THE MASS MEDIA AND VIOLENT CONFLICTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Author(s): Collins G. Adeyanju / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2018

Mass media have been a critical weapon of warfare since the cold war, and even more recently, the powerful intrusion of the new media: transformed the landscape in terms of reach and influence. Its role can be both constructive and deconstructive. The Rwanda genocide, armed violence in Nigeria and Kenya, and Balkan wars has questioned its roles, powers and ethical responsibilities in violent conflict circumstances. In these cases the mass media played a poisonous role. Although establishing a causal relationship between mass media and framing of opinion, emotion and beliefs that steams violent conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa is neither linear nor clear. However, this paper underscores mass media’s compelling influence on how perception in fragile armed conflict environment of Africa is developed. It is not only used as an effective propaganda machine for promoting regime defense, building resistant movement, but also transforming the political actor’s parochial interest into people’s interest.

The measures religious cults took in front of COVID-19: weakness or diligence?

Author(s): Cosmin Tudor Ciocan / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

While spreading wide-world, the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 made changes in many social departments of our society on levels we never thought about and messes with all our cultural habits. Thus, we witnessed that the religious denominations took into consideration changes without precedent in their cultic history and thus dogmatic as well concerning the actual threat of Coronavirus. We saw for example the Roman-Catholic Church who suspended all masses here and there [1] at first or banned the crucial gestures in rituals [to suspend the distribution of Holy Communion from the Chalice [2], to distribute the Eucharist preferably into the hands of the faithful, and to avoid the physical contact from a peaceful handshake, to forego ash crosses on forehead, to suspend placing water in holy water fonts at the entrance of churches, that the churchgoers “refrain” from kissing or touching the cross for veneration, or even cancellation of masses]. We witnessed Buddhist temples and Protestant churches around Korea [at first] and beyond that have also suspended religious gatherings, and so on. In my case, the Romanian Orthodox Church did the same thing [3], but in a controversial way, firstly making some recommendations for its believers [e.g. not to kiss public icons in Churches, but their indoor ones, and receive Holy Communion with teaspoons for single-use]; afterward same Church reconsidered these recommendations and withdrew its decision [perhaps at the pressure of civil fundamentalists]. How can we qualify all these measures and, moreover, the withdrawal on behalf of religious believers, as weakness, populism, diligence, assuming the human limits, or...something else? What would be the correct and coherent answer religion(s) should assume in this

The Middle East Cold War: Iran-Saudi Arabia and the Way Ahead

Author(s): Jugoslav Jozić,Athina Tzemprin,Henry Lambare / Language(s): English / Issue: 04+05/2015

Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are two of the Middle East’s regional powers. The rivalry between these two countries has long been a determinant factor in the shaping of geopolitics in the Persian Gulf. In this complex and conflicting relation their neighboring countries have often been the battlefield of proxy wars. The Arab Spring has brought dramatic changes in the Middle East. By elevating sectarian violence to an unprecedented level, the already tense religious fragmentation of the Arab countries was further polarized. This paper will first present a review of the factors underpinning the contest between the two countries, and after that, the current developments and the ways they impact the competition for regional supremacy in the Persian Gulf.

THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE AND THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE

Author(s): Ain Riistan / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

In describing church-state relations, the concept of symphonia is used in Orthodox tradition. It refers to the loyal and mutual cooperation between these two distinctive institutions for the sake of the people, who are simultaneously members of the church and subjects or citizens of the state2. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has addressed questions related to this concept in a document called “The Basis of the Social Concept”3, officially approved by the Church in August 20004. The leader of the committee was Patriarch Kirill (Gundiaev), who was the head of the Department for External Church Relations at that time5. This document lists sixteen areas of church-state co-operation. The first three are: (a) peace-making on international, interethnic and civic levels and promoting mutual understanding and co-operation among people, nations and states; (b) concern for the preservation of morality in society; (c) spiritual, cultural, moral and patriotic education and formation. This is followed by a list of areas in which the clergy and canonical church structures cannot support the state or cooperate with it.

