Fifth International Conference on and in Society Social Movements and

16-17 APRIL 2015 | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY | BERKELEY, USA RELIGIONINSOCIETY.COM FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY BERKELEY, USA

16-17 APRIL 2015

WWW.RELIGIONINSOCIETY.COM

@religionsociety #CGReligion

International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society www.religioninsociety.com

First published in 2015 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing, LLC www.commongroundpublishing.com

© 2015 Common Ground Publishing

All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the applicable copyright legislation, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact [email protected].

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome Letter ...... 1 About Common Ground ...... 2 The Religion in Society Knowledge Community ...... 3 The International Advisory Board for the Religion in Society Community ...... 7 The Religion in Society Journal and Book Series ...... 8 Submission Process ...... 10 Submission Timeline ...... 10 Journal Subscriptions, Open Access, Additional Services ...... 11 The Religion in Society Book Imprint ...... 13 The Religion in Society Conference ...... 16 Conference Program and Schedule ...... 19 Daily Schedule ...... 20 Conference Highlights ...... 21 Plenary Speakers ...... 22 Graduate Scholars ...... 23 Schedule of Sessions ...... 25 List of Participants ...... 45 Scholar ...... 51 Notes ...... 53

Dear Delegate,

Welcome to the Fifth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society.

The Religion and Spirituality in Society Conference sets out to describe, analyze, and interpret the role of religion and spirituality in society. The bases of this endeavor are cross-disciplinary. The intellectual project is neutral with respect to the agendas of particular or explicit counterpoints to religion such as agnosticism or . The Religion and Spirituality in Society Conference serves as a forum for those interested in the pursuit of scholarly conversation surrounding the key issues that impact the relationship between religion and society. The conference is intended as a space for careful, scholarly reflection and open dialogue while recognizing that a tension exists between the academic conversation and the practice of religious and spiritual traditions.

The fifth annual conference follows a very successful event held at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica in 2014. This year's meeting will address a range of critically important issues and themes relating to religion and spirituality and includes some of the leading thinkers in these areas. Scholars, researchers, and students from all corners of the globe are joining together to discuss all aspects of , its practices, and dogmas. In 2015, we are honored to hold the Religion and Spirituality Conference at the University of California at Berkeley in Berkeley, USA.

In addition to the Religion and Spirituality Conference, Common Ground Publishing hosts conferences and publishes journals in many areas of critical intellectual human concern, including diversity, the humanities, learning, sustainability, and technology, to name several. Our aim is to create new forms of knowledge community where people meet in person and also remain connected virtually, making the most of the potentials for access using digital media. We are also committed to creating a more accessible, open, and reliable peer review process. Alongside opportunities for well-known academics, we are creating new publication openings for academics from developing countries, for emerging scholars, and for researchers from institutions that are historically teaching-focused.

Thank you to all who have put such a phenomenal amount of work into preparing for this conference. I would particularly like to thank my Common Ground colleagues, including Monica Hillison, Kim Kendall, Ashley McBride, and Homer (Tony) Stavely.

We wish you all the best for this conference and hope it will provide you every opportunity for dialogue with colleagues from around the corner and around the world. And we hope you will be able to join us at next year’s conference in Washington, D.C., USA!

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope Director, Common Ground Publishing

Our Mission Common Ground Publishing aims to enable all people to participate in creating collaborative knowledge and to share that knowledge with the greater world. Through our academic conferences, peer-reviewed journals and books, and innovative software, we build transformative knowledge communities and provide platforms for meaningful interactions across diverse media.

Our Message Heritage knowledge systems are characterized by vertical separations—of discipline, professional association, institution, and country. Common Ground identifies some of the pivotal ideas and challenges of our time and builds knowledge communities that cut horizontally across legacy knowledge structures. Sustainability, diversity, learning, the future of the humanities, the nature of interdisciplinarity, the place of the arts in society, technology’s connections with knowledge, the changing role of the university—these are deeply important questions of our time which require interdisciplinary thinking, global conversations, and cross-institutional intellectual collaborations. Common Ground is a meeting place for these conversations, shared spaces in which differences can meet and safely connect—differences of perspective, experience, knowledge base, methodology, geographical or cultural origins, and institutional affiliation. We strive to create the places of intellectual interaction and imagination that our future deserves.

Our Media Common Ground creates and supports knowledge communities through a number of mechanisms and media. Annual conferences are held around the world to connect the global (the international delegates) with the local (academics, practitioners, and community leaders from the host community). Conference sessions include as many ways of speaking as possible to encourage each and every participant to engage, interact, and contribute. The journals and book series offer fully- refereed academic outlets for formalized knowledge, developed through innovative approaches to the processes of submission, peer review, and production. The knowledge community also maintains an online presence—through presentations on our YouTube channel, monthly email newsletters, as well as Facebook and Twitter feeds. And Common Ground’s own software, Scholar, offers a path-breaking platform for online discussions and networking, as well as for creating, reviewing, and disseminating text and multi-media works.

The Religion in Society knowledge community is dedicated to the concept of independent, peer-led groups of scholars, researchers, and practitioners working together to build bodies of academic knowledge related to topics of critical importance to society at large. Focusing on the intersection of academia and social impact, the Religion in Society knowledge community brings an interdisciplinary, international perspective to discussions of new developments in the field, including research, practice, policy, and teaching.

2015 Special Focus Social Movements and Faith Religious commitments are, as often as not, social commitments. In addition to its usual range of themes, this year’s special focus of the Religion and Society knowledge community is the relation of religion to social movements, ranging from movements for nominally “progressive” or “liberal” social change, to “” whose religious practices are often explicitly or implicitly social and political. The conference will ask the questions: under what conditions and to what extent are religious communities socially activist, either in their doctrine or their practices? How do religious communities, support or align with other social movements?

Community Themes Theme 1: Religious Foundations On the sources, modes, and manifestations of religiosity.

• and aspirations • Sacred sources: sites, narratives, texts • Religious philosophies and philosophies of religion • Theological sources and resources • World sources: religious and secular cosmologies • Creation accounts in science and religion • World destinies: religious and secular eschatologies • Reason and faith: congruencies and conflicts • Traditional, modern, and postmodern orientations to religion • Science and religion: congruencies and conflicts on the sources of design in the natural world • Religious counterpoints: agnosticism, atheism, materialism, and • Religious prophets: their messages and their meanings • Religiosity: measures, forms, and levels of religious commitment • Religion and law • Religion and commerce • The natural, the human, and the • Rites and sites of passage: birth, adulthood, marriage, death • Medical ethics and bioethics • Anthropologies, psychologies, and sociologies of religion Theme 2: Religious Community and Socialization On learning religious ways, spiritual ways of life, and religious institutions.

• Religious institutional governance • Symbology in theory and practice • Religious and religion studies • Religiously-based schools and religion in public schools • Religion in ethnic, national, and racial identities • Congregations and religious community • Media for religious messages • and conversion • , rite, liturgy • , contemplation, and • Meditation as healing and therapy • Religious ‘ways of life’ and lifeworld practices

• Religious art and architecture • Pilgrimage, tourism, and the search for spiritual meaning • Religious leadership Theme 3: Religious Commonalities and Differences On variations in religious forms and the relationships between different religions.

• Comparative studies of religion • Monotheism, polytheism, and immanentist religions • Indigenous or first nation • Inter-religious harmony • Interfaith dialogue • Religious diversity, tolerance, and understanding • Religions in globalization • Centrifugal and centripetal forces: difference and interdependence • Denominationalism: tendencies to fracture and recombination • Literal and metaphorical readings of sacred texts • Religion, identity, and ethnicity • Interreligious education • The nation state and religious exceptionalism • Religious dual belonging • Ecumenicalism • Interfaith dialogue and international interfaith organizations Theme 4: The Politics of Religion On the relations of religion to the state and civil society.

