The aim of this paper is to investigate whether religion has a positive or negative impact on tolerance towards people with different ethnic backgrounds and people with different sexual orientation, or if this is a product of other phenomena in society like general trust, left-right placement, gender and so on. The main intention is to explore if, and in that case to what extent, religious people in Europe tend to be more or less xenophobic or homophobic than their unreligious, or secularized, counterparts. To live up to this aim, the study is based on regression analyses which utilize data from the European Social Survey. The findings show that religious people generally tend to be more intolerant towards immigrants and homosexuals than nonreligious people, but that this effect also differs between countries. For example, whereas the negative effect can be found in most European contries, the correlation is reversed in countries like Sweden and Czech Republic, meaning that a higher level of religiosity makes people more tolerant towards these particular contexts.

The study aims to analyze conceptions of death and dying at a clinic for palliative care, using a constructivist perspective and a discourse analytical approach. The empirical material consists of interviews with staff members, documents and photographs of the environment, taking both space and materiality into account. I conclude that the studied practice is mainly characterized by a tension between a caring discourse and a medical discourse.

Although secularization has early antecedents in Mexico's history, the generation who embodied the Constitutionalist faction of the 1910 Revolution undertook an unprecedented campaign to achieve it. Strong anticlerical provisions proclaimed in the 1917 Constitution were implemented and gradually escalated in intensity by the administrations of Presidents Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elias Calles. This ignited an armed uprising known as the Cristero Rebellion that arose in rural Mexico in 1926. Beyond the armed conflict, this dissertation analyzes the cultural effects caused by the implementation of such a legal and institutional agenda that reveal a substantial confrontation in the public sphere between two opposed concepts of society-religious and non-religious. As a result, society became highly polarized while the government pushed its secularization aims to the extreme as never before. New laws intervened more intensely on private rights, transforming people's everyday ideas about religion, nation, law, justice and citizenship. By looking at citizens' experiences with such law enforcement, this work elucidates how the state finally neutralized radical Catholicism by stigmatizing it as non-patriotic in the public sphere. This phenomenon that happened between 1917 and 1929 can be conceptualized as the secularization of patriotism and the transformation of people's notions of the legal system- defined as the legal popular culture- that was central to Mexico's social and cultural Revolution.

Est-il encore légitime de distinguer, d’une part, la « simple raison », apte à convaincre n’importe quel penseur honnête et lucide, et d’autre part, le domaine de la foi religieuse, où les différences de conviction seraient a priori irréductibles, parce que soumises à des conditions de validité sui generis? Dans quelle mesure ce « partage des voix » entre la raison et la foi, que commandait au siècle des Lumières l’« exigence de l’émancipation » ou de l’affranchissement des tutelles autoritaires (le Selberdenken, le « penser par soi-même »), est-il encore d’actualité pour nous? Les temps ne sont-ils pas mûrs pour une autre attitude de la raison philosophique par rapport à la foi religieuse, qui se proposerait de mettre en question la théorie qui opposait la raison et la révélation comme deux « sources » irréductibles de vérité? Le présent travail poursuivra trois objectifs principaux, dont la visée commune consistera à clarifier les tenants et aboutissants de la critique de la « simple raison » (reason alone) chez Charles Taylor, au regard de la totalité de son œuvre. Dans un premier temps, nous soulignerons que notre auteur récuse le paradigme épistémologique de la philosophie moderne au nom d’un paradigme herméneutique, plus sensible à la finitude langagière et historique de la raison humaine. Notre auteur reconnaît en effet au « débat herméneutique » (hermeneutical debate) une importance cruciale dans le contexte de la sécularité (ou de notre « âge séculier »), qui se caractérise par la coexistence d’une pluralité croissante de perspectives éthiques et spirituelles. Dans un deuxième temps, nous soutiendrons que ce paradigme herméneutique admet une distinction fondamentale entre deux modes de réflexion, l’argumentation transcendantale et la quête d’authenticité, et montrerons que l’argumentation transcendantale peut à son tour être comprise comme une modalité particulière de la « simple raison » dans le contexte du paradigme herméneutique. Ces deux premiers moments de nos analyses, de nature essentiellement exégétique, constitueront la majeure partie de notre thèse. Dans un troisième temps, nous examinerons la distinction entre l’argumentation transcendantale et la quête d’authenticité de façon à mettre en question les limites assignées par notre auteur à la première. Plus précisément, notre intention est de démontrer que la critique herméneutique de la simple raison proposée par Taylor présuppose elle-même la viabilité d’une « éthique transcendantale » et, par conséquent, la viabilité d’une conception transcendantale de la simple raison dans la sphère de la rationalité pratique. Cette éthique transcendantale affleure en plusieurs lieux dans son œuvre sous la forme d’un « humanisme » de type néo-aristotélicien, solidement ancré dans ses analyses des conditions d’arrière-plan inéluctables (ou transcendantales) de l’agir