Reconsidering religion and fandom: Christian fan works in My Little Pony fandom

Studies of religion and fandom have tended to explore the extent to which fan cultures might be seen as forms of surrogate religion. This article suggests that a more detailed examination of the way in which believers use their faith within their individual fandoms would offer more interesting insights into both contemporary religious practice and fandom. Conducting a case study of ‘Brony’ fandom (adult fandom of cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), this article explores the ways in which Christian fans use fan fiction and art to promote religious literacy, explore theological issues and engage in evangelism and exegesis. Fan knowledge is used as a way to quickly impart and explore complex religious concepts in a manner which utilises the shared culture of fandom. This should not be seen as a symptom of ‘mediatisation’ but as part of a complex synthesis of faith and popular culture.     

Politicised religion and the religionisation of politics

The dilemmas of dealing with difference are currently at the heart of our society. Among the anomalies of our age is the survival and even flourishing of complex systems of values based on religion. However, we see that mosques flourish, ethnic associations with religious undertones multiply and religion is present in the public sphere through conflicts about religion or persons believed to be religious. Islam is a much discussed topic. The line between private and public religion is as thin as ever, and I would argue so is the line between religion and politics. This can be observed at two levels. First, the invocation of religion in the political discourse, leading to the politicisation of religion and second, as the influence religion has on political life, the religionisation of politics.     

The Catholic Church,moral doctrine,and HIV prevention in Recife,Brazil: Negotiating the contradictions between religious belief and the realities of everyday life

Religious beliefs have had a key role in shaping local responses to HIV and AIDS. As the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil is no exception. Yet little research has been conducted to document how religious doctrine is enacted in practice among its lay leaders and followers. In this article, we present ethnographic research from Recife, Brazil, conducted to understand the way in which religious doctrines are interpreted at a local level. Contextualised within the sociology of contemporary Brazilian Catholicism, we draw on interviews with clergy members, lay leaders, and parishioners to discuss how the Catholic Church's vision of sexuality translates into everyday lives of its followers. We explore the disjuncture between the Catholic ideals of fidelity and delaying sex until marriage with the everyday reality of the Church's followers, highlighting the role that gender plays in defining sexual roles and expectations. We conclude by posing questions for future research and HIV prevention strategies considering the formal institutional response of the Brazilian Catholic Church to AIDS on the one hand, and the social and cultural contexts in which Catholics live their daily lives on the other.     

The implication of technology in mediatisation and mediation approaches to religious studies

This paper investigates the groundwork upon which the concepts of mediatisation and mediation were erected, focusing on the very definition of what media-technology is. These concepts frame the conversation among scholars in the study of religion and media. However, despite the fact that the two keywords share the same root, media, they are understood as incompatible with one another. On the one hand, mediatisation is broadly defined as a historical shift in which the logic of mass media transforms traditional forms of religion, subsuming them under the imperative of the modern marketplace. On the other hand, scholars studying the mediation of religion affirm that media have always shaped and transformed religious practices. This investigation argues that the controversy between the two modes of analysis does not consist of whether or to what extent media technology affects or transforms religion. Rather, the conflict arises from how media technology is defined.     

‘I download my prayer schedule’: exploring the technological mediation of Islamic religious practice at work

The practice of daily prayers in Islam and how observances such as Ramadan fall each year follow specific solar or lunar calendars different from the Gregorian calendar of UK work places. Identifying the time for daily prayers and finding a place to practise is a skilled activity requiring ways to ascertain the correct (and changing) time and a place in which prayer can take place. In the absence of traditional mediation such as the call to prayer broadcast from a local mosque, new, often technologically innovative, approaches are being adopted. This paper reports on a study of how Muslims practise and negotiate the difficulties of performing daily prayers in a UK university. Though technological mediation is a significant aspect of daily prayers, it is but one part of a complex practice which often involves multiple technologies and multiple ways of working.     