• and the politics of religion • Modernity and religious frameworks • Religious freedom in secular states • Chaplaincies and the state • Politics, society, and religion in religiously defined states • Religious minorities and the state • Social agendas for religion: sustainability, justice, peace • Religious divisions and social conflicts • Religiously inspired violence and non-violence • Gender, sexuality and religion • Women, patriarchy, and the sacred feminine • Religion as a source of community cohesion or community dissonance • Terrorism, political extremism, and religion • Religion and human security • Religion and global ethics • Religion and human rights • Religion and reconciliation • The future of religion

Scope and Concerns The Religion in Society knowledge community sets out in its conference, journal, book series and online community, to describe, analyze and interpret the role of religion in society. The community’s intellectual project is neutral with respect to the agendas of particular religions or explicit counterpoints to religion such as agnosticism or atheism.

Not that religion or spirituality can, in their very nature, ever be neutral subjects of discussion. In fact, religion is one of the most interest-laden of all discussions. Religion supplies meanings-in-the-world, no less. Spirituality is an ultimate source of interest. Religion provides an account of human origins, responsibilities and destinies. It sets out to explain the nature of being. And it creates a framework for interpreting human action according principles of good and evil.

Religion’s stance is not only interest-intensive. It is also transcendental. Religion strives to reach beyond the lifeworld, grasping deeper meanings that may not always be self-evident in the ordinariness of everyday experience. This much can be said of religion-in-general. As for religions-in-particular, the range is as wide as the cultural experiences of human species-being.

‘First nations’ or indigenous peoples practiced a broad range of immanentist religions, including variants of totemism, animism, nature , shamanism and ancestor worship—perhaps, in one perspective, for as long as the one hundred thousand years or more of our existence as a species. Religion then was less a separate institutional, spatial and temporal space than it became in subsequent moments of human history. Religious meanings were deeply and integrally layered into the material and social worlds, thus representing a in the pervasive immanence of spiritual powers in natural circumstances and human affairs.

From about five thousand years ago, religious modes take a radically new textual-narrative form in conjunction with parallel in agriculture, the domestication of animals, village or city dwelling, the invention of writing and institutionalized economic class inequality. The new religions are rarely unequivocally monotheistic (monotheistic systems of deity mostly have multiple personalities and deified prophets or ). Nor are they simply polytheistic (polytheistic systems of deity mostly have hierarchies of major and lesser deity). Their key features are the progressive solidification of religious expression into sacred texts, sanctified buildings and the institutional formation of a class of priestly interpreters and intermediaries. The common modes of meaning of these second phase religions are even signified at times to the extent of sharing historic origins or exemplary persons and narratives.

Religious meanings take a third paradigmatic turn with the arrival of modernity. Or, more to the point, a new mode of spirituality emerges in a parallel universe of meaning alongside the persistence of the first two. For the first time in human history, modernity provides an alternative meaning system which is areligious—based on mixes of the epistemes of science, civic law, economic progress, vernacular materialism and human reason. At the same time, atheism and agnosticism emerge as engaged counterpoints to religion.

Religion, nevertheless, powerfully persists in forms characteristic of all three of these world-historic moments of meaning- ascription. Modern, liberal reinterpretations of second phase recast sacred cosmologies as metaphorical, and not incompatible with science. They perform re-readings of sacred narratives in the light of modernity’s ethical aspirations such as for gender equality, human biomastery, non-violence, and material wellbeing for all. The shift is so profound that these modes of religiously themselves might be characterized as third phase.

Meanwhile, others insist on holding to the truths of second phase religiosity. In practice they do this by means of textual literalism, religious and didactic . The chasm between liberal and fundamentalist religiosity in modernity at times seems as great as that between religionists and anti-religionists. And to add an original layer to our contemporary complexity, first nation religions persist and at times thrive, while revivals of immanentist religion are found in ‘’ and other such spiritualities.

Today, the search for meaning-grounds can only be described as a scene of unprecedented pluralism. To this, we can react in several ways. We can adopt pluralism as a modern value and strive for shared meanings and harmony-in-difference on earth. Or we can regard pluralism as force undermining the integrity of religion and with it, the communal distinctiveness of specific religious ways of life—in this frame of reference pluralism is an aspect of modernity that should be resisted.

The scope of this conference, journal, book series and online knowledge community is as broad as possible in the field of . Together, these forums seek to create a space for the representation of any and all perspectives on the role of religion and spirituality in society. We also welcome a wide variety of disciplinary practices. The perspectives captured in these spaces range from committed within-religion views, to comparative or pan-religious views, to areligious empirical or theoretical readings of the role of religion and spirituality in society. Above all, they provide spaces for open dialogue on the sources of foundational or essential meaning.

Community Membership Annual membership to the Religion in Society community is included in your conference registration. As a community member, you have access to a broad range of tools and resources to use in your own work: electronic access to the full journal and book collections; a full Scholar account, offering an innovative online space for collaborative learning in your classes or for broader collaborative interaction with colleagues (within a research project or across the globe); and annual conferences where you can present your work and engage in extensive interactions with others with similar interests who also bring different perspectives. And you can contribute to the development and formalization of the ideas and works of others—as a journal or book reviewer, as a conference participant, and as a contributor to the newsletters and community dialogue.

Membership Benefits • Personal electronic subscription to the complete journal collection for one year after the conference (all past and current issues). • Personal electronic subscription to the book series for one year after the conference. • One article submission per year for peer review and possible publication in any of the journals in the collection. • Participation as a reviewer in the peer review process and the potential to be listed as an Associate Editor of the journal after reviewing three or more articles. • Subscription to the monthly community email newsletter, containing news and information for and from the knowledge community. • Ability to add a video presentation to the community YouTube channel, whether or not it was presented in person at the conference or is published in the journal. • Access to the Scholar "social knowledge" platform: free use of Scholar as your personal profile and publication portfolio page, as a place to interact with peers and forms communities that avoid the clutter and commercialism of other social media, with optional feeds to Facebook and Twitter. • Use Scholar in your classes—for class interactions in its Community space, multimodal student writing in its Creator space, and managing student peer review, assessment, and sharing of published students’ works in its Publisher space. Contact us to request Publisher permissions for Scholar.

Engaging in the Community Present and Participate in the Conference You have already begun your engagement in the community by attending the conference, presenting your work, and interacting face-to-face with other members. We hope this experience provides a valuable source of feedback for your current work and the possible seeds for future and collaborative projects, as well as the start of a conversation with community colleagues that will continue well into the future.

Publish Journal Articles or Books We encourage you to submit an article for review and possible publication in The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society. In this way, you may share the finished outcome of your presentation with other participants and members of the Religion in Society community. As a member of the community, you will also be invited to review others’ work and contribute to the development of the community knowledge base as an Associate Editor. As part of your active membership in the community, you also have online access to the complete works (current and previous volumes) of The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society and to the book series. We also invite you to consider submitting a proposal for the book series.