humain, sans toutefois être explicitement conçue et assumée en tant que telle. / Is it still legitimate to distinguish, on the one hand, ‘‘reason alone’’ or nonreligiously informed reason, whose conclusions are in principle able to satisfy any honest and lucid thinker, and on the second hand, the domain of religious faith, where differences of conviction would be a priori irreducible? Is this divide between reason and faith, which was prompted at the time of the Auflkärung by a great call to ‘‘emancipation’’ (to ‘‘think for yourself’’, Selberdenken), still relevant for us today? Are the times not ripe for another philosophical attitude in relation to religious faith, which would call into question the theory that opposed reason and revelation as two irreducible ‘‘sources’’ of truth? This dissertation will pursue three main objectives, whose common aim is to clarify the motives and implications of the critique of ‘‘reason alone’’ in Charles Taylor’s work. First, we will show that Taylor rejects the ‘‘epistemological’’ paradigm of modern philosophy in the name of a hermeneutic paradigm, more sensitive to the linguistic and historical finitude of human reason. Our author maintains, indeed, that ‘‘hermeneutical debates’’ are now obligatory in our secular age, characterized by the coexistence of a growing plurality of ethical and spiritual perspectives. Secondly, we will argue that this hermeneutic paradigm admits of a fundamental distinction between two modes of reflection, that of ‘‘transcendental arguments’’ and the ‘‘quest for authenticity’’, and will show that transcendental arguments can in turn be understood as a specific modality of ‘‘reason alone’’ in the context of the hermeneutic paradigm. These two first stages of our analysis, mainly of an exegetical nature, will constitute the major part of our dissertation. Thirdly, we will examine the distinction between transcendental arguments and the quest for authenticity, to challenge the limits assigned by Taylor to the first domain. Specifically, we intend to demonstrate that the hermeneutical critique of reason propounded by Taylor presupposes the viability of a ‘‘transcendental ethics’’ and, therefore, the viability of a transcendental conception of reason in the domain of practical rationality. This transcendental ethics emerges at several occasions in his work as a kind of neo-Aristotelian ‘‘humanism’’, firmly anchored in his analysis of the inescapable background conditions of human agency, without being explicitly recognized as such.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:12:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vanderlei_confrontada.pdf: 9708574 bytes, checksum: 1e57f53d0521267d38f3b4e19ade5083 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-22 / The Convention for New Conscience occurs, during carnival period, in Campina Grande City (Paraíba - Brazil Northeast), since 1992, having become an attractive and intriguing event field, event that cannot be, currently, seen, found, easely, anywhere in the world. As we can observe this religious experience remarkable particularities, in such a great diversity, we are, therefore, enable to characterize it i.e. the abovementioned event as a kind, a sort of postmodern religious phenomenon. Studying the outstanding elements that are observed in this Movement, departing from the contemporaneous theorical contributions that reflect on the religious phenomenon, we will seek to present this experience as a religious liveliness meaningful space, within postmodern culture. If secularization and religious pluralism bestow some indications upon religious comportment in Modernity, the Convention for New Conscience characteristics, marked by the subjectivity that brings forth floating identities, they the event characteristics allow us evaluating a certain religiosity signs that take a plain shape in Post-modernity / O Encontro para a Nova Consciência ocorre em Campina Grande (Paraíba Nordeste do Brasil), desde 1992, durante o período de carnaval, tornando-se palco de um atrativo e intrigante acontecimento, não tão facilmente visto em outras partes do mundo, atualmente. Ao observarmos as particularidades marcantes desta experiência religiosa, em tamanha diversidade, somos capazes de caracterizá-lo como sendo um fenômeno religioso pós-moderno. Estudando os elementos relevantes que se observam neste Movimento, a partir das contribuições de teóricos contemporâneos que refletem sobre o fenômeno religioso, buscaremos apresentar esta experiência como um espaço significativo da vivência religiosa dentro da cultura pós-moderna. Se a secularização e pluralismo religioso conferem indicações sobre o comportamento religioso na Modernidade, as características do Encontro para a Nova Consciência, marcados pela subjetividade que confere identidades flutuantes, permitem-nos apreciar indícios de uma religiosidade que se configura na Pós-modernidade

In view of the complexity characterizing the contemporary discipline of academic theology, there is a need for functional models. Against the background of significant developments in twentieth-century theology, this thesis attempts to develop an analytical model which can make sense of some of the complexity characterizing this field. More specifically, the aim is to produce a model which can be used to distinguish between and relate different theological positions to each other at a meta-level. This is achieved through the elaboration of a two-dimensional typology composed of four quadrants representing distinct theological orientations. The proposed model and its analytical categories form the basis for a discussion of some key figures and themes in modern theology, with a particular emphasis on eschatologically oriented theologies. Finally, on the basis of preceding discussions, a case is made for theology’s ability to fulfill a vital cultural-critical role in a secular context.

