The Nature, Philosophy, and Sustaining Factors of the Theology of Wealth in Africa： Theological Reflections

This paper is a theological reflection on the theology of wealth in Africa--its nature, philosophy, and sustaining factors. Through the methodology of theological reflections, the paper finds out that the theology of wealth, though difficult to describe, is sustained on the African continent by economic hardship, the influence of some preachers of the theology of wealth, and the availability of improved facilities for disseminating the content of the theology of wealth. It also finds out that the entire philosophy of the theology of wealth is biblically, theologically, and ethically deficient. Biblically, it adapts parts of scripture to suit its teachings. Theologically, it puts forth viewpoints that are foreign to theological thought. Ethically, it is a means of exploiting congregants. The paper concludes with a recommendation that the content and nature of the theology of wealth must be highlighted and thoroughly explained to both clergy and membership of different denominations so that all will be safeguarded against the impact of this false gospel on their lives.

The Islamic Religion in Course Curriculums of High School History Textbooks in the Republic of Macedonia

History textbooks can and primarily should contribute to the strengthening of students’awareness of universal human values.However,history textbooks can also deepen the divisions,prejudices,and uncritical attitudes,contrary to the goals of education.The youth population,which is still building and creating their point of view towards the world is the main group in the education process.The learning period,in the elementary,as well as in the secondary education is of utmost importance for the development of every human.To that end,history,through the contents of the past largely shapes our perceptions of every individual,ourselves,and the others.Since we are living in a multiethnic and multi-confessional society,I have decided to conduct an analysis of the teaching contents of high school textbooks related to religion.Another reason for the analysis is the role of religion in the formation of Balkan nations,which have made it one of the key elements of their national identities.It is often given the role of raising and strengthening the national awareness,patriotism,as well as the country homogeneity,which most often leads to forming prejudices,divisions,and discrimination towards people of minority religions.The large volume of content related to the religion,and also the mere fact that Muslims are the second largest religion group in the population,I have decided to analyze the contents which are related only to the Islamic religion.The goal is to look for both the positive and negative sides of those contents in history textbooks in secondary schools,which are backed by state institutions that are supposed to take care of the development of competitive,creative,progressive,and ethically formed human potential.The critical review will give an additional impulse to the efforts of eliminating those parts of the teaching contents that create divisions and prejudices,especially in history textbooks,so that its studying can become the key factor in the building of trust between people of different religions.

A second thought on religionary theme in Updike＇s works

John Updike is a copious writer having a great influence on contemporary American literary history, whose artistic vision is mainly focused on the daily life of American middle class and their living conditions. The paper discusses the theme of religion in Updike＇s works from the perspectives of religion and science. It also analyzes the diversification of religion and summarizes the relationship between religion and the worldly life in America in the 20th century.

New Perspective for the Philosophy of Religion: New Era Theory, Religion and Science

