Implicit Religion: A Contemporary Theory for the Relationships between Religion,State, and Society

This article demonstrates that the term ‘implicit religion’ provides an effective way to explore some of the philosophies and ideologies common to church, state, and society and to explain the mutual influence of traditional religion, civil religion, and folk religion in the creation of a national identity. Examples of church–state interactions from three continents are provided and variations in the definition of a national church are discussed. The effect of these variations on cross-cultural studies in religion, state, and society are assessed. The article concludes by examining the potential of the construct of implicit religion for bridging the different historical and cultural understandings of religion.     

Religion,the Royal Society,and the Rise of Science1

Accounts of the role of religion in the rise of modern science often focus on the way in which religion provided the intellectual foundations for scientific enquiry, motivated particular individuals, or provided the substantive content of approaches to nature. These relate to the origins of science and assume that, once established, modern science becomes self-justifying. However, seventeenth-century criticisms of science—attacks on the Royal Society being one example—suggest that science remained a marginal and precarious activity for some time. The rise of science to cultural prominence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was possible only because science was eventually able to establish itself as a religiously useful enterprise. Religion thus played a key role not only in the origins of modern science, but in providing the ongoing social sanctions that ensured its persistence and rise to prominence.     

Religion in the Twenty-First-Century World Society

This article presents the main theoretical approaches to the religious phenomenon: functionalism, constructivism, civil religion, invisible religion, diffused religion, rational choice, vicarious religion, and so on. It is difficult to accumulate empirical data that in general are considered too weak. The state of the art of sociology of religion seems promising because of the presence of new generations of sociologists who are deeply involved in their work. For the future a specific theory on migration mobility is necessary. Another necessity is a wider development of qualitative analysis for a better knowledge of religious dynamics.     

梁漱溟的宗教社会思想

梁漱溟一生竭力复兴中国文化的合理价值,努力重构儒学体系向现代形态转变,他以一种宗教式的超越气度,带着一种救世主的姿态,思考整个人类的关怀和中国社会的危机,试图重建新的价值体系与意义世界来回应西方文化的挑战,提出了著名的"文化三路向"说,其宗教社会思想是他对中国以及整个人类未来命运思考的结果.他认为中国没有系统宗教,儒学非宗教,但她发挥了类似于宗教的作用,维系中国社会秩序稳定运转.     

如果没有宗教,道德是否可能?——对现当代社会宗教与道德关系的一种探索

本文在综合分析近几年来学术界关于道德与宗教关系的研究成果的基础上,分析了历史上道德宗教化的历史根源,论证了在现代社会道德对宗教的相对独立性,同时也肯定了宗教在现代社会的道德价值与伦理效应。     

『新时代舟山宗教工作』系列之九:普陀山 爱国爱教 服务社会

普陀山佛教事业近年来取得了可喜的成绩,离不开"信、解、行、证"四个字,即:深入学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想,党的十九大及十九届二中、三中、四中全会精神,全国宗教工作会议精神与新修订《宗教事务条例》;正信指导正行。     

华人社会中的宗教与环保初探

面对环境问题,宗教领袖选择对宗教经典进行重新诠释,认为宗教在处理这些议题上扮演了重要的角色.本文则越过宗教教义,直接考察华人社会宗教团体的环保参与,并得出一些初步的认识:第一、宗教与环保没有直接的因果关系,但宗教可以成为环保运动的同路人,并对处理环境危机做出贡献.许多宗教参与环保并非源自其教义,而是因为世俗的环保运动如火如荼.第二,有组织的宗教(如台湾的佛教)比那些没有组织的宗教(如儒教)在进行资源动员保护环境方面更有效率.第三,强调自利与个人主义的民间宗教更多地推动地方上的环境保护,而强调利他和集体主义取向的宗教团体则更具心系苍生、环保天下的气质.     

印度宗教与统一民法问题

本文论述了印度属人法的历史与独立后《印度宪法》所规定的“统一民法”目标、独立后印度属人法的改革及其所面临的困难、民法改革与印度教民族主义政治的冲突等。本文特别分析了在印度特殊的宗教政治氛围中,人们的宗教权利与政府的宗教平等政策之间,尚存在着协调的难题;作为立国基础的世俗主义在印度并没有形成共识,更没有成为宗教与立法分离的依托。在生活方式即是宗教的国情下,统一民法不能够避免依赖宗教和习俗,更不能最终解决民法与宗教文化、多元社会、民族政治相关的矛盾问题。