Since the 1960s, religious adherence in Canada has declined with ‘no religion’ slowly taking its place. Although British Columbia has been less religious than the rest of Canada since its early settler days, the currents of postwar secularization can still be assessed. In this thesis, I look at secularization on a denominational, regional, and gender specific scale. Through the oral testimonies of eleven women who were raised Catholic in Victoria, and who left Catholicism in the ‘long sixties,’ I discuss the way the Catholic Sisters of St Ann modeled autonomy for these women in how they were educated within the Catholic church and I investigate how cultural and societal discourse regarding women’s liberation, autonomy and individualism impacted their departure. In leaving the Catholic church, these women joined the ranks of the rising ‘religious nones’ in this region, however their departure from organized religion did not always mean a rejection of belief in a higher power or spirituality, with the majority retaining some form of spirituality throughout their lives. Despite this, their departure from institutional religion and lack of religious socialization for their children influenced the subsequent irreligiosity of their children and grandchildren. I argue that these women engaged with the calls for women’s autonomy in the long sixties, and in their actions influenced intergenerational secularization. / Graduate / 2022-09-10

Inrättandet av de borgerliga kommunerna på 1860-talet var en stor strukturell förändring i samhället. Kyrkan var trött på att gå statens ärenden och kungens reformer befriade kyrkan från en del av statens ansvar. Konsekvensen blev uppdelningen mellan det andliga och det världsliga och ansvarsfördelningen bidrog i mångt och mycket till sekulariseringen i Sverige.  Den här fallstudien belyser banden mellan sockenstämman och kommunalstämman i Karlanda kommun trots den formella uppdelningen. Jag har i mitt arbete sökt efter ledtrådar som tyder på att sekulariseringen tagit fart och kompletterat tidigare forskning på området genom att presentera hur implementeringen av Karlanda kommunalstämma bidragit till den lokala sekulariseringen.  Karlanda kommunalstämma är säkerligen inte unik i sin förvaltningshistoria, men vad som är unikt är den sockenidentitet som kan skönjas. Det var rationella beslut för bygdens bästa som skulle fattas efter sin tids värderingar och praxis. När Karlanda landskommun föddes, fick sockenidentiteten näring att blomma ut i form av lokalt maktutövande och sekulariseringen skulle parallellt utvecklas med bygdens och landets demokratiska utveckling. Jag har med min undersökning kompletterat tidigare forskning på området genom att presentera hur implementeringen av Karlanda kommunalstämma bidragit till den lokala sekulariseringen samt belyst ärendefördelningen och relationerna däremellan och i det identifierat tecken på sekularisering genom en kvalitativ textanalys. / The establishment of the bourgeois municipalities in the 1860s was a major structural change in society. The church was tired of doing state affairs and the king's reforms freed the church from some of the state's responsibilities. The consequence was the division between the spiritual and the secular, and the division of responsibilities contributed in many ways to secularization in Sweden. This case study highlights the links between the parish meeting and the municipal meeting in Karlanda municipality despite the formal division. I have looked for clues that indicates that the secularization has taken off and complemented previous research in this area by presenting how the implementation of Karlanda municipal meeting contributed to local secularization. In my study, I have highlighted the division of cases and relationships in between and in it identified signs of secularisation through a qualitative text analysis.

