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Indigenous Peoples in Latin America face a dual challenge of social vulnerability and violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Representing 8% of the region's population yet disproportionately affected by poverty, displacement, and health disparities, these communities also endure persistent religious discrimination—a challenge historically overlooked in policy and scholarship. This article advances the understanding of FoRB violations against Indigenous Peoples by distinguishing between external threats, targeting collective religious practices, and internal threats, undermining individual religious rights. Using a cross-case analysis of Paraguay, Mexico, and Colombia, this study illustrates the varied manifestations of these threats, relying on novel data from interviews, open-source platforms, and the Violent Incidents Database of the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Latin America and the International Institute for Religious Freedom. Focusing on Latin America as a "least likely case" for FoRB violations, the article highlights significant disparities in FoRB protections for Indigenous Peoples, challenging the assumption of Latin America as a region of relative religious freedom. By shedding light on these violations, the study underscores their broader implications for political stability and human rights. The findings call for greater attention to the intersections of religious freedom and Indigenous rights, offering a framework applicable to global contexts. This work also highlights the need for sustained data collection and targeted interventions to address these challenges effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The relations between religion and the state in the socialist-governed states of Eastern Europe in 1945–1989 are generally framed using the term "persecution of religion". On the other hand, significant differences existed in the region, from limited freedom of religion in Yugoslavia to a prohibition of religious practice in Albania. From the side of religion, these relations were significantly formed by the attitudes and activities of religious leaders. Which options were adopted by key religious actors in a political environment hostile to religion? What is to be learned about religion in authoritarian systems? This qualitative study draws on the case of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), governed in 1949–1989 by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. We studied professional biographies of prominent religious dignitaries and a comprehensive volume of files from the Ministry for State Security of the GDR in order to conceptualize their attitudes and activities according to a two-dimensional classification (towards the state and towards society), which enabled an overview of the range of their options, and identified the types of religious dignitaries in authoritarian systems. This analysis revealed that a variety of attitudes and activities of religious leaders existed in the GDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Religious freedom and the right to practice a religion by persons deprived of their liberty do not cause controversy in democratic states. The challenge, not easily met, is to exercise guaranteed religious rights in penitentiary facilities. This study aimed to compare legal regulations and the level of protection of religious freedom that they impose with the real possibility of the voluntary performance of religious practices. In other words, this study sought to answer the question of whether prisoners in Polish penitentiary facilities are free to practise the religion of their choice and are not forced to participate in religious practices against their will. This article presents the general results of a survey on religious practices carried out in the Polish penitentiary facilities that were examined. The data were supplemented by prisoners' comments about freedom to practice religion. This article includes the comments of both believers (assessing the availability of practices) and non-believers (assessing the compulsion to participate in the practices of the dominant religion). Opinions about practising a religion given by the penitentiary staff will serve as a specific counterpoint. The presented study results allowed the formulation of basic conclusions of a general nature, which can contribute to further discussions on religious freedom in post-criminal isolation units. The survey was carried out from March to October 2022 based on a prepared questionnaire. It was completed by 556 prisoners, including 34 females and 444 males (68 respondents did not indicate their gender). In total, prisoners incarcerated in 35 penitentiary facilities located throughout Poland were surveyed. Simultaneously, a survey was carried out among educators and teachers in all the above penitentiary facilities, who completed, in total, 164 questionnaires. An analysis of the replies to the questions and the free comments of all the respondents and their comparison with the current regulations make it possible to conclude that Poland—on a constitutional and statutory level—adequately safeguards prisoners' religious rights, but their practical application must be assessed as unsatisfactory. Prisoners do not always have the possibility to observe rites or manifest their religion. Problems are encountered by both followers of the strongly dominant religion in Poland (Roman Catholicism) and minority denominations. Despite the reported difficulties, Roman Catholics are indisputably in a much more favourable position. Freedom from religion is also not fully respected—prisoners involuntarily participate in certain practices and take part in the religious observance of church festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper considers the legacy of the historic contribution of faith communities to education for the employment rights of teachers in schools with a religious character. The contribution of faith communities to state education was originally reflected in a settlement by which staffing could reflect the religious foundations of the school. This paper traces the development of the legal framework covering employment by religious ethos employers, in particular the introduction of more generous protection for religious equality at work. As a result, the position of teachers in faith schools in England has diverged significantly from that of staff employed by other religious ethos organisations. The anomalous position of teachers in faith schools arises because the legal position is dependent on the historical foundations of the school rather than on the current religious practice of the school. This situation is at odds with the wider legal framework in which protection against religious discrimination and the protection for freedom of religion must be justified with reference to the genuine and current religious needs of the organisation. The paper concludes with proposals for reform that maximise the rights of both teachers and communities of faith, without unduly restricting the rights of either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The renewed growth of immersive "faith-unit" programs operating inside U.S. maximum-security prisons has brought with it a heightened emphasis on the practice of religion in correctional settings. Modeled from a prototype Christian seminary planted inside Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, newer programs utilize outside religious educators for the credentialing of inmates into work assignments on behalf of prisons. As resource-challenged wardens deploy religiously credentialed inmates for leading new forms of prison ministry inside state facilities, research has not kept pace with the rapid growth of programs. Based on previous research, this article offers a retrospective account of the establishment of "offender ministries" at the Angola prison seminary planted at Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1994. While correctional leaders are obliged to accommodate the diverse religious identities of prisoners, private sponsors of immersive religious programs must balance doctrinal fealty with religious pluralism. Drawing from fieldnotes and on-site interviews in previous research, lessons from the history of Angola's ecumenical prison seminary and "inmate ministry" programs are discussed while strengths and weaknesses are also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The African religiosity that permeates