The semiotics of religious space in Second Life®

Scholarly research on the religious dimension of Second Life® can be conducted with reference to several elements: ties between the religious dimension of Second Life and that of the “First Life” (an approach privileged by the sociology and the psychology of religion); the transcendent value inherent in the creation of an alternative reality (an approach favored by the philosophy of religion); the enunciation of a “virtual” religious dimension through the digital artifacts of Second Life (an approach promoted by aesthetics, phenomenology, and semiotics); and so forth. Adopting the point of view of cultural semiotics, the paper summarizes the results of a “virtual” ethno-semiotic participant observation conducted over six months in portions of the digital “metaverse” of Second Life where a religious dimension is predominant. The consequent analysis of digital places of worship singles out five main characteristics of their aesthetics, phenomenology, and semiotics: isolation, prototypicality, didacticism, anarchy, and parasitism.     

The Dole “Godless Americans” advert: representations of the unfaithful,disloyal villains

Using a rhetorical analytic methodology, this study examines the representations constructed in the “Godless Americans” advert from the North Carolina 2008 US Senate race between incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democratic challenger Kay Hagan. Bringing to consciousness ideologies that influence messages is important because they are often taken at face value without understanding of their underlying meaning. Religious faith, morality and trustworthiness are values conveyed in this advert through the devices of framing, coded language and propaganda techniques. Non-linguistic elements are effectively coordinated to perpetuate the code of disloyal villains, activating cognitive networks of fear and anger toward atheists. By marginalizing atheists, an ideology that runs counter to the US Constitution is exposed coming from a lawmaker entrusted to uphold it.     

Speaking to the People: Critchley,Rousseau and the Deficit in Practical Rationality

Abstract

This article considers Critchley's Infinitely Demanding and his essay "The Catechism of the Citizen" in relation to the theory-practice debate and the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It considers what these texts say about the relation between politics and religion on one hand and reason and sensuousness on the other. The focus is the way the latter text takes up a quasi-religious response to the motivational deficit in secular liberal democratic life thematized in Infinitely Demanding.     

Comments on Welzel,Inglehart and Deutsch

Abstract

This article looks at the strategies religious non-governmental organizations (RNGOs) with strong transnational linkages use to maintain a continued presence in mainland China. It does so by utilizing neo-institutional theory as an instrument for analysis, with an emphasis on outlining the coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures RNGOs face. One of the key findings of the study is that there is creative circumvention of isomorphic pressures by working with local agents, fostering trust with the local government, and keeping a low profile. Moreover, RNGOs dealt with the uncertain institutional environment in China through staff exchanges, denominational supervision, tapping into global platforms, and undergoing a professionalization process.     

江泽民宗教工作思想探析

江泽民宗教工作思想是其统一战线理论不可或缺的组成部分。其内涵主要包括:全党高度重视宗教工作,依法管理宗教事务,全面贯彻党的宗教信仰自由政策,共产党员不能信仰宗教,积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应。江泽民宗教工作思想进一步丰富和发展了马克思主义宗教观,具有重要的理论意义;对进一步巩固和扩大党执政的群众基础,具有重要的政治意义;从根本上回答了我们党如何对待宗教的问题,具有重大的现实意义。     

Building a nation: religion and values in the public schools of the USA,Australia, and South Africa

Although the systems of public schools differ among Australia, South Africa and the USA, all three countries recognize that religion plays a significant role in determining values. All three countries have written constitutions but only South Africa and the USA have a Bill of Rights that protects persons’ exercise of religious beliefs. In Australia, the place of religion in education has largely been shaped by state legislatures, administrative regulations and interpretations of the national constitution. In the USA, the long tradition of religious values being represented in public education has been severely restricted over the past 60 years, resulting in artificial judicial lines being drawn between private religious expression and government expression. However, even private expression can be prohibited if it interferes with the educational mission of a school. South Africa had a long tradition of Christian religious practices in government schools under apartheid. However, the post-apartheid 1996 Constitution and 1996 South African Schools Act still give these schools considerable latitude in investing religious values into the educational process. In Australia, values, religion and education have always been a preoccupation of those providing education, although the blurring of public and private education in Australia has resulted in a different direction for the role of religion than in the USA.     

论新时期的宗教管理工作

我国对于宗教事务的管理,将逐步从依据政策管理向依法管理转变。依法管理宗教事务,对于尊重和保护宗教信仰自由,维护民族团结,保持社会稳定,构建和谐社会具有重要意义。     

尊重并兼顾多种利益群体培育和弘扬中华民族精神——纪念避暑山庄肇建300周年

肇建已 3 0 0周年的避暑山庄是清朝的第二个政治中心 ,在它和它周围寺庙建筑中保存的康、乾两帝所撰大量碑铭、匾额、题咏 ,突出表现了多民族联合、宇内大一统的思想 ,详细记载了清王朝统一中国北方和强化对西藏的行政管理和历史功绩。其中所反映的清朝初期统治者对以蒙古、维吾尔、藏等民族上层为代表的各个利益群体施以在尊重其信仰和习俗基础上的恩泽 ,从而自觉不自觉地在全国各民族当中培育和弘扬中华民族精神的史实可以做为我们当前在统一战线工作特别是民族宗教工作中通过对多种利益群体的尊重和兼顾 ,在一个相当广泛的人群中培育和弘扬中华民族精神的借鉴。     

论积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应

积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应,是我国社会主义时期涉及宗教和宗教工作的中心问题。“积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应”论断的提出是以江泽民为核心的中共中央第三代领导集体总结国内外处理社会主义时期宗教问题经验教训的总结和理论升华;这一论断具有深刻的理论、历史和现实依据,内涵十分丰富,应该全面准确地加以把握;引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应是一个不断解决矛盾的过程;做好“相适应”的工作需要党、政府和宗教方面共同努力。     

我国西部地区宗教政策法律问题研究

我国西部地区民族问题复杂，宗教派别多，宗教政策得当与否关系到西部地区的发展甚至统一。我国自明清以来已经形成了系统的宗教政策，如何运用政策与法律妥善解决西部地区的宗教和民族问题仍是我们当代急需研究的一项重要课题。