Engage through Social Media There are several methods for ongoing communication and networking with community colleagues:

• Email Newsletters: Published monthly, these contain information on the conference and publishing, along with news of interest to the community. Contribute news or links with a subject line ‘Email Newsletter Suggestion’ to [email protected]. • Scholar: Common Ground’s path-breaking platform that connects academic peers from around the world in a space that is modulated for serious discourse and the presentation of knowledge works. To learn more about Scholar, please see the end of the program. • Facebook: Comment on current news, view photos from the conference, and take advantage of special benefits for community members at: http://www.facebook.com/ReligionInSociety.cg. • Twitter: Follow the community: @religionsociety. • YouTube Channel: View online presentations or contribute your own at http://religioninsociety.com/the- conference/types-of-conference-sessions/online-presentations.

THE INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD FOR THE RELIGION IN SOCIETY COMMUNITY

The principal role of the Advisory Board is to drive the overall intellectual direction of the Religion in Society community and to consult on our foundational themes as they evolve along with the currents of the community. Board members are invited to attend the annual conference with a complimentary registration and provide important insights on conference development, including suggestions for speakers, venues, and special themes.

We also encourage board members to submit articles for consideration for publication to the International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society as well proposals or completed manuscripts to the Religion in Society book imprint.

Advisory Board Membership is an opportunity that is extended by the staff and advisory committee. We also take applications for membership to the Advisory Board. To apply, please send a brief statement and CV to [email protected].

We are grateful for the continued service and support of these world-class scholars and practitioners:

• Desmond Cahill, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia • Tracy Fessenden, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA • Mohammad Khalil, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA • Steve Knowles, University of Chester, Chester, UK • Robert McKim, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA • Saša Nedeljkovi ćof, UniversityBelgrade, Belgrade, Serbia • Norbert Samuelson, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

About Our Publishing Approach For three decades, Common Ground Publishing has been committed to creating meeting places for people and ideas. With 24 knowledge communities, Common Ground’s vision is to provide platforms that bring together of varied geographical, institutional, and cultural origins in spaces where renowned academic minds and public thought leaders can connect across fields of study. Each knowledge community organizes an annual academic conference and is associated with a peer-reviewed journal (or journal collection), a book imprint, and a social media space centered around Common Ground’s pathbreaking ‘social knowledge’ space, Scholar.

Through its publishing practices, Common Ground aims to foster the highest standards in intellectual excellence. We are highly critical of the serious deficiencies in today’s academic journal system, including the legacy structures and exclusive networks that restrict the visibility of emerging scholars and researchers in developing countries, as well as the unsustainable costs and inefficiencies associated with traditional commercial publishing.

In order to combat these shortcomings, Common Ground has developed an innovative publishing model. Each of Common Ground’s knowledge communities organizes an annual academic conference. The registration fee that conference participants pay in order to attend or present at these conferences enables them to submit an article to the associated journal at no additional cost. Scholars who cannot attend the conference in-person may still participate virtually and submit to the journal by obtaining a community membership, which also allows them to upload a video presentation to the community’s YouTube channel. By using a portion of the conference registration and membership fees to underwrite the costs associated with producing and marketing the journals, Common Ground is able to keep subscription prices low, thus guaranteeing greater access to our content. All conference participants and community members are also granted a one-year complimentary electronic subscription to the journal associated with their knowledge community. This subscription provides access to both the current and past volumes of the journal. Moreover, each article that we publish is available for a $5 download fee to non- subscribers, and authors have the choice of publishing their paper open access to reach the widest possible audience and ensure the broadest access possible.

Common Ground’s rigorous peer review process also seeks to address some of the biases inherent in traditional academic publishing models. Our pool of reviewers draws on authors who have recently submitted to the journal, as well as volunteer reviewers whose CVs and academic experience have been evaluated by Common Ground’s editorial team. Reviewers are assigned to articles based on their academic interests and expertise. By enlisting volunteers and other prospective authors as peer reviewers, Common Ground avoids the drawbacks of relying on a single editor’s professional network, which can often create a small group of gatekeepers who get to decide who and what gets published. Instead, Common Ground harnesses the enthusiasm of its conference delegates and prospective journal authors to assess submissions using a criterion-referenced evaluation system that is at once more democratic and more intellectually rigorous than other models. Common Ground also recognizes the important work of peer reviewers by acknowledging them as Associate Editors of the volumes to which they contribute.

For over ten years, Common Ground has been building web-based publishing and social knowledge software where people can work closely to collaborate, create knowledge, and learn. The third and most recent iteration of this project is the innovative social knowledge environment, Scholar. Through the creation of this software, Common Ground has sought to tackle what it sees as changing technological, economic, distributional, geographic, interdisciplinary and social relations to knowledge. For more information about this change and what it means for academic publishing, refer to The Future of the Academic Journal, edited by Bill Cope and Angus Phillips (Elsevier 2009).

We hope that you will join us in creating dialogues between different perspectives, experiences, knowledge bases, and methodologies through interactions at the conference, conversations online, and as fully realized, peer-reviewed journal articles and books.

The Religion Journal

The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society

Journal Editor Dr. Saša Nedeljković—University of Belgrade, Serbia

Publication Frequency 4 issues per volume; articles are published continuously online.

Indexing The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society is indexed by:

• Ulrich's • Academic Search Alumni Edition • Academic Search Elite • Academic Search Index • Academic Search Premier • Academic Search Complete • Biography Reference Bank • OmniFile Full Text Mega • OmniFile Full Text Select Acceptance Rate 30%

Circulation 320,320

Foundation Year 2011

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Every conference delegate with an accepted proposal is eligible and invited to submit an article to the journal. Full articles can be submitted using Common Ground’s online conference and article management system CGPublisher. Below please find step-by- step instructions on the submission process.

1. Submit a presentation proposal to the conference (in-person or article submission).

2. Once your conference proposal or paper abstract has been accepted, you may submit your article to the journal by clicking “add a paper” from your proposal/abstract page. You may upload your article anytime between the first and the final submission deadlines, which can be found on the next page.

3. Once your article is received, it is verified against template and submission requirements. Your identity and contact details are then removed, and the article is matched to two appropriate reviewers and sent for review. You can view the status of your article at any time by logging into your CGPublisher account at www.CGPublisher.com.

4. When reviewer reports are uploaded, you will be notified by email and provided with a link to view the reports (after the reviewers’ identities have been removed).

5. If your article has been accepted, you will be asked to accept the publishing agreement and submit a final copy of your article. If your paper is accepted with revisions, you will be asked to submit a change note with your final submission, explaining how you revised your article in light of the reviewers’ comments. If your article is rejected, you may resubmit it once, with a detailed change note, for review by new reviewers.

6. Accepted articles will be typeset and the proofs will be sent to you for approval before publication.

7. Individual articles may be published online first with a full citation. Full issues follow at regular, quarterly intervals. All issues are published 4 times per volume (except the annual review, which is published once per volume).

8. Registered conference participants will be given online access to the journal from the time of registration until one year after the conference end date. Individual articles are available for purchase from the journal’s bookstore. Authors and peer reviewers may order hard copies of full issues at a discounted rate.

SUBMISSION TIMELINE

The timeline for the deadlines of Volume 5 is as follows:

1. July 15, 2015

2. October 15, 2015 (Final date for submissions of articles)

Note: Please feel free to submit at any time. If your article is submitted after the deadline for Volume 5, it will be considered for Volume 6. However, the sooner you submit, the sooner your article will begin the peer review process. Also, as we publish ‘web first’, early submission will mean that your article will be published as soon as it is ready, even if that is before the full issue is published.

For More Information, Please Visit:

http://religioninsociety.com/submitting-your-work/journal-articles/submission-process

JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS, OPEN ACCESS, ADDITIONAL SERVICES

Institutional Subscriptions Common Ground offers print and electronic subscriptions to all of its journals. Subscriptions are available to the journal and to custom suites based on a given institution’s unique content needs. Subscription prices are based on a tiered scale that corresponds to the full-time enrollment (FTE) of the subscribing institution. You may use the Library Recommendation form in the back of this pamphlet to recommend that your institution subscribe to The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society.