Bin Laden is one of us! Representations of religious identity at the Parliament of the World's Religions

In July 2004 the fourth Parliament of the World's Religions took place in Barcelona. As with previous modern sessions, the Barcelona event was inspired by the original Parliament, which famously took place in Chicago in 1893. This paper examines the idea of the Parliament as a significant forum for the public representation of religious identity in global context. One way this was expressed in 2004 was in relation to political violence. As one delegate exclaimed rhetorically, ‘Bin Laden is one of us!’ This anxious rhetoric highlighted the problem of how to represent religious identity in the contemporary world. Who is included and who excluded from the global community of the religious? By drawing comparison with the 1893 Parliament, the paper argues that representational strategies deployed at the 2004 Parliament demonstrate the tensions and potential ruptures that confront the idea of religious identity in the context of late modernity.     

Scientific empathy,American buddhism,and the ethnography of religion

This paper examines some of the current ideas and methods that have problematised the study of religion within a globalised community. Religion and culture cannot be considered bounded entities, to be described as unchangeable. However, their constant process of change is not something new. It becomes new due to writing patterns and contemporary ideas on the relevance of religion or the creativity of culture. By analysing some discussions on possession cults, the paper suggests that ritual and performance constitute the moments when culture and religion are mediated. It is through ritual that religious practices are adapted, and it is in a ritual performance where culture is contested and challenged. Religion becomes ‘confused culture’, that once again is re‐organised and made orderly by reflection on ritual practices. Finally, the paper suggests that the agenda for an anthropology of religion for this new century is two‐fold. Firstly, to try to become more conversant with ever changing localised practices of ritual, and secondly, to try to converse about those practices with other practitioners and scholars from different fields and in different fields.     

One mosque and the negotiation of German Islam

In the last half century (pious) Muslims and their communities have become integral parts of German cities. They are creative cultural producers and religiously inspired urban citizens. Mosques are central nodes in urban Muslim religious and cultural geographies where believers negotiate pious identities and lifeworlds, configure pious public personae and modes of civic participation. In this paper I introduce the Al-Nour Mosque as a unique node in the religious and cultural geography of the southern German state capital of Stuttgart. I examine this mosque as an urban space where individual and communal religiosities and religious cultures are discussed, formulated, tested and practised. My central question is how urban culture and religion are negotiated in the context of a mosque community. I argue that urban culture and religion are negotiated not only in mainstream public spaces or established churches but also in invisible places like mosques. Based on several years of ethnographic fieldwork in Stuttgart, I analyse the creative role of the Al-Nour Mosque in the construction of religious subjectivities, negotiations of urban religiosities and religiously inspired urban cultures. Analysing exemplary events, activities, cultural and religious negotiations in the Al-Nour Mosque, I demonstrate that places like the Al-Nour Mosque are dynamic elements of the urban religious and cultural geography.     

Couple Therapy and Spirituality and Religion

Abstract

The current state of the art of the integration of couple therapy with spirituality and religion is presented. Each of three waves of this integration identified in this article have seen an increase in the literature in this area, although only a limited amount in each wave has addressed couple therapy specifically. In the first wave, from 1990–1994, articles set forth arguments for why spirituality should be integrated in therapy. During the second wave, 1995–1999, publications focused on the ways that including spirituality in therapy can enhance as well as harm the therapeutic process. In the third wave, 2000-present, attention has shifted away from whether to include spirituality to how it should be included, and the literature of this period features many practical interventions and suggested guidelines for integrating spirituality and religion into therapy and training. The article concludes with recommendations for further developing the integration of spirituality and religion into couple therapy models, research, and training.     

"Involving the Elderly in Mission" -A Service Project

As one church grew from a small immigrant church to a conglomerate of 1,200 members, the natural social networks were no longer adequate to support the population of older persons. Networks had to be made intentional through programming. A needs assessment of the senior population identified specific subgroups and their needs. Recognizing the diversity of the senior population, a broad spectrum of programs was established. An effort was made to maintain a balance between traditional and innovative. The senior program has strengthened the networking among seniors, increased their integration with the other age groups in the church, and provided an entry level for those new to the church. The program has also become known in the community, which has resulted in cooperation with other senior service organizations who provide education and training. The Area Agency on Aging, realizing the importance of the church to the senior population, has selected a member of the church community to serve on its Advisory Board.