For God's Sake

For God's Sake
Author: Antony Loewenstein
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2013-07-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1743289138

Four Australian thinkers come together to ask and answer the big questions, such as: What is the nature of the universe? Doesn't religion cause most of the conflict in the world? and Where do we find hope? We are introduced to the detail of different belief systems - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - and to the argument that atheism, like organised religion, has its own compelling logic. And we gain insight into the life events that led each author to their current position. Jane Caro flirted briefly with spiritual belief, inspired by 19th century literary heroines such as Elizabeth Gaskell and the Brontë sisters. Antony Lowenstein is proudly culturally, yet unconventionally, Jewish. Simon Smart is firmly and resolutely a Christian, but one who has had some of his most profound spiritual moments while surfing. Rachel Woodlock grew up in the alternative embrace of Baha'i belief but became entranced by its older parent religion, Islam. Provocative, informative and passionately argued, For God's Sake encourages us to accept religious differences but to also challenge more vigorously the beliefs that create discord.

Religious Hatred and Human Conflict

Religious Hatred and Human Conflict
Author: Andrew Floyer Acland
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2023-09-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1000931730

Religious Hatred and Human Conflict focuses the lens of psychodynamic psychology on a phenomenon that often confounds conventional thinking – the intensity of conflict with religious or quasi-religious dimensions. The book highlights six dimensions of religion: identity, doctrine and practice, emotion and experience, mythology, sacred values and power and control, exploring how these can give rise to religious hatred and lead to marginalisation, persecution and even genocide. It also explores reasons for the evolution of religion and religious hatred, and their relationship with human behaviour through contemporary issues such as fundamentalism, martyrdom, clerical narcissism and apocalyptic belief. Acland examines how religious hatred and conflict may be transcended by facilitating processes of dialogue and diapraxis which enable a systematic understanding of prejudices and projections. Last, it offers practical methods and strategies for helping individuals and communities grow beyond the constraints of religious hatred, treating religious hatred as a psycho-spiritual problem that requires self-understanding. Identifying the implications for professionals in conflict resolution and mediation, politicians, community leaders, diplomats and anyone working to prevent or reduce conflict where religious belief is a factor, this book sets out how those tasked with intervening can respond to the challenges involved. It will also be highly relevant reading for students and researchers of psychology and religious studies.

Putting Faith in Hate

Putting Faith in Hate
Author: Richard Moon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2018-02-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108554202

To allow or restrict hate speech is a hotly debated issue in many societies. While the right to freedom of speech is fundamental to liberal democracies, most countries have accepted that hate speech causes significant harm and ought to be regulated. Richard Moon examines the application of hate speech laws when religion is either the source or target of such speech. Moon describes the various legal restrictions on hate speech, religious insult, and blasphemy in Canada, Europe and elsewhere, and uses cases from different jurisdictions to illustrate the particular challenges raised by religious hate speech. The issues addressed are highly topical: speech that attacks religious communities, specifically anti-Muslim rhetoric, and hateful speech that is based on religious doctrine or scripture, such as anti-gay speech. The book draws on a rich understanding of freedom of expression, the harms of hate speech, and the role of religion in public life.

Freedom of Expression and Religious Hate Speech in Europe

Freedom of Expression and Religious Hate Speech in Europe
Author: Erica Howard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2017-07-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1351998781

In recent years, the Danish cartoons affair, the Charlie Hebdo murders and the terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris have resulted in increasingly strident anti-Islamic speeches by politicians. This raises questions about the limits to freedom of expression and whether this freedom can and should be restricted to protect the religious feelings of believers. This book uses the case law of the European Court of Human Rights to provide a comprehensive analysis of the questions: whether legal prohibitions of religious hate speech violate the right to freedom of expression; and, whether such laws should be used to prosecute politicians and others who contribute to current debates when they use anti-Islam rhetoric. A well-known politician who uses such rhetoric is Dutch politician Geert Wilders. He has been prosecuted twice for hate speech, and was acquitted in the first case and recently convicted in the second. These prosecutions are used to illustrate the issues involved in drawing the line between freedom of expression and religious hate speech. The author argues that freedom of expression of politicians and those contributing to the public debate should not be restricted except in two very limited circumstances: when they incite to hatred or violence and there is an imminent danger that violence will follow or where it stops people from holding or manifesting their religion. Based on this, the author concludes that the European Court of Human Rights should decide, if it is asked to do so, that Wilders conviction for hate speech violates his freedom of expression.