THE NARRATIVE OF POLITICAL ISLAM: CONSTITUTIONALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Author(s): Nikola Gjorshoski / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2018

One of the essential postulates of political orientation and determination for the building of stable societies and a functioning political system in its content recognizes and imposes the need to examine the relation of relevant political actors to constitutionalism and human rights as concepts and preoccupations for any modern society. Also, constitutionalism and human rights and freedoms as its inseparable category manifest the political values and the corpus of essential and common political goals and commitments of a particular political community. Political Islam as an ideological political subject has its own sources and a valuable orientation framework through which prisms and perceptions can be interpreted or extracted by individual axiological determinants to certain issues. This paper analyzes exactly the relations of political Islam with constitutionalism and human rights, and similarly to the so-called framework it draws attention to the concepts of power, the mechanisms of control and compliance with the Sharia regulations. At the same time, the importance of human rights and freedoms in the Islamic narrative, their nature and scope, as well as the differences with the western established documents in this area are emphasized and analyzed.

The National Revolutionary Party and the Religious Question

Author(s): Roberto J. Blancarte,Monica C. Veloz Leija / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

The National Revolutionary Party was founded in 1929 to win elections and to resolve conflicts between different political groups after the Mexican Revolu tion. But it was also created in order to face the opposition of the Catholic hier archy to the Constitution of 1917 and the measures that the revolutionary gov ernments had established to “defanatize” the Mexican people and to limit the social influence and therefore the political power of the Catholic Church. In the past decades nevertheless, the PRI has evolved from initial anti-clerical and even anti-religious positions towards more respectful positions of religious freedom, in line with the logic of a State that considers itself to be plural and respectful of differences. On the other hand, party authorities do not always respect their liberal and revolutionary tradition, the secularism of the state and the principle of separation that guarantees the moral autonomy of individuals against corpo rations. At times, the search for legitimacy generates political dependence and eventually leads to the imposition of the creeds and dogmas of majorities with respect to minorities of all kinds consequently eliminating the free will of broad sectors of the population that do not share those principles and expect the pro tection and guarantee of their rights by the secular State.

The New Totalitarian Society

Author(s): Emil Vlajki / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2011

The new totalitarian society is a euphemized expression denoting the New World Order, which in itself denotes the American globalization. The underpinning of this mindset is rationality, which is characterristic of Western civilization. Christianity engendered rationality by introducing it through St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and especially formal logic. Since it is obvious that religion and logic cannot ultimately be harmonized, this combination has proven lethal in many cases throughout history. For instance, the Inquisition, which, contrary to what happened at scholastic universities, severely berated rational thinking in practice. Catholicism helped carry out genocide against the Jews, and Orthodoxy is in a certain manner tied in with Stalinism. The new totalitarian society is anchored in American Protestantism. On the whole, Christian rationalism is a sphere of science, techniques and technologies efficiently employed to promote the West to the status of a society of plenty and the conception of human rights, which turn into their opposite and irrational behavior of the worst kind. An example of such inhumanity is the attack against Yugoslavia/Serbia in 1999.

The Orthodox Church and the totalitarian regime in the post-war Crimea: a survival strategy of archbishops Joasaph (Zhurmanov) and Luka (Voyno-Yasenetsky)

Author(s): Ivan Petrov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

The Crimean peninsula has always been not only a territory of acute controversy between the states but also a bone of contention for different church jurisdictions and denominations. This fact was proved by the historical events of the previous century. At different times the following groups were standing against each other in the Crimea: Renovationists and Sergians, Non-Commemorationists, Ukrainian Autocephalists and even members of the Romanian Orthodox Church. However, the representatives of civil administration played the leading part in these controversies, as they had authority to allow or forbid religious activities on the peninsula. Apparently, each political actor had its favourites in the religious community, who were used to transmit to people the political stance of the Soviet authorities.

The Orthodox Understanding of War and Violence

Author(s): Danijela Milošević / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2017

The question of the influence of religion, i.e. the teachings of certain religions regarding the understanding of certain cultural, social and political phenomena, either individually or in cooperation, is of significant importance particularly when those teachings refer to the manifestations of political violence. Of fundamental importance is also a proper insight into the similarities and differences which exist in defining the authority these understandings impose, as well as the sources from which these interpretations are derived. In this paper, the author analyzes the Orthodox understanding of political violence and how it manifests itself, relying on the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church whose primary sources are the Holy Bible and canonical law.

