biblical tradition, which Christians often overlook or avoid. The instrumental role of affliction is relatively unpopular in the West, but dialogue with Islam uncovers the fact that it is a concept neither alien nor unimportant to biblical teaching. In fact, God’s repurposing of affliction is vital to Christian doctrine. Dialogue with Islam may help to recover this Christian lesson.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2020-0137
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Theodicy #Christianity #Theology
⬜⬛
No Trouble
A Reply to Wielenberg
By William Lane Craig
Talbot School of Theology, Baptist University
Abstract
Eric Wielenberg’s two alleged contradictions in my view of God, time, and creation are easily resolved. The first is dissolved by appreciating that God’s power to create the universe is a modal property which God may possess even if He never in fact exercises that power. The second contradiction evaporates once one adopts a relational view of time.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v4i3.58143
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Kalam #KCA #Philosophy #Time
⬜⬛
Using Wormholes to Solve the Problem of Evil
By Nikk Effingham, University of Birmingham
Abstract
The Multiverse Response to the problem of evil has it that God made our universe because God makes every universe meeting a certain standard. The main problem for that response is that there’s no explanation for why God didn’t just keeping making duplicates of perfect universes. This paper introduces the ‘Multiactualities Response’, which says that God actualises every possible world that meets a certain standard of value. It avoids the corresponding problem about duplication because different propositions must always be true at distinct worlds. The Multiactualities Response nevertheless has its own problem, namely that it requires the possibility of multiple actual worlds. This paper argues that if we consider spacetimes with wormholes, we have good cause to think there can be multiple metaphysically privileged present moments; given a suitable analogy between time and modality, it follows that there can be multiple metaphysically privileged (i.e. actual) worlds. This paper includes an in–depth examination of the metaphysics of both the temporal and modal cases.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v4i3.54993
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #POE #Philosophy #Science #Time
⬜⬛
A theory of sexual revolution: explaining the collapse of the norm of premarital abstinence
By Chien Liu, Wagner College
Abstract
The sexual revolution that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of the most profound social changes during the second half of the twentieth century in America. Before the revolution, there existed a norm proscribing premarital sex (PS norm); premarital sex was not accepted. After the sexual revolution, the PS norm no longer existed; premarital sex became accepted. In the literature on how premarital sex became accepted, little attention is given to the institutional change that transpired—the collapse of a sexual norm. This study specifies one micro-mechanism of this social change. Specifically, adopting methodological individualism and the prisoner's dilemma game, I develop a theory that explains how a technological innovation for contraception triggered a change in individuals' perception of premarital sex, which led to their behavioral change. As a result, premarital sex became accepted, and the norm proscribing premarital sex collapsed. I use General Social Survey data to test the hypothesized micro-mechanism of the institutional change. The empirical analysis supports the hypothesis derived from the theory. Based on the above analyses, I discuss two alternative explanations and the issue of teenage pregnancy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-020-00269-7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Ethics #Sexuality #Modernism #Sociology #Psychology
⬜⬛
The Myth of the Secular
Abstract
In modern Western societies a powerful ideology divided the world into two opposed domains, the religious and the secular. Religion was private; the secular was public and political. As societies modernized, they would become more secular, and religion would gradually lose its remaining public significance. Until quite recently this was the story told in Western social thought. But it no longer seems to fit. Religion, far from fading, has grown ever stronger. And modernization has developed along different lines in different societies
The Myth of the Secular is a 7-part series presented by David Cayley, originally broadcast on IDEAS in 2012.
Link: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-myth-of-the-secular-part-1-1.3135538
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Politics #Secularism #Anthropology #Sociology #Theology #Podcast
⬜⬛
What is a Madhhab? Exploring the Role of Islamic Schools of Law
By Emad Hamdeh, Embry Riddle University
Link: https://yaqeeninstitute.org/emadhamdeh/what-is-a-madhhab-exploring-the-role-of-islamic-schools-of-law
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Law #Shariah #Islam #Fiqh
⬜⬛
TECHNOLOGY, THEOLOGY, AND SPIRITUALITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE
By Antje Jackelén, Lutheran School of Theology
Abstract
Digitalization and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will bring about substantial changes in all aspects of life. This happens in a world marked by the poisonous synergy of five Ps, polarization, populism, protectionism, post‐truth, patriarchy, as well as an ambiguous interplay of secularization and new visibility of religion.
