Transnational Religious Communities and the Making of US Foreign Policy
Many Catholic priests, nuns, and brothers in the United States take a strong interest in US policies that affect their 'brothers and sisters' abroad. Based on years of fieldwork and on-the-ground interviews, this title details the transnational bonds that drive the political activities of these Catholic orders.
Transnational Religious Communities and the Making of US Foreign Policy
Many Catholic priests, nuns, and brothers in the United States take a strong interest in US policies that affect their 'brothers and sisters' abroad. This book reveals how the men and women of these orders became politically active in complex and sometimes controversial causes and how, ultimately, they exert a influence on foreign policy.
What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment
Drawing on sociological theories and the author's own research, this title counters the claims of outspoken, conservative American Christians who argue that a society without God would be hell on earth. It states that it is crucial for Americans to know that society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant.
In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, proclaiming elementary rights for children world-wide. Among other provisions, the convention safeguards children's religious freedom and their freedom of thought. This book includes the text of the "Convention on the Rights of the Child".
Most Sociology of Religion texts are decidedly staid and uninteresting, covering "contemporary" developments which are contemporary only if viewed from a disciplinary perspective. They are not contemporary if viewed from the perspective of the religion's practioners (in religious and non-religious settings) and students. The textbooks that attempt to be interesting to undergraduate students often fall short because they either try to cover too much in an encyclopedic format, or sacrifice a sociological perspective for a personal one. Many use real-life examples only superficially to illustrate concepts. Lundskow's approach is the opposite-students will learn the facts of religion in its great diversity, all the most interesting and compelling beliefs and practices, and then learn relevant concepts that can be used to explain empirical observations. The book thus follows the logic of actual research-investigate and then analyze-rather than approaching concepts with no real bearing on how religion is experienced in society. This approach, using provocative examples and with an eye toward the historical and theoretical, not to mention global experience of religion, will make this book a success in the classroom. The author envisions a substantive approach that examines religion as it actually exists in all its forms, including belief, ritual, daily living, identity, institutions, social movements, social control, and social change. Within these broad categories, the book will devote particular chapters to important historical moments and movements, leaders, and various individual religions that have shaped the contemporary form and effect of religion in the world today.
What separates constructive religious impulses from destructive ones? How does someone who begins by contemplating his relationship with God end by committing an act of murder? Beyond analysing the nature of religious militancy, the author offers sensible recommendations for addressing what is to date the 21st century's most serious challenge.
In the past years, many traditionally white campus religious groups have become Asian American. This book focuses on second-generation Korean Americans, who make up the majority of Asian American evangelicals. It explores the factors that lead college-bound Korean American evangelicals to create racially segregated religious communities on campus.
