Religion in Politics
Most read Articel during 2007: Apocalyptic
politics During the 20th Century and Beyond.
As a political
religion, communism triumphantly entered the second half of the twentieth
century reinvigorated by the prestige the Soviet Union had gained through its
victory over Nazism and its rise to the status of superpower.The
sacralization of politics became an essential aspect of all the communist
regimes that arose during the Cold War and copied the Soviet model. The Human Sun:
Freemasonry and Political Radicalism in Ireland.
Case study: N. Ireland a
Catholic Rebellion?
Political Religion in the USA:
Towards a New Sociology of Religious Nationalism P.1.
Towards a New Sociology of Religious
Nationalism P.2.
Part 3-a: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Overview.
Part 3-b: Iceland, ltaly, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia,
Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine.
Many have forgotten
this, but Europe had its fair share of ‘revolutions’ and ‘political religions’
“Kulturkampf,” it was called at the end of the 19th century, almost identical
to what by the end, of the 20th Century was called clash of “Civilizations.”
In Germany ‘Kultur’ was understood to be Protestantism, an identification
partly made to reinvigorate Protestantism among a bourgeoisie that no longer
attended church. As for ‘Kultur’ in Belgium, in 1936 a liberal historian wrote
that liberal “Brussels had no intention of being trodden underfoot by thousands
of clogs”, this being a reference to the clog-shod Catholic -Flemish (similar
to Dutch, who when employed were not allowed to speak their native language)
farmers, who flooded into the capital city to protest against (French language)
liberal policies. (Quoted in Winfried Becker, 'Liberale
Kulturkampf-Positionen and politischer Katholizismus,1983.) If one is looking for the intellectual progenitor for
"the cult of the personality”, look no further than Campanella. But,
hyper-nationalism, was not principally a phenomenon of the far Right, it was
enthusiastically embraced by many on the Left throughout much of the 19th
century. P.1: The New World of 'Sociology'.
Socialists at first
generally tried to get back to some sort of Christianity predating Constantine.
While Russian radicals, despairing of the tsars' fitful reforms, moved from
Christian reformism to evolve terrorist ideologies anticipating al-Qaida,
including suicide bombers. P.2: Signor Mazzini I Presume?
Social
Democrats, A Political Religion
Recently,
a member of Hizbul
Mujahideen founded by the head of the Jamaat ut-Dawa in Kashmir threw a grenade into a mosque compound
in Kashmir targeting a preacher of the the Barelvi strand of Islam killing 5. Showing the complexity of such religious motivated
political fights in S.Asia, within days a close
associate the leader of the
Hizbul Mujahideen was killed in Lahore. The Jamaat ud-Dawa
has released a statement, claiming that Mujahid was killed by three
"terrorists". And although it is not certain Pakistan ’s ISI would
have been involved, a Kashmir activist in India , soon thereafter admitted to
a last months bombing. A lot
of questions remain about 'religious violence' especially,
in Asia. For example,
three days before the Sept. 19 military coup that ousted Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, six bombs exploded in the city of Hat Yai
, in southern Thailand 's Songkhla province, killing four people. Among the
dead was a Canadian schoolteacher, the first Westerner known to have died as
a result of the ongoing violence in Thailand 's Muslim-dominated south.
As for
religious violence as such, it is important to look at what provides the
legitimation for the violence. Often used as a tool by political elites,
targets are frequently symbols of collective identity and third, rumors,
often grotesque ones, playa major role in fomenting
violence. Political Religious Violence in Asia P.1: However,
the feeling of humiliation is the most common thread, it is critical to
consider the economic, social, and political grievances, as originating causes of
religious violence. When
religion enters the mix however, emotional resonance of religious narratives,
symbols, rituals, and their transcendental frames, makes the violent conflict
become less susceptible to negotiation. But acts of terror can also function
as "symbolic empowerment" of marginal men. Political Religious
Violence in Asia P.2: |
While
early on we already researched ‘political religions’ like Fascism
and Communism, it should not come as a surprise that ‘religious
discourse as such’, also, can empower, engender, or disrupt violence. Political Religious Violence in Asia P.3: A jihad
in Southern Thailand reportedly caused over 1,800 fatalities since October,
2004, as against 3,200 in India 's Jammu & Kashmir during the same period.
Hopes that the ouster of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra,
would bring down the temperature and bloodshed have been belied so far. There
were reportedly 10 deaths on December 6, 2006, alone. Political Religious Violence in Asia P.4: Political
Extremism in S.Asia P.4: Recently three Christian militants were sentenced, and in a direct connection last year
three beheadings. Thus recently: Indonesia
and Conclusion. |
The Pope Today - Part of the Problem or Part of a Solution?
On Nov. 15 Hamas
lawmakers Mushir al-Masri
and Ahmad Bahar crossed the Egyptian border at Rafah
into Gaza with $4 million in cash. We followed this up with research that shows
now, why Egypt might once become a prisoner of Islam. Case Study Religious Politics in Egypt P.1:
At the heart of the
Islamist challenge in Egypt has been the continuing debate over how to defme the nation. Case Study
Religious Politics in Egypt P.2:
Since free elections
immediately benefited the Islamist opposition, the state has limited its
options by embracing conservative Islam as a source of legitimacy. Case Study Religious
Politics in Egypt P.3:
On one and the same
day last week two new books were released about W.B. Yeats whom Seamus Heaney
calls, a political
poet with fascist sympathies. In contrast M.K. Shuchard
in Why Mrs Blake Cried, highlights among others, the ‘sacramental sex’ W.B.Yeats had with his younger wife, in order to stimulate
the ‘sixth sense.’ We checked on the facts presented for the first time ever,
in W.B. Yeats' Nationalist Occultism.
Assessing the Spread of Early Christianity
In the later
twentieth century, the Roman Catholic Church was careful not to embrace
potentially violent (and certainly radical) theologies, and John Paul II
apologized to victims of the crusades. Nevertheless during the past few years
new accusations manifested themselves in the form of anti-Americanism. P.1.
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