Do ‘we’ ‘do’ God? Linda Woodhead & Rebecca Catto (eds), Religion and change in modern Britain. London: Routledge.

What does it mean to talk of the religion ‘of’ a given country? I reflect on an edited volume dealing with religion in Britain and consider two related themes: the secular considered as ‘absence’ or ‘presence’, and the siting of religion not in conventional denominations or ritual practices but in spaces of encounter between religions, and between the so‐called ‘religious’ and ‘secular’.     

Veiled Nannies and Secular Futures in France

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on recent French efforts to expand legal regulation of religious symbols to childcare. Controversies over ‘veiled nannies’ serve as points of departure for investigating laïcité – French secularism – through which religion is regulated. The investigation is based on fieldwork among Muslim women in Marseille and on the analysis of legal decisions, official documents, and media. The debates on whether to legislate on religious symbols in the domain of childcare reveal how the line between religion and politics, and private and public is continuously redrawn through state efforts to cultivate and govern (secular) Republican selves. Drawing on Agrama’s [2012a. Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty and the Rule of Law in Egypt. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press] conceptualisation of secularism as a ‘problem-space’, I argue that legal regulation of religious symbols institutionalises a ‘secular suspicion’ at the heart of efforts to imagine and govern French society and its future, a future in which Muslims increasingly find it difficult to imagine themselves.     

How to capture the ‘wow’: R.R. Marett's notion of awe and the study of religion⋆

Current scholarship in the social sciences and humanities, including the study of religion, shows a marked appraisal of bodily sensations, emotions, and experiences as eminently social and politico‐aesthetic phenomena (rather than reducing them to a matter of mere individual psychology). How to grasp the genesis of shared perceptions and feelings, and even some kind of ‘wow’ effect, in relation to a posited ‘beyond’ has become a central issue for scholars of religion today. Placed against the horizon of the material turn in the study of religion, R.R. Marett's approach to religion as an ‘organic complex of thought, emotion, and behaviour’ and his concept of awe gain renewed topicality. Engaging with Marett's ideas in the context of broader debates about religious experience, in this article (which is based on my 2014 Marett lecture) I call attention to the surplus generated in the interplay of religious things and bodily sensations and explore its role in politics and aesthetics of religious world‐making. My central point is that Marett's work offers valuable resources for an approach to religion that neither takes for granted the existence of a god or transcendental force (as in ontological approaches), nor invests in unmasking it as an illusion (as in critiques of religion as irrational), but instead undertakes a close study of the standardized methods that yield the fabrication of some kind of excess that points to a ‘beyond’ and yet is grounded in the here and now.     

The Flourishing of Religion in Post‐Mao China and the Anthropological Category of Religion

In his provocative critique of Geertz's 1966 definition of religion, Talal Asad (1993) suggests that the very project of defining the category of religion is rooted in the historical rise of Western secularism in societies formerly dominated by Christianity. In post‐Mao China, there has been an explosion of activities that might be categorised as religious in the Geertzian sense, including church attendance, temple building, qi gong practice, pilgrimage, and geomancy. This paper examines two such activities, the participation of women in a Protestant church in rural Shandong and the recent protest by members of the Fa Lun Gong (Buddhist Law Qi Gong) society in Beijing, and asks what their emergence in a post‐Maoist communist state tells us about the historical processes that frame the possibility of defining religion. Working with theories of religious participation from Geertz, Asad, Tambiah, and Feuchtwang, the paper develops a conception of ‘symbolic participation’ to illuminate the flourishing of religious practice in post‐Mao China.     

Understanding: Between belief and unbelief

This paper addresses issues raised in Taylor’s work concerning how communities may come to work in normatively secular ways. For Taylor, it seems to be sufficient for believers (and nonbelievers) to acknowledge that their own ‘construals’ are not shared by everyone. However, this leaves open the question of how the acknowledgement of difference may be turned into respect. A common strategy is to require that faith‐based truth claims are ‘bracketed out’, treating secular and religious discourse as ‘nonoverlapping magisteria’. This secularising strategy is, however, problematic on a number of counts. The article makes a case for a less confrontational, more cosmopolitan conversation between secular and religious reason in a postsecular age, examining in particular the possibilities for conversation between science and mysticism. It concludes that it is possible to retain a commitment to naturalism and yet also accept some of the most mystical of propositions, thereby establishing a bridge between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ forms of reasoning.     

