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Richard Miller uses the concepts of alterity and intimacy as touchstones for analyzing neglected aspects of our interpersonal and social relationships. He argues that, as persons in relation, we oscillate between experiences of alterity and intimacy, and it is with a greater awareness of this oscillation that we do best to consider our ethical responsibilities. This paper affirms the value of thinking about—and potentially reimagining—how we conceive and relate to various others. It also makes explicit that, as persons, each of us is separate, not only from some, but from all other persons, even as we are also one with them. Moreover, each of us is different from all other persons, even as we are also like them. The aspects of persons and relationships on which we focus, in a given situation, matter because they partly determine the choices that we make in another's regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among all the Sanskrit story narratives available in the vast archive of textual collections in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, certain Buddhist tales among them found special provenance in the Mahāyāna culture of the Newars, the indigenous inhabitants of this surviving oasis of later Indic Hindu-Buddhist civilization. This paper will examine how two stories, the Sṛṇgabheri Avadāna and the S iṃhalasārthabāhu Avadāna, have been domesticated into the local religious field and adopted with special meaning for subgroups in the local society. The former recounts the consecutive, linked lives of a husband and wife, in a story of karmic retribution and reunion, a narrative that has a role in contemporary Buddhist widow mourning rites at the major stūpa in Nepal, Svayambhu. The latter, among the most popular jātaka narratives in the Buddhist world, relates the fate of a group of Buddhist merchants who are shipwrecked and captured by cannibalistic demonesses; in Nepal, this story was transposed into a tale of trans-Himalayan conflict, and its central figure is regarded as a hometown hero. Until today, a three-day festival procession of him circumnavigates the city of Kathmandu. This paper will explore these local domestications of Buddhist stories and analyze how these traditional celebrations have changed in the context of the shifting regional and political landscape of Nepal and the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Current medical research in the area of xenotransplantation is driven by the aim to save human lives and to improve the quality of life of those suffering from organ insufficiencies. Methods This study reflects the therapeutic intent of xenotransplantation from a theological-ethical perspective. Regarding statements of Christian communities, the analysis focuses mainly on catholic documents. This study takes into account the document on Prospects for Xenotransplantation by the Pontifical Academy for Life as well as a position paper on xenotransplantation released as a collaboration between the German Bishops Conference (Catholic) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (Protestant). Documents of other Christian denominations will be discussed in a separate paper. Aspects concerning the areas of medicine, social ethics and animal ethics are considered as well as biographical, psychosocial, culture-bound and ideological preconditions of acceptability. These aspects also include consequences for the construction of personal identity. Results and Conclusion With regard to an anthropocentrism that is based theologically and relationally, xenotransplantation-in general-can be viewed as a permissible form of therapy, given that the principles of biomedical ethics will be observed and that animals are treated with respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify several of the mismatches at play when social workers encounter families belonging to diverse groups and assess risk, well‐being and protection for children. Two minority groups in Israel were studied: the Ultra‐Orthodox Jewish community and Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. A context‐informed approach was adopted to explore the subjective perceptions and constructions of "risk," "well‐being," and "protection" among parents of the two communities (N = 60) and the social workers who work with them (N = 50). The social workers included some who belong to the minority groups they serve and others who are from the majority group. The analysis of the interviews yielded two main themes: (a) an understanding of the discrepancies in parents' and professionals' perceptions and constructions of "risk" and "protection" for children as the product of differences in the values, norms and contexts of these two groups; and (b) the implications of these discrepancies for the relationship between professionals/social service agencies and parents who are potential service users. Our findings call upon professionals to re‐visit "universals" in the "risk" discourse while taking into account the realms of culture, ethnicity, religiosity, spirituality and community life when assessing risk and treating children and families of minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies observation, comparison, juxtaposition, generalization, and extrapolation to explore nature, the natural environment, and environmental protection in relation to individuals and individual life, societies and social change, and human species and human evolution across three worlds of human experience. In the world of commonsense, nature and the natural environment constitute material conditions by which humans earn a living. Environmental protection is to preserve the land, water, and air upon which people survive. In the world of religion, nature and the natural environment serve as stages where humans perform to achieve blessing, redemption, and salvation. Environmental protection is to admire the almighty and his creations. In the world of science, nature and the natural environment exist as objective facts against which humans set out to explore, study, and understand. Environmental protection is to follow universal laws inherent in nature so that all environmental elements and forces can operate with their natural rhythms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Orthodox tradition does not reject the material world, but takes on material elements from the creation, and through the divine worship it offers them eucharistically to God. Through this practice, it cultivates a different ethos for humanity: the ethos of respect toward the creation, restraint of egoistic overconsumption, and awareness of personal responsibility, not only for the protection and preservation of the environment, but also for the "salvation of the whole world." This paper discusses "The Use of Plants in the Worship of the Orthodox Church," an experiential educational programme that starts with a focus on the symbolic import of plants used in the worship of the