If development of AI is to be beneficial for people and planet a number of challenges must be met. In this regard, religion‐and‐science dialogue needs improvement in making things not only intellectually but also spiritually fit. Ethics should be involved from the beginning rather than being called upon first when problems arise. Faith communities have a prophetical, diaconal, ethical, and theological role.
Based on the characterization of life as a fourfold web of relationality, personal, social, political, as well as global issues are identified and discussed. These include mental health disorders, addiction, manipulation, and self‐exploitation. Reflections on leadership suggest resilience, coexistence, and hope as theological key components for navigating the uncharted realms of the digital age.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12682
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Theology #Religion #Science #AI
⬜⬛
ATHEISM, ATOMS, AND THE ACTIVITY OF GOD: SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN EARLY BOYLE LECTURES, 1692–1707
By Paul C. H. Lim, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Abstract
The last‐half of seventeenth‐century England witnessed an increasing number of works published questioning the traditional notions of God's work of creation and providence. Ascribing agency to matter, motion, chance, and fortune, thinkers ranging from Hobbes, Spinoza, modern‐Epicureans, and other presented a challenge to the Anglican defenders of social and ecclesiastical order. By examining the genesis of the Boyle Lectures that began in 1692 with a bequest from Robert Boyle, we can see that while the Lecturers—three of whom will be examined in detail (Richard Bentley, John Harris, and William Whiston)—assiduously defended classical notions of the God–world relationship, they did so without a great sense of panic or pessimism. This transitional period in the mode of conflict or concord between religion and science sheds interesting lights on matters such as argument from design, biogenesis without purposive, personal agents, and scriptural exegesis and scientific inquiries.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12679
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #History #Religion #Philosophy #Science #Atomism
⬜⬛
Rethinking Islamic Pedagogy: The Interface of Theology and Tafsīr
By Shahin Rahman, University of Warwick
Abstract
This article explores the conception of knowledge in two distinct yet related disciplines of the Islamic sciences–namely, theology and Qurʾānic exegesis. As this article is both a historical and an educational enquiry, it adopts an interdisciplinary approach in offering a critical analysis of the pedagogies through which Muslim scholars attained and transmitted such knowledge during the first few centuries of Islam. Its findings suggest that both disciplines ought to be studied in light of one another in a way that is relevant to the learners’ own contexts. The paper concludes by offering new perspectives in developing curricula for both disciplines in line with educational pedagogic research.
Link: https://doi.org/10.31538/nzh.v4i1.1111
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Pedagogy #Religion #Islam #Theology #Quran
⬜⬛
The Reasons of Atheists and Agnostics for Nonbelief in God’s Existence Scale: Development and initial validation.
By Bradley, David F., University of Toronto
Abstract
Research exploring nonbelievers’ reasons for not believing in the existence of god(s) has focused on theory development. Such efforts are valuable, but may not capture the lived experiences of nonbelievers. The current two studies quantitatively examined nonbelievers’ self-reported reasons for nonbelief through developing the Reasons of Atheists and Agnostics for Nonbelief in God’s Existence Scale (RANGES). We developed an initial pool of 64 items using prior published research, revised by a panel of experts including researchers and thought leaders in nonbelief communities. Both studies included participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Study 1 & 2 Ns = 520 & 369), all of whom reported not believing in god(s). In Study 1, our exploratory factor analysis suggested nine factors across 35 items. In Study 2, we confirmed the nine-factor structure using 38 items (35 from Study 1 plus three new items for better coverage of factors with few items) with adequate fit. Across both studies, the RANGES subscales showed good reliability, convergent validity (e.g., positive correlations with previous lists of reasons for religious doubt), predictive validity (e.g., positive and negative feelings toward God and religion), and discriminant validity (e.g., subscales were not unexpectedly associated with other measures). Our 1-year follow-up with a subset of Study 2 participants (N = 132) found different levels of stability among the RANGES subscales. This measure can promote further understanding the motivations, identities, and experiences of nonbelievers across cultures.
