Comparative analysis of the risk-handling procedures for gene technology applications in medical and plant science

In this paper we analyse how the risks associated with research on transgenic plants are regulated in Sweden. The paper outlines the way in which pilot projects in the plant sciences are overseen in Sweden, and discusses the international and national background to the current regulatory system. The historical, and hitherto unexplored, reasons for the evolution of current administrative and legislative procedures in plant science are of particular interest. Specifically, we discuss similarities and differences in the regulation of medicine and plant science, and we examine the tendency towards dichotomizing risk — focusing on social/ethical risks in medicine and biological risks in plant science. The context of this article is the Synpraxia research project, an inter-disciplinary program combining expertise in sciences and the humanities.     

Self-Esteem and In-Group Bias Among Members of a Religious Social Category

Abstract

In a sample of New Zealand university students, the author extended earlier research into the relationship between self-esteem and intergroup discrimination. He found no support for the hypothesis that social-category members (i.e., Christians) experience an elevation in the domain of self-esteem (i.e., religious self-esteem) judged as more relevant to the in-group after evaluations favoring the in-group. Regardless of whether the evaluation targets behaved positively or negatively, the respondents in the experimental condition evaluated in-group (Christian) targets more highly than out-group (Atheist) targets. After evaluations favoring the in-group, the respondents did not experience an elevation of religious self-esteem, global self-esteem, or mathematical self-esteem (judged as less relevant to the in-group).     

Parental defense style and child competence: A match-mismatch hypothesis

This study sought to explore the possible relationship between parental style of psychological defense and children's social competence in 50 families in which one parent had been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder. Based upon a formal analysis of the logical transformations inherent in various defense mechanisms, three levels of complexity of defenses were identified, along with a counterpart set of cognitive operations necessary for decoding these defense levels. It was hypothesized that children lacking the requisite cognitive skills to grasp the logical complexities of their disturbed parent's primary mode of psychological defense would be less socially adjusted and judged less competent than children who could understand the defensive transformations of their parent. The results suggested that children who, due to their cognitive immaturity, are potentially     

Ecumenism and Global Governance

On 21 June 2018, on his 23rd international journey, Pope Francis travelled to Geneva to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches. The Swiss city also hosts a large number of representative international institutions dealing with global governance and the issues of peace, human rights, and migration. After reviewing the main highlights of the journey, this article discusses its significance: to appeal to the common commitment of Christians to proclaim the gospel and its power of salvation in a divided and wounded world. In this way, Pope Francis underlined that in the pluralistic society of today, harmony is not possible if we just ignore faith and focus on what it means to be human while excluding the transcendent. Indeed, it is the gospel that promotes harmony and commitment to a better world.     

Freedom,Love, and Justice

This article starts from love as being a fundamental value, guiding modes of behaviour that establish a reliable framework and basis for the recognition of the rights and dignity of everyone in the community. The affirmation of justice and freedom based on love leads to corrective and transformative action in cases where life is threatened and rights are being violated. Drawing on the experience and witness of Martin Luther King Jr, the article underlines that love empowers the oppressed to stand up and becomes a moral imperative for change, against the background of the many forces promoting conflict and violence, division, and polarization. The power of love is a message to the world, to the powerful, and to the powerless – to all who long for a different reality from what we see in today’s world. This needs to be expressed in the quest for the unity of the church and the unity of humankind, serving the sustainability and unity of God’s creation.     

Revisiting the Antecedents of Interreligious Dialogue

This article looks critically at the trend to connect contemporary interreligious dialogue with certain events and developments that took place in Europe and India during the 19th and early 20th centuries: (i) the comparative study of religion, (ii) the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, (iii) three World Missionary Conferences in the first half of the 20th century, (iv) renascent Hinduism in India, and (v) Indian Christian efforts for inculturation. These events/developments are often perceived as the formative factors of dialogue. But this essay argues that they had their own complexities, agendas, and targets and rarely had interreligious dialogue as their objective or focus. Uncritical reading of the history of interreligious dialogue ignores how colonialism and imperialism have shaped these “antecedents.”     

The cultivation of ‘wild channeling’: lived religion as a normalizing force

ABSTRACT

Channeling, a New Age form of spirit mediumship, is a hyper-individualized religiosity, with proponents claiming that each person can create his/her own reality. Yet, most channels hold to very similar beliefs and practise their craft in a uniform manner. This, for most channels, involves moving through two stages: first, in the wild phase, they undergo powerful experiences of direct encounters with non-material beings who can be harsh and demanding, sensations are strongly embodied, the experience can be horrifying and its meaning remains obscure. In the second, cultivated stage, channels come to understand these raw experiences through pre-existing narratives of meaning learned from friends and literature, the entities channeled are benevolent, and both the content and the form of the sessions come to emphasize empowerment. Both the phenomenology and repetition of lived religion, it is shown, can serve as a regulating force, creating institutionalization of religious practices and beliefs, even when these advocate individualism and are situated in a milieu lacking any formal institutions.