La notion d’animalité est au cœur des préoccupations du siècle des Lumières comme de l’œuvre de Sade, qui la place au centre de son entreprise de déstabilisation des valeurs et de son système scandaleux. Avec lui, l’animal apparaît pour ce qu’il est véritablement au plan philosophique : un merveilleux dynamiteur de certitudes propre à ébranler tous les systèmes trop rigides ; une bombe à retardement éthique susceptible de ruiner toute morale et d’autoriser tous les crimes ; un dangereux laboratoire intellectuel où se théorise et s’expérimente toute grande déshumanisation à venir. Héritier du matérialisme philosophique de son temps, Sade refuse en effet de voir en l’Homme autre chose qu’un banal agencement d’atomes, qu’une très ingénieuse mécanique, et fait ainsi de lui un simple animal parmi d’autres ; mais, à la différence de ses maîtres à penser, lui entend bien tirer toutes les conséquences morales d’une telle destitution métaphysique. Greffant à cette rentrée dans le rang ontologique toute l’infamie de l’ancienne conception de l’animal, qui voyait en ce dernier sur le plan moral un inquiétant concentré de tous les vices et de toutes les licences, l’écrivain en vient à proposer la synthèse aberrante des aspirations et des craintes de son époque. Prenant la posture d’un Rousseau gagné au crime, il imagine une entreprise de renaturation pour le pire de l’espèce humaine, où l’Homme vient se faire loup pour l’Homme avec l’appui de la logique et la bénédiction de la raison. Programme de retour résolu à l’animalité qu’il ne parvient toutefois pas toujours à tenir, l’animal se révélant pour lui aussi un terrain philosophique piégeux. / Animality is one of the most topical questions for the thinkers of the Enlightenment. The nature of the soul and the criterion of men’s specificity, the origin of knowledge and the functioning of the body, the classification of species and the animal’s rights are all at the heart of debates and reflections of the time. And so they are in the marquis de Sade’s works, whose ambition to destabilize the humanistic values finds with this question a very convenient philosophical instrument. With Sade, the animal appears in fact what he is as far as philosophy is concerned: a powerful weapon for skeptical thinkers, a metaphysical bomb able to blow away all ethics, an operative concept to work out the next enslavements to come. Inspired by the French materialist thinkers, Sade considers Man as an animal amongst others and views human beings as mere assembling of atoms and efficient machineries; but contrary to them, he tries to draw the conclusions of such a statement and tends to make him a brute. Playing the part of some sort of criminal Rousseau eager to push mankind into violence and depravation, he rationally advocates a frightening return to the most primitive bestiality and calls for a general step back to the times when Man was still a wolf for Man. A program that however he isn’t always able to stick to, animal turning out to be a very tricky philosophical ground even for him.

Religion in the Czech Republic: Basic analysis and the relationship to selected socio-demographic topics Abstract The aim of this thesis is to analyse the inhabitants of the Czech Republic according to religious belief using data from surveys and also individual 2011 census data. Contemporary position of religion in society is described in the first part, focusing on characteristics of believers and non-believers. Results of surveys concerning religious belief in our region are stated in detail in the next part, oriented mainly on the period after 1989. The part with the analysis of differences in attitudes to problematic demographic behaviour according to religious belief follows, using the data from European Values Study and International Social Survey Programme. Individual data from 2011 census are analysed more in detail in the last part, focusing on newly spread religious groups and furthermore there is an analysis of believers using logistic regression. Keywords: religion, sample survey, Czech Republic, attitudes, atheism

In this essay, I examine the correlation between time and politics in Martin Hägglunds philosophical project. By examining the view of time and politics in the works of the theologian David Bentley Hart, I establish a discussion that exposes different metaphysical standings and raises new questions. I conduct this examination in the light of the ongoing discussion about theology and political emancipation in the field of political theology. One of the main conclusions of the essay is that an important division appear between an ontological and a Christian eschatological concept about the relationship between time and eternity. I also conclude that the belief in a transcendental sphere that intervene in history can bring forth different types of political implications, which all tend to lean towards a concept about this world as a second to last. Throughout this essay, I deepen my discussion concerning the supposed emancipatory or totalizing political consequences of this cosmology, which, in this essay, is represented mainly by Hägglund and Hart.