Link: https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/rel0000199
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Psychology #Religion #God #Atheism
⬜⬛
No-Fault Unbelief
By Roberto Di Ceglie, Pontifical Lateran University
Abstract
‘No-fault unbelief’ can be named the view that there are those who do not believe in God through no moral or intellectual fault of their own. This view opposes a more traditional one, which can be named ‘flawed unbelief’ view, according to which religious unbelief signals a cognitive or moral flaw in the non-believer. Since this charge of mental or moral flaw causes a certain uneasiness, I oppose the former view, i.e. ‘no-fault unbelief’, with a strategy that has nothing to do with the latter. I assume that ‘no-fault unbelief’ is correct and show what consequences follow for both unbelievers and believers. I conclude that the assumption in question is superficially beneficial but deeply detrimental to unbelievers, and by contrast, it is superficially detrimental and deeply beneficial to believers.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-020-00761-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Philosophy #Religion #God #Epistemology
⬜⬛
Causal Relations and Abraham’s Dilemma: a Qur’anic Perspective
By Alireza Kazemi, Sharif University of Technology
Abstract
Abraham’s Dilemma is the conjunction of three jointly inconsistent propositions: (i) God’s commands are never morally wrong, (ii) God has commanded Abraham to kill his innocent son, and (iii) killing innocent people is morally wrong. Drawing on an overlooked point from the Qur’an regarding the content of the command as well as a conceptual analysis of intentional action, this paper proposes a novel solution to the dilemma by discarding proposition (ii) in a new way. Current approaches to rejecting proposition (ii) tend to appeal to epistemic failure on the side of Abraham. In my approach, which draws on the so-called accordion effect in intentional action, God’s command is interpreted in such a way that God has not commanded Abraham to kill his son nor has Abraham tried to do so, although the challenging and difficult nature of the test and thus Abraham’s status as the ‘father of faith’ are retained.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-020-00813-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Philosophy #Religion #Quran #Dilemma #Morality
⬜⬛
A Reasonable Little Question: A Formulation of the Fine-Tuning Argument
By Luke A. Barnes, Western Sydney University
Abstract
A new formulation of the Fine-Tuning Argument (FTA) for the existence of God is offered, which avoids a number of commonly raised objections. I argue that we can and should focus on the fundamental constants and initial conditions of the universe, and show how physics itself provides the probabilities that are needed by the argument. I explain how this formulation avoids a number of common objections, specifically the possibility of deeper physical laws, the multiverse, normalisability, whether God would fine-tune at all, whether the universe is too fine-tuned, and whether the likelihood of God creating a life-permitting universe is inscrutable.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3998/ergo.12405314.0006.042
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Science #FTA #God #Multiverse #Physics
⬜⬛
The Prohibition of Riba in Islam
An Evaluation of Some Objections
By M. Umer Chapra, Markfield Institute of Higher Education & Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
Abstract
A number of objections have been raised against the prohibition of riba (interest) in Islam and it has been alleged that a riba-free economy will face so many problems that it may not be able to survive. This paper evaluates the nature and significance of some of the major objections and, in the process, also indicates the rationale behind the prohibition of riba.
Link: https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2812
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Islam #Finance #Philosophy
⬜⬛
Coronavirus and our philosophical question
By Sayyed Hossein Hosseini, George Town University
Abstract
Covid-19 pandemic not only changed the human world but is also changing the world of philosophizing. In the Contemporary philosophical thought, one of the most important methodological – epistemological questions is what the relation between coronavirus and the contemporary human concept, technology, philosophy, and also humanities is. This article discusses whether human is a creature for “the other". (“The other” here means something other than human productions.) Then questions about how coronavirus could create another “the other” for the contemporary human. However, the contemporary human changed to the Corona era human. And because of Technology replacement with “the other”, contemporary human is also changing to “other technology”. And this process can make technology an idol for human being.
As a result, we are in an era which can cause a transition of or transformation in the Contemporary human civilization and Human himself.
Finally, there are two solutions to this global crisis: first of all, "Philosophical thought" with thinking to designing fundamental questions, and secondly, trying to establish the “new civilization”.