all human existence is driven by a consuming desire for connection with the spiritual world that provides and protects human flourishing. African neo-Pentecostal prophets (ANPPs) respond to this need by imposing themselves as the sacral agents that can connect people to God. The sacralisation of prophets leads them to personalise the church as their personal property. The question answered by this article is as follows: from a Christian soteriological perspective of Jesus as the only sufficient intermediary between God and humanity, how can we address the African need for connection with God that fosters a reliance on African neo-Pentecostal prophets and leads to the sacralisation of these prophets and the personalisation of the church? This article uses Christ's redemption of believers to challenge ANPPs' response to the African need for connection with God that leads to these prophets' domination and exploitation of their followers. This article challenges ANPPs to promote the freedom of Christ's redemptive work instead of sacralising themselves and personalising the church, which instils a religion of fear that keeps their followers subservient to prophets. The contribution of this article lies in assisting Christians, in this case the followers of ANPPs, to realise that sacralising the prophets provides grounds for these prophets to personalise the church. Therefore, Christ's redemptive work should be affirmed and promoted as a means of protecting the church from being personalised by sacralised prophets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Despite the tendency of some modern scholars to mark Augustine as the father of religious coercion, the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) cites him as a principal source for freedom of conscience. This essay presents evidence from Augustine's letters and anti-Donatist writings to show that he both upheld freedom of conscience and maintained a vital role for state force. The essay shows that far from simply providing a Christian justification for the use of state force against non-Catholics, Augustine most notably imposed the limits of Christian charity on a long history of state-sponsored religious persecution. Only by the charitable and paternal application of discipline by the state would many Donatists be truly free to follow their conscience. In this way, those persecuted for being in schism could attain freedom by coercion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper examines the separation of church and state in the Philippines during the early American colonial period, contextualizing it within the process of American overseas expansion and considering it as one of the projects of imperial hegemony construction. After the Spanish–American War, the United States substituted Spain as the new colonial ruler of the Philippines, legitimizing its regime as the spread of 'civilization' to the Filipinos. On this basis, the Americans enacted laws guaranteeing religious freedom and introduced an American-style institution dealing with church–state relations. Beyond the legal and administrative initiatives, the new regime also constructed an official narrative of the transformation of political–religious relations in the Philippine that emphasized the absolute 'difference' between the American human rights principle, which guaranteed freedom of worship, and the Spanish theocracy, which was dedicated to the consolidation of privileges. By legislating the separation of church and state, buying up church properties, recognizing the equality of denominations, and constructing the official imperial narrative of church–state relations, the Americans hoped to 'teach' Filipinos that the 'true' belief was rooted in the inner convictions of individual Christians, not in the authority and coercion of the hierarchical church. By disciplining the construction of 'difference' under tutelary colonialism, the separation of church and state movement initiated by the American colonial government in the Philippines became an important source of imperial self-endowed legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Beyond the once dominant secularization thesis that anticipated the decline of religion in the modern era, the academic study of religion has in recent decades revisited secular as one of the factors that shape religion and religions in the globalized world. Against this theoretical backdrop, in this article, I use the case of South Korea to explore how secular and religion interact in contemporary global society. It focuses on describing the postcolonial reformulation of secularity and the corresponding transformation of religious diversity in Cold War South Korea. The Japanese colonial secularism rigidly banning the public and political engagement of religion was replaced by the flexible secular-religious divide after liberation of 1945. The porous mode of secularity extensively admitted religious entities to affect processes of postcolonial nation-building. Religious values, interests, and resources have been applied in motivating, pushing, and justifying South Koreans to devote themselves to developing the national community as a whole. Such a form of secularity became a critical condition that caused South Korea's religious landscape to be reorganized in a vertical and unequal way. On the one hand, Buddhist and Christian populations grew remarkably in the liberated field of religion, while freedom of religion was recognized as a key ideological principle of the anticommunist country. On the other hand, folk beliefs and minority religious groups were often considered "superstitions", "pseudo religions", "heretics", or even "evil religions". With the pliable secularity at work, religious diversity was reconfigured hierarchically in the postcolonial society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The religions of South and East Asia resist Eurocentric interpretations, such as the so-called World Religion Paradigm. However, they are subjected in various ways to hetero- and auto-orientalist representations that respond to Western ideals and expectations. This article analyzes how Italian Catholic teachers use online representations of East Asian religions in their lessons to teach these traditions. The aim is to shed light on the interplay, facilitated by online environments, between contemporary processes of Eurocentric and Orientalist interpretation and the educational and confessional motivations of confessional religious education teachers. The result of the analysis indicates that these factors concur to reinforce misleading representations, which contradicts the intercultural aims proclaimed by teachers and other Teaching of Catholic Religion stakeholders. Nevertheless, this article also individuates those elements that could be fruitfully framed in an academic study-of-religions perspective and suggests a modality of cooperation between Catholic Religion teachers and scholars of religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

For more than a century, in the center of Sofia, the capital of the Republic of Bulgaria, there is and functions the church of St. Nikolai Mirlikiyski the Wonderworker, known as the Russian church. The church was built at the beginning of the 20th century with the idea of being part of the complex of the Russian imperial diplomatic body in Sofia and to serve the Russian diplomats, their families and the Orthodox Russian citizens living permanently or temporarily in the Bulgarian capital. However, after its consecration in 1914, disputes began, both regarding the ownership of the church building and the canonical jurisdiction of the church—of the Metropolitan of Sofia or the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. This dispute culminated in September 2023, with the expulsion from Bulgaria of several Russian and Belarusian clergies serving in the Russian church on charges of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation. The subsequent closure of the church by the Russian ambassador Mitrofanova led to internal and external political tension and ecclesiological chaos in the country. The Russian side violated the Bulgarian Law on Religions, known as the Confessions Act 2002, and directly infringed the Statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. This article provides expert answers to the public law, property rights and canonical issues concerning the case of the Russian church in Sofia, based on the relevant sources of law (ecclesiastical and civil). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Based on data publicly available on various online platforms and in academic literature, this article analyzes the prominent role that the Christian Right has taken in the government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro (2019–2022), including the pandemic period) to strengthen its political–religious project. To this end, we present the ideological mechanisms that align neoconservative Catholics and Evangelicals with both the government's neoliberal premises and Bolsonaro's moral communities. We focus on the rhetorical updating of religious freedom to intensify the nationalist narrative of a Christian Brazil, highlighting the judicial expertise that the Christian Right has accumulated in its reactive activism against the pro-rights agenda of LGBTQI+ communities and the advancement of the Pro-Life, Pro-Family agenda. We discuss the anti-gender crusade and "gender ideology" as political instruments of the Evangelical leadership in the process of juridifying public policies related to sexuality, gender, and family, and as a defense of the Christian nation, which it also leads. However, we identify a reconfiguration of the balance in the correlation of forces within Brazilian Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The exploration of religious beliefs within the confines of Chinese prisons presents a nuanced inquiry into the intersection of faith, correctional policies, and human rights. This study delves into the underexplored domain of how religious practices and beliefs are navigated within the Chinese penal system. Despite constitutional assurances for religious freedom, practical applications within prison walls reveal a nuanced tapestry of control, accommodation, and, at times, suppression. This paper aims to shed light on these complexities through interviews with prison officers, offering a rare glimpse into the 'hidden corners' of religious observance in Chinese prisons. It critically examines the balance between state control, the rehabilitation agenda, and the individual's right to spiritual belief and practice, proposing a more inclusive approach to fostering religious diversity and freedom within the correctional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper builds upon and extends Christian and legal scholarship on the civil rights movement by illuminating a climate of religious freedom that served as a catalyst for and was integral to the success of the spirited activism of the civil rights movement. To date, scholars have not extensively considered how the expansion of religious freedom in church and state jurisprudence both directly and indirectly created a climate that contributed to the success of the CRM, and how advancements in civil rights impacted the broader revolution occurring in constitutional rights. The climate of religious freedom included court support for evangelizing in residentially exclusive areas, exemptions for conscientious opposers from participating in oath swearing and other ceremonies, and exemptions from other general laws that unduly inhibited the free exercise of religious rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper centers on the godfather of the civil rights movement, Howard Thurman, and his most influential work, "Jesus and the Disinherited", as a pre-eminent text into early 20th century intercultural philosophy. Building upon Kipton Jensen's analysis in "Howard Thurman: Philosophy, Civil Rights, and the Search for Common Ground", this presentation will reframe Howard Thurman's unique philosophy as one that integrates spirituality, interculturality, and critical social analysis. It is well known that Thurman's treatise on the oppressed was carried in the pocket of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the civil rights movement for the ways it empowered nonviolent resistance for those marginalized by the dominant culture of the United States, which was (and still is) built on racism, military violence, and class-based oppression. This paper advocates that Thurman came to his philosophical conclusions through deep engagement with various cultural and philosophical traditions, most notably the Hindu spiritual–political paradigm of Mahatma Gandhi, and sought to harmonize these insights for African Americans in the USA. By investigating the intercultural foundations of "Jesus and the Disinherited", this paper will encourage scholars to explore how interculturality enriched Thurman's philosophy and how this fostered a more expansive vision of community in pluralistic societies. This article traces the roots of the development of "Jesus and the Disinherited", looking back to presentations Thurman gave as early as 1922, concluding with the publication of his book in 1949. And via this study, we will see the progression of Thurman's ideas and the impacts interculturality had on his philosophy and vision for social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The literature on clientelism, the informal exchange of benefits for political support, has proliferated over the last three decades. However, the existing literature largely ignores the role of religion in shaping clientelism in contemporary politics. In particular, few attempts have been made to explore the relationship between religious ideology and clientelism at the party level: How does political parties' religious ideology impact their clientelist linkages with citizens? This study uses cross-national data of parties in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from the V-Party database (1970–2019) to answer this question. Our findings reveal that religious parties are more clientelist than secular parties in the MENA. Particularly, parties' ties with social organizations mediate the relationship between religious ideology and clientelism. This study extends the literature on the impact of religion on informal political institutions by focusing on the ideology and linkage strategy of political parties in the MENA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

From the beginning of European overseas expansion in the fifteenth century, religious missions occupied an important place in the internal organisation of colonial empires. Their contribution to the ideological structuring of imperialism and the interaction with local populations is undeniable. With the emergence of the new imperialism and the scramble for Africa (after the 1870s), the missions, often anticipating the colonial political and administrative presence, enhanced their role as advocates of Europe's "civilising mission", above all through the education of the colonised peoples. For Portuguese decision-makers, the religious missions, with a multi-century tradition, had an important role in defending territorial claims overseas and promoting the empire's nationalisation. However, the lack of national missionaries, Christianity's inter-confessional competition in the nineteenth century and the emergence of international legal rules protecting missionary activities hindered Portugal's strategies. Using sources from several archives (in Lisbon, the Vatican, and elsewhere) to emphasise the role of a transnational missionary staff and the international law of missions, this text intersects these aspects, examining their convergence in the controversial case of the exit and replacement of Jesuit missionaries in Mozambique in 1910–1911, to demonstrate the need to look at the missionary issues in the Portuguese overseas domains from perspectives that go beyond nation and empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The enshrinement of religious freedom in a State Constitution is determined by the system of relations between the State and Religions. A particular aspect of religious freedom is freedom of worship, which was reframed due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the adoption of measures for the protection of public health. The examples of Cyprus and Greece demonstrate that the self-regulation enjoyed by religious communities may be harmonized with the need to protect public health and is directly connected to the existing system of relations between the State and Religions. The case law on the State restrictive measures regarding worship in conjunction with the measures implemented by the religious communities themselves together give rise to the general principles of harmonization between religious freedom and the protection of public health, with respect for the principle of proportionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In matters of twenty-first century public