The Journal of Religion & Society is a peer-reviewed, cross-disciplinary, electronic journal published by the Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University.
The journal promotes the study of religious groups and beliefs among various peoples, past and present, with special emphasis on American religions and Western religious traditions.
The journal is open-access and freely allows users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all published material for all lawful purposes.
Citation:
Author’s Name, “Title of the Article,” Journal of Religion & Society 25 (2023), cited pages [URL of the Table of Contents page].
Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, and the Unconcerned: Why the European Court is Inconsistent in its Case Law and Violates Article 9 ECHR
Paul Cliteur, Leiden University, the Netherlands
[ Abstract ] [ Article PDF ]
This One New Humanity: Can Multi-Ethnic Evangelical Churches Be Spaces for Racial Reconciliation?
Richard Haesly and Liesl Haas, California State University, Long Beach
[ Abstract ] [ Article PDF ]
“Money, Good Homes, and Friendship”: Thrift and Salvation in Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam
Nathan Saunders, University of North Carolina Wilmington
[ Abstract ] [ Article PDF ]
Essays
& Opinions
Personal Emancipation Through a Comparative of Two Metaphysical Encounters: The Samaritan Woman in the New Testament, and Nachikethas in the Katha Upanishad
Anil D’Souza, Christ Deemed-To-Be-University, Bangalore, India
[ Abstract ] [ Essay PDF ]
Historically, Jews have been scapegoated for a variety of social, economic, and political ills. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was considerable misinformation and disinformation, especially on social media, linking Jews to the pandemic. This paper uses Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Survey Project data to test whether objective trends in the pandemic severity and Google searches linking Jews with COVID-19 affected attitudes toward Jews. Time series analysis indicates death rates and Google searches resulted in less positive attitudes towards Jews, but despite being statistically significant, impacts were substantively small. The conclusion puts the findings into context.
In 1993 (Kokkinakis v. Greece), the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that under Article 9, “atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and the unconcerned” are protected; but to make that protection effective, the Court requires those views to meet the requirements of “cogency, seriousness, cohesion, and importance.” In 2021 (De Wilde v. the Netherlands), the Court ruled that the pastafarians (adherents to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) failed to meet these requirements. This article analyzes the two verdicts, pointing out the relevance for the protection of religious and non-religious minorities.
The growth in multi-ethnic Evangelical churches (MECs) is a surprising phenomenon given the history of racial segregation in American Evangelicalism. Using interviews and ethnographic data, we delineate cultural, theological, political, and psychological obstacles MECS face in transforming themselves into spaces to confront racial inequalities in the congregation and the larger society. We argue that MECs find themselves in a “valley of transition,” where obstacles might create backlash from white and Black Evangelicals alike. However, opportunities remain for these churches to model for other Evangelicals and the larger American community how to do the difficult work of seeking racial justice.
A study of thrift in the Nation of Islam refines our understanding of the frugality discourse by focusing on eschatology rather than personal piety. Thrift for Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation from 1934 until 1975, constituted the means not to reform society but to overthrow it and usher in the end of history. Muhammad and his followers employed thrift both to promote personal spiritual health and achieve certain social aims. However, Muhammad looked forward to a time when thrift would both catalyze the apocalypse and simultaneously cease as a moral imperative.
This short essay deconstructs the idea of personal emancipation through two spiritual encounters. The first is a critical incident from the Gospel of John when the Samaritan woman encounters Jesus. The second encounter from the Katha Upanishad involves Nachikethas, the young boy who is offered to the God of Death by his father as part of his sacrificial ritual. Both themes make for a formidable argument on the quest for human redemption through the pursuit of truth and the quest for salvation. The essay integrates these two encounters with elements from eastern and western philosophical perspectives in examining individual motivation in seeking for a way out of bondage from eternal suffering.
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