Scooping, raking, beckoning luck: luck, agency and the interdependence of people and things in Japan

This article focuses on the circulation and consumption of Japanese commodities invested with an informal, domestic form of spirituality, translated as 'luck'. Tambiah has argued that the dissemination of spiritual power objectified in Thai Buddhist amulets reflects the 'differential power distribution' and 'social control' vested in an hierarchically ordered lay society. My Japanese case study suggests that commodification of religious forms enables a more democratic diffusion of spirituality. Good luck charms are neither sacred nor secular; they challenge the supposed divide between the aesthetic value and utility of objects. They are part of extended networks of human and non-human agents, but through their various trajectories they also retain an independent agency rooted in their material properties.     

The German debate on male circumcision and Habermas’ model of post‐secularity

This paper considers Habermas’ model of a post‐secular political order in the light of the debate on male circumcision that arose in Germany after a court ruled that male circumcision was an unjustifiable act of bodily harm. Central to this model is the idea that religious reasons can only become effective in central legal institutions when they are translated into secular reasons. My paper demonstrates that there are two distinguishable readings of this proviso. On the one hand, there is a broad reading according to which it is only necessary to reach a conclusion that is in line with the democratic principle stating that all citizens can be regarded as co‐legislators even if non‐generalizable value orientations might then shape the interpretation of fundamental rights (in the case of circumcision, the right to bodily integrity). On the other hand, a truly secular (narrow) reading would avoid the inclusion of non‐generalizable value orientations. The debate on circumcision demonstrates that these two interpretations lead to different and conflicting modes of justification. The broad reading allows for a justification of male circumcision, whereas the narrow reading makes such a justification unlikely. In addition, the filtering function of the proviso is weakened in a broad reading.     

Miracles in the waiting room of modernity: The canonisation of Dun Ġorġ of Malta

This study will focus on the persistence of ‘pre‐modern’ forms of religious belief in a secular age. By examining in detail the process of canonisation of St. George Preca, the first Maltese saint, this study will explore concepts of the self and relations to the body in a Catholic modernity. The focus on miracles and canonisation in a context other than that of a North Atlantic modernity also allows me to highlight the need to understand the complex relationships among: (i) the official church and believers; (ii) the local elite and the populace; and ultimately, (iii) between religion and science. Lastly, in keeping with the phenomenological and experiential imperatives shared with the contributors to this volume, I conclude this article by outlining what, through an intimate engagement with the religious beliefs of ‘others’, I have come to believe miracles are about: True body event.     

Conceptualizing "religion": How language shapes and constrains knowledge in the study of religion and health

Despite recent advances in the field of religion and health, meaningful findings will increasingly depend on the capacity to conceptualize "religion" properly. To date, scientists' conception of religion has been shaped by the Enlightenment paradigm. However, recent developments in philosophy make the "objectivity" of the Enlightenment paradigm problematic, if not untenable. Contrary to common understanding, the secularism essential to the Enlightenment paradigm does not enjoy any special privilege over religious ways of seeing the world, because both religious and secular worldviews constitute self-referentially complete interpretations of the human condition. If there is no objective frame of reference from which to measure religiousness, then the study of religion and health is fundamentally contingent on the specific languages and contexts in which particular religions find expression. While applying this cultural-linguistic approach to religion would require significant changes in the existing methods for studying religion and health, such changes may generate a deeper understanding of this relationship.     

Beyond blasphemy or devotion: art,the secular,and Catholicism in Paris

In this article I explore the relationship between the secular and ‘cultural’ Catholicism in France through the lens of a contemporary art exhibit displayed at a new project of the French Catholic Church. Visitors’ varied responses to the exhibit, I argue, ultimately reinforced the organizers’ claim that the activities that occur within this ‘non‐religious’ space of the French church are self‐evident aspects of a broadly recognizable and ‘secular’ French or European culture.     

Liberalism and racism: an ‘elective affinity’?

This appraisal of David Scott FitzGerald and David Cook-Martín's Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas argues that there is no ‘elective affinity’ between liberalism and racism, which is the core argument of the book. The notion of ‘elective affinity’, which the authors borrow from Max Weber, requires a structural homology between the ‘electively’ related elements that just does not exist in this case. The relationship between both is entirely contingent, ‘racism’ being a doctrine of inter-group relations while ‘liberalism’ is a doctrine of intra-group relations, with no consideration of how the boundaries of the group are constituted.     