policy, age-old questions surrounding freedom of conscience and both personal and civic liberties remain in perennial tension with the necessary demands for civic conformity, custom, and consensus. These questions were also of critical importance in early eighteenth-century colonial America. In the first half of the eighteenth century, a hotbed of religious, intellectual, and cultural diversity was fomenting considerable conflict in Philadelphia, setting the stage for a vital debate over the nature and parameters of religious liberty and freedom of conscience in the colonies. Within this context of the eighteenth-century religious and cultural landscape of colonial Philadelphia, this article will examine a debate between Jonathan Dickinson and Benjamin Franklin whereby two distinctly different interpretations of religious liberty and freedom of conscience were established. Left to themselves, these two interpretations lead to sharply divergent trajectories. Nonetheless, by considering these two viewpoints in dialogue with one another, the Franklin–Dickinson pamphlet debate can serve as a useful tool for conceptualizing twenty-first century public policy issues related to freedom of conscience: policies that preserve the essential aspects of what constitutes each person's humanity while simultaneously respecting the broader exigencies for public order and responsible policy in the aggregate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

African Pentecostalism remains the fastest growing form of Christianity on the African continent. Scholarship on Zimbabwean Pentecostalism has noted how the emergence of New Pentecostal Movements (NPMs), specifically Prophetic Pentecostalism (PP), has increased this growth. Apart from other attracting factors, such as the Holy Spirit, claims of faith healing, deliverance and prophecy, among others, African Pentecostalism is known for its emphasis on faith as a major anchor of any Pentecostal Christian. Hebrews 11, with its emphasis on faith, is, therefore, a central scripture in this Christian tradition. However, the emergence of NPMs at the height of the Zimbabwean crisis from the year 2008 to the present, has challenged Zimbabwean Pentecostal Christians from their sole dependency on faith. The crisis called for much more than faith could stand on its own. Hence, NPMs responded to this need by infusing indigenous religious practices with biblical ones as a way of strengthening believers through the crisis. Prophetic Pentecostal Movements (PPMs) in Zimbabwe introduced touchable objects such as anointed towels, handkerchiefs, wrist bands, stickers, oils and even condoms. While this appears to be sophisticated syncretism, a critical analysis of the practices shows how steeped they are in the African indigenous religious worldview. This article, therefore, seeks to examine the religious encounters between indigenous African religious practices and Pentecostal practices as practiced in the NPMs in Zimbabwe. The focus of this paper is to establish the resilience of indigenous religious practices within a Christian tradition that claims to have totally broken from the past. It further argues that the fast growth of PPMs depends on the 'Christianization' of indigenous religious practices, which are presented to believers as 'purely biblical'. This is largely a desktop research project in which secondary sources were used as sources of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article argues that from the end of the 19thcentury, the debate about anti-Semitism became a marker for a wider dispute focusing on the meaning of national identity. Integrating the Jews into the polity was part, and even a justification, of the Enlightenment political project and of the democratic state. However, while the Jewish question was fundamental for politics and philosophy in the Enlightenment, in our time, as the Enlightenment fades, the Muslim question takes its place. This article argues that the goal of integrating Muslims into the Western democratic polity under a culturally blind, egalitarian and secular type of non-discrimination has proven to be unsuccessful. Moreover, rather than pitting racist nationalists against liberal democrats, it has triggered a "civic confrontation" in liberal political thought, between liberal multiculturalists and supporters of religious freedom who understand, on the one hand, and secular democratic integrationists, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The legal protection of religious diversity is strewn with difficulties and uncertainties. The re-emergence of religiously motivated demands points to the need to better define the relationship between the legal protection of human rights and religious diversity. The current applicable laws and regulations come from different historical or national contexts, which presents a confusing landscape that calls for a better definition of the protection afforded by the different rights at stake. This article uses a general normative analysis to propose extending the scope of religious minorities to any religious affiliation that does not represent the majority of the population of a given state. This involves shifting from a paradigm of specific protection for certain minorities to one in which all minorities are protected through the universally recognized rights of freedom of religion and nondiscrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article offers a description and critical reflection upon two recent exhibits on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC): Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism, and Popular Culture and Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures. The article explores the interplay of mutually reinforcing themes of faith, freedom, and futurity that emerge when examining the exhibits together. This article also demonstrates the public significance of the curation of religion and culture in museums and other cultural spaces beyond the academy and religious institutions. It further shows how religion becomes a site of critical meditation upon and creative manifestation or materialization of Black futures. As such, this article contributes to more expansive discourses on the interplay between Black studies and the study of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a web designer sought a legal right to refuse to make wedding websites for same-sex couples while making wedding websites for other couples as a service provided by her business open to the public. The web designer also sought a legal right to post a notice on her business webpage stating that she would refuse to provide such services for same-sex couples' weddings. Here, I argue that 303 Creative marks a fairly radical break from previous legal cases dealing with whether service providers have the legal right to deny services for same-sex weddings. This is because, if we take the web designer at her word, the web designer appears to have sought these legal rights, in significant part, in order to use an act of commercial discrimination as an act of religious message sending. In support of this conclusion, I argue that acts of selective commercial service constitute the primary means by which the web designer sought to promote her preferred religious messages and that these acts of selective commercial service are acts of discrimination. I also discuss some of the significance of this case for religion and politics in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