In this article,author expressed the meaning of“belief”,possible effective factors in human life,and how these factors can be effective on person and/or communities.With this respect,the meaning of religion,the possible interaction and relation between religion and science evaluated.42 past/present theories of religion and evaluation of the past/present works of the 87 philosophers of religion are explained.Author considered new synthesis(R-Synthesis),and also new era philosophy,new and re-constructed branches of philosophy,and some systems/constructions to express the new perspective for philosophy of religion.Author applied 27(+)possible definitive/certain result cases of the synthesis for R-Religion discipline specifically,and did the followings under new perspective:(i)eliminated some religious subjects,(ii)unified some religious subjects,(iii)modified some religious subjects,(iv)united some religious subjects in upper phase,(v)separated some religious subject,(vi)defined all religious subjects under one framework,(vii)integrated all religious subjects,(viii)defined new religious subjects,(ix)re-defined some religious subjects,(x)removed some religious subjects and put new religious subjects instead,(xi)added some religious subjects,(xii)kept/protected some religious subjects,(xiii)proposed progression for religious subjects,(xiv)changed the priority of some religious subjects,(xv)increased the importance of some religious subjects,(xvi)strengthened the ethics,(xvii)integrated philosophy branches under one framework,(xviii)others.Some of the purposes of this article are:(i)to define new synthesis method,(ii)to define good and/or correct new perspective and structure for philosophy of religion,science of religion,theories of religion,and related subjects,(iii)to extend the definition/limits of philosophy of religion with new perspective,(iv)others.As result of the synthesis,new perspective for philosophy of religion explained by considering the following concepts/sections:(a)theories of religion,(b)17 upper constructional philosophies and philosophy of religion,(c)eight complementary branches of philosophy of religion,(d)14 lower constructional philosophies and philosophy of religion,(e)science of religion,(f)new theory of religion and its relations with other disciplines.Author defined New Era Theory,New Era Religion,New Era Belief,Progressive Religion and their relations with other religions,beliefs,religious/non-religious movements,and the relation with other theories of religion.Also,power authorities and functional position levels in the New Era Belief,and Religion of God,Knowledge of God/gods,Nature of God/gods concepts are explained generally/specifically.

Mark Twain's Inner Collision between Science and Religion——A reading of Twain's “The Diary of Adam and Eve”

In"The Diary of Adam and Eve",Mark Twain shows the life of the first human couple partly according to the Biblical story.But his writing is not exactly the same with the original record of the Bible.This paper attempts to analyze the reasons that account for Twain’s treatment of the Bible story from the aspects of science and religion.

Confucianism is a Philosophy Rather than a Religion

The Chinese Recorder, a journal produced by the Protestant missionary community in China, enjoyed a run of seventytwo years in which Confucianism was regarded as a religion by many missionary scholars. But is Confucianism a religion or a philosophy? There are different ideas in present literatus. This study attempts to prove that Confucianism is not a religion by distinguishing the definitions of religion and Confucianism and comparing them, and further points out that Confucianism is a philosophy.

Evolutionary Origin of Religions and Religious Evolution: Religious Neurosociology

The paper proposes that the evolutionary origin of religions is based on theory of mind as the product of interdependent division of labor between the forest specialist group (women and small children) and the woodland specialist group (men) in early hominins who lived in the mixed forest-woodland habitat. To complement each other’s work without interfering each other’s work, one specialist group had to recognize (imagine) that the other specialist group existed to think for themselves and to do different works. The result was theory of mind which is to recognize (imagine) that the others exist to think for themselves. (The forest-woodland groups became the hunter-gatherer groups for the Homo species in the savanna habitat.) Under existential pressure, hominins invented imaginary specialists as imaginary agents who existed to think for themselves and to do different works in imaginary division of labor to enhance survival chance. The result was religion with imaginary behaviors. Therefore, religion is defined as a set of beliefs and behaviors based on theory of mind that produces a shared imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure. This paper proposes that the religious evolution consists of the premodern imaginative religion for local society habitat starting from bipedalism, the modern rational imaginative religion for regional society habitat starting from the Axial Age, and the postmodern diverse rational imaginative religion for global society habitat starting from the Information Revolution. In conclusion, the religious brain is the imaginative brain, and the religious social behaviors are imaginary social behaviors. The religious evolution is the evolution of human imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure, such as the religious reinforcement of social bonds to enhance the survival chance of social group and the religious relief of stress and anxiety to enhance the survival chance of individuals.

A General Framework For Determining the Temporal and Evolutionary Dynamics of Religion-Based Website Popularity on the Internet

Religion-based websites are fast becoming a major pipeline for disseminating religious information to broad populations of individuals in the United States.Both mainstream religions and fringe religions are easily accessible to a large population of internet users. The purpose of this review is to develop and examine a general framework that uses simple mathematical and statistical models to interpret and measure temporal ‘snap shots’ in the popularity of religious websites. We extend this framework to include an evolutionary model that has the potential to predict long-term shifts or changes in the popularity of religious websites over time. Ultimately, the goal of this review is to introduce a new modeling framework for research into how the internet is changing the accessibility and views of populations of individuals who follow various religions on the internet and how this may in-turn affect the distribution of religion in the ‘real world’.

