Contemporary Views
Asynchronous Session
Featured Trauma Informed Spiritual Practices View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jesse Eugene Herriott
Trauma informed spiritual practice embraces the viewpoint that participants in small communities of learning and development such as faith communities, schools, religious institutions, and families have different needs. In a post-COVID society, research has shown that anxiety has seem to risen to all time highs in America. What may be equally true is more people are finally becoming aware that engaging the world requires an understanding of the needs of the communities one may find themselves belonging to. Touch, hugs, and direct contact in interpersonal relationships within communities should be re-examined to include a strong awareness of consent at the initial point of contact and throughout the period of engagement- from hello to goodbye. The likelihood of triggering unwanted feelings of anxiety and social awkwardness forces additional self-regulation in an extroverted world are strong, even though hugs, direct conversation both in person and through indirect, and normal greeting exercises have been considered appropriate methods of engaging known and unknown individuals. COVID protocols have sparked a new interest in how to engage communities in a world where the variety of psychological experiences and trauma are diverse. Therefore it is essential to explore the personality and psychological needs of the individuals that make up a community at the onset of the initial encounter, regardless if there is a common relationship between those that are attempting to conduct a standard greeting.
Spirituality in Times of COVID-19: Impacts of Online Engagement View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Siobhan Bygate
Has engagement with online Sufi meditation improved a sense of mental well-being and spiritual connection under COVID-19 and what are the social implications? The paper showcases a multi-cultural study across four countries (Belgium, France, Mexico & UK) between October 2020 to December 2021. The results contribute to the academic debate within sociological interpretations and definitions of the ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’ dimensions of the personal sphere and the impacts of this in wider social life and wellbeing. The study and its data are contextualised against each individual country’s socio-political culture in order to draw inferences about emerging social change in secular or post secular society in the area of engagement with spirituality. This process is valuable because of the implications the results carry for the expression of spiritual interest and need in wider society and its connection to issues of well-being and spiritual connection. The study is informed in part by a previous psychological focussed American study on Christian engagement (Webb, Toussaint and Dula (2013;2014), building on the Allport and Ross (1967) and will see if this can usefully inform a sociological understanding of a multi-cultural and multi-national pilot study within Islam (specifically Sufism), and thereafter what this tells us about the real nature of post-secular societies who no longer have a determinant religious allegiance, but which may have large numbers of people engaging in spiritual searching. How are people now identifying their spirituality (theistic, ritualistic or existential?). What are the implications of this shift in society?
The U.S. Military Chaplaincy Triumphant in Court: The Implications of a Lower Court Case on American Understandings of Religious Freedom
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jessica Sitek
This project re-evaluates the 1985 Katcoff v Marsh U.S. court case to consider the constitutionality of the chaplaincy and issues of separation of church and state. Although the U.S. Department of Defense won this lower court case, as I will show, this legal challenge to the chaplaincy compelled the military to radically reframe the role of the chaplaincy. According to this ruling, chaplains were to ensure the free exercise of religion by American soldiers wherever they might be deployed. As I argue, this marked the beginning of a radical revision of how the First Amendment and its Free Exercise Clause had been understood. By placing this ruling in the context of the history of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and some key free exercise cases from the 19th-21st centuries, I make clear the significance of this case. I demonstrate that what changed with the Katcoff decision include: (1) a shifting emphasis in first amendment jurisprudence to emphasize free exercise over strict separation, (2) that Katcoff provided an innovative reading of the First Amendment religion clauses, and (3) the impact of Katcoff on the role of the military chaplaincy and broader cultural understandings of religious freedom. In so doing, I demonstrate how the Katcoff case is part of a legal legacy that has produced a form of religious freedom that now privileges, contrary to its stated goal, a limited expression of religiosity while enabling the right to religion to trump other civil rights in the U.S.
The Persuasive Power of the Biblical Metanarrative of Fall and Condemnation in Protestant Sermons: Whoever Believes in Him Is Not Condemned View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Martin Adam
Protestant sermons typically rely on the foundational biblical metanarrative (i.e., the doctrinal quartet of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Consummation) to convey moral and spiritual messages. Previous studies have explored the persuasive techniques within religious discourse and the impact of biblical narratives on audience persuasion. However, it seems that there may be a gap in our current understanding of how the 'grand narrative' of Fall (and Condemnation), as one component of the metanarrative, is strategically employed in Protestant sermons and its alignment with classical rhetorical appeals and fear-induction. This paper seeks to explore the rhetorical strategies employed by Protestant preachers in using this metanarrative as a persuasive tool in their sermons. By examining the interplay of Aristotelian appeals—logos, ethos, and pathos—this paper aims to shed light on how the theological narrative shapes and potentially enhances the effectiveness of persuasive communication in Protestant preaching. The study employs a qualitative approach, analysing a corpus of scripted Protestant sermons where the metanarrative of Fall and Condemnation is prominently featured.
Supplementation and Modification of Human Needs Hierarchy: An Islamic Perspective
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yahya Alnahdi
The aim of this study is to emphasize the human need for religion since it determines purpose in life. The study is inspired by one of the Quranic surah, the Surah Quraish, which includes basic human needs. We endeavor to display this surah as a hierarchy of human needs from an Islamic perspective, benefiting from previous studies conducted in associated fields such as the impact of life in modern societies, and the impact of the religious void on human beings in such societies. Furthermore, the study clarifies positive impacts of religion on human life in terms of intellectual, psychological, and physical aspects. The study sheds light on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is considered one of the most prominent hierarchies in human needs theories. It focuses on Maslow’s exclusion of religion as one of the basic human needs, because the authors of this study believe that such exclusion results in an inability to control the other intellectual, psychological, and physical needs. The study ascertained in its conclusion the value of religion as a fundamental factor in approaching self-realization, finding purpose in life, and in understanding the aim of The Creator in creating humankind. It also proposes that a hierarchy of human needs should incorporate a spiritual aspect as a fundamental need that people must seek and adhere to in order to fulfill their basic needs, thus ensuring wellbeing. We emphasize the need of further research that compares the importance of the spiritual aspect to people from different religions.