Cette recherche se donne pour objet d’étudier une théorie récente, très discutée à l’heure actuelle, à savoir l’émergence des ‘‘ intellectuels intermédiaires ‘’ dont la finalité était un encouragement à la démocratie en Iran à partir des années 1990 jusqu’à nos jours. Ce courant d’idées, même s’il n’a jamais été perçu comme parfaitement structuré, comporte des spécificités concrètes qui la distingue des générations d’intellectuels précédentes, de sorte qu‘on pourrait dire que cette nouvelle génération de par ses idées, réflexions et par son engagement social, pose les bases d’une refondation de la notion et de l’identité de l’intellectuel en Iran. Il en émerge alors une nouvelle substance de l’intellectualité qui engendre, au fur et à mesure de son évolution, un passage des intellectuels classiques et ambitieux (« d’avant-garde ») aux intellectuels intermédiaires.La première partie de cette étude s’articulera autour de l’analyse et de la présentation du discours des quatre générations d’intellectuels, du contexte de leur apparition en Iran, et tout particulièrement de celle des intellectuels intermédiaires. Ensuite, nous aborderons les différents aspects et les nombreux facteurs qui ont permis la naissance de ce mouvement avec une attention tout d’abord pour les facteurs externes ; l’influence de l’environnement international et des différents écoles de la pensée, l’apparition de nouveaux discours sur la modernité puis sur la postmodernité, , l’accélération de la diffusion de leurs idées à travers l’usage d’internet et des réseaux sociaux (qui tissent et renforcent les liens entre les différentes forces sociales). Puis dans un second temps nous nous intéresserons aux facteurs internes; l’épreuve de bouleversements politiques choquants, entrainant un regard plus critique que les discours précédant et la mise en avant de valeurs démocratiques depuis les mouvements réformistes apparus pendant les années 1996 et 1997. Ces changements sociopolitiques sont pour beaucoup dans l’affaiblissement du courant des « intellectuels religieux ».La deuxième partie de cette étude portera sur les trois axes, autour desquels les intellectuels, au cours de l’histoire des idées en Iran, ont conçu les interactions sociales : Occident, état, et religion. Ils s’efforceront tout le long de l’histoire iranienne de répondre à des questions ayant trait à ces trois thèmes. Les réponses des intellectuels intermédiaires ont rencontrés beaucoup de succès en proposant des réponses à de réelles inquiétudes sociales. En effet, ils ont réussi à schématiser des plans d’action pour atteindre leurs objectifs et à mettre en relief une dimension plus pragmatique de la société iranienne contemporaine. On n’a pas souvent pu en dire autant pour les générations précédentes d’intellectuels.Le but principal de cette recherche est d’étudier comment ces intellectuels intermédiaires fondent leurs convictions et leurs actions, avec en toile de fond une marche déterminée vers la démocratie. La démarche de ces intellectuels est marquée par cet engagement pour la démocratie, et la coexistence des différents courants d’idées dans la société iranienne. Pour ces intellectuels toutes réflexions ou action doit prendre en compte le caractère indissociable des notions de démocratie, d’occident et de religion au sein d’une sphère politique ou l’état possède tous les attributs de la souveraineté. D’ailleurs leur orientations se conforment à la plupart des principes démocratiques; la tolérance, la liberté de pensée, la liberté d’expression et le pluralisme, le sécularisme, la souveraineté du peuple, le droit de citoyenneté, le dialogue entre tous les force sociales, une société libre et sans censure. Ce contexte sera abordé au cours de la dernière partie de la recherche. / The aim of this research is to study a recent theory, much discussed at present, namely the emergence of "intermediary intellectuals" whose purpose was to encourage democracy in Iran from the 1990s to the present. 'nowadays. This stream of ideas, even though it has never been perceived as perfectly structured, has concrete specificities that distinguish it from previous generations of intellectuals, so that one could say that this new generation by its ideas, reflections and by its social commitment, lays the groundwork for a refoundation of the notion and identity of ‘the intellectual’ in Iran. Eventually, a new form of intellectuality emerges that gradually witnesses the creation of an evolution in itself which is a transition from classical and ambitious ("avant-garde") intellectualism to the intermediary intellectualism. The first part of this study will articulate the presentation as well as the analysis of the discourse of four generations of intellectuals, the context of their appearance in Iran, and especially that of the intermediary intellectuals. Then we will discuss the different aspects and the many factors that led to the birth of this movement with the main focus laid on external factors; these factors include the influence of international environment and different schools of thought, the appearance of new discourses on modernity