During the first half of the 17th century, the Goa Inquisition increased its focus on religious offences committed by the so-called Cristãos da Terra (local Christianized populations). Many of these perceived offences occurred in connection with rituals, practices and behaviours stemming from Asian cultural and religious settings, leading the inquisitors in Goa to assess a variety of external features and performances ("signs") in order to determine the seriousness of the offence and the penalty to impose. While these actions were primarily labelled as "idolatry", during the 1620s, inquisitorial personnel in Goa suddenly adopted a new designation—that of "gentilidade"—to refer to a type of offence that involved apostasy from Catholicism in favour of the "Law of the Gentiles." In this paper, I will analyse the context that led to this epistemic change in labelling religious offences, while also comparing the extant Goa Inquisition trials and summaries with later catalogues of cases where offences first began to be designated as "gentilidade." I will argue that during the 1620s such changes in classifying religious offences were the outcome of a debate that, even though it was external to the Goa Inquisition, incidentally questioned some of its procedures and prompted its inquisitors and prosecutor to repurpose an already existing term into a broad category denoting heresy and apostasy, thus reinforcing the legitimacy of the tribunal's judicial practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper discusses the current characteristics of the religiosity of young people in Slovakia based on data that were obtained in a survey as part of the research project "Perspectives of the Development of Religiosity in Slovakia", carried out in 2017–2020. The data presented in the article pertain to several areas related to the religious lives of young people. Firstly, data on general changes in the respondents' religiosity (such as a weakening or a strengthening) are presented, followed by data on the causes that the respondents consider having influenced these changes. Secondly, since many of the respondents claimed factors related to receiving a lot of information as such causes, the article presents data to determine to what extent the respondents paid attention to religious media in Slovakia (newspaper, radio, television, and websites). Lastly, we present the data on the respondents' attitudes towards the moral acceptance of some themes that are religiously controversial or politically divisive in Slovak society today. We then discuss the indications that emerge from the data on the religiosity of young people in Slovakia today, overall concluding that there is often an occurrence among Slovak youth of claiming an affiliation to an official church/confession/religious institution while developing and acting on individual religious opinions or beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The evolution of the media environment and the expanding use of social media pose a question about how the public sphere has changed in the last decade and what standards churches and religious communities can refer to in order to thrive and be present. It is vital to see that the nature of mass communication is different from the way religious ideas are conveyed. Consequently, there is a constant threat that, if mass media report on religions and religious activities, even with the greatest possible neutrality, they can easily falsify them. This paper sets out to explore this paradox; we examine the social media activity of a tradition-driven religious community. This research focuses on particular phenomena that lead to general assumptions. Despite the fact that the online reality is not the primary space of the researched community, its activity has moved towards cyber space because of the diminishing presence of interpersonal and group relationships. This paper analyses this community's Facebook presence by applying quantitative and qualitative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This essay focuses on the emotional and relational investments of scientists and others engaged in and supportive of genetic technologies used in conservation efforts, with particular attention to the different moral and religious imaginaries that fuel endeavors to save species threatened by climate change and extinction. I argue that two distinct visions and competing religious repertoires can be discerned in the secular landscape of genetic technologies deployed in coral restoration and de-extinction. Each endeavor brings forth its own forms of magic, myth- and meaning-making. At the heart of coral protection is the symbol of the holobiont, suggestive of cooperative endeavors, collective labor, networking, and distributed and embodied knowledge. Central to de-extinction imaginaries are motifs of individual competition, machine metaphors, "selfish" genetic components, and a spirit of entrepreneurial excitement and profiteering. The essay contrasts these two visions as competing accounts of relationality—or the lack thereof—and asks which religious and moral imaginaries we should embrace as we move into an era marked by intensified technological intervention and high-risk efforts to address the effects of climate change. I suggest that the values that drive de-extinction technologies are largely at odds with environmental and social goals of living well together, as humans and more-than-humans, in a present and future world transformed by climate change and species death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper tries to examine how ecological aspects of religiosity are associated with the ecological citizenship necessary for coping with a global ecological crisis. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, the notion of ecological citizenship has been paid serious attention to by numerous scholars from different research fields. Here, we measure how religiosity can work on the sustainability of ecological citizenship, focusing on Korea Soka Gakkai International (KSGI) which has been actively engaged in the environmental–ecological movement since the 1980s. First, they show a distinct tendency to religiously reinterpret the COVID-19 pandemic, an understanding of the pandemic as an ecological issue, and worldly optimism that human efforts can prevent the current or upcoming ecological crisis. Second, KSGI members with a high level of ecological religiosity tend to support ecological citizenship, independent of secular ecologism such as ecological politicization or deep ecology. In conclusion, this study is the first empirical research exploring how people of faith belonging to a minority religious tradition such as KSGI develop their ecological religiosity into ecological citizenship, namely a faith-based ecological citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This study looks at the relationships between religion, democracy, and peace. It is based on this premise that this article examines how religion is used to consolidate democracy and promote peace in societies, using Nigeria as its framework of analysis. Using the qualitative method of analysis where emphasis is placed on primary and secondary documents, which involve articles, reports, and newspaper articles triangulating with key informant interviews (KIIs) and stakeholder analysis, the findings of this article suggest that religion plays a significant role in the consolidation of democracy and peace given its important place in advocating some principles and ideals of democracy, which involve equity, fairness, freedom, pluralism, respect for diversities, and defending minority rights, amongst others. However, challenges associated with the weaponization of religion to pursue selfish political agenda and interests by both religious and political elites in Nigeria has become more of a norm than what is expected between both variables. This has helped in the creation of a hostile and unstable political environment, and in the pervasion of democratic and political institutions and agencies responsible for promoting accountable leadership, good governance, representative governance, political interference, and repressive policies, limiting the rights and freedoms of citizens who continue to impede the enhancement of a strongly consolidated democratic culture and peace in transition democracies such as Nigeria. This article suggests the need for relevant actors to ensure that institutions of the state are strengthened to provide the dividends of democracy. This can be achieved by addressing the challenge of the negative use of religion by the elites to advance unholy political interests and agenda. It is also important to create machinery to address the structural problems that breed poverty; political, economic, and social exclusion; and human rights abuses, limiting political and electoral freedoms. Addressing these challenges also requires relevant stakeholders and actors to understand that the process is multi-pronged, which also requires acknowledging, accommodating, and accepting individual and group diversities and, above all, requires the patience and the political will of these actors to ensure its actualization. Addressing these concerns will significantly strengthen and enhance the consolidation of democracy and peace in fragile and transition societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Interest in political secularism is growing, due to its proven relevant role in affecting people's political behaviours and attitudes toward human rights. However, until now, only a few studies have analysed its influence