Personal Subscriptions As part of their conference registration, all conference participants (both article submission and in-person) have a one-year online subscription to the Religion Journal. This complimentary personal subscription grants access to both the current volume of the journal as well as the entire backlist. The period of complimentary access begins at the time of registration and ends one year after the close of the conference. After that time, delegates may purchase a personal subscription. To view articles, go to ijn.cgpublisher.com. Select the “Login” option and provide a CGPublisher username and password. Then, select an article and download the PDF. For lost or forgotten login details, select “forgot your login” to request a new password.

For more information, please visit:

http://religioninsociety.com/publications/journal/subscriptions-and-orders or contact us at [email protected].

Hybrid Open Access The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society is Hybrid Open Access. Hybrid Open Access is an option increasingly offered by both university presses and well-known commercial publishers.

Hybrid Open Access means that some articles are available only to subscribers, while others are made available at no charge to anyone searching the web. Authors pay an additional fee for the open access option. They may do this because open access is a requirement of their research funding agency. Or they may do it so that non-subscribers can access their article for free.

Common Ground’s open access charge is $250 per article, a very reasonable price compared to our hybrid open access competitors and purely open access journals that are resourced with an author publication fee. Electronic papers are normally only available through individual or institutional subscriptions or for purchase at $5 per article. However, if you choose to make your article Open Access, this means that anyone on the web may download it for free.

There are still considerable benefits for paying subscribers, because they can access all articles in the journal, from both current and past volumes, without any restrictions. But making your paper available at no charge increases its visibility, accessibility, potential readership, and citation counts. Open access articles also generate higher citation counts.

For more information or to make your article Open Access, please contact us at [email protected].

Institutional Open Access Common Ground is proud to announce an exciting new model of scholarly publishing called Institutional Open Access.

Institutional Open Access allows faculty and graduate students to submit articles to Common Ground journals for unrestricted open access publication. These articles will be freely and publicly available to the whole world through our hybrid open access infrastructure. With Institutional Open Access, instead of the author paying a per-article open access fee, institutions pay a set annual fee that entitles their students and faculty to publish a given number of open access articles each year.

The rights to the articles remain with the subscribing institution. Both the author and the institution can also share the final typeset version of the article in any place they wish, including institutional repositories, personal websites, and privately or publicly accessible course materials. We support the highest Sherpa/Romeo access level—Green.

For more information on Institutional Open Access or to put us in touch with your department head or funding body, please contact us at [email protected].

Editing Services Common Ground offers editing services for authors who would like to have their work professionally copyedited. These services are available to all scholarly authors, whether or not they plan to submit their edited article to a Common Ground journal.

Authors may request editing services prior to the initial submission of their article or after the review process. In some cases, reviewers may recommend that an article be edited as a condition of publication. The services offered below can help authors during the revision stage, before the final submission of their article.

What We Do • Correct spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors in your paper, abstract and author bionote • Revise for clarity, readability, logic, awkward word choice, and phrasing • Check for typos and formatting inconsistencies • Confirm proper use of The Chicago Manual of Style The Editing Process • Email us at [email protected] to express your interest in having your article edited. • The charge for the editorial service charge is USD $0.05 per word. • Within 14-21 business days of your confirmed payment, you will receive an edited copy of your edited article via email. We can also upload the edited copy for you, and any pending submission deadlines will be altered to accommodate your editing timeline. Contact us at [email protected] to request a quote or for further information about our services.

Citation Services Common Ground requires the use of the sixteenth edition of the Chicago Manual of Style for all submitted journal articles. We are pleased to offer a conversion service for authors who used a different scholarly referencing system. For a modest fee, we will convert your citations to follow the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines.

What We Do • Change references—internal citations and end-of-article references—to confirm proper use of the sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, using either the author-date or notes and bibliography format of The Chicago Manual of Style. • Check for typos and formatting inconsistencies within the citations. The Conversion Process • Email us at [email protected] to express your interest in having your references converted. • For articles under 5,499 words (excluding titles, subtitles, and the abstract), the charge for reference conversion is $50. If your article is more than 5,000 words, please contact us for a quote. • Within 14-21 business days of your confirmed payment, you will receive a copy of your article with the revised references. We can also upload the revised copy for you, and any pending submission deadlines will be altered to accommodate the conversion timeline. Contact us at [email protected] to request a quote or for further information about our services.

Translation Services Common Ground is pleased to offer translation services for authors who would like to have their work translated into or from Spanish or Portuguese. Papers that have undergone peer review and been accepted for publication by one of Common Ground’s journals are eligible for this translation service. Papers can be translated from Spanish or Portuguese into English and published in one of Common Ground's English-language journals. Or they may be translated from English into either Spanish or Portuguese and be published in one of Common Ground's Spanish and Portuguese-language academic journals. In this way we offer authors the possibility of reaching a much wider audience beyond their native language, affirming Common Ground's commitment towards full internationality, , and multilingualism. All translations are done by certified professional translators with several years of experience, who are highly educated, and have excellent writing skills.

The Process • Contact [email protected] to express your interest in having your article translated. • Our editorial team will review your article and provide you with a quote based on the paper’s word count. • Once you accept the quote, a translator will be assigned to your article. • Within 14-21 business days of your confirmed payment, you will receive a draft of your translated article. You will have a chance to communicate with the translator via the draft using Word’s “track changes” function. Based on that communication, the translator will supply you with a final copy of your translated article.

Common Ground is setting new standards of rigorous academic knowledge creation and scholarly publication. Unlike other publishers, we’re not interested in the size of potential markets or competition from other books. We’re only interested in the intellectual quality of the work. If your book is a brilliant contribution to a specialist area of knowledge that only serves a small intellectual community, we still want to publish it. If it is expansive and has a broad appeal, we want to publish it too, but only if it is of the highest intellectual quality.

We welcome proposals or completed manuscript submissions of:

• Individually and jointly authored books • Edited collections addressing a clear, intellectually challenging theme • Collections of articles published in our journals • Out-of-copyright books, including important books that have gone out of print and classics with new introductions Book Proposal Guidelines Books should be between 30,000 and 150,000 words in length. They are published simultaneously in print and electronic formats and are available through Amazon and as Kindle editions. To publish a book, please send us a proposal including:

• Title • Author(s)/editor(s) • Draft back-cover blurb • Author bio note(s) • Table of contents • Intended audience and significance of contribution • Sample chapters or complete manuscript • Manuscript submission date Proposals can be submitted by email to [email protected]. Please note the book imprint to which you are submitting in the subject line.

Call for Book Reviewers Common Ground Publishing is seeking distinguished peer reviewers to evaluate book manuscripts submitted to The Religion in Society Book Imprint.

As part of our commitment to intellectual excellence and a rigorous review process, Common Ground sends book manuscripts that have received initial editorial approval to peer reviewers to further evaluate and provide constructive feedback. The comments and guidance that these reviewers supply is invaluable to our authors and an essential part of the publication process.

Common Ground recognizes the important role of reviewers by acknowledging book reviewers as members of the Religion in Society Book Imprint Editorial Review Board for a period of at least one year. The list of members of the Editorial Review Board will be posted on our website.

If you would like to review book manuscripts, please send an email to [email protected] with:

• A brief description of your professional credentials • A list of your areas of interest and expertise • A copy of your CV with current contact details If we feel that you are qualified and we require refereeing for manuscripts within your purview, we will contact you.