church, but goes far beyond to include the significant role of the flora in the ecosystem. This programme focuses on understanding the relationship of the church with the material world as well as the relationship of the human person with herbal ecosystems and the problems that arise due to human intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Kant and James claim to limit the role of knowledge in order to make room for faith. In this paper, we argue that despite some similarities, their attempts to do this come apart. Our main claim is that, although both Kant and James justify our adopting religious beliefs on practical grounds, James believes that we can—and should—subsequently assess such beliefs on the basis of evidence. We offer our own account of this evidence and discuss what this difference means for their accounts of religious belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If religion is faith concerning man's fate, how can this faith find expression today? This is a historical question: for all that will follow about shedding received notions and holding tradition in abeyance, this tradition, this received notion of the relevance of history, of man's historicity, cannot be done without in assessing surrender and hence its relevance for religion. There are some expectations, in particular two, that the title of this paper may raise but that are false; they should be dissipated at once. One, there will be no discussion of the social aspects of religion. Nor will there be any comparison between the analysis of surrender and innumerable extant comments on related phenomena, such as religious or mystical experiences. In this late historical phase, when there even is a sense in which we might be past history, or might soon be past history, religion may well appear as the mood embraced in an effort to come to terms with two unanswerable questions-it is the phase in our history in which one knows that these questions are unanswerable.

This paper aims to describe the buying behaviour of people with religious affiliations from the perspective of the symbolic consumption of food products and alcoholic beverages in Bogota. A qualitative methodology, with a non‐experimental and cross‐sectional design was applied. The technique used is an in‐depth interview with a "snowball" sampling technique. Participants, ranging from 20 to 30 years of age, were identified by the criteria from youth groups with a defined and internalized religious affiliation in their everyday lives. The findings include the description of a buying behaviour with significant restrictions, conditioned by the individuals' religious affiliation or beliefs. Some habits, such as fasting and the importance of health and image regarding both food and alcoholic beverages, are listed as well as the type of symbolic consumption with religious community leaders teaching and recommending customs that are consistent with their doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a fair amount of research has examined consumer boycotts, prior research has yet to adequately examine the interaction of religious boycotts and backing by religious leaders influence consumption behavior, particularly in locations where there is a separation of church and state (a novel contribution that our paper addresses). Through a focus group and an experimental study, this research examines how boycotts that are encouraged by religious leaders versus those that are not influence consumption. Specifically, the focus groups show that refutational defenses and supportive defenses induce participation. The experimental study finds that participation in religiously motivated boycotts is greater for consumers that are more religious and when backed by religious leader support. Additionally, negative attitudes toward a business mediate this relationship. Discussion builds on the literature on consumer boycotts, inoculation theory, and value attribution theory as well as provides implications for marketing practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the social work profession has been increasingly sensitized to the spiritual needs of those that they are working with, recent history has demonstrated that professionals lack the knowledge and skills needed for understanding those who are subscribing to strong religious beliefs. The research reported in this paper draws on a qualitative study that examined the perceived caregiving practice of parents from the Seventh-day Adventist faith community associated with the conservative Protestant sub-culture. Twenty-five participants aged 20-50 were invited to recall their experiences of being reared by practicing Adventist parents in the UK. An integrative phenomenological analysis yielded a number of themes that shed light on the relationship between religion and parenting. This paper will focus on the three key ideas that emerged: parenting was influenced by beliefs that parents held; a combination of warm and strict parenting was found with some evidence of stricter upbringing amongst black respondents; responses to parenting reported varied between acceptance and discomfort. The study gave valuable insight into individuals' experiences of a religious upbringing received within a secular environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, science and religious education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject areas. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils held religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This paper surveys the experimental economics approach to the study of religion. The field has a place in the context of the scientific study of religion generally and the social psychology of religion in particular, but employs distinct economic methods which promise new and different insights. In particular, certain features of the experimental approach as used by economists such as incentive compatibility are particularly appropriate for studying the effect of religion on individual behaviour. The paper discusses results obtained so far in terms of two roles of religion in shaping individual behaviour, that is, as a social group identifier and as a set of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the import of transcendence in illnesses and misfortunes as well as the place of healing in African traditional religion. The belief in medicine among Africans is the art of using available forces of nature to prevent disease and to restore and preserve health. It occupies a prominent position in the religious lives of African people. This article draws attention to the practice of several healing activities in African traditional religion in its attempts to restore health, exploring the indigenization of health care procedures and the role and function of God in African medicine and healing. This work shows that the concept of God is central in African religion and plays a prominent role in its healing ministry. The paper concludes with a suggestion about what