Numerous researchers have addressed the impact of individual religiosity or spirituality on psychological well-being. However, studies addressing the possible relationship between religiosity and sexuality, specifically in the form of deterrence of certain sexual thoughts or behaviors based upon religious dictates, remain sparse. Individual religiosity may be related to individual sexual self-expression. Built on the framework of cognitive-dissonance theory and self-determination theory, this quantitative, correlational study was designed to examine the relationships between religiosity and sexual attitudes and behaviors of both theist and nontheist population samples comprised of approximately 400 subjects throughout the United States. Study participants completed the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory in addition to a demographic questionnaire designed specifically for the research. A 2-step hierarchical binary logistic regression was performed to address the research questions for this study. Significance was found in the regression model for 3 selected variables--age, drive, and fantasy; research questions 1 and 2 were supported with the model findings. The results also offered support for the 2 aforementioned theoretical frameworks selected for this study. The implications for positive social change include a clearer understanding of the possible relationship between religiosity and sexuality and any differences in sexual behaviors between theists and nontheists. These implications are important in that the findings may result in healthier sex lives for individuals, increased communication among couples, enhanced acceptance of different sexual orientations, and decreased cognitive dissonance among those individuals contemplating or struggling with sexual behaviors that negate the teachings of their religious tenets.

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The point of departure in this dissertation is the situation in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf region of East-Berlin, where, 17 years after the political turnaround, only three new Christian communities have established themselves., However it is, known that there have been many attempts at church planting during these years. In this district there seems to be a high percentage of people who are resistant towards western theology or ecclesiology respectively. That is why the focus of the dissertation is on those people who live in an a-religious context surrounded by post-socialistic influences. Social scientific approaches and methods have been integrated and utilised as part of this practical-theological research project. The benefit of this was the developing of aspects of a practical-theological perspective that could be used for a specific ecclesiology with special reference to church planting. Ultimately, three hypotheses have been developed. The implications of these hypotheses could serve as essential material for prospective church planting efforts in the area. / Practical Theology / M. Th. Missiology

This thesis presents descriptive and explanatory accounts of both non-theism, the lack of belief in the existence of supernatural agents, and strong atheism, the moral opposition to such beliefs on the grounds that they are both harmful and signs of weak character. Based on my fieldwork with non-theist groups and individuals in the United States, United Kingdom, and Denmark, an online survey of over 3,000 non-theists from over 50 countries, and theories from both the social and cognitive sciences, I offer a new account of why nations with low economic and normative threats produce high levels of non-theism. This account is offered in place of the common explanation that religious beliefs provide comfort in threatening circumstances, which I show to be both anthropologically and psychologically problematic. My account centres on the role of threats, both existential and normative, in increasing commitment to ingroup ideologies, many of which are religious, and the important role of witnessing displays of commitment to religious beliefs in producing such beliefs in each new generation. In environments with low levels of personal and normative threat, commitment to religious ideologies decreases, extrinsic reasons for religious participation decrease, and superstitious actions decrease. Given the human tendency to believe the communications of others to the extent that they are backed up by action, such a decrease in displays of commitment to religious beliefs leads to increased non-theism in the span of a generation. In relation to strong atheism, I document a correlation, both geographical and chronological, between strong atheism and the presence of religious beliefs and demands in the public sphere. I then offer an explanation of this correlation based on the effects of threats against a modern normative order characterized by philosopher Charles Taylor as a system of mutual benefit and individual liberty.

This essay intends to examine the atheists Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Michel Onfray's arguments against religion, based on the themes of religion, atheism and the perception.of their present worldview. In addition, the research aims to find out whether it is suitable to talk about a new atheism. And, if so, whether such newatheism correspond with the definition represented by the Christian critics. The essay intends to contribute to a very limited research on the so-called new atheism without applying pro-religious arguments. Previous research and theory highlight the problem of defining the terms atheism, religion and secularism a concern that is reflected by the five critics troughout their arguments. What really united the critics were the idea about religion taking too much place in society, and the opinion that atheistic morality is at least as good as religious morality. In addition, the authors agree that religion is not needed to maintain good morale, on the contrary, religion affect the morale negatively. They also assumed that religion restricts people and and that moderate religion more or less leads to, or is responsible for, fundamentalism. Also, the value of truth and contempt against relativism brought the authors together, although they were sometimes justified by very different arguments. Crucially, however, are the differences in their definitions of religion, both concerning their focus on substantive and functional definitions, the relationship between absolute, relative-, and private religion and their political focus. To regard these authors' arguments as a new atheism is thus hard to justify. The results conclude that both the Christian critics and the five critics of religion generalize their opponents view of atheism or religion, and also fail to define themselves in order to be able to unite as a group against the other.