followed by postmodernity, the acceleration of the diffusion of their ideas through the use of the Internet and social networks (which weave and reinforce the links between the different social forces). This part will be followed by a focus on internal factors such as shocking political upheavals, leading to a more critical perspective and the promotion of democratic values since the reformist movements that appeared during the years 1996 and 1997. One of the reasons for these socio-political changes is the weakening of the notion of "Religious intellectualism" which is happening along the mentioned changes. The second part of this study will focus on the three axes around which intellectuals, during the history of ideas in Iran, have conceived social interactions: the West, the state, and religion. They will strive throughout Iranian history to answer questions related to these three themes. Intermediary intellectuals' responses have been very successful in providing answers to real social concerns. Indeed, they have succeeded in schematizing action plans to achieve their goals and highlighting a more pragmatic dimension of contemporary Iranian society. It has not often been said so for previous generations of intellectuals. The main purpose of this research is to study how these intermediary intellectuals base their convictions and actions, against the backdrop of a determined march towards democracy. The approach of these intellectuals is marked by this commitment to democracy and the coexistence of different currents of ideas in Iranian society. For these intellectuals all reflections or actions must be taken in light of the inevitable essence of the notion of democracy, the West and religion within a political sphere where the state has all the attributes of sovereignty. Moreover, their orientations conform to most democratic principles, such as tolerance, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and pluralism, secularism, the sovereignty of the people, the right of citizenship, dialogue among all social forces, and a free and uncensored society. This context will be addressed during the last part of the research.

Depuis le Moyen Âge, l’intérêt philosophique pour le péché originel, la chute d’Ève et d’Adam, ainsi que le châtiment divin, a produit de nombreuses interprétations du récit de la Genèse. La question la plus importante était celle de comprendre la responsabilité de l’homme dans le mal et de disculper Dieu. Comment un Dieu tout puissant et tout bon pourrait-il accepter que ses créatures tombent dans l’abîme du péché ? Contrairement à ce qu’on pourrait s’attendre, cet intérêt ne perd pas en vigueur au début de la Renaissance : il se voit même renforcer à travers les divergences naissantes de la Réforme. C’est pourquoi il est intéressant d’interroger la pensée de Montaigne et de Descartes, deux penseurs à première vue sans rapport avec une quelconque controverse religieuse (ou en tout cas officiellement non engagés dans des débats de nature théologique). Considèrent-ils le péché dans sa compréhension théologique et religieuse ? Ou le concept de péché se présente-t-il sous une nouvelle forme, qu’on pourrait alors appeler humaniste ou encore naturaliste ? Ni Montaigne ni Descartes n’emploient le terme de péché originel, ce qui marque leur originalité par rapport aux autres penseurs de leurs époques. L’intérêt est donc de savoir si l’absence de ce terme signifie un désintérêt pour la religion chrétienne dans leurs morales, ou si elle marque le début d’une pensée qui essaie de donner une interprétation laïque et sécularisant du mal et du péché. Montaigne et Descartes séparent-ils leurs morales avec la tradition chrétienne ? / Since the Middle Ages, philosophers’ interest in the original sin, in the fall of Eve and Adam and in divine retribution has produced many interpretations of Genesis. The most important question was to understand the responsibility of man in evil and to exculpate God. How could almighty and merciful God accept that his creatures fall into the abyss of sin? Contrary to what one might expect, this interest does not lose its force at the beginning of the Renaissance: it is even strengthened through the emerging differences of the Reformation. This is why it is interesting to analyze the thought of Montaigne and Descartes, two thinkers who seem at first sight unrelated to any religious controversy (or, at least, officially non-engaged in debates of a theological nature). Do they consider sin in his theological and religious understanding? Or, does the concept of sin face a new form of understanding which could then be called humanist or naturalist? Neither Montaigne nor Descartes uses the term original sin, a choice which marks their originality compared to other thinkers of their times. Therefore, we must examine if the absence of this term means a disinterest in the Christian religion in their morals, or if it marks the beginning of a thought which tries to propose a laic and secularized interpretation of the evil and the sin. Do Montaigne and Descartes distance their moral thoughts from the Christian tradition?