on religious freedom and those which exist do so mostly from a governmental-policy perspective. Drawing upon the sociology of religious freedom, this article seeks to address this gap. Comparing two Catholic EU countries, Italy and Croatia, and adopting an empirical perspective, it aims to understand whether the endorsement of political secularism enhances or limits support for religious freedom. More specifically, the study draws a key distinction between two models of secularism, 'institutional' and 'ideological', whose impacts on different aspects of religious freedom are assessed. In doing so, this research presents the results of a cross-national survey on Social Perception of Religious Freedom (SPRF) that was carried out among university students in Italy (=714) and Croatia (=603). The results show the strong positive influence of moderate forms of political secularism in shaping a positive culture of religious freedom. At the same time, they validate the hypothesis that it is necessary to consider political secularism's multiple facets to fully understand its influence on support for religious freedom in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article explores the possibility of a spiritual Islam in the West as a viable alternative to traditionalist and political Islam. It looks at the capabilities and limitations of two French Muslim voices, Abdennour Bidar and Éric Geoffroy, who are the most vocal Muslim intellectuals in favor of spiritual Islam in France. A careful examination of their writings reveals that post-modernism, French secularism, and religious freedom all support the spread of spiritual Islam. However, because of its elitism, overemphasis on individualism, and lack of formal religious institutions for knowledge and practice, spiritual Islam struggles. Overall, spiritual Islam flourishes in a secular society, but it is too intellectual to truly oppose political and conservative Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Spiritual care in a religiously plural society necessarily includes care for the nonreligious. However, little is known about the nonreligious people who themselves work to provide spiritual care. Today, spiritual care providers, better known in the United States context as chaplains, come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds, including nonreligious or unaffiliated with religious tradition. While nonreligious chaplains have robust pluralistic skillsets—a professional strength and a benefit to spiritual care work—they nonetheless encounter training and workplace challenges specific to their religious identities. The theoretical framework of Christian normativity could account for these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The religious journeys of humanity and their components are now recognized as cultural heritage values. UNESCO, WHC, ICOMOS, CIIC, and COE are organizations that actively work and issue international certificates for the protection, promotion, and survival of religious routes. These organizations have certified 14 faith-based routes as of 2023. A route's certification is critical since it allows the route to be recognized globally and accessible to international tourism. However, each institution has its own set of requirements to obtain these certificates. When all religious cultures are examined, 14 routes are insufficient to explain the phenomenon of religion to today's people. For this reason, it is beneficial to increase the current number by re-activating the religious routes that have affected large masses. Many countries apply every year to obtain certificates from these organizations with various route studies. However, many applications are rejected as insufficient. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine the effective criteria for religious routes to receive international certification. In this regard, St. Paul's Route stands out for its extensive geography spanning 12 countries and international potential. St. Paul is regarded as the most important figure in the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Anatolia and Europe. However, the St. Paul Routes being implemented do not meet the criteria of the any certificates. But the authentic St. Paul Route has the potential to receive certification from all organizations. In this research, the criteria required for the St. Paul Route to be certified by international organizations were investigated. A certified St. Paul Route will benefit many issues, including inter-religious dialogue between 12 countries, international cooperation, world peace, and sustainable tourism. It is thought to be an exemplary route with these features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In this article, using the example of the Russian Arctic, we analyze how the anti-cult movement creates the conditions for the discrimination and suppression of religious minorities. The anti-cultist (anti-sectarian) fears and phobias of the Russian establishment are closely bound to the fears of missionary activity. The change in legislation regulating missionary activity deliberately limits the activities of those religious communities, which, at the suggestion of the anti-cultists, are labeled in Russian society as "sectarian" and/or "foreign". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article seeks to integrate the "Indian swami" with the "global guru" and reflects upon why Vivekananda's teaching was conveyed so differently to different audiences. It argues that Vivekananda's distinctive form of "counter-preaching" had its roots in Adhikari-bheda, a tradition that seeks to tailor spiritual instruction to the needs and capacities of individual aspirants. I will show how he applied this technique to larger audiences because he believed that "truth" had a relative dimension that had to account for cultural difference. I investigate how instruction in Hindu "man-making" and spiritual democracy in India was matched by lessons designed to counter "muscular Christianity" in Euro-America. Vivekananda wanted both to reinforce a vision of eastern wisdom and counter western (and at times Indian) prejudices, whilst also attempting to shift entrenched but fallacious generalizations in each arena. In working within this seeming contradiction, I will show how his nationalism and universalism were inextricable, and also tied to his innovative formulations of Advaita Vedanta, karma yoga, and especially "practical Vedanta". I will conclude by explaining how his methods generally sought to pull his audiences away from extremes. The kaleidoscopic qualities of his teachings, I will suggest, explain why his legacy has been so variously deployed by both the right and left in contemporary Indian political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In the late 1980s, the activities of (neo)pagan groups were renewed in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Today, the (neo)pagans have taken a stable place among the new religious movements in the Baltic states. The social inclusion of Baltic (neo)pagans is made difficult by the state authorities, which have applied to them the same kinds of legal regulations as for unregistered "non-traditional" religious communities. Currently, (neo)pagan attempts to be included in social life come up against the state authorities' desire to closely control religious organisations. Despite common features, differences determined by both historical and political conditions can be observed: in Latvia and Lithuania, the (neo)pagan groups maintain that they are entitled to the same legal status as "traditional denominations" or "traditional religious association"; in Estonia, (neo)pagans are involved in discussions about religious freedom, religious education, and the preservation of historical sacred sites. Even though (neo)pagan groups in the Baltics have not gained the same legal status as the Christian denominations and their social inclusion is problematic, they have not been excluded from social life, as their activities have roots in the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian traditional way of life, which is valued highly nowadays. In this article, qualitative comparative analysis is used as a methodological tool, which helps to explain changes in contexts and settings of the Baltic states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article offers an overview of the most common misconceptions about religious freedom, with reference to the 2017 UN Report by Mr. Shaheed and the perspectives of other human rights scholars and experts. It proceeds with the operationalization of a selected list of misconceptions about this subject for empirical research of religious freedom awareness. We discuss the primary results from a survey on social perceptions of religious freedom collected from a convenience sample of university students in Northern Italy (N = 1035), offering, first, a new scale of religious freedom awareness (RFA), and second, a consideration of its association with various dimensions of religious freedom and other human rights. The findings show that awareness of religious freedom serves as a robust predictor of endorsement of a broader set of human rights by participants, including those potentially antithetical to religious freedom claims, such as gay and women's rights. We discuss these findings against a holistic approach to human rights and empirical evidence that other variables (political engagement, passive secularism views, and spiritual identity) contribute to the endorsement of rights culture in Italian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