Link: https://iranianstudies.org/2020/12/01/islamic-perspective-journal-volume-24-winter-2020-has-been-published-by-lais/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Science #Covid #Philosophy
⬜⬛
Is There Such a Thing as “Religion”? In Search of the Roots of Spirituality
By Bruce Ellis Benson, University of St. Andrews
Abstract
That there exists something like religion seems self-evident. Anthropologists, we are told, have discovered that all cultures have a religion of some kind. But what is “religion”? If we trace the concept to its origins in religio, we see that our current definition of the term is considerably different. The Latin term religio has to do with virtue or fulfilling one’s obligations to one’s family and community. It has nothing immediately to do with gods, the supernatural, and the afterlife. In contrast, “religion” – something to do with a kind of belief or faith – took about a millennium to take shape. At stake here is a distinction that continues to grow in importance with the increasing number of “nones,” people who consider themselves “non-religious” but are sometimes willing to label themselves “spiritual.” Such a distinction is only meaningful to the extent there is a difference. My paper begins by establishing the nature and the scope of the question. Then I consider Husserl’s idea of returning to the origin – the Ursprung. In effect, Husserl’s quest can be considered an archaeology. Yet an archaeology of religion or even “spirituality” turns out to be impossible. In light of that, I ask: Is there something like primordial religion – something that we could likewise experience today? I suggest that we can find it in Plato, Aristotle, and Kant – an awe or wonder in face of the complexity of the universe. William Cantwell Smith speaks of “the archaic meaning of religio as that awe that men felt in the presence of an uncanny and dreadful power of the unknown.” That awe in religio and philosophy seem to be fundamentally the same. But, if that is the case, then the distinction between “religious” and “spiritual” may not have any real basis.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2020-0100
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Spirituality #Philosophy #Theology
⬜⬛
Craig's Contradictory Kalam: Trouble at the Moment of Creation
By Erik Wielenberg, DePauw University
Abstract
William Lane Craig’s much-discussed kalam cosmological argument for God’s existence is intended to provide support for a particular theistic explanation of the origin of the universe. I argue here that Craig’s theistic account of the origin of the universe entails two contradictions and hence should be rejected. The main contribution of the paper is the identification of some relatively straightforward but previously unrecognized problems in Craig’s hypothesis that the beginning of the universe was a temporal effect of a timeless personal cause.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v4i3.55133
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Kalam #KCA #Philosophy #Time
⬜⬛
On the Immorality of Tattoos
By Matej Cíbik, University of Pardubice
Abstract
Tattoos are widely regarded as morally neutral, and the decision to have them as carrying no ethical implications. The aim of this paper is to question this assumption. I argue that (at least some) decisions to have tattoos involve risks that are not merely prudential—they are normative. The argument starts with a thesis that the power we presently have over our lives is constrained by the need to respect our future selves. If we make a discretionary choice that disregards our future interests and preferences, then, under certain circumstances, we can be morally to blame. I argue that certain decisions to get tattoos fit this description. Therefore, getting some tattoos makes us blameworthy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-019-09319-w
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Ethics #Morality #Modernism
⬜⬛
Transforming the Sacred into Saintliness
Reflecting on Violence and Religion with René Girard
By James R. Lewis, University of Tromsø and Margo Kitts, Hawai‘i Pacific University
Abstract
Studies into religion and violence often put religion first. René Girard started with violence in his book Violence and the Sacred and used the Durkheimian term “sacred” as its correlate in his study of early religions. During the unfolding of his theory, he more and more distinguished the sacred from saintliness to address the break that the biblical revelation represented in comparison with early religions. This distinction between the sacred and saintliness resembles Henri Bergson’s complementing Emile Durkheim’s identification of the sacred and society with a dynamic religion that relies on individual mystics. Girard’s distinction also relates to the insights of thinkers like Jacques Maritain, Simone Weil, and Emmanuel Levinas. This Element explores some of Girard’s main features of saintliness. Girard pleaded for the transformation of the sacred into holy, not their separation.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108610384
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Politics #Secularism #Anthropology #Sociology #Terrorism
⬜⬛
How Foreign Institutional Shareholders' Religious Beliefs Affect Corporate Social Performance?
By Xuezhou Zhao, Libing Fang & Ke Zhang, Nanjing University
Abstract
In this paper, we employ the unique qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) scheme in China to investigate whether and how the different religious beliefs in the areas where foreign institutional shareholders from are associated with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of domestic firms. After controlling for other determinants, we find robust evidence that firms with QFII investors from areas with stronger religious beliefs have better CSR performance than those that do not have these beliefs'. This association is more pronounced when a QFII has a shorter holding period, has a relatively large ownership in the firm, or is a more committed investor in China. The above moderating results show that the stock preference may be a channel through which religious QFIIs affect firms’ CSR performance. Our paper contributes to the growing body of literature on CSR and on the effects of investors’ religious beliefs. It also offers useful guidance to listed companies, institutional investors, regulators, and other stakeholders.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04705-z
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #Religion #Corporate #Ethics
⬜⬛
“And the Male Is Not like the Female”: Sunni Islam and Gender Nonconformity
By Mobeen Vaid, Hartford Seminary and Dr. Waheed Jensen
Link: https://muslimmatters.org/2020/12/30/and-the-male-is-not-like-the-female-sunni-islam-and-gender-nonconformity-part-2/
▪️PDF version in the comment section
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tags: #LGBT #Anthropology #Islam #Gender #Transgenderism
