Thanks for those links which offer a Baha’i perspective.

I would agree with your observation, that many people have become seekers, trying out and investigating different forms of religious beliefs/practises, in an increasingly fractured religious landscape. While many people may no longer belong to a ‘mainstream’ Christian denomination or attend a church (this applies more in western Europe), there is an increasing number of people who identify themselves as ‘believing without belonging’. See for example Grace Davie’s book ‘Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging’:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TxXSJ7amaoYC

However, participation amongst Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Evangelical churches etc. continue to be dynamic. I would include Bahais here as well. Then there are NRMs or New Religious Movements. New forms of religious beliefs that have appeared in western countries, offering religious ideas to ‘mainstream’ established religion e.g. Jehovah Witnesses, Hare Krishna movements etc. There is a debate if whether the Bahai religion can be condidered a NRM or a world religion:

http://bahai-library.org/essays/nrm.html

Will this diversity push western Europe in the direction of America and most of the globe? There is much debate on that, however as you stated, people will continue to seek a ’spiritual’ meaning/identity more than ever — even if it is outside centuries old established churches in Europe. But will this spread to the main body of folk in say Britian, that often nominally identify themselves as members of the Catholic or CoE Church and use these churches as public utilities on special occasions? Will the diversification and pluralism of religious forms trigger active religiosity, as in America? Have a look at the transcripts of this event, which touches on many of these themes:

Believing Without Belonging: Just How Secular Is Europe?

http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=97

Thanks for the feedback…That is a good point, especially when considering Christianity, compared to other religions such as Islam and Judaism, which are more praxis based religions. That is why it is difficult to apply terms such as ‘religiosity’, ‘traditionism’ or ‘fundamentalism’ to grounded reality, considering we are dealing with an array and often qualitatively different forms of religious phenomena.

However, despite Christianity being a dogma or creed based religion, many denominations still provide moral guidelines, if not detailed laws pertaining to divorce, marriage, inheritance, trading etc. These guidelines still provide a social vision, whether on the left of the political spectrum, where it has influenced many social justice movements e.g. Christian socialism, or on the right, where it has played a role in Evangelical groups such as the ‘Moral Majority’ in the United States. These views can and do influence elections in America and should be considered when we study religiosity and religious revival.

Thanks for making these excellent resources available. I’ll also add you to my links (on the right of this website).

Best wishes,
Basem

I think the Baha’i perspective on religion can provide an interesting discussion for sociologists, in terms of the emergence of a world religion in an age often dismissed as becoming increasingly secular while it is clear that at the same time people are seeking a ’spiritual’ meaning/identity more then ever.

‘The Ethics of Globalization: A Bahá’í Perspective’

http://www.onecountry.org/e151/e15102as_Perspective_globalization.htm

‘One Common Faith’

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/bic/OCF/ocf-2.html

Offical website

http://www.bahai.org/

Tom Humes

I just found you through my Google Alerts for Critical Theory and Critical Pedagogy. I think that you may find my own website interesting. You are free to use as a resource. It covers issues such as:

Critical Theory
Critical Theorists
Critical Practice (Praxis)
Critical Pedagogy
Critical Education Theory
Colonisation
Postcolonialism
Postmodernism
Indigenous Studies
Critical Psychology
Cultural Studies
Critical Aesthetics
Hegemony,
Academic Programme Development
Sustainable Design
Critical Design etc. etc.

The website at: http://www.TonyWardEdu.com contains more than 60 (absolutely free) downloadable and fully illustrated PDFs on all of these topics and more offered to students from the primer level, up to PhD. It also has a set of extensive bibliographies and related web links in all of these areas.

In the category that I have built around critical Theorists I have chosen to leave Baudrillard out. Apart from the fact that I find his work overly obscure, his theories on Postmodern identities is particularly unacceptable to me. It comes from a background of imperialism and colonisation (at which the French have been proligfic) and fails to account for identities which do not fit into his Postmodern conceptions. In particular the collective identities of indigenous peoples around the world (I have worked with the indigenous people of New Zealand for more than twenty years and I can say with confidence that their sense of collective identity is strong and growing). Buut this is the case also with other cultures. How else do you explain the rejoicing among Kosovo Albanians, the passion among Iraqi Kurds and among Palestinians?

Anyway, have a look at the website and if you like what you see perhaps bring it to the attention of your friends and colleagues for them to use as a resource.

There is no catch!

It’s just that I an retired and want to pass on the knowledge and experience acquired in 40 years of University teaching. All that I ask in return, is that you and they let me know what you think about the website and cite me for any material that may be downloaded and/or used.

I would also appreciate a link to my site from your own so that others may come to know about it and use it.

Many thanks and best wishes

Dr. Tony Ward Dip.Arch. (Birm)
Academic Programme, Tertiary Education and Sustainable Design Consultant

(Ph) (07) 307 2245
(m) 027 22 66 563
(e) tonyward.transform@xtra.co.nz