While many variables might influence an individual's willingness to express their faith in the workplace, the role of regional context has not been fully considered. The different geographical regions in the U.S. consist of unique demographics and cultures that could shape an individual's expression of faith at work. Moreover, these regional effects might be moderated by an individual's specific religious tradition. Using data from a survey of U.S. adults featuring oversamples of Jewish and Muslim individuals, we utilize two unique measures of religious expression—displaying/wearing religious items at work and talking about religion at work—to assess the roles of region and religious tradition in expression of faith at work. We find that regional cultures can sometimes override religious subcultures to determine if and how people express their religion in the workplace. We find that evangelical-conservative Christians are more likely than those following most other religious traditions to say that they talk about their faith at work, regardless of the region in which they reside. However, we also find that individuals in the South tend to be more likely to express their faith in the workplace independent of their religious tradition while evangelicals in the Northwest are less so. The findings have broader implications for subcultures related to religious pluralism in an increasingly diverse U.S. society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The relationship between human rights and religion cannot be seen as a relationship between two entirely distinct sets of values Human rights are deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. However, throughout history religious institutions have interpreted human rights differently and have supported or hindered their implementation. This paper discusses the relationship between human rights and religion in the social and cultural matrix of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Our statistical analysis focuses on Hungary as an example of the region. In our view, the variations in the relationship between human rights and religion in Central and Eastern Europe are primarily determined by the region's wounded collective identity and the resulting overriding national and state security needs. Politically and culturally, the region is characterized by its betweenness, embodied in centuries of vulnerability to the great powers. Therefore, the social status and political discourse of human rights and religion should be tied to this primary regional marker. While examining the relationship between religion and human rights, we should be aware that the primary relationship is between human rights and the collective identity of the nation-state and between religion and the identity of the nation-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper examines transreligiosity in the context of the transmission of South Asian concepts of spirituality to the UK in the 20th century. Between the 1920s and 1990s, Indian teacher and author Phiroz Mehta (1902–1994) crossed borders in a colonial and postcolonial shuttling between India and the UK but also transgressed conceptual and practice borders of religion, teaching Indian religious concepts to post-Christian spiritual seekers in 1970s–80s South London. Mehta cultivated an elasticity between many religious and philosophical traditions, recognising the post-institutional fatigue of subjects who sought alternative forms of 'belonging without believing'. Privileging the domestic space for teaching, as well as transitory 'camp' gatherings in the UK and Germany, Mehta often operated in the social margins, combining teachings from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity with Zoroastrianism, Judaism (specifically Kabbalah), and Daoism. He offered his tutees the freedom to practice religion in whatever way they chose by drawing on a broad range of traditions concurrently to create a transreligiosity. This paper examines Panagiotopoulos and Roussou's 'transgressional webs of practising individualised forms of alternative spirituality' in relation to Mehta's followers in the 1970s-1980s and asks how transreligiosity relates to other theoretical analyses, such as religious exoticism, bricolage, religious appropriation, cultural re-articulation or assemblage. This paper focuses on qualitative interviews with original members of the Mehta community conducted between 2021 and 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper, taking the medical practice of Khorchin Mongolian bone-setting as an example, examines the conflict and connection between religious healing and modern (or Western) medicine as well as the transformation of shamanisms in the discourse of nation-state building in China, and argues that the relationship between shamanic healing and modern medicine is not a binary opposition. Khorchin Mongolian bone-setting is the product of the interaction between alternative medicine and syncretistic local knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

France, with its approach to managing religion known as laïcité, has been almost unique among Western nations in its approach to religious freedom for minority religious groups and movements. In recent decades it has passed widely criticized laws in efforts to implement a program of social control over such groups, including both new religious movements (NRMs) as well as older religious groups that have functioned in France for many decades. Examining why and how this has happened helps reveal how religious freedom can be curtailed in a modern Western society using the legislative process and the law. We apply theories from the sociology of law offered by Donald Black and by William Chambliss, as well as other relevant ideas, to understand how the situation developed in France. Black's concepts of status and intimacy are particularly useful, as is Chambliss' dialectic approach to law, which emphasizes human volition in lawmaking. Chambliss focuses on how societies develop resolutions to resolve dilemmas as they attempt to resolve conflicts that arise from contradictions in how society functions. The role of courts in such situations will also be addressed. We conclude that the liberalistic and humanitarian national motto ("liberté, égalité, fraternité") of the French Republic does not necessarily lead to the non-discrimination and non-persecution of new religious movements and other nontraditional religious groups. We also conclude that the resolution obtained with the About–Picard law was, as predicted by Chambliss, not a final one, and that dilemmas continue to exist about how to address concerns about religious groups in French society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Religion and dignity are a two-sided coin for followers of Indigenous Religions in Indonesia. Dignity is the relationally inherent worth in both human and non-human beings. To give and receive dignity, one ought to be religious, which is to engage in interpersonal relationships with all beings, human and non-human. This article draws on data from two decades of engagement with followers of Indigenous Religions through extensive fieldwork, activism, and community service. It explores the distinctive worldviews and practices of Indonesian Indigenous Peoples, which many have maintained in the face of external incursions by governments, corporations, and missionaries, and internal encroachments from within their communities. Their worldviews spring