The Importance of Understanding the Sociology of Religion

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2016/01/20/importance-understanding-sociology-religion#

The Importance of Understanding the Sociology of Religion

Warren Goldstein is a sociologist of religion teaching at HDS. While his research aims to develop a critical sociology of religion as a "new paradigm" in the sociology of religion, he is more broadly interested in the development of a critical paradigm in the study of religion as a whole.

Interfaith Network : Jan 2016 Bulletin

http://www.interfaith.org.uk/publications/all-publications/e-bulletin/148-ifn-e-bulletin-december-2015-january-2016/file

Interfaith Network : Jan 2016 Bulletin

Items Faith and public life updates
Refugees and migrants - responses
Faith and inter faith response to terrorist attacks in Paris
Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life - report
Government review of the Muslim Brotherhood
Law Commission Review of marriage law
Consultation on cremation
National Faith Community Representative Bodies meet
Collective Worship and Religious Observance in Schools
RE for Real report
House of Commons Briefing Paper on RE
etc

A new Settlement : religion and Belief in Schools

http://faithdebates.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/A-New-Settlement-for-Religion-and-Belief-in-schools.pdf

A new Settlement : religion and Belief in Schools

by Charles Clarke and Linda Woodhead 

Living with Difference: Community, Diversity and the Common Good

http://www.corab.org.uk/

Living with Difference: Community, Diversity and the Common Good

The report of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, convened by the Woolf Institute and chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss.
It is titled "Living with Difference: Community, Diversity and the Common Good".

RE for REal report and Recommendations

http://www.gold.ac.uk/faithsunit/reforreal/

In a context of deep religious illiteracy in the UK, RE for REal explores the role of schools in equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to engage effectively with religion and belief diversity, in schools, in their communities, in future workplaces and in wider social contexts.

The project analyses the views of pupils, parents and teachers in secondary education and of employers, on what school leavers need to know about religion and belief in relation to the current religion and belief landscape, as evidenced in research and current educational policy.

It builds on the Religious Education Council’s A Review of Religious Education in England (2013) by providing a new evidence-base to support and facilitate continuing national discussions. By engaging protagonists in the field in a cycle of reflective analysis, it will further stimulate and facilitate wider debate around the future role and shape of RE in schools.

Below, you will find supporting documents to accompany our recent study:

Full report (PDF download)

Executive summary (PDF download)

Recommendations (PDF download)

RE for REal brings together views on what children need to know and understand about religion with research evidence on the real religious landscape and explores the gaps between the two. It is unique in that it will bring together key groups of influence to create a forum in which to discuss how to align these two in future policy and planning for schools.

Event Report: Atheism research at the 2015 IAPR World Congress

http://blog.nsrn.net/2015/10/19/event-report-atheism-research-at-the-2015-iapr-world-congress/

← Event Report: American Psychological Association Annual Conference

Event Report: Atheism research at the 2015 IAPR World Congress

Posted on October 19, 2015 by katieaston

In this post, Thomas Coleman discusses the conference the International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) 2015 World Congress (17th-20th August 2015). Coleman takes us on a tour of the conference, through panels of interest to him on topics of atheism, disbelief and nonreligious mystical, or transcendent, experience.

Invented Religions

http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/podcast-carole-cusack-on-invented-religions/

Invented Religions

What is an “Invented Religion”? Why should scholars take these religions seriously? What makes these “inventions” different from the revelations in other religions? What happens when an author does not want their story to become a religious text?

Lankaweb: OCD and Buddhist Psychotherapy

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/06/22/ocd-and-buddhist-psychotherapy/

Lankaweb:

OCD and Buddhist Psychotherapy

Posted on June 22nd, 2015

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder. The DSM-IV Text Revision defines OCD as the presence of recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions that interfere substantially with daily functioning (DSM IV TR; American Psychiatric Association 2000).