How Violence Shapes Religion

How Violence Shapes Religion
Author: Ziya Meral
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2018-08-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108429009

Religion and violence are intrinsic to the human story. By tracing their roots in human experience, Meral reveals that it is violence that shapes religion.

Blasphemy, Insult and Hatred

Blasphemy, Insult and Hatred
Author: European Commission for Democracy through Law
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789287166784

Mutual understanding and acceptance is perhaps the main challenge of modern society. Diversity is undoubtedly an asset, but cohabiting with people of different backgrounds and ideals calls for a new ethic of responsible intercultural relations, in Europe and in the World. This book tries to answer a series of pertinent and poignant questions arising from these issues, such as whether it is still possible to criticise ideas when this may be considered hurtful to certain religious feelings; whether society is hostage to the excessive sensitivity of certain individuals; or what legal responses there may be to these phenomena, and whether criminal law is the only answer.

Subverting Hatred

Subverting Hatred
Author: Daniel L. Smith-Christopher
Publisher:
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2007
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Representatives of nine world religions offer insights into the teachings of nonviolence within their tradition, how practice has often fallen short of the ideals, and how they can overcome the contagion of hatred through a return to traditional teachings on nonviolence.

Religious Hatred

Religious Hatred
Author: Paul Hedges
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2021-03-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350162892

Why does religion inspire hatred? Why do people in one religion sometimes hate people of another religion, and also why do some religions inspire hatred from others? This book shows how scholarly studies of prejudice, identity formation, and genocide studies can shed light on global examples of religious hatred. The book is divided into four parts, focusing respectively on: theories of prejudice and violence; historical developments of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and race; contemporary Western antisemitism and Islamophobia; and, prejudices beyond the West in the Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions. Each part ends with a special focus section. Key features include: - A compelling synthesis of theories of prejudice, identity, and hatred to explain Islamophobia and antisemitism. - An innovative theory of human violence and genocide which explains the link to prejudice. - Case studies of both Western antisemitism and Islamophobia in history and today, alongside global studies of Islamic antisemitism and Hindu and Buddhist Islamophobia - Integrates discussion of race and racialisation as aspects of Islamophobic and antisemitic prejudice in relation to their framing in religious discourses. - Accessible for general readers and students, it can be employed as a textbook for students or read with benefit by scholars for its novel synthesis and theories. The book focuses on antisemitism and Islamophobia, both in the West and beyond, including examples of prejudices and hatred in the Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. Drawing on examples from Europe, North America, MENA, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa, Paul Hedges points to common patterns, while identifying the specifics of local context. Religious Hatred is an essential guide for understanding the historical origins of religious hatred, the manifestations of this hatred across diverse religious and cultural contexts, and the strategies employed by activists and peacemakers to overcome this hatred.

Mixed Emotions

Mixed Emotions
Author: Andrew A. G. Ross
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2013-12-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 022607756X

In recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that emotion plays a central role in global politics. For example, people readily care about acts of terrorism and humanitarian crises because they appeal to our compassion for human suffering. These struggles also command attention where social interactions have the power to produce or intensify the emotional responses of those who participate in them. From passionate protests to poignant speeches, Andrew A. G. Ross analyzes high-emotion events with an eye to how they shape public sentiment and finds that there is no single answer. The politically powerful play to the public’s emotions to advance their political aims, and such appeals to emotion also often serve to sustain existing values and institutions. But the affective dimension can produce profound change, particularly when a struggle in the present can be shown to line up with emotionally resonant events from the past. Extending his findings to well-studied conflicts, including the War on Terror and the violence in Rwanda and the Balkans, Ross identifies important sites of emotional impact missed by earlier research focused on identities and interests.