Evolving Communities (Asynchronous - Online Only)
Featured Women as Community Developers: A Case of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe Women Projects View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Simbarashe Munamati
The study aimed to investigate the extent and impact of the contributions of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) women towards the community development discourse in Zimbabwe. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study research design using in-depth interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions, and document analysis of the RCZ women projects' minutes over a period of a year. The study draws on feminist liberation theologies as a lens to understand the extent and impact of the RCZ women in the community development discourse in Zimbabwe. Preliminary findings suggest that RCZ women are a force to reckon with as they have proved to be critical players in promoting community development in Zimbabwe although they face financial support. The study recommends the RCZ church craft a robust community development policy that will work as the engine for all church-related community development efforts.
Spirituality, Morality, and Social Order View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mark Webb
In order for people to live together in a minimally functioning society, they have to have some ends in common, which implies that they have to have some agreement about what is valuable. It is often claimed that religion is the basis of morality, so there can be no agreement about morality unless there is agreement about religion, but this view is generally recognized to be a mistake. But perhaps something like religious belief is necessary. The word ‘spirituality’ is often used to describe an attitude or orientation that is on a continuum with religiosity, but falls short of commitment to any particular religion. The question of this paper is this: is spirituality necessary for moral commitment, and so for social order, even if religion is not? The general concept of spirituality is related to the concept of religion, but is not quite the same thing. It is, at a first approximation, something to do with spirits. This paper considers a few possibilities of what spirituality might be, in order of decreasing similarity to religion, and considers to what extent they are necessary for moral commitment, and so for good social order. They are: 1) belief in God without commitment to any specific religion; 2) belief in a non-physical, supernatural order; 3) Belief that there is something more important than human beings, to which they should subordinate themselves. It then argues that only the third is necessary for moral commitment, and explains why.
Reformulation of Religious Concepts in Post-9/11 Islamic Peace Initiatives View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nadia Hindi
This paper examines the relation between two concepts and ideas related to religious pluralism in Islamic tradition that take part of the contemporary Islamic narratives and representation of Islam, such as umma (community) and ‘ahd/‘aqd (pact/contract) through the study of three transnational Islamic initiatives for peace and tolerance that took place after the New York´s Twin Towers attacks in September 11th 2001 and the ensuing War on Terror: the Amman Message in 2004, Mardin Conference in 2010 and Marrakesh Declaration in 2016. The aim of this study is exploring and reflecting on the potentiality and limitation of these discourses in building sustainable and peaceful societies in majority Islamic countries and its relation to the West, taking into consideration the global political context.
The Russian Public Image of Orthodox Christian Communities during the 2020 Lockdown View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Liubov Klepikova
The COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown have been important challenges for the society worldwide. In Russia, in circumstances of permanent fear, religious communities and their attitudes toward lockdown have become serious matters for the rest of society. Individuals, groups, and media have accused religious communities of creating danger for society by not following anti-epidemic measures. We investigated the perception of Russian Orthodox Christian communities' attitude toward the lockdown in the secular milieu, and in the Orthodox-Christian milieu. We conducted the study from March to May of 2020, the first two months of lockdown in Russia. We analyzed Russian-speaking media-resources about the believers' attitude during the spring 2020 lockdown; comments posted in social media groups; and interviews with clergymen. In all of these sources we searched for information about how believers/secular representatives evaluated the danger of COVID-19, their attitudes toward lockdown, and how they described the actions of other believers/secular authorities. The results of the study consist in the distinguishing two main narratives. The “secular” narrative represents the believers as one homogenous group. The second, “inner-church”, has three different forms: the “Christianization” of the lockdown, temporary loyalty to lockdown measures, and protesting against the lockdown in religious institutions. In the circumstances of social alarm provoked by the COVID-19 lockdown, members of religious communities have created different social strategies regarding how they should perceive lockdown and the situation around COVID-19.