These and other books are available at religioninsociety.cgpublisher.com/

Spiritual Formation: A History of

Donald Gates and Peter Steane

Spiritual Formation: A History of Mysticism portrays a spiritual pilgrimage. The eighteenth-century Enlightenment saw mystics, such as John and Charles Wesley, emphasize a “social holiness” evidenced in social action, such as Wilberforce’s Anti- Slavery Crusade. The authors argue that spiritual leaders, poets, and musicians satisfy Matthew Fox’s definition of a mystic as holding a “vital belief in a transcendent reality … as they can communicate with that reality by direct experience”. This book provides a framework for ministry, social justice action, and policy with practical disciplines for the spiritual journey.

An Actor/Preacher Prepares: Bill Graham Performs the New Revivalism

Kurt Edwards

Taking a cue from Constantin Stanislavski’s An Actor Prepares, this book, An Actor/ Preacher Prepares, reintroduces a familiar figure of recent history and elucidates the social and performative transitions essential to Billy Graham’s journey to cast himself as an appropriate evangelist.

Terrorism, Justice, and Tolerance: A Study of , , and the West

Cameron Iqbal

This book provides knowledge and understanding by examining terrorism in Islam and the Quran. It also examines how Western media and governments mislead the world as to the true roots of terrorism and how numerous Western governments created an atmosphere of terrorism by contributing to the increasing terrorism problem throughout the world to further their foreign policies.

Recent Books Published by Common Ground These and other books are available at http://theuniversitypressbooks.cgpublisher.com/

Democracy and Democratization in Africa

Lembe Tiky

Unlike other studies of democracy and democratization in Africa that start the investigation with postcolonial developments, this book is a comprehensive study that investigates political developments in African colonial and postcolonial states.

Writing the Body: Studies in the Self-images of Women in Indian English Poetry

Arnab Bhattacharya

This edited collection of fifteen chapters attempts to study how Indian women write their bodies while writing poetry in English in order to construct their self-images, and/or to fight the physical, emotional, and epistemic violence of the patriarchic demon.

Conference Principles and Features The structure of the conference is based on four core principles that pervade all aspects of the knowledge community:

International This conference travels around the world to provide opportunities for delegates to see and experience different countries and locations. But more importantly, the Religion conference offers a tangible and meaningful opportunity to engage with scholars from a diversity of cultures and perspectives. This year, delegates from over 51 countries are in attendance, offering a unique and unparalleled opportunity to engage directly with colleagues from all corners of the globe.

Interdisciplinary Unlike association conferences attended by delegates with similar backgrounds and specialties, this conference brings together researchers, practitioners, and scholars from a wide range of disciplines who have a shared interest in the themes and concerns of this community. As a result, topics are broached from a variety of perspectives, interdisciplinary methods are applauded, and mutual respect and collaboration are encouraged.

Inclusive Anyone whose scholarly work is sound and relevant is welcome to participate in this community and conference, regardless of discipline, culture, institution, or career path. Whether an emeritus professor, graduate student, researcher, , policymaker, practitioner, or administrator, your work and your voice can contribute to the collective body of knowledge that is created and shared by this community.

Interactive To take full advantage of the rich diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives represented at the conference, there must be ample opportunities to speak, listen, engage, and interact. A variety of session formats, from more to less structured, are offered throughout the conference to provide these opportunities.

Session Descriptions Plenary Sessions Plenary speakers, chosen from among the world’s leading thinkers, offer formal presentations on topics of broad interest to the community and conference delegation. One or more speakers are scheduled into a plenary session, most often the first session of the day. As a general rule, there are no questions or discussion during these sessions. Instead, plenary speakers answer questions and participate in informal, extended discussions during their Garden Sessions.

Garden Sessions Garden Sessions are informal, unstructured sessions that allow delegates a chance to meet plenary speakers and talk with them at length about the issues arising from their presentation. When the venue and weather allow, we try to arrange for a circle of chairs to be placed outdoors.

Talking Circles Held on the first day of the conference, Talking Circles offer an early opportunity to meet other delegates with similar interests and concerns. Delegates self-select into groups based on broad thematic areas and then engage in extended discussion about the issues and concerns they feel are of utmost importance to that segment of the community. Questions like “Who are we?”, ”What is our common ground?”, “What are the current challenges facing society in this area?”, “What challenges do we face in constructing knowledge and effecting meaningful change in this area?” may guide the conversation. When possible, a second Talking Circle is held on the final day of the conference, for the original group to reconvene and discuss changes in their perspectives and understandings as a result of the conference experience. Reports from the Talking Circles provide a framework for the delegates’ final discussions during the Closing Session.

Paper Presentations Paper presentations are grouped by general themes or topics into sessions comprised of three or four presentations followed by group discussion. Each presenter in the session makes a formal twenty-minute presentation of their work; Q&A and group discussion follow after all have presented. Session Chairs introduce the speakers, keep time on the presentations, and facilitate the discussion. Each presenter's formal, written paper will be available to participants if accepted to the journal.

Colloquium Colloquium sessions are organized by a group of colleagues who wish to present various dimensions of a project or perspectives on an issue. Four or five short formal presentations are followed by commentary and/or group discussion. A single article or multiple articles may be submitted to the journal based on the content of a colloquium session.

Workshop/Interactive Session Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands-on experience of a practice. These sessions may also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue or debate – all involving substantial interaction with the audience. A single article (jointly authored, if appropriate) may be submitted to the journal based on a workshop session.

Poster Sessions Poster sessions present preliminary results of works in progress or projects that lend themselves to visual displays and representations. These sessions allow for engagement in informal discussions about the work with interested delegates throughout the session.

Virtual Presentations If unable to attend the conference in person, an author may choose to submit a virtual presentation. Opportunities and formats vary but may be a presentation through our YouTube channel or an online discussion with interested delegates at the conference. Abstracts of these presentations are included in the online “session descriptions,” and an article may be submitted to the journal for peer review and possible publication, according to the same standards and criteria as all other journal submissions.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE

DAILY SCHEDULE

Thursday, 16 April

08:00–09:00 Conference Registration Desk Open

09:00–09:15 Conference Opening—Homer Stavely, Common Ground Publishing, USA

09:15–09:45 Plenary Session—Steven Pfaff, University of Washington, USA Religious Virtuosity, Spiritual Privilege and the Birth of the Modern Social Movement

09:50–10:20 Break & Garden Session featuring Steven Pfaff

10:20–11:00 Talking Circles

11:00–11:05 Transition

11:05–12:45 Parallel Sessions

12:45–13:45 Lunch

13:45–15:25 Parallel Sessions

15:25–15:40 Coffee Break

15:40–17:20 Parallel Sessions

Friday, 17 April

08:30–09:00 Conference Registration Desk Open

09:00–09:10 Host Opening Comments

09:10-09:40 Plenary Session—Rhys Williams, Loyola University Chicago, USA Religious Activism and the Making of 'American Exceptionalism’

09:45–10:15 Break & Garden Session featuring Rhys Williams

10:15–11:55 Parallel Sessions

11:55–12:50 Lunch

12:50–13:35 Parallel Sessions—Workshops & Poster Session

13:35–13:45 Break

13:45–15:25 Parallel Sessions

15:25–15:40 Coffee Break

15:40–17:20 Parallel Sessions

17:20–17:50 Conference Closing—Held in Krutch Theatre

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Featured Sessions Publishing Your Article or Book with Common Ground

Thursday, 16 April—15:40-16:25 in the Krutch Theatre

Friday, 17 April—12:50-13:35 in Room 4

Ashley McBride, Community Editor, Common Ground Publishing

Description: In this session the Community Editor for the International Journal on Religion and Spirituality in Society will present an overview of Common Ground's publishing philosophy and practices. She will also offer tips for turning conference papers in to journal articles, present an overview of journal publishing procedures, and provide information on Common Ground's book proposal submission process. Please feel free to bring questions - the second half of the session will be devoted to Q&A.