could constitute a collective synergy for Western orthodox and African traditional medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores same-sex love and religion in the early eighteenth-century army, drawing on the autobiographical writings of two common soldiers. My main source is the story of early Methodist preacher Sampson Staniforth, who served as a common soldier in the 1740s. I discuss the British army’s attitude to same-sex love, the various contemporary meanings of Staniforth’s phrase ‘the unpardonable sin’, the impact of Methodism on his life, Methodist attitudes to sodomy and how Methodist historians treated Staniforth’s story. Very little work has been done on gender and religion in the early eighteenth-century army and the paper largely relies on a single ambiguous primary source so I offer questions for further research rather than conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on a study by Jessri and colleagues, which explores the role of religion and cultural beliefs in breastfeeding behaviors of immigrant women. She discusses that the study underscores the importance of value conflicts in nutrition behavior, and highlights the lack of awareness about breastfeeding advantages. She commends the qualitative methodology used by the authors and opines that the findings emphasizes on early introduction of complementary foods.

Background: Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a world-wide recovery mutual-help organization that continues to arouse controversy. In large part, concerns persist because of AA's ostensibly quasi-religious/spiritual orientation and emphasis. In 1990 the United States' Institute of Medicine called for more studies on AA's effectiveness and its mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC) stimulating a flurry of federally funded research. This paper reviews the religious/spiritual origins of AA and its program and contrasts its theory with findings from this latest research., Method: Literature review, summary and synthesis of studies examining AA's MOBC., Results: While AA's original main text ('the Big Book', 1939) purports that recovery is achieved through quasi-religious/spiritual means ('spiritual awakening'), findings from studies on MOBC suggest this may be true only for a minority of participants with high addiction severity. AA's beneficial effects seem to be carried predominantly by social, cognitive and affective mechanisms. These mechanisms are more aligned with the experiences reported by AA's own larger and more diverse membership as detailed in its later social, cognitive and behaviorally oriented publications (e.g. Living Sober, 1975) written when AA membership numbered more than a million men and women., Conclusions: Alcoholics Anonymous appears to be an effective clinical and public health ally that aids addiction recovery through its ability to mobilize therapeutic mechanisms similar to those mobilized in formal treatment, but is able to do this for free over the long term in the communities in which people live., (© 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Abstract: The Chinese Indigenous/ethnic minority people have rich cultural traditions. Spirituality, including religion, is central to their worldviews and is manifested in their daily lives. Many development projects in China are conducted in ethnic minority areas. This paper discusses the authors’ experiences and reflections on evaluations of development interventions in the Tibetan communities. The authors propose: (1) project participants’ values, including religion and spirituality, be fully integrated into project design, implementation, and evaluation and (2) evaluators be humble to gain insight and wisdom from ethnic cultures, and conduct evaluations in a culturally responsive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While other works have analysed what constitutes a faith‐based approach, this study examines what values and practices are employed in a secular approach to disaster response in communities where religion matters. Evidence of a secular approach is assessed in the context of the disaster response to Typhoon Haiyan (2013) in the Philippines, a country in which more than 90 per cent of the population identify themselves as religious. Using interviews with staff members of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and focus groups composed of beneficiaries, this paper provides an overview of how respondents commonly characterise a secular approach to disaster response. Results indicate differing NGO and beneficiary opinions on interaction over efficiency and the impartiality and neutrality of organisations. Secularity had a distinct effect on the disaster response to Haiyan, mostly by creating boundaries vis‐à‐vis when and where religion was permitted in the secularised humanitarian system. An awareness of these effects is encouraged to improve interaction with affected populations and local organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbols are communicative tools with performative functions in all cultures. Apart from their decorative functions, non‐Christian symbols adopted into Christianity have had a tremendous impact on Christian life since the early times, especially in liturgical practices. Through Western missionary activities, Ghana inherited Christian biblical‐liturgical art as has been developed in the home countries of the missionaries. However, since the 1960s Adinkra symbols have been incorporated into Christian worship and theology, receiving attention within secular and religious circles because of their communicative potential. On the religious level, some churches have adopted them as logos or incorporated them into architectural designs and liturgical art. This paper seeks to investigate what motivates various missions to choose particular Adinkra symbol(s) and what they hope to achieve with them. Furthermore, it attempts a theological reflection on the communicative potential of artefacts in Ghanaian Christianity as a response to the “Great Commission. “We approach the subject from a historical, contextual, and theological perspective, using selected Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in Ghana as case studies. The study employed unstructured in‐depth interviews and photo elicitations to trace the relationship between visual arts and religion, with particular emphasis on Christian visual arts and how they have informed Christianity in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents Pentecostalism that is primarily a mission movement more than a hundred years old. It reflects on the place and role in World Christianity of this still young and growing church tradition, and the relationships between Pentecostalism and the ecumenical movement. The challenges that Pentecostalism is facing are discussed, with special attention to the Eastern European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a short analysis of the ecclesiological and missiological context