Discussion on Agricultural Religion in the Pre-Qin Period of China

Since ancient times,agricultural religion has been infiltrated into all aspects of economic,political and social life in China. Using rich historical data such as archeology,anthropology and ethnology,this paper discussed the historical process of agricultural religion in the pre-Qin period from animal worship to agricultural worship. It also discussed the agricultural objects,land,celestial nature,and labor ghosts.Finally,it revealed the inevitable trend of combination of social sacrificing activities.

Donating in good faith or getting into trouble? Religion and organ donation revisited

There is worldwide shortage of organs for solid-organ transplantation. Many obstacles to deceased and live donation have been described and addressed, such as lack of understanding of the medical process, the issue of the definition of brain death, public awareness of the need for transplants, and many others. However, it is clear that the striking differences in deceased and live donation rates between different countries are only partly explained by these factors and many cultural and social reasons have been invoked to explain these observations. We believe that one obstacle to both deceased and live donation that is less well appreciated is that of religious concerns. Looking at the major faiths and religions worldwide, it is reassuring to see that most of them encourage donation. However, there is also scepticism amongst some of them, often relating to the concept of brain death and/or the processes surrounding death itself. It is worthwhile for transplant teams to be broadly aware of the issues and also to be mindful of resources for counselling. We believe that increased awareness of these issues within the transplant community will enable us to discuss these openly with patients, if they so wish.

New Babylon Religion—The Religious Code for the Megalopolis Life: Common Home-Common Rules

The megalopolis is a unique system that offers unique opportunities for a person.But in return,this system requires respecting its rules of life,as well as creating and maintaining new social relationships.This is a very complex problem especially for religious sphere,because there are a lot of different religion representatives in megalopolis.Babylon is a symbol of megalopolis.Megalopolis problems can be called Babylon problems.New megalopolis religion(the religious rules)can be called New Babylon religion.In order to explore the religious code(rules)for the megalopolis life,this paper makes an analysis from the following three aspects:the religion problems existing in the megalopolis;the general sources of world religion;and the relationship between religion and modern science.Finally,the conclusion is drawn that the modern life of society in a megalopolis allows individualizing not only educational,but also religious sphere,which will create the necessary feedback effect and help to solve internal conflicts of residents at their initial stage,as well as to create common religious rules for megalopolis—our common home.

Mental Health, Religion and Suicide

Suicide is one of the most common yet serious concerns, and a worldwide subject that individuals have debated from the past to the present. Suicidal ideation affects and disrupts the functionality of a human being regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or even religion. This article aims to discuss suicide in general and from an Islamic perspective in specific, as research has shown that an Islamically oriented approach and intervention works better with the Muslim population in general. The paper also aims to have a broader view of how Islam categorized suicide classically and its modern implications, which also lets us explore the similarities, and differences between the Islamic perspective and different religions about suicide and related mental health concerns. A collection of both classic and modern sources was used to extract information and provide a scope of definitions to clarify suicide and religiosity concerning the teachings and opinion of Islam about the meaning of life, afterlife, and soul. It was found that the Muslim population showed a lower rate of suicide in comparison to individuals from other religions, and religious individuals showed faster recovery from suicidal ideation. Yet, Muslims are not immune to mental health conditions that would result in suicide. Therefore, further studies and research need to be conducted to understand the huge stigma around Muslim about mental health and suicide in the Muslim communities, to compare the effectiveness among the religious and the non-religious Muslims, and lastly to fill the gap as to why the Muslim population tends to be hesitant in seeking help regarding their psychological problems.

Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology Interpreted As Being His Spiritual Autobiography

The real subject of Paul Tillich’s three-volume Systematic Theology is not God but rather the history of Tillich’s personal relationship with God.The religious experiences to which Tillich refers in this,his major work,are his own,although he never admits it.This article attempts to draw parallels between Tillich’s mystical development and that of other mystics.Questions are raised about the possibility of mystical voices,visions,ecstasies,raptures and deliria being symptoms of schizophrenia.

Religion and “Zero-Dose” Vaccination Status in Children Aged 12 to 23 Months in Benin and Togo: “Evidence of Demographic and Health Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys”

Introduction: The relationship between religion and health has been a topic of interest in the past, and in recent years it has become increasingly visible in the social, behavioural, and health sciences. This work aims to study the influence of religion on the “zero-dose” vaccination status of children aged 12 - 23 months in Benin and Togo. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which consisted in carrying out secondary analyzes using the databases of the most recent editions of the Demographic and Health Surveys in Benin and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) in Togo. We extracted data concerning the vaccination status (“1 = zero-dose”, “0 = vaccinated”) of the children, the religious affiliation of the head of the household or the mother and other variables related to the child, the mother, the household and the environment. By means of a logistic regression, the adjusted effect of the religious affiliation of the head of the household or of the mother on the vaccination status at “zero-dose” was determined. Results: A total of 2430 and 933 children were respectively included in the study on behalf of Benin and Togo. The prevalence of “zero-dose” vaccination status in children aged 12 - 23 months was 33.91% (95% CI = 31.67 - 36.23) in Benin and this prevalence was 26.88% (95% CI = 23.50 - 30.55) in Togo. In Benin, there is no evidence in favour of the influence of the religious affiliation of the mother on the “zero-dose” vaccination status of children. In Togo, children living in households whose head was Muslim (ORa = 3.44;95% CI = 1.29 - 9.13) were more likely to be “zero-dose” than those coming from households run by individuals with no religious beliefs. Conclusion: Further research is needed to understand the basis for the excess risk of “zero-dose” vaccination status in children that appears to be associated with the Muslim religion.

Philosophy of GodForm:Power Authorities, Functional Position Levels, Religion and Science

In this work,author expressed new R-Synthesis specifically.Good and/or correct perspective that must be behind the definitions and administration generally expressed.New perspective of the philosophy explained generally.Philosophy of GodForm is defined and expressed as connected/related with the following concepts:(a)basic principles,(b)17 upper constructional philosophies,(c)14 lower constructional philosophies,(d)eight basic philosophies.As special cases,Philosophy of Engineering and Technology,Philosophy of Wireless Administration and others defined as hybrid philosophies.17 specific components/units which can be considered to define the basic principles of the related formation,are proposed to be designed by GodForm and defined by the author.Philosophy of GodForm and its relation with Values and Positions specifically defined.New Era Theory and New Era Belief explained generally.Some specific religions/beliefs are defined as variants/forms of the Progressive Religion.Good and/or correct power authorities(R-Power Authority)are defined due to 29 categories.Functional position levels defined for the R-Power Authorities with a unique table.As result of the R-Synthesis,functional position levels of some philosophers,some scientists,and of Prophet Jesus,Prophet Mohamed,Prophets Mouses,Buddha,and of Confucius generally/specifically defined.Integration and past/present effects of some R-Power Authorities in 5 x 5 Ideal Political Construction specifically explained.New Era Belief,Concepts of GodX and Science relation explained with the following concepts:(1)Religion of GodForm,(2)Knowledge of GodX,(3)Nature of GodX.With this respect,some other characteristics of 7 GodX power authorities expressed with details as complementary information.Following concepts/systems defined to arrange and solve some/most/all religious problems,which are determined with R-Synthesis:(a)Religious Responsibilities and Positions,(b)Ideal Religious Administration,(c)Sustainable/Continuable Political Administration System,(d)Community Values Council/Authority for each world country,(e)Progressive Councils.15 general religious position categories defined to express their good and/or correct meanings/values/responsibilities in the religious system.21 general/specific cases/programs defined due to New Era Belief to solve possible past/present/future community values problems,to have continuous,judicious,and progressive administration about the 36 kinds of community values.Progressive Councils,which are related with the CUS-WW-HO,are defined.Progressive Religion Council and some of the related religious responsibilities expressed for the kind progressive religion studies due to the Philosophy of Progressive Religions.