Special Events Conference Dinner

Thursday, 16 April—19:00 at Le Bateau Ivre

Description: Join your fellow delegates for an evening of conversation and a delicious French-inspired 3 course dinner at Le Bateau Ivre Restaurant, Cafe and Coffeehouse, a Berkeley landmark. Established in 1972, Le Bateau Ivre was originally a residence built in 1898 by a French architect. Enjoy the warm and comfortable ambiance of a French home and good conversation at a time when many of our speakers are able to come together for more intimate conversations over great food and wine.

*The conference dinner is an optional activity, and prior registration is required to attend. Please visit the registration desk for additional information.

PLENARY SPEAKERS

Steven Pfaff Religious Virtuosity, Spiritual Privilege and the Birth of the Modern Social Movement

Steven Pfaff (Ph.D. New York University, 1999) is Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. His research focuses on historical and comparative sociology, in particular religion and politics, social movements, and social change. His book Exit-Voice Dynamics and the Collapse of East Germany (Duke University Press, 2006) was a study of the role of migration and collective action in the fall of in 1989. He has also written on religion and society in post-Communist Europe, on the diffusion of the Evangelical movement and the political economy of the in Central Europe, and on religion and contemporary politics.

Pfaff’s current research is in two directions. The first explores spirituality and cultural change, in particular the role that spiritual innovation and virtuoso activism play in the genesis of new religious movements. The second explores the reasons why people take part in radical and uncertain forms of collective action, ranging from contemporary student strikes to naval mutinies during the age of sail.

Pfaff teaches courses on the , sociological theory and comparative case-based methods in the social sciences. In addition to his appointment in sociology, he holds adjunct and affiliate appoints in , political science, Germanics and in Scandinavian studies. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals and is actively involved in the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture (ASREC). His work has been honored by the American Sociological Association, the Social Science History Association and the European Academy of Sociology.

Rhys Williams Religious Activism and the Making of 'American Exceptionalism’

Rhys H. Williams (Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, 1988) is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Loyola University Chicago. His research interests focus on religion in American politics and culture, particularly focusing on religiously based social movements. He has written on both liberal and conservative social movements and his current research includes both a study of anti- immigration discourse and an edited collection on progressive religion and social activism.

Williams has two current research projects in progress. One is a study of young adults' involvement with religious organizations, and the development of personal, social, and religious identity. He has been comparing young adult groups in white and black churches, and the involvement of second generation Muslim and Hindu immigrants in their religious institutions. The second is an examination of the public attitudes and political language about immigration and immigrants in contemporary American politics. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate classes in religion and society, religion in American politics, and sociological theory.

Along with research and teaching, he was co-editor of the journal Social Problems from 1996-99 and the editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion from 2003-08. In 2010 he was president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, and in 2012 he was president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

GRADUATE SCHOLARS

Jon Burrow-Branine

Jon Burrow-Branine is a PhD candidate in the department of American studies at the University of Kansas. Burrow-Branine’s work focuses on power, body practices, and identity in American popular religious movements. For his dissertation project he is working on an ethnographic study of the politics and practices of the LGBT Christian movement in mainline and evangelical discursive communities in the American Midwest. Prior to coming to the University of Kansas, he received a master of arts in cultural anthropology where he wrote a thesis exploring the practice of possession as a strategy of identity formation and community maintenance in Pentecostal communities. His most recent published work, “Blogging while Gay and Christian: Andrew Sullivan and the Production of the Religious, Secular, and Sexual,” can be found in the journal Culture and Religion. Burrow-Branine also lectures as a graduate instructor in the humanities and western civilization program at the University of Kansas. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and his dog, running, baking unhealthy things, and playing in his tiny garden.

Charis Cheung

Charis Cheung received her bachelors in social science and master of philosophy at the University of Hong Kong where she concentrated in psychology, counseling, and life and death education. After this, she worked five years on research projects in life education and spiritual education in both NGO and university institutions and finished her part-time master of arts in values education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She later spent another one and a half years teaching liberal studies in high school before returning to graduate school at CUHK. She has served as chairperson in the Society of Values Education (Hong Kong) from 2009-2011. Cheung has participated in the civic dissidence movement of “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” in Hong Kong as a volunteer since 2013, and she is now one of the core members of a community working group formed after the Umbrella Movement. Currently, Cheung is a doctoral candidate in the graduate program in educational psychology at CUHK. She is interested in the development of alternative education, critical pedagogy, and civic spirituality in Asia.

Haley Feuerbacher

Haley Feuerbacher received her bachelor of arts from the university scholars program at Baylor University where she concentrated in religion, literature, and philosophy. After this, she began graduate studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and finished her masters in theological studies at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. She spent two years teaching and coaching at a college preparatory high school and working in vocational ministry before returning to graduate school at Southern Methodist University. Currently, Feuerbacher is a doctoral candidate in the graduate program in religious studies at SMU where she is concentrating in religion and culture, and is a graduate certificate student of the women's and gender studies program. She serves on various boards at SMU and in the community geared towards gender justice, and she teaches in the women's and gender studies department and sociology department at SMU. Her research interests are postcolonial theory, world Christianities, social and gender justice, and effects on single mothers of the intersection of , theology, and metanarratives of the nuclear family structure. Outside of school, Feuerbacher works as a youth minister and writes for the online journal State of Formation. Her personal interests include running, sports, outdoor adventures, and the arts.

Tuhina Ganguly

Tuhina Ganguly is a PhD candidate at the department of anthropology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Ganguly completed her MA and MPhil in sociology from the department of sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. Her current project focuses on the narratives of travel and practices of dwelling among Western spiritual practitioners in Puducherry, India. She is particularly interested in how the space of ‘spiritual India’ is constantly made, remade and challenged through the narratives and practices of Western spiritual practitioners in India. Ganguly is the recipient of the UC Doctoral Scholarship, and was awarded a travel grant by the New Zealand India Research Institute to carry out fieldwork in India. Her academic interests are interdisciplinary ranging from the anthropology of travel and tourism to religion and spirituality in the South Asian context.

Kyung S. Hong

Kyung S. Hong is a PhD candidate in the graduate division of religion at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Kyung earned both a master of divinity and a master of anthropology and sociology of religion at Drew University. Her dissertation topic involves an ethnographic study of the practice of Korean diasporic shamanism in the context of the predominantly protestantized Korean immigrant community, specifically centered on the metropolitan areas near New York City. Her academic interests are in ethnographic studies, , cultural studies, religion and diasporic community, Asian American studies, new religions, and particularly folk religions contextualized in the process of transmigration. Kyung is currently co-chairing a panel as a graduate representative at the Mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion.