that led to the establishment of the Romanian Pentecostal Agency for Foreign Mission (APME). It states the main steps in the process of the development of the organization in its first decade of existence (2006–2016), during which it became one of the youngest and most dynamic missionary structures in Europe. It describes the process of the birth of APME and the important role the founding team played in the existence of the agency and in articulating the mission, vision, values, and work philosophy. The main section will present the components of APME's work strategy which led to implementing the vision and reaching the objectives: mobilizing the churches, recruiting, training, sending, supporting missionaries, and promoting the ministry. A short section will show the crucial importance of internal and foreign partnerships in the activity of APME. In the final part we will list the main lessons learned in the ten years of APME's existence that can be shared with other mission organizations, as well as the challenges that the organization faces over the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to describe the Pentecostal Church in Slovakia in the scope of current ecumenical cooperation and dialogue. The Apostolic Church is a member of the Union of Evangelical Churches in Slovakia, which established the Department of Theology and Christian Education (DETM) at the University of Matej Bel. Since 1994, individual churches have continued together in ecumenical cooperation in the education of their young spiritual workers. The curriculum includes academic interpretation and missiological reflection on selected parts of mission. It offers the practical efforts of the teachers and students, especially from the viewpoint of the churches' common witness in diversity. The curriculum of the study programme for theologians interprets the two mission documents Together towards Life (TTL) and The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) from a Slovakian evangelical theological view and applies it practically in context. This paper introduces DETM's educational programme in mission and ecumenism and examines how it embodies the values and concepts of those two mission documents through its activities. Special interest is focused on the topic of the practice of common witness in a spirit of partnership and cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pentecostals are frequently placed on the sidelines of civic engagement, seen as participating less in public life because of their preoccupation with other‐worldly eschatology and their one‐way‐ticket evangelistic efforts. This study does not share the above view, but argues that Pentecostal civic engagement has been increasingly recognized as resource capital that empowers the lives of the poor. This paper investigates the impact of Pentecostal/charismatic religion on civil society, asking what contribution the study of “spirit empowered” religion can make to our understanding of the role of religion in human society. Using a quantitative and qualitative approach to flesh out empirical evidence, this study reveals what Filipino Pentecostals believe and practise with regard to civic engagement. It provides a case study of findings to further point out that Pentecostals in the Philippines are not on the sidelines of civic engagement, but are one of the religious players in the creation of a just and loving society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Experiencing life‐threatening illness could impact on an individual’s spirituality or religious beliefs. In this paper, we report on a study which explored cultural elements that influence the provision of palliative care for people with cancer. A contemporary ethnographic approach was adopted. Observations and interviews were undertaken over 3 months with 48 participants, including palliative care staff, patients, and their families. An ethnographic data analysis framework was adopted to assist in the analysis of data at item, pattern, and structural levels. Religion was identified as central to everyday life, with all participants reporting being affiliated to particular religions and performing their religious practices in their daily lives. Patients’ relatives acknowledged and addressed patients’ needs for these practices. Staff provided spiritual care for the patients and their relatives in the form of religious discussion and conducting prayers together. An understanding that religious and spiritual practices are integral cultural elements and of fundamental importance to the holistic health of their patients is necessary if health‐care professionals are to support patients and their families in end‐of‐life care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: This paper is based on a theological symposium presented at the International Xenotransplantation Association's 14th Congress held in Baltimore, MD, September, 2017. Methods: The information explores the Jewish, Christian and Muslim theological perceptions and perspectives about cross‐species (ie pig‐to‐human) organ transplantation, the genetic alterations required in the organ‐source pig, and their potential to influence individual acceptance of the procedure. Results/Conclusions: This work should not be considered as the ultimate word about individual theological views, but rather as part of an ongoing conversation that will hopefully lead to wider consideration and exploration of these issues as xenotransplantation science advances towards clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximalism is the view that an agent is permitted to perform a certain type of action (say, baking) if and only if she is permitted to perform some instance of this type (say, baking a pie), where φ‐ing is an instance of ψ‐ing if and only if φ‐ing entails ψ‐ing but not vice versa. Now, the aim of this paper is not to defend maximalism, but to defend a certain account of our options that when combined with maximalism results in a theory that accommodates the idea that a moral theory ought to be morally harmonious—that is, ought to be such that the agents who satisfy the theory, whoever and however numerous they may be, are guaranteed to produce the morally best world that they have the option of producing. I argue that, for something to count as an option for an agent, it must, in the relevant sense, be under her control. And I argue that the relevant sort of control is the sort that we exercise over our reasons‐responsive attitudes (e.g., our beliefs, desires, and intentions) by being both receptive and reactive to reasons. I call this sort of control rational control, and I call the view that φ‐ing is an option for a subject if and only if she has rational control over whether she φs rationalism. When we combine this view with maximalism, we get rationalist maximalism, which I argue is a promising moral theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Background: Fifty to eighty percent of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience a form of sexual dysfunction (SD), even after renal transplantation. Despite this, inquiring about SD is often not included in the daily practice of renal care providers. Objectives: This paper explores the perspectives of renal social workers regarding sexual care for patients and evaluates their practice, attitude towards responsibility and knowledge of SD. Design: A cross‐sectional study was conducted using a 41‐item online survey. Participants: Seventy‐nine members of the Dutch Federation of Social Workers Nephrology. Results: It was revealed that 60% of respondents discussed SD with a fifth of their patients. Frequency of discussion was associated with experience (p = 0.049), knowledge (p = 0.001), supplementary education (p = 0.006), and the availability of protocols on sexual care (p = 0.007). Main barriers towards discussing SD consisted of ‘culture and religion’ (51.9%), ‘language and ethnicity’ (49.4%), and ‘presence of a third person’ (45.6%). Sufficient knowledge of SD was present in 28% of respondents. The responsibility for discussion was 96% nephrologists and 81% social workers. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that a part of Dutch nephrology social workers do not provide sexual care regularly, due to insufficient experience and sexual knowledge, absence of privacy and protocols and barriers based on cultural diversity. According to the respondents the responsibility for this aspect of care should be multidisciplinary. Recommendations include a need for further education on the topic, private opportunities to discuss SD and multidisciplinary guidelines on sexual care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who identify as members of religious communities, such as the Amish and Low German Mennonites, face challenges obtaining quality health care and engagement in research due in part to stereotypes that are conveyed through media and popular discourses. There is also a growing concern that even when these groups are engaged in research, the guiding frameworks of the research fail to consider the sociocultural or historical relations of power, further skewing power imbalances inherent in the research relationship. This paper aims at discussing the uses of cultural safety in the context of health research and knowledge translation with groups of people that are associated with a specific religion. Research with the Amish and Low German Mennonites is provided as examples to illustrate the use of cultural safety in this context. From these examples, we discuss how the use of cultural safety, grounded in critical theoretical perspectives, offers new insight into health research with populations that are traditionally labeled as minority, vulnerable, or marginalized, especially when a dominant characteristic is a unique religious perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how traditional meanings attributed to housing and the rituals relating to death and burials on private properties are being challenged due to modernisation, familial politics, and contending sets of interests (i.e., valuing property for its economic capital vs. social/cultural capital). The methodology approach is based on in-depth interviews with 12 respondents from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds. Findings reveal how negotiations and renegotiations of interests affect the physical state and marketability of houses in the Yoruba communities. The findings also sign-post a fascinating entry point for exploring the way Yoruba are negotiating and navigating the relationship between modernity and tradition. An important implication for marketing and consumption praxes concerns the dynamism in the narratives of ritual behaviour, especially in the non-Western tradition. The paper contributes to the navigation of relationships between the living and the dead within a Nigerian subculture from a marketing perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faith traditions frequently proclaim priority for the poor and socially marginalised, emphasising individual and collective responsibility towards those in poverty. Ordained ministers or clergy-possibly the main investment of religious organisations-play a key role in encouraging and fulfilling that commitment in their local settings. This paper considers the availability of clergy to provide pastoral care in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. Data from the 2011 census of England are used to correlate area variations in the number of clergy with household and neighbourhood deprivation. Findings show that clergy are distributed inversely to socio-economic deprivation at the ecological level. Fewer clergy are available or readily accessible in the most deprived areas, raising questions about their ability to respond pastorally and act politically on behalf of the poor. Market forces that draw clergy deployments towards less deprived areas warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, has a population of 3.5 million people. The concentration of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in Nairobi, as in other African cities, has more than doubled since the 1970s. The Kenya meteorological department in June 2016 forecast poor short rains in 2016. By December 2016, the Thika Dam (Ndakaini), which provides 85 percent of the water used in Nairobi, was below the 50 percent level. This led the Nairobi water and sewerage company to issue detailed water-rationing programmes effective 1 January 2017. With dry taps across the city, actual effects of depressed rains were visible. Using fieldwork data, this paper examines the response, if any, of three Pentecostal churches in Nairobi in two separate month-long periods, July 2016 and January 2017, to the meteorological department and Nairobi water and sewerage alerts. Three services for each Pentecostal church were sampled, bringing the total number of church services to nine. From fieldwork data, a vibrant African Pentecostal eco-theology emerges, which is the greening of all of God's creation on earth. Using typologies available for defining the relationship between human beings and nonhuman nature identified within public theology discourse, I find that two of the congregations align themselves with utilitarian anthropocentrism and nature-centred approaches, while the other defies plausible positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies have examined emotional and belief responses following a disaster, yet there has been limited comparative analysis of responses to disasters in different places. This paper reviews the results of 366 questionnaires that evaluated key emotional and belief concepts in Haiti after the earthquake on 12 January 2010 (n=212) and in Indonesia after the earthquake in Yogyakarta on 27 May 2006 (n=154). The results indicate significant differences between the responses in the two settings, particularly in relation to feelings of impunity, self-blame for the disaster, regret about pre-earthquake behaviour, and