Facing Hardships
Asynchronous Session
“Knowledge, Experience, and Love”: The Contribution of Spirituality to Women Exiting Street Prostitution and Substance Use View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nili Gesser
Women in street prostitution are a highly marginalized and stigmatized population. When they wish to exit prostitution, they generally have few resources available to them. One such resource, which has been little explored in the literature, is the support from a higher power, described ad God or spirituality. The current research addressed this gap by interviewing 29 women who were formerly engaged in street prostitution and substance use about their views on God and spirituality. The analysis of these in-depth interviews demonstrates that women receive support from a higher power in the form of love, hope, and a sense of purpose; advice via prayer; and divine inspiration. I argue that leaning on spirituality can help women exiting street prostitution practice positive religious coping. The implications are that programs which assist women exiting street prostitution should encourage women to find their higher power and engage with it in their exiting journeys.
Ignatian-Inspired Pedagogies to Build Community and Collaboration for the Common-Good View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katia Moles
This research examines how team-based pedagogies may benefit from being centered in the five key elements of the Ignatian Pedagogy Paradigm (IPP): context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. Examining evidence gathered from across a variety of classes in which the proposed pedagogies were deployed, the project shows how integrating the IPP into team-based learning introduces students to transformational practices both during their time together, and more importantly, as lifelong practices in the years following graduation. As young people today are searching for meaning, spiritual frameworks and practices, such as the IPP, can be incorporated into team-based learning pedagogies to meet student needs. The fruits of such frameworks and practices include helping students to: become more inclusive, respectfully communicate across differences, expand and challenge perspectives, deepen understanding their own assumptions and implicit biases, clarify values, and increase their desire to act collaboratively and ethically in service of the common good.
A Stranger in One's Faith: Ritual Desecration and Reverse Ritual Purification in Religious Communities and Society View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paul Shockley, Raul Prezas
In the Alfred Schutzian tradition, the social reality of ritual purification has been described as a coping strategy for reality maintenance and mental hygiene whereby individuals reconcile their encounter with a stranger and their official reality. Integrating the disciplines of philosophy and sociology to answer this question: What about those who are considered a “stranger” in their faith community? Given the hardships that transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people may encounter, “unsuccessful socialization” does not offer the best account of the challenges, obstacles, and sufferings they face when marginalized by others. Advancing Schutzian research, we offer two terms that better unfold their situated realities, namely, ritual desecration and reverse ritual purification. Using a dialectical framework, a social and interpersonal conflict occurs between ritual purification and ritual desecration. Consequently, creation of two personal iterations emerges, namely, those who experience ritual desecration by remaining in their home environment and those who migrate to another community for the possibility of acceptance and belonging, hence, reverse ritual purification. Therefore, we explore ritual desecration and reverse ritual purification given the struggles TGNC people face in religious communities.
Debt Forgiveness, Religious Principles, and the Path Towards Alleviating Poverty: A Multifaith Approach to Sovereign Debt Relief View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Charles Ho Wang Mak
This essay delves into the intricate interplay between religious principles and debt forgiveness for nations weighed down by crippling debt burdens. It explores the possibility of incorporating these principles into international law and policy and analyses their potential impact on ongoing and future debt relief programs. With a comprehensive examination of the ethical foundations of debt forgiveness in major world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, this essay dissects the fundamental moral imperatives that underpin the movement towards debt relief. Moreover, it underscores the link between sovereign debt and poverty, highlighting the urgent need to prioritise the interests of vulnerable populations in any debt relief program. By taking a multi-faith approach to incorporating religious principles into global law and policy on debt relief, this essay examines the benefits and challenges of this approach in a world characterised by legal pluralism. It aims to demonstrate the potential of religious teachings to inform and shape international law and policy on sovereign debt relief, thus creating a more equitable and humane global economic system that places the well-being and dignity of all individuals at the centre of its priorities.