The Ottoman Policy Towards Church Construction: The Issue of Church Construction and Restoration in Antakya (Antioch) in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Author(s): Ali Çapar / Language(s): English / Issue: 12/2018

The rules of restoring or building a church in the lands of Islam were determined by Islamic law. It is believed that the Ottoman authorities followed these rules and applied some restrictions concerning construction and restoration of worship areas worship areas of non-Muslims. However, this study suggests that, in some cases, Ottoman pragmatism, the domestic and the international economic and political developments, and the Ottoman reforms, especially the Tanzimat Reforms between 1839-1876, forced the state to overlook the Shari’a rules regarding church restoration and construction. Besides these factors, as in the case of Antakya (Antioch), regional political developments that was the control of the city by the governor of Egypt between 1832-1840 and the Muslim reaction to church construction or restoration attempts of non-Muslims were determinant in church construction and restoration process.

The Oxford Movement’s Arguments for the Union of Church and State

Author(s): Piotr Musiewicz / Language(s): English / Issue: 13/2014

The nineteenth century Oxford Movement, formed mostly by Anglican clergymen, is known to have produced the Anglo-Catholic wing in the Church of England; nonetheless, it also had an important political dimension, ignored by scholars for a long time. One of its core political ideas was a conviction about the necessity of a certain type of union of Church and State. I shall focus on seven of the arguments that the Oxford Movement presented for such a model, which have been reconstructed after examining its writings. The first argument shows the Movement’s adherence to historical English patterns of the union of Church and State. The second presents some of the criticism of a model of separation. The third and fourth outline two important theories of the Oxford Movement: the incorporation of the Church into the State and the theological superiority of the Church over the State. The fifth is in fact a set of arguments for assessing various historical political models and events. The next argument refers to Richard Hooker’s conditions for the union of Church and State, while the last reconstructs the Oxford Movement’s way of thinking on relations between morality, religion and politics, and therefore the philosophical justification of their political idea.

The participation of Russian Orthodox Church in public and social life of the Russian Federation

Author(s): Natalia Alekandrovna Schelchkova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

Until 1917, Russia was considered as a country with an Orthodox tradition. Orthodoxy was the domi-nant confession, but not the only one. With time, the role of the church in the political life of the coun-try had been constantly changing, but the church had always been taking a direct part in it. After 1917 atheism began playing the dominant role in the country - in fact, it became the new Soviet religion. Nowadays, when Russia has begun to return to its origins, against this background, the Orthodox Church yielded to temptation of power. This is a very strong thirst, which is extremely difficult to resist, because the main political figures of the country are trying to popularize Orthodoxy, and the leading television channels show their visits to church services. In essence, visiting a temple by any person is his own business, this should not be a cause for PR for politicians or the Church. If Russia is a secular state, the conditions should be the same for all.

THE PEOPLE’S PRINCESS: VERNACULAR RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE MOURNING FOR DIANA

Author(s): Marion Bowman / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2001

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on August 31st 1997, led to extraordinary activity by millions of people as they reacted to the news in unexpected and seemingly unprecedented ways. Among the most fascinating phenomena were the many notes which were left for, about and to Diana, at the many ‘shrines’ which sprang up around Britain. This paper will explore the multivalent nature of these notes – the extent to which they reflected folk belief about sainthood, heaven and divinity; the extent to which they were political comment veiled in the conventions of mourning; the extent to which they were either magnifications of common vernacular practice or a new development within it. These remarkable documents were both personal and communal, public and private; it could be argued that they give a unique insight into popular religiosity in Britain at the turn of the Millennium.

The Place of Religion in the American Public Square: Christianity, Civil Religion, and the Enduring Contribution of Richard John Neuhaus

Author(s): Wilfred M. McClay / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2011

The Polish Church and the “Thaw” of 1956

Author(s): Michal Wenklar / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

The process of “thaw”, developing in Poland after the death of Joseph Stalin, for a long time did not include the aspect of religious freedom. Demands to restore the possibility of free worship, teaching religious education, and, above all, the release of the Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, were always present in the society, as evidenced by school strikes or slogans appearing during the Poznań events of June 1956. The changes of October 1956, initiated by the 8th plenary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party, led to an improvement in state-Church relations and implementation of the most important postulates of the Church, including the return of the Primate to Warsaw, the reinstatement of religious education in schools, and the return of chaplains to prisons and hospitals. The authorities, however, did not treat the above as part of a binding agreement. As early as in the 1957 and 1958 activities restricting the functioning of the Church began. The symbolic markings of the process were the attack on the Primate’s Institute at Jasna Góra in 1958 and the withdrawal of consent for the construction of the church in Kraków’s Nowa Huta. Finally, in 1961, religious education was removed from schools, and in 1962 a separate department of the Security Service was established for the sole purpose of the fight against religion. Although the practices of the Stalinist period did not make their comeback, the 1956 thaw appeared to be only a short episode in a constant conflict between the communist state and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Political Significance of the Papacy in Modern Times