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2011/11/buddhist-modernism.html

Buddhist Modernism

Independent: Practice Mindfulness – says mental health charity

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/practice-mindfulness---says-mental-health-charity-10254799.html

Practice Mindfulness – says mental health charity

A mental health charity has suggested that mindfulness treatments should be more widely available on the NHS, after revealing the results of a new YouGov survey.

HH Dalai Lama: How to see yourself as you really are, 1-6, audiobook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rk-FtazWBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDdLBgpfouU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRBzsK4EG8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5n94NTPW6M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAk2DZqBt60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSaTUMO63Xg

HH Dalai Lama: How to see yourself as you really are, 1-6, audiobook

Published on Jan 9, 2015

Dalai Lama - How to See Yourself as You Really Are (1 of 6) Audio book

According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we each possess the ability to achieve happiness and a meaningful life, but the key to realizing that goal is self-knowledge. In How to See Yourself As You Really Are, the world's foremost Buddhist leader and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize shows readers how to recognize and dispel misguided notions of self and embrace the world from a more realistic -- and loving -- perspective. Through illuminating explanations and step-by-step exercises, His Holiness helps readers to see the world as it actually exists, and explains how, through the interconnection of meditative concentration and love, true altruistic enlightenment is attained.

Enlivened by personal anecdotes and intimate accounts of the Dalai Lama's own life experiences, How to See Yourself As You Really Are is an inspirational and empowering guide that can be read and enjoyed by anyone seeking spiritual fulfillment.

Presented by Traviseric.com

Buddhism and Modernity

http://www.smith.edu/philosophy/docs/garfield_buddhism_modernity.pdf

Buddhism and Modernity 

Jay L Garfield,  Smith College, University of Melbourne, Central University of Tibetan Studies

1. Introduction: Authenticity and Impermanence
2. Historical comparisons
3. Modern Differences
4. The Modern Western Inflection of Buddhism
5. The Problem of Authenticity in Modernity

Also : HH Dalai Lama and Modernity

http://info-buddhism.com/Dalai_Lama_between_Modernity_and_Buddhism_by_Georges_Dreyfus.html

Also from the Tricycle magazine:

http://www.tricycle.com/buddhism-and-modernity

Buddhism and Modernity

With support from the John Templeton Foundation, Tricycle’s Buddhism and Modernity project is initiating a conversation between Buddhists and leading thinkers across the humanities and social sciences. Tricycle is exploring how perspectives drawn from research about the nature of religion, culture, science, and secularism can shed light on unexamined assumptions shaping the transmission of Buddhism to modernity. This project offers Western Buddhists new ways of thinking about their spiritual experiences by demonstrating how reason can be used as a tool to open up—rather than shut down—access to traditional faith.

Linda Heuman, a Tricycle contributing editor who is heading up the project, is a freelance journalist based in Providence, Rhode Island. Below are her online Tricycle pieces that we hope will initiate dialogue on the interaction between Buddhism and modernity.

A More Human Science | An interview with Amadeo Giorgi. The Western intellectual tradition of human science could help recast the dialogue between Buddhism and the contemporary world.

Don't Believe the Hype | Neuroscientist Catherine Kerr is concerned about how mindfulness meditation research is being portrayed in the media. Tricycle speaks with her to understand the significance of an emerging meta-discourse—the conversation about the conversation about meditation.

Meditation Nation | How convincing is the science driving the popularity of mindfulness meditation? A Brown University researcher has some surprising answers.

Given the widespread belief that meditation practice is scientifically certified to be good for just about everything, the results of a recent major analysis of the research might come as some surprise... 

Culture Wars | As science invades the humanities, our understanding of Buddhism hangs in the balanceIn view of Western Buddhists’ eagerness to collaborate with the scientific study of Buddhism, it might be a good idea to consider whether this collaboration is likely, in the long run, to affirm or prove injurious to the very values and understandings...