a sense of justice in the world. Furthermore, the impacts of age, education, and gender on responses also were different in the two case study sites. Overall, the results suggest that understanding the cultural, religious, and social contexts of different disaster locales is important in comprehending the emotions and beliefs that manifest themselves in the wake of a major disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few dozen areas in dispute around the world, where the borders have not been agreed by the involved parties or by the international community. The dispute over the Israeli border is particularly complex as it not only presents disagreement between the opposing sides in play but also in the international arena and within the Israeli political system and society. This paper examines one way in which the State of Israel is trying to define its borders through postage stamps. The argument raised is that Israel issues stamps that deal with disputed territorial areas in accordance with the ideology of the ruling party of a certain period, as well as the respective social consensus surrounding a particular area. Our findings support this argument and find three meta-messages incorporated into the stamps, including the historical connection between the State of Israel and the land of Israel, unified Jerusalem, and the Christian connection to Jerusalem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the immense impact that pandemics can have specifically on consumers' mental well‐being, extending many of the well‐being topics examined in this special issue on pandemics and consumer well‐being. Avenues for future research in the area are suggested, with expanded discussion and future research suggestions related to four consumer characteristics including three areas associated with negative mental well‐being (parenthood, suffering with chronic illness, aging, and family) as well as another characteristic associated with positive mental well‐being (religion). The article concludes with a pressing call to action for academics and others to step up to the purpose in their careers and make a difference in the world for good in relation to consumers' mental well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I bring together Jewish and Buddhist philosophical resources to develop a notion of radical responsibility that can confront a complicity within nursing and health care between empathy and (neo)liberal white supremacist hegemony. My inspiration comes from Angela Davis's call for building coalitions to advance struggles for peace and justice. I proceed as follows. First, I note ways phenomenology clarifies empathy's seeming foundational role in nursing care, and how such a formulation can be complicit with assumptions about private individualism. Second, I turn to the Jewish philosophies of Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas, and their advocacy for a kind of responsibility that precedes the constitution of individuality as this can provide a resource for action and practice circumventing liberal influenced empathy. I note critical reservations about direct and practical application of Levinasian ethics in nursing care, and turn to engaged Buddhist philosophies of interdependence—such as in Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama—as a corrective. Third, I conclude by indicating ways interreligious radical responsibility can reorient us toward housekeeping habits of character and away from exceptional crisis management, noting specific examples and actions in health care, nursing education and nursing scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mother's/parent milk is the optimal way to feed infants and when unavailable, supplemental donor human milk is preferred. A safe supply of donor human milk should be available for all low birthweight infants for whom it has been shown to reduce morbidity. Human milk banking has been in existence for more than a century, although largely shut down during the 1980s, primarily due to fears of human immunodeficiency virus transmission. With renewed security in milk banking, has come an exponential growth in human donor milk use. Guidelines for milk banking have been published in many countries including Australia, France, India, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the nonprofit organization PATH. The European Milk Bank Association and the Human Milk Banking Association of North America have also published recommendations for milk banks throughout Europe and North America, respectively. Although there is variability among these guidelines, there is general consensus on quality control measures required to provide a supply of safe donor milk. These measures include effective donor screening, safe collection, transport and storage of milk, standardized pasteurization and bacteriological testing. Operational considerations are also critical, such as appropriate training for staff, equipment maintenance and cleaning, protocol and record keeping and inspection and accreditation. Clearly delineating these key quality control measures provides an excellent foundation for establishing international guidelines. Acceptable modifications must be established for low‐ and middle‐income countries that do not have sufficient resources; overly burdensome guidelines may make establishing a milk bank unnecessarily prohibitive. This review presents a summary of current best practices for human milk banking. Key messages: Human donor milk is a vital source of nutrition for preterm very low birth weight infants when there is an insufficient supply of their own mother's/parent milk.Human milk banks follow best practices within their own jurisdictions, including for screening donors and for processing and distributing human donor milk.Internationally agreed upon guidelines for the operation of a milk bank that are modifiable to a country's resources would facilitate quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stunting affects almost one‐quarter of children globally, leading to reduced human capacity and increased long‐term risk of chronic disease. Despite intensive infant and young child feeding (IYCF) interventions, many children do not meet their requirements for essential nutrients. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing an IYCF intervention utilizing nutrient‐dense powders from egg, biofortified sugar beans and Moringa oleifera leaf in rural Zimbabwe. A mixed‐methods formative study was conducted comprising the following: (i) a recipe formulation trial, (ii) trials of improved practices to assess acceptability of the intervention, and (iii) a participatory message formulation process to develop counselling modules for the IYCF‐plus intervention. Twenty‐seven mother–baby pairs were recruited between November 2019 and April 2020. Key domains affecting IYCF practices that emerged were time, emotional and physical space, cultural and religious beliefs, indigenous knowledge systems and gender dynamics. Household observations and sensory evaluation indicated high acceptability of the new ingredients. Recipe formulation and participatory message formulation by participants instilled community ownership and served to demystify existing misconceptions about the new food products. Families noted the potential for intervention sustainability because the foods could be grown locally. Supplementing complementary foods with nutrient‐dense local food ingredients as powders has the potential to sustainably address nutrient‐gaps in the diets of young children living in rural lower‐ and middle‐income countries. Comprehensive IYCF counselling utilizing a gender‐lens approach, family support and indigenous knowledge systems or resources are key elements to support positive behaviour change in complementary feeding interventions. Key messages: Incorporating locally available solid foods into complementary feeding is a major challenge for caregivers in rural communities. There are several barriers that hinder mothers from feeding nutrient‐dense solid foods such as animal source foods, fruits and vegetables, resulting in nondiversified complementary diets.Formulation of nutrient‐dense, high‐quality protein complementary meals using powdered locally available food supplements is feasible, well tolerated and allows young children to be fed nutrient‐dense complementary meals in rural LMICs.Utilizing traditionally recognized functional foods such as Moringa olifeira encourages the involvement of elderly women/grandmothers in infant and young child feeding, enabling support for mothers.Integrated complementary feeding interventions incorporating behaviour change communication, provision/promotion of specific nutrient‐dense complementary foods (SQ‐LNS and local foods as powdered supplements), family support and agricultural production has potential for success in rural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains a sociocultural analysis of school sport experiences of Muslim girls in two countries with different gender policies in physical education (PE) classes: England and Denmark. In Denmark, PE lessons take place in co-educative classes, in England schools are more diverse, with predominantly co-educational but also single-sex and faith schools offering different learning contexts. Two case studies from Denmark and England are used to explore the experiences of migrant Muslim girls in these different settings. A social constructionist approach to gender underpins the interpretation of stakeholders' voices on the inclusion of Muslim girls and the analysis of PE discourses in these countries. Findings illustrate similarities and differences at the interface of cultural diversity, political rhetoric of inclusion and realities of sport experiences for Muslim girls in both countries. Complex influences on PE experiences include gender stereotypes, cultural and religious orientations and practices, as well as actions and expectations of parents, communities and coaches/teachers. The studies provide insights into the ways participants managed their identities as Muslim girls in different sport environments to enable participation and retention of their cultural identities. Highlighted throughout the paper are the ways in which school sport policy and practice, providers and gatekeepers, can include or exclude groups, in this case Muslim girls. Too often coaches and teachers are unaware of crucial facts about their learners, not only in terms of their physical development and capabilities but also in terms of their cultural needs. Mistakes in creating conducive learning environments leave young people to negotiate a way to participate or refrain from participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper places 'Islam and bioethics' within the framework of 'religion and science' discourse. It thus may be seen as a complement to the paper by Henk ten Have () with which this thematic section in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science opens, which places 'Islam and bioethics' in the context of contemporary bioethics. It turns out that in Zygon there have been more submitted articles on Islam and bioethics than on any other Islam-related topic. This may be a consequence of the global nature of the bioethical issues, driven by advancement in science and technology, which allows for conversation across cultural and religious boundaries even when the normative references and argumentative methods are tradition-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background South Asians in the United Kingdom are overrepresented on the organ transplant waiting list but underrepresented as organ donors. In this study, we surveyed South Asian opinion with regards to organ donation. Methods Voluntary completion of an anonymous survey was promoted amongst South Asians by both online and paper-based approaches. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess independent predictors for organ donation approval. Results Five hundred and fifty-six survey responses were analyzed in this study. 68.4% of respondents agreed with organ donation but only 13.3% were registered organ donors. Muslims were less likely than Hindus or Sikhs to agree with organ donation (59.3% vs. 92.2% vs. 88.7%, p < 0.001) or be registered donors (5.0% vs. 40.3% vs. 25.8%, p < 0.001), respectively. Religious guidance was important for Muslims, but parental approval of greater importance for Hindus. On logistic regression analysis, variables independently associated with organ donation approval were; young age, independent living from parents, non-Muslims, awareness of organ donation shortages, family member on dialysis/registered donor, and more liberal degrees of religious belief (all p < 0.05). Conclusion South Asians in the United Kingdom are a heterogeneous group of different faiths, cultures, and values. We believe targeted strategies are required to raise awareness of organ donation amongst South Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectacular new religious buildings on London's outskirts are often cited as evidence of London's multicultural diversity. However, the suburban location of these new buildings is usually dismissed as incongruous, drawing on familiar tropes of the suburbs as sites of modernisation, materialism and secularism. This paper uses this assumed incongruity to address the complexity of relationships between religion and suburban space by tracing the significance of religion in changing suburban geographies through a focus on London's suburbs. The paper begins with a critique of the absence of religion in suburban studies, which emphasise secularisation and homogeneity. The rediscovery of the creative potential of the suburbs gives little consideration to religious creativity. Similarly recent work on diasporas and religion have little to say about the significance of the suburban. Our paper uses three case studies, of different faith groups, from North and West London to explore three distinctive