from interrelational cosmology, which posits that relational dignity is a religious norm. This cosmology is institutionalized with adat (customary) systems that enact and reproduce relational dignity. The article concludes with a call to better understand and recognize Indigenous Religions by expanding the definition of religion to include the notion of relational dignity when considering how scholars and policymakers conceptualize and implement policies on freedom of religion or belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The Mother Goddess Worship's (MGW) private shrine—Điện thờ Mẫu tư gia—has been a prominent worshipping place of a Vietnamese folk religion; however, it is rarely documented in scholarship in both Vietnamese and English. This paper is based mainly on in-depth interviews and numerous follow-up conversations with sixteen MGW spirit mediums in Hanoi capital city, additionally verified and supported by the authors' field notes. The findings reveal that worshipping Buddha(s) at MGW private shrines is a remarkable phenomenon and becoming common; however, they vary at different levels because of different reasons in which non-religious causes are significantly considered. The absence of worshipping Buddha(s), if there is any, is explained by the problems of lacking space or being in serious spiritual conflicts that cannot be avoided. In those cases, a Buddha(s) altar is often immediately added when the space is improved, and Buddha(s) statues/pictures are still displayed. Furthermore, the continuous blending of MGW—a Vietnamese folk religion—with Buddhism—a world religion—is proved to be not only a way that religious people choose to nurture their faith and seek preferable religious practices but additionally to be flexible to adapt their religion in the modern era. Finally, regarding religious freedom and tolerance, we argue that private shrines are able to be active freely without any control by the government such as they used to be prohibited in the past. In some circumstances, government officers also benefit from services offered by local mediums, even though they might not be MGW followers. Furthermore, mediums' neighbors are friendly to or even enjoy shrines' activities. Such facts show the improvement in religious freedom in Vietnam in recent decades, as well as once again proving the tolerance of the Vietnamese people towards different religions and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper examines the principles of denominational religious teaching in public schools at the background of a broader debate, concerning its compatibility with the standards of freedom of/from religion, by assessing the case of the Republic of San Marino. In doing so, revisions were made to some of the solutions proposed within the framework of international documents, such as the Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools (OSCE/ODIHR). Among the various solutions, the Toledo document proposes the preparation of an alternative lesson of equal dignity, for those pupils who do not avail themselves of denominational education. The preparation of an alternative lesson is to be followed by a detailed analysis of the regulatory procedure that led to the achievement of this solution in the Republic of San Marino; the procedure entailed setting up a course on "Ethics, culture and society" in public schools for those who do not wish to avail themselves of Catholic religious education. These types of lessons were introduced, experimentally, in the academic year of 2019–2020 and the monitoring of the experiment is currently in progress. Shown, in conclusion, will be how this educational experiment could be a good practice for institutionalizing religious freedom in a small country, in which denominational religious teaching is mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Christian communities in Palestine and Al-Andalus faced similar challenges during the ninth century. Although Muslim authorities tolerated Christianity and enshrined a certain degree of religious freedom, they downgraded these communities and encouraged conversion to Islam. In the long span, Christian communities decreased because many of their leading members emigrated or converted. Moreover, many of those that remained adopted the Arabic language, dressed like Muslims, and became increasingly assimilated into the ruling elite Muslim culture. This article suggests that the contacts and reciprocal influence between Christian communities from Palestine and Spain during this period were more substantial than hitherto perceived. Thus, they used the same methods with some local adaptations to tackle their critical situation. They introduced a growing use of Arabic in religious life, established and upgraded important pilgrimage shrines, and some extremist monastic communities fostered and encouraged martyrdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In the Second Vatican Council's Dignitatis Humanae, the Catholic Church declares that all persons have a right to religious freedom. One question left unaddressed by this declaration, as well as by subsequent theological debate, is whether this notion of religious freedom extends to atheists. In the following, I attempt to answer this question by analyzing some of the Church's most relevant Magisterial documents. I examine the most compelling reasons for thinking that the Church's teaching does not extend religious freedom to the atheist, especially when the public propagation of atheism is in question. However, in the final section, I consider one sense in which the Church does acknowledge religious freedom for the atheist: the sense in which all "unbelievers" must be free to make the act of faith and formally embrace the Christian religion. In this sense, I conclude, the atheist and other unbelievers enjoy even greater religious freedom than baptized Christians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Since 2015, religious freedom has become a heated and divisive political and public policy issue in Australia. While rarely defined or interrogated, 'religious freedom' does not exist as a value-neutral principle with a single meaning. Rather, its discursive constructions are varied and serve to promote certain interests at the expense of others. Offering a new perspective on the politics of religious freedom, this paper draws together four separate studies of the public discourse of religious freedom in Australia (spanning 35 years from 1984 to 2019) to chart how its framing has changed over time and to explore the implications of these changes. This analysis reveals three major discourses of religious freedom emerging over three phases: 'religious diversity'; 'balancing rights'; and 'freedom of belief'. This paper demonstrates how, once used to promote a progressive social agenda, religious freedom has become weaponised by the Christian Right and culture warriors in their battle to entrench in law the ongoing acceptability of discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Americans, over several decades, have consistently identified themselves as being religious and/or spiritual. Even though religious devotion has been recognized as a relevant diversity facet, therapeutic applications have been problematic. In the career development literature, numerous studies examined the influence of religion/spirituality (R/S) and generally categorized them in three ways. These include R/S as religious calling, as an integral feature of career interests and values, and as a supportive role. Yet, notable gaps exist among the articles. Researchers tended to operationalize R/S in a unidimensional manner, as a stand-alone construct instead of comprising multiple features. Investigations of religious calling in vocational matters were not recent. Further, few authors considered the influence of quest religious orientation on career development. In the present study, the relationships between seven career development and thirteen R/S variables using a sample of religious undergraduates (n = 290) enrolled in a career exploration course at a Christian university in the Midwest region of the United States were investigated. Findings from hierarchical regression analyses of vocational identity, career commitment, and career indecision checking for gender effects revealed three consistent salient predictors – religious calling, life-satisfaction, and quest religiosity. Implications of the results and possible therapeutic applications for career counselors are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...