Author(s): Anca Popescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 06+07/2005

L'article examine les dimensions politiques des programmes des Papes au XIX-ème siècle. On attire l'attention sur trois aspects importants de la papauté à cette période: le pontificat de Pie IX (1846-1878), traversé par les révolutions nationales et libérales de 1848-1849 dans toute l'Europe et dominé par les événements dramatiques qui conduiront en une décennie (1859-1870), et caractérisé par la chute de l'édifice de l'État ecclésiastique, et puis le pontificat de Léon XIII (1878-1903) qui a marqué au contraire un renouveau de la culture catholique avant le pontificat de Pie X (1903-1914) et l'éclatement de la crise moderniste qui ne se traduisent pas par un nouveau raidissement.

The politics of self-identity in the Balkans. The role of church-state relations in forming a new com-union

Author(s): Anca Parmena Olimid / Language(s): English / Issue: 29/2011

This paper aims at identifying the main talking points of the Balkans collective identity assuming the hypothesis that recognizes its character of a unique phenomenon. The orientation of the paper towards a broader context of scientific analysis allows the possibility of the avoidance of a political, historical, legal, and not least, religious determinism focused on the year 1989: the moment of the collapse of the “communist bloc”. The working hypothesis starts from the observation attributing to the changes of the social practices. In this situation, the paper allows a detailed exposition of the theoretical and practical elements of the evolution and role of Church-State relations in forming a collective identity in the Balkans. As to the structural dimension of the political myth-making the analysis converges towards the acceptance of the following components: social practices and relations, national self-conscience and minority condition, religious freedom and migration experience.

The Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey – The Legal Oddity

Author(s): Katalin Siska / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

In Turkey, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet Işleri Başkanligi referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 in article 136 of the Constitution of Turkey by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. According to the Article 136 „The Presidency of Religious Affairs, which is within the general administration, shall exercise its duties prescribed in its particular law, in accordance with the principles of secularism, removed from all political views and ideas, and aiming at national solidarity and integrity.” The official website of the Diyanet states: “It is obvious that, in any case, a corporal identity is needed to carry out religious affairs pertaining to faith, which is an indispensable element of social life (…) that stem from the own tradition and culture of the country. (…) As well as the affairs concerning the religion of Islam, which is religion of majority, the Ottoman Empire conducted religious affairs of minorities in a sense of public service”. The Presidency regulates religious affairs, yet does it really serve the principle of secularism in Turkey for more than 80 years? This clear paradox was the main reason of my choice of subject in this paper where my aim to map the legal basis, main principles and foreign policies of this Office.

The Protestant Christianity and the Political Modernity

Author(s): Stelian Manolache / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

The occasion of 500 years from the beginning of the Protestant Reformation – an event of special importance for the central and western Europe – marked decisively the development of the western civil society in the following centuries, representing a reason for reflection and debate on the place and role of the Church in the ampler process of modernisation started in the 16th century.In the Germany of the year 1517, the thesis belonging Martin Luther on the religious consciousness and freedom from the perspective of the public mentality led to the beginning of the later political events,which has as consequences a series of discussions/polemics on the new problem of the relation between the Church and the State and on the role of the modern mentality in this relation. From this perspective, we aim to commemorate the event with an investigation on the evolution and the content of the relations of power between Catholicism and Protestantism, and also an analysis of the radical formulas, of the manner in which the states, on one side, and the Church, on the other side, understood to cooperate, cohabitate and confront each other.

THE REGULATORY FUNCTION OF RELIGION IN SOCIAL CONTROL.

ENLIGHTENMENT CONCEPTS

Author(s): Ryszard Stefański / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2013

Andrzej Wierciński (1930–2003) wrote that the period Enlightenment (he did not use the term, however) saw the separation of philosophy and religion as a consequence of the development of empirical sciences, mathematics and logic. The rationalised philosophical world-model was advanced to the rank of an ICS [Ideological Control Subsystem]. Its institutional carriers were bourgeois groups and political parties which caused the first breakdown in the feudal system during the French and American Revolution.