Why does the biota of the Madagascar region have such a strong Asiatic flavour?

A corollary of island biogeographical theory is that islands are largely colonized from their nearest mainland source. Despite Madagascar’s extreme isolation from India and proximity to Africa, a high proportion of the biota of the Madagascar region has Asian affinities. This pattern has rarely been viewed as surprising, as it is consistent with Gondwanan vicariance. Molecular phylogenetic data provide strong support for such Asian affinities, but often not for their vicariant origin; most divergences between lineages in Asia and the Madagascar region post‐date the separation of India and Madagascar considerably (up to 87 Myr), implying a high frequency of dispersal that mirrors colonization of the Hawaiian archipelago in distance. Indian Ocean bathymetry and the magnitude of recent sea‐level lowstands support the repeated existence of sizeable islands across the western Indian Ocean, greatly reducing the isolation of Madagascar from Asia. We put forward predictions to test the role of this historical factor in the assembly of the regional biota. © The Willi Hennig Society 2009.     

Deductive biology—Some cautious steps

For certain environments, the Darwinian model allows unique prediction of a function that any surviving system adapted to such an environment has to perform. This is the case for those environments that determine a “survival functional” of position in space-time of known shape. Purely temporal survival functionals can be distinguished from spatial and mixed ones. In each case, there exists an optimum path in combined physical and (reduced) metabolic space. Dependent on the admissible error, approximate solutions of different complexity are sufficient. All solutions possess an afferent, a central, and an efferent part. Within this general frame, specific, “probably simplest”, solutions are proposed for adaptive chemotaxis, insect locomotion, lower vertebrates locomotion, higher vertebrates locomotion, chronobiological systems, and immune systems, respectively—or rather, for the underlying functionals. Presented at the Society for Mathematical Biology Meeting, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, August 19–21, 1976.     

Limusaurus inextricabilis (Theropoda: Ceratosauria) gives a hand to evolutionary teratology: a complementary view on avian manual digits identities

It is widely accepted that birds are rooted within theropod dinosaurs. However, there is controversy between palaeontological and developmental data regarding manual digit identities of birds and their tetanuran ancestors (I, II and III vs. II, III and IV). To resolve this conflict, the principle of a frame‐shift has been considered. Identities of digits I–III would develop on condensations 2–4. Nevertheless, the discovery of the basal Ceratosauria Limusaurus inextricabilis has been used as a reference to define the digital identity of Tetanurae as II–IV. The new concept of evolutionary teratology states that certain anatomical structures identified in evolutionary lineages are viable developmental anomalies (‘adaptive’ or not), becoming part of the considered groups. The features of Limusaurus' forelimb match teratological characterization. This diagnosis, associated with the variations previously identified in derived Ceratosauria taxa (Carnotaurinae), underline an anatomical and developmental independence (regarding evolutionary conserved mechanisms) compared with Tetanurae and therefore birds. Consequently, Limusaurus should not be used as a reference concerning the identity of avian manuals digits. Evolutionary teratology supports identities I, II and III of the tetanuran manus via a frame‐shift that did not occur in the Ceratosauria lineage. © 2016 The Linnean Society of London     

Testing major evolutionary hypotheses about religion with a random sample

Theories of religion that are supported with selected examples can be criticized for selection bias. This paper evaluates major evolutionary hypotheses about religion with a random sample of 35 religions drawn from a 16-volume encyclopedia of world religions. The results are supportive of the group-level adaptation hypothesis developed in Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society (Wilson 2002). Most religions in the sample have what Durkheim called secular utility. Their otherworldly elements can be largely understood as proximate mechanisms that motivate adaptive behaviors. Jainism, the religion in the sample that initially appeared most challenging to the group-level adaptation hypothesis, is highly supportive upon close examination. The results of the survey are preliminary and should be built upon by a multidisciplinary community as part of a field of evolutionary religious studies. This research was supported by a grant from the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist interested in a broad range of issues relevant to human behavior. He has published in psychology, anthropology, and philosophy journals in addition to his mainstream biological research. He is co-author with the philosopher Elliott Sober of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard University Press, 1998).     