The Grammars of Mystical Experience in Christian Theological Dialogue

The philosophical horizon of this essay is theoretically comparative and hermeneutically dialogic. Its main philosophical and theological tonality expresses, in first person and through three discursive moments, the differentiated fusion of horizons between phenomenological and grammatical description and understanding of experience. After a philosophical overture-outlining the ethos of the dialogic problematic and situating it within the contemporary diverse and dialogic dynamic of phenomenology-I will expose the consistent, possible modalities of convergence between Husserlian phenomenology and Wittgensteinian grammar of the mystical shapes of experience. The tense, responsorial dialogue among Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas, and Wittgenstein＇s styles of thinking, far from being anymore limited to the debates between the analytical and phenomenological, will be considered from the crossed categorial spaces of Austrian philosophy and German culture in general. In a second section, I will show how the styles of phenomenology today are advancing into a cautious micro-logical grammar of comparative inquiry. This thematization will first consider some precise semantic clarifications： Experience, the mystical, extasis, evidence, and truth; in a second section, the theoretical levels of grammar and phenomenology of mystical experience are heralded in the context of the Christian theological dialogue, where I emphasize the rebirth of French theological thinking and dialogic transcendence, beginning with Maritain and de Chardin to Marcel, de Lubac, Levinas, and Marion. Finally, I consider the aesthetic expressions of mystical experience, both from the visual and musical dimensions. I will conclude this talk by highlighting theological perspectives drawn from my research in musico-philosophical problematics, through an awakening to the resonance of Being and the Divine in sonic and musical life. Through a theology of the musical λογοζ, the grammar of mystical experience reveals the sacramentality of music and the mystery of silence

Samuel P.Huntington:Chosen Peoples?Gods,Nations,and Rulers——Religion and Nation in International Politics

In March of 2002,a Harvard Academy research team received a grant for the project“Religion in Global Politics”.The aim of the research was to provide a systematic,broad,and comparative analysis of the impact on global politics of religious beliefs and organizations.The project was led by the veteran Harvard scholar Samuel P.Huntington.The result of his research into the link between religion and national identity and the question how they influence international relations was never finished or published.From the available unfinished manuscripts and various draft papers from the Harvard University Archives Samuel P.Huntington Personal Archive,the article tries to establish the content of Huntington’s probably last article while also providing the missing references for the first time and attempts to put the writing in its context within the author’s oeuvre.

Mitt Romney, Mormonism, and Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election

This study examined the impact of Mormonism on the 2008 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. Romney faced a situation that reminded observers of John F. Kennedy＇s 1960 campaign. In 1960, Kennedy faced doubts about his Catholicism while Ronmey faced questions about the Mormon religion. Kennedy faced those doubts directly with a speech in Houston, Texas late in the campaign. Romney tried to do the same thing with a speech on his religious beliefs early in the primary campaigns. Kennedy＇s speech was effective, and he went on to win the presidential election. Romney＇s speech was not effective, and he was out of the race within two months. Kennedy＇s speech directly addressed the public＇s questions about Catholicism, while Romney＇s speech was an appeal for religious tolerance. The speech is examined in terms of the Pharisee Effect, a hypothesis which argues that religious appeals in politics failure if they are over used. Some voters were turned off by the negative image of his religion--a response consistent with the fanaticism backlash of the Pharisee Effect. Others may have reacted negatively to his perceived inauthentic attempts to reach out to evangelicals--a move that is consistent with the intentionality dimension of the Pharisee Effect. The Mormon issue did not become an issue in the 2012 election; Romney avoided it by simply not talking about his religion.