Asima Iqbal Asima Iqbal is a third-year PhD scholar at the University of Warwick, UK. Her research focuses on Muslim head working in state schools in England and Pakistan. She is particularly interested in looking at the various principles the head teachers use in their everyday leadership practices. It is a cross-cultural study which aims to find out how head teachers’ own religiosity as well as the religious profiles of their country shape the underlying principles which inform their leadership practices. Her research interests include: studying the influence of religion, religious and spiritual beliefs, and spirituality in school leadership. Prior to this research, Iqbal completed her MPhil degree in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2012, with a distinction. In her research, she looked at the emergence of contemporary Islamic schools in Lahore, Pakistan. Apart from her research, Iqbal is involved in a number of extra-curricular projects in and outside the University of Warwick. She is one of the key organizers of the annual interdisciplinary conference, Crossing Boundaries, hosted by the Centre for Education Studies at the University of Warwick. Iqbal also works as a tutor for The Brilliant Club, which is an award winning non-profit organization that exists to widen access to top universities for outstanding pupils from non-selective state schools. Working as a Brilliant Club tutor since 2013, she is part of a national movement that mobilizes doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to engage in challenging schools and to address educational disadvantage in the UK more broadly.

Rachel Lim Rachel Lim is a PhD student in the ethnic studies department at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving her BA in American studies and English literature at the University of Virginia, she spent two years as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in South Korea. She is interested in the rise of global and the transnational dimensions of Asian-American Christianity.

Jeremy Jacob Peretz

After studying anthropology as an undergraduate at UCLA, Jeremy Peretz worked for four years in Los Angeles public schools and for the California Department of Developmental Services supporting students with various abilities and special needs. Returning to UCLA as a graduate student in the culture and performance studies program, his work examines intersections of global and local health and healing, and their connections to religion and politics. Primarily situated within both south Asian and African diasporas, his current project explores these issues of health, religion, and politics in the Caribbean with a specific focus on Guyana, Britain’s former South American colony. Peretz is also a student of Ayurveda and will soon receive a certification after many years of study and practice. In May 2014 he was elected co-editor-in-chief of UFAHAMU, UCLA's graduate student journal of African studies, after serving on the journal's editorial board.

Trevor B. Williams

Trevor B. Williams is an MA in religion student at Pepperdine University where he studies the Hebrew . He received his BA in biblical studies from Hope International University in May 2014. Williams has been honored with several awards for his dedication to writing and theology including the Zondervan Excellence in Theology Award, and the Knofel Staton Christian Communication Award. At this conference, Williams will be presenting a paper focusing on the Satan’s narrative function in the book of Job’s prologue with an eye on helping to form an ethical framework for Christians to think thoughtfully about disinterested righteousness. The particular research interests Williams occupies his time with include wisdom literature, virtue ethics, postmodern philosophy, apocalyptic literature, Christian origins, and the portrayal of mortality in biblical (and deuterocanonical) narratives. Another point of interest for Williams is his concern to integrate academic insights into the life of religious communities. For Williams, research is done for the sake of learning, but he also seeks to share it with others as much as possible; consequently, he enjoys discussing all things religion and politics. When Williams is not studying, most of his time is spent working as a graduate assistant for the Convocation Office and for the religion division at Pepperdine. He is also the on- campus student representative for the Society of Biblical Literature at Pepperdine. Williams hopes to continue graduate school and looks forward to future research projects.

THURSDAHURSDAYY, 16 APRIL

8:00-9:00 REGISTRAEGISTRATIONTION DESK OPEN 9:00-9:15 CONFERENCE OPENING AND HOST COMMENTS Homer Stavely, Common Ground Publishing, USA 9:15-9:45 PLENARLENARYY SESSION Steven Pfaff, University of Washington, USA

"Religious Virtuosity, Spiritual Privilege and the Birth of the Modern Social Movement" 9:50-10:20 BREAK & GARDEN SESSION 10:20-11:00 TTALKING CIRCLES Room 1: Religious Foundations Room 2: Religious Community and Socialization Room 3: Religious Commonalities and Differences Room 4: The Politics of Religion Room 5: Social Movements and Faith (conference special focus) 11:00-11:05 TRANSITION 11:05-12:45 PPARALLEL SESSIONS KrutchKrutch Conflicting VVisionsisions TheatrTheatree She's WShe's Watching Yatching You:ou: Mentorship for African-American Girls in Their Homes Dr. Pamela Chandler Lee, Department of Management and Business Administration, Leo University, Virginia Beach, USA Overview: Addressing the cycle of poverty and single parenthood among African Americans, this paper offers a model for mother/daughter mentoring, based on Jochebed and Miriam, (Moses’ mother and sister). Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Conflicting VVisions:isions: TheThe Women'sWomen's Movement and State Religious Authorities in Israel Dr. Patricia J. Woods, Department of Political Science; Center for Jewish Studies; Affiliate, Center for Global Islamic Studies; Affiliate, Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA Overview: The women's movement and state religious authorities define the parameters of debate in the religious-secular conflict in Israel, which is often driven by them as opposing poles in the society. Theme: Politics of Religion Discourse and the Religious Imaginary: Apophatism in the Thought of Mohamed Arkoun and Ibn Arabi Dr. Ben Hardman, Philosophy and Religion, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, USA Overview: Mohamed Arkoun’s description of the development of religious discourse and the thinkable/unthinkable dichotomy coincides with some mystical thought of Ibn Arabi. This can be a starting point for inter-religious dialogue. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

11:05-12:45 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 1 Politics, Religion and Race Religion in the Politics of Southern White Workers in the Post-World War II Era Dr. Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, History Department, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA Dr. Ken Fones-Wolf, Professor of History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA Overview: This paper explores how changes in southern religious culture shaped the responses of white working people to labor and liberalism in the years following World War II. Theme: Politics of Religion Black and Black Power in the Dr. Christopher Cameron, History, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, USA Overview: This paper explores the intersection of African American humanism in churches and the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Theme: Politics of Religion , Politics, and Emancipation: Celebrating Freedom while Captive in Guyanese Cultural Struggles Jeremy Jacob Peretz, Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, USA Overview: This paper explores ritual performances commemorating the 1838 Emancipation of enslaved Africans in Guyana, focusing on how Obeah, Comfa, and other local religions are employed in performing memory and politics. Theme: Politics of Religion "Those Murderous Monks" and Their Mission: Building an Inclusive Community for all People in Rural Florida, 1886-1960 Dr. Heather Parker, Social Sciences Department, Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, USA Overview: At at time when Florida was steeped in poverty and bigotry, a small group of Benedictine monks built and supported a thriving community in the most unlikely of places. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 2 Science and the Foundations of Faith Using Scientific Fact to Refine Religious Belief and to Counter Scientific Dogmatism: Truth Matters Dr. Richard Burky, Dept. of Geography and Anthropology, Calif. State Polytechnic Univ., Pomona, Altadena, USA Overview: This paper is about the necessity of bringing religious belief into harmony with known scientific facts while not allowing extrapolated scientific dogmatism to destroy faith. Theme: Religious Foundations Zero Information Practice: The Foundation of Spiritual Experience Dr. Jonathan Doner, DP/DS (sole proprietorship), Keswick, USA Overview: An information-based perspective explains how spiritual experience can be sui generis yet also continuous with normal experience. The theory finds support in both scientific andeligious r perspectives. Theme: Religious Foundations Restoring Inner Peace in a Science Dominated Society Dr. Sukhmander Singh, Department of Civil Engineering, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, USA Prof. John Finnemore, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Santa Clara University, Cupertino, USA Overview: Pitfalls of materialistic and hectic paced science dominate society causing the erosion of inner peace. Analyses and its restoration by reconnecting with nature/religion and spirituality are presented. Theme: Religious Foundations Can States Exist Without ? Another Unfinished Dr. Ronald A. Harris, Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration School of Management, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA Overview: This essay discusses possible future states of the world in which gods do not exist. Scientific ignorance among the masses prevents human progress by inhibiting reason. Theme: Politics of Religion THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