Eastern Self/Western Self RevisitedMy previous blog post reflecting on Gish Jen’s new book Tiger Writing: Art, Culture, and the Independent Self, generated quite a bit of discussion. Some respondents dismissed as mere “personal observation” the claim that people from Western and Eastern cultures tend toward different types of self-construal...



Eastern Self/Western SelfWe in the West are quite concerned these days with how to make the dharma authentically Western. But caution please, folks. Before we start inventing a new flavor of Buddhism to suit Western palettes, it is important to look closely at the implicit assumptions we are bringing to this project. To start, we might examine more closely our underlying picture...

Karen Armstrong on Religion and the History of Violence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6I-V3iNeFo

Karen Armstrong on Religion and the History of Violence 

Published on Jan 7, 2015

Filmed at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on 1st October 2014.

Is religion is to blame for most of the bloodshed throughout human history? Many would concur, but this is a view strongly countered by Karen Armstrong, one of the world’s leading thinkers on religion and spirituality. Armstrong is the former Catholic nun who abandoned her religious creed and has described herself as a ‘freelance monotheist’, while also taking inspiration from Buddhism. She has sold hundreds of thousands of books around the world and won huge audiences for her powerful oratory in which she challenges her listeners to reappraise their prejudices about religion. She has addressed the US Congress and Senate, and as a testament to her bridge-building abilities she has filled venues across the Muslim world, including Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan, Singapore, Egypt and Pakistan where up to 5000 have come out to hear her.

She has written over 16 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths have shaped world history and drive current events.

She came to the Intelligence Squared stage to talk about her forthcoming book 'Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence'. Journeying from prehistoric times to the present, she contrasted medieval crusaders and modern-day jihadists with the pacifism of the Buddha and Jesus’ vision of a just and peaceful society. And she demonstrated that the underlying reasons – social, economic, political – for war and violence in our history have often had very little to do with religion. Instead, Armstrong celebrated the religious ideas and movements that have opposed war and aggression and promoted peace and reconciliation.

CityLab: The Link Between Religious Diversity and Economic Development

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/12/the-link-between-religious-diversity-and-economic-development/372585/

The Link Between Religious Diversity and Economic Development

Economic success may be tied to the fact that not all of your neighbors are celebrating the same winter holiday as you.

Richard Florida  Dec 19, 2014

New Scientist : The great illusion of the self

http://www.newscientist.com/special/self?cmpid=ILC%7CNSNS%7C2014-10-GLOBAL-homepageteaserabovempu%7Ctopcolumnteaser&utm_medium=ILC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_campaign=HomepageteaseraboveMPU&utm_content=topcolumnteaser

The Great Illusion of the Self

As you wake up each morning, hazy and disoriented, you gradually become aware of the rustling of the sheets, sense their texture and squint at the light. One aspect of your self has reassembled: the first-person observer of reality, inhabiting a human body.

As wakefulness grows, so does your sense of having a past, a personality and motivations. Your self is complete, as both witness of the world and bearer of your consciousness and identity. You.

This intuitive sense of self is an effortless and fundamental human experience. But it is nothing more than an elaborate illusion. Under scrutiny, many common-sense beliefs about selfhood begin to unravel. Some thinkers even go as far as claiming that there is no such thing as the self.

In these articles, discover why "you" aren’t the person you thought you were. 

full article

The Adventurous Life of Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46HTuOkWSwc&list=TLZHvnxqA3x7U

The Adventurous Life of Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969)

Published on Nov 5, 2014

The Adventurous Life of Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969)

Readers of Alexandra David-Neel’s early books knew nothing of her life before she became a celebrated traveller, explorer, and pioneer of the esoteric practices of Tibetan Buddhism.

Born in Paris, Alexandra was a debutante, bohemian of the Belle Epoque, opera singer in Indo-China and wife of a railway engineer. She researched occultism, travelling in India, Japan and Korea, crossed the Gobi Desert and journeyed to Lhasa in disguise – all unheard of for a woman of her time. Her name is synonymous with Tibet and the secrets of Tibetan magic and mysticism. Asked if she believed in miracles, Alexandra replied, “Of course, I perform them all the time.” Alexandra David-Neel died in France, aged 100, in 1969.