articulations of the relationship between religion and suburban space that we call 'semi-detached faith', 'edge-city faith' and 'ethnoburb faith'. These examples are not intended as ideal types but as analytical categories that open up the relationships between space, faith and mobilities. We argue there is a need to more carefully theorise the ways in which faith communities have engaged with the challenges of suburban geographies including processes of secularisation and suggest that the study of faith in suburbia offers new ways of thinking about the complexity of suburban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission and contestation of putative transcendent moral values has been relatively under-represented in geographers' thinking about globalisation and transnationalism. This paper does so through an analysis of how a new moral geography is being produced by debates over homosexuality in one transnational religious network: the Anglican Communion, a major international Christian denomination that has been significantly divided in recent years over the issue. The paper begins by outlining the beliefs articulated by Anglicans who claim an 'orthodox' position on homosexuality, the threat that 'orthodox' Anglicans perceive from the international dissemination of progressive values about lesbian and gay equality and the transnational dynamics of the debate. The second half of the paper reflects on the impact of these transnational debates on the local lived experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians drawing on empirical research in England, the USA, South Africa and Uganda. The paper concludes by arguing that understanding why and how particular moral certainties are promoted as transcendent causes matters because challenging such processes are crucial in the struggle over the shape and meaning of social relations in the twenty-first century. In doing so, the intention is to reinvigorate the field of moral geographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are religious parties so popular in the new and emerging democracies of the Middle East and North Africa? This paper offers an alternative to the traditional accounts that stress religiosity, the repressive nature of the previous regimes, poverty and underdevelopment, or Arab grievances against Israel. Instead, it outlines a rational choice-based explanation, in which religious political parties are able to address the problem of credible commitment, ubiquitous in new democracies. Instead of having to rely on patronage as the only mechanism of making pre-electoral commitments, Islamic parties are able to directly make credible promises about the supply of public goods. This is because they already have a history and a reputation, which both serve as channels of communication with the voters. Their reputation relies most importantly on a track record of providing social services in environments where governments have failed to do so. Furthermore, we argue that their religious nature makes them well equipped to overcome collective action problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Interest in religion within the field of community psychology has steadily emerged within the last three decades. This interest has focused almost exclusively on the social benefits of religion, glossing over the often-contentious nature of religious life and the ways in which religious individuals and institutions can disrupt healthy human and community development. Considering the recent surge of interfaith conflicts and discriminatory practices targeting religious minorities in communities across the United States, it is imperative that community psychologists begin to examine relevant trends in interfaith relations and potential directions for action research and intervention. This paper serves as the beginning point of just such an examination, proposing a multilevel model for addressing the microsystemic, mesosystemic, and macrosystemic levels of interfaith phenomena. More specifically, I present interfaith contact, congregation-based community partnerships, and theological belief systems as particularly relevant to interfaith community research and intervention. Finally, I detail an interfaith organization that embodies these dimensions of interfaith relations and provides a concrete example of how a multilevel action research model may be effectively employed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the wider context of interest in the relationships between faith and the state, this paper focuses on the case of state-funded faith schools in England and how opposition to them has been mobilised and negotiated. Discussion focuses specifically on the role of community cohesion policy - a policy adopted to combat social and ethnic division after 2001 - and the contested parameters of this policy when introduced to monitor schools. Analysis suggests that faith school providers were able to interpret the policy in ways that challenged government articulations and reworked dominant meanings, revealing the political and spatial instabilities of the policy. However, our analysis suggests that these challenges to state meanings were less successful in shaping mechanisms to monitor admissions practices in faith schools - producing some unanticipated entanglements of state and religious authority with implications for the shaping of communal religious life. These findings both add to the wider critical policy analysis of community cohesion policy and contribute to debates about the role of religion in the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1980s, a growing body of academic literature has focused upon the 'evangelicalisation' of Latin America and other, less affluent world regions (e.g. Africa and Southeast Asia). Valuable for exploring a host of interconnected social, political, economic and cultural practices, this research has consistently pondered the implications of changing religious affiliations and what the effects of these changes might hold for society and space more generally. In Brazil, for example - with more Catholics than any country in the world and a rapidly growing evangelical population - researchers suggest that the country's spiritual shift may bring with it significant political and cultural change, particularly in the impoverished urban communities (i.e. favelas) where evangelical churches are most prominent. While numerous accounts exist to document these changes and reflect upon their potentialities, few geographers, as of yet, have contributed to these debates. Still unknown are the spatial changes that accompany this spiritual shift, the ways that neighbourhoods and cities are changing, and the day-to-day effects of new and syncretistic religious practices. Through a case study of a favela community in northeastern Brazil, this paper considers the socio-spatialities of religious diversity and change within Brazil's contemporary urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]