Under the Law of God: mimesis and mimetic discipleship among Jewish‐affinity Christians

Messianic Judaism, a network of congregations that incorporate Jewish ritual into evangelical worship, is one branch of a fast‐growing trend among Christians globally towards ‘Jewish affinity’. Drawing on a multi‐site comparison in North America, this article examines one of Messianic Judaism's most significant internal debates: should non‐ethnically Jewish ‘gentile believers’ (GBs) obey biblical laws? It argues that GBs do not simply imitate Jews badly, as outsiders and their own leaders often believe. Rather, their actions are best characterized as mimesis in two complementary forms: mimesis of Jews and ‘mimetic discipleship’ of Jesus‐the‐Jew. Taken together, these forms offer a heuristic tool sufficiently capacious to explain both individuals’ propensity for Jewish practice and the socially specific ways it is constructed. I conclude that Jewish affinity reflects a key problem in contemporary Christianity, namely what happens when people in one religion (Christianity) come to believe that their God incarnated in the body of a man they now associate with another religion (Judaism)?     

Spirituality: an overlooked predictor of placebo effects?

Empirical findings have identified spirituality as a potential health resource. Whereas older research has associated such effects with the social component of religion, newer conceptualizations propose that spiritual experiences and the intrapersonal effects that are facilitated by regular spiritual practice might be pivotal to understanding potential salutogenesis. Ongoing studies suggest that spiritual experiences and practices involve a variety of neural systems that may facilitate neural 'top-down' effects that are comparable if not identical to those engaged in placebo responses. As meaningfulness seems to be both a hallmark of spirituality and placebo reactions, it may be regarded as an overarching psychological concept that is important to engaging and facilitating psychophysiological mechanisms that are involved in health-related effects. Empirical evidence suggests that spirituality may under certain conditions be a predictor of placebo response and effects. Assessment of patients' spirituality and making use of various resources to accommodate patients' spiritual needs reflect our most current understanding of the physiological, psychological and socio-cultural aspects of spirituality, and may also increase the likelihood of eliciting self-healing processes. We advocate the position that a research agenda addressing responses and effects of both placebo and spirituality could therefore be (i) synergistic, (ii) valuable to each phenomenon on its own, and (iii) contributory to an extended placebo paradigm that is centred around the concept of meaningfulness.     

Gould and the fairies

This paper examines Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of science and religion as ‘nonoverlapping magisteria’ with reference to Spiritualism, specifically the case of the Cottingley fairies. It argues that this is a case in which the magisteria are neither separate nor overlapping but instead exist in a far more complex relationship. Through an exploration of this complexity, this paper offers discussion of the relationship between religion and science. In doing so, it problematises the common use of the terms ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ to characterise the experience of religious conviction.     

Insulins with built-in glucose sensors for glucose responsive insulin release.

Derivatization of insulin with phenylboronic acids is described, thereby equipping insulin with novel glucose sensing ability. It is furthermore demonstrated that such insulins are useful in glucose‐responsive polymer‐based release systems. The preferred phenylboronic acids are sulfonamide derivatives, which, contrary to naïve boronic acids, ensure glucose binding at physiological pH, and simultaneously operate as handles for insulin derivatization at LysB29. The glucose affinities of the novel insulins were evaluated by glucose titration in a competitive assay with alizarin. The affinities were in the range 15–31 mM (K_d), which match physiological glucose fluctuations. The dose‐responsive glucose‐mediated release of the novel insulins was demonstrated using glucamine‐derived polyethylene glycol polyacrylamide (PEGA) as a model, and it was shown that Zn(II) hexamer formulation of the boronated insulins resulted in steeper glucose sensitivity relative to monomeric insulin formulation. Notably, two of the boronated insulins displayed enhanced insulin receptor affinity relative to native insulin (113%–122%) which is unusual for insulin LysB29 derivatives. Copyright © 2004 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do All Dogs Go to Heaven? Investigating the Association between Demographic Characteristics and Beliefs about Animal Afterlife

The purpose of this research was to explore American’s beliefs about animal afterlife based on key demographic factors such as sex, race/ethnicity, age, geographic region, religion/faith, and pet ownership. We attained a large and diverse sample of respondents (n = 800) using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, and attempted to make the data fairly representative of the United States population by applying post-stratification weights based on auxiliary statistics obtained from US Census data. Results of the study suggest that many people perceive animal lives as similarly sacred as human lives. Evidence also suggests that one’s membership in a particular demographic category may have considerable bearing on views about animal afterlife. The authors recommend veterinarians remain cognizant that some people extend their own views on issues such as spirituality to their pets and those beliefs and values can impact veterinary care and decision-making.