Alexander Maitland explores Alexandra David-Neel’s life and travels and her fascinating sojourns among magicians on the Roof of the World.

About the speaker: Alexander Maitland’s interests include music, painting and architecture. He first met Marco Pallis in 1966, while researching a life of the explorer John Hanning Speke. Later he wrote biographies of Freya Stark and Sir Wilfred Thesiger with whom he collaborated on other books including Freya Stark’s Rivers of Time and Wilfred Thesiger’s Among the Mountains. Alexander Maitland is married and lives in London.

Looking east for guidance: The influence of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism on Tolstoy’s life

http://rbth.co.uk/literature/2014/10/10/looking_east_for_guidance_the_influence_of_buddhism_hinduism_and_t_40519.html

Looking east for guidance: The influence of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism on Tolstoy’s life 

October 10, 2014 Ajay Kamalakaran, RBTH In the latter part of his life, the great writer was considerably influenced by eastern religions. How did these teachings affect Tolstoy's writing and his own philosophical ideas?
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines - http://rbth.co.uk/literature/2014/10/10/looking_east_for_guidance_the_influence_of_buddhism_hinduism_and_t_40519.html)

REC: Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life

From: Sophie Agrotis [mailto:sophie@religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk]
Sent: 10 October 2014 10:57
To: Sophie Agrotis
Subject: FW: From Baroness Butler-Sloss - Re: Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life

 

Dear Member representative,

 

The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life have asked that we circulate to you details of their current public consultation. Please find below a message from  Mohammed Aziz, head of the Commission Secretariat:

 

The Commission has been convened by the Woolf Institute, Cambridge, and would welcome your views on the topics with which it is dealing, as outlined in the consultation document at http://www.corab.org.uk/national-consultation.

 

Very briefly summarised, the commission would like to know people’s views on the role of religion and belief in British public life with particular regard to media coverage of religion and belief issues, social action, developments in UK education systems, civil and criminal law, and dialogue and engagement. You are of course welcome to focus on topics and questions which are of particular interest to you – you are not expected to reply to each and every single question in the document.

 

Responses can be of any length and can be accompanied by copies of relevant documents. In its eventual report the Commission will acknowledge all the responses which it receives and will almost certainly wish to quote from some of them directly.

 

You are welcome to forward this message and its attachment to colleagues and contacts who might wish to respond, and to mention it in newsletters or bulletins, and to place it on the agendas of meetings.

 

Responses should please be sent by 31 October to maa74@cam.ac.uk or by post to the Woolf Institute, 12-14 Grange Road, Cambridge CB3 9DU. Enquiries should be addressed to Mohammed Aziz, head of the Commission Secretariat.

 

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

Sophie Agrotis | Office and Finance Administrator

 

Religious Education Council

CAN Mezzanine

49-51 East Road

N1 6AH

 

Phone:  0207 250 8166

E-mail: info@religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk

Website: religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk

Tricycle: Don't Believe the Hype

http://www.tricycle.com/blog/don%E2%80%99t-believe-hype

Don’t Believe the Hype | Tricycle

 

Last May, an article about mindfulness on a popular mainstream news website finally spurred neuroscientist and meditation researcher Catherine Kerr to act. The article cited 20 benefits of meditation, from “reducing loneliness” to “increasing grey matter

Religious Studies numbers double but expert issues warning

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/1083/0/religious-studies-numbers-double-but-expert-issues-warning

Religious Studies numbers double but expert issues warning

 

21 August 2014 12:17 by Ruth Gledhill

The number of students taking religious studies at A-level in England has almost doubled in a decade, according to new figures.
But a leading figure in the field of religious studies warned that this trend could be temporary and warned that the subject is likely soon to go into decline because of changes in secondary education around the English Baccalaureate.