11:05-12:45 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 3 Challenging Traditions The Ramifications of Clerical Marriage for the Post-Reformation Diocese of Durham, England Dr. Diana Rosemary Newton, History, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK Overview: The ramifications of marriage for the post-Reformation diocese of Durham (England), its impact on relations between the clerical and secular communities and analogies with current relations between the two. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Liturgical Traditionalism and Spiritual Vitality? Transforming Congregational Practices in the Evangelical Lutheran in America Maren Freudenberg, Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany Overview: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is attempting a fundamental transformation of its congregational culture, encouraging spiritual vitality in ways that stay true to its communal, liturgical tradition. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Exotic and Stigmatized Ways: The Path of Sustainability and Health Dictated by Divinized Extraterrestrials in Brazil Leonardo Breno Martins, Department of Social Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Dr. Wellington Zangari, Department of Social Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Overview: The article discusses the apparent paradox of how large UFO religious groups in Brazil propose broad social transformations by means of generating social stigmatization. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Transcendence and Music: Trance and Ecstasy Brain Processes Dr. Mladen Milicevic, Recording Arts Department, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA Overview: Music is used creating a state of mind that surpasses physical existence. Sensory overload provokes trance-- ‐like state (Pentecostals) and sensory deprivation creates meditation-‐induced experiences (New Age Spirituality) are both examined. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 4 Psychoemotional Elements of Spirituality The Impact of Social Support on the Psychological Wellbeing of Atheists Justin Potter, Social Work, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, USA Overview: I investigated how perceived social support (or lack thereof) impacts the psychological well-being of atheists using the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being. Theme: Religious Foundations Concepts of Selfhood: and Social Theory Saul Tobias, Liberal Studies, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, USA Overview: This is a comparative exploration of Buddhism and western social theory's approaches to theories of the self, with particular emphasis on implications for epistemology and ethics. Theme: Religious Foundations Motives for the Pursuit of Righteousness: Virtue Ethics and the Book of Job Trevor B. Williams, Pepperdine University, Malibu, USA Overview: Pursuing ethics solely for heavenly rewards distracts from the real struggles of life. It is by contemplating the satan’s charge and Job’s righteousness that more meaningful questions for ethics arise. Theme: Religious Foundations “So Long as We Are Not Mystics”: The Management of Inner Multiplicity in the Personal Art of Williams James and C.G. Jung Rev. Katie Givens Kime, Graduate Division of Religion, Emory University, Atlanta, USA Overview: Comparing the art of C.G Jung and William James provokes fresh examination of our inherited conceptions of the psyche as singular/multiple, and of the false dichotomy of empiricism and mysticism. Theme: Religious Foundations THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

11:05-12:45 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 5 Sexuality and Social Movements and Faith The Sexual and Religious Politics of the Evangelical Gay Christian Movement Jonathan Burrow-Branine, Department of American Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA Overview: This paper examines religion as a mode of social and political criticism by analyzing how the gay Christian movement positions itself in relation to the LGBT community and queer politics. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith A Queer Hermeneutic of Suffering: An Interrogation of Martyrdom and Meaning in Christianity Dr. Jane Grovijahn, Department of Theology and Spiritual Action, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, USA Overview: In response to a startling rise in suicides of queer youth in the U.S., this work poses an interrogation of religious meanings and applications of martyrdom within mainstream Christianity. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Light and Shadow: Changes in a Pentecostal Church's Discussions of Homosexuality Megan Geiger, Department of Religion, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA Overview: This is a discussion of one classical Pentecostal minister's shifting discourse on the topic of homosexuality over a period of thirty years. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 6 Ethics, Discrimination, and Faith How Conservative Christians Can Support Marriage Equality: A Theological Framework Matthew Brake, Philosophy Department Religious Studies Department, George Mason University, Vienna, USA Overview: I will argue that conservative Christian groups can support marriage equality by divesting themselves of Christian nationalist goals, loving the Other, and adopting a blessing ethic toward the LGBTQ community. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith An Analytical Study on Religious Minorities and the State Rev. Pijus Barua, Mahamakut Buddhist University, Bangkok, Thailand Overview: Everyone has equal rights to live in this world with sustainable-psychic quality for the proper meaning of humanity with each other by having a crucial understanding which indicates to law. Theme: Politics of Religion A Roman Catholic Perspective on Simple Case Assisted/Artificial Reproduction Dr. Corey Harris, Humanities Department, Alvernia University, Reading, USA Overview: This is an exploration of moral viability of simple case assisted/artificial eprr oduction (AIH) from a Roman Catholic perspective addressing language, moral methodology, inherent complications, and allocation of health care resources. Theme: Religious Foundations Interfaith Marriages and Their Effects with Regard to Islamic Law Dr. Shahzadi Pakeeza, Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Islamic and Oriental Learning, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Rawalpindi, Pakistan Overview: The Interfaith marriages in Islam, their permissibility, implications on society and their effects on children, in light of Islamic law, is the main focus of this research. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences

12:45-13:45 LUNCH THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Krutch Science and Religion Theatre College Education and : Barbour's Models of Interaction between Science and Religion among UVA-Wise Students Dr. Witold Wolny, Department of History and Philosophy., The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Wise, USA Overview: This paper discuss findings of a esearr ch on Barbour’s typology of interaction between science and religion with a focus on UVA Wise students. Theme: Religious Foundations The Wesleyan Quadrilateral and the Hermeneutical Circle: A Four-dimensional “Quadri-lectical” as a Modified Theological Method for Social Transformation in Environmental Ethics Dr. Christopher Myers, Philosophy & Religion, American Public University, Cedar Falls, USA Overview: I discuss the Wesleyan's Quadrilateral refigured as a Four-dimensional Quadri-lectical structure and theological method for social transformation in environmental ethics. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith The Distinction between Science and Theology in Cosmology Eugen Ganţolea, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania Overview: Science and theology are covering two distinct domains of reality: physics and metaphysics, using two methods of investigation: epistemology respectively gnoseology. Theme: Religious Foundations “Accumulate! Accumulate!”: Historical Materialism and Christian Steven Snow, Government and Politics, Wagner College, New York, USA Overview: This paper examines Christian libertarianism from a Marxist perspective. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 1 Catholicism and Religious Socialization Navigating Catholic Faith-making: Individual Agency and Institutional Power Emily Bartlett, Educational Studies, Tufts University, Medford, USA Overview: Findings in this ethnographic study show that young Catholics in this parish navigate between exercising their agency through various acts of resistance and bolstering the institutional church’s power structure. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Christian Martyrdom in Japanese Contexts: The Amakusa-Shimabara Revolt and Christian Martyrs Dr. Yoshiko Okuyama, Department of Languages, Humanities Division, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, USA Overview: This paper features my fieldwork on the 1637 Catholic Christian uprising by 37,000 villagers against the government authority and explores what martyrdom signifies in Japan’s contemporary socio-cultural contexts. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Radices et Alae: Catholic Contributions to Schooling Are More Than Just Public Kevin James Stockbridge, College of Educational Studies, Culture and Curricular Studies, Chapman University, Long Beach, USA Overview: Looking at , this paper challenges the silencing of religious perspectives in teacher education by arguing that, by doing so, the academy stifles obustr possibilities for justice curricula. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Project Zacchaeus: A Mexican Group’s Desire to be Recognized as Catholic and Gay Alfonso Gomez-Rossi, School of Arts and Humanities, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Puebla, Mexico Overview: This paper analyzes the creation of a Catholic support group for men and women that broke off from Courage Latino. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 2 Religion and Identity Beyond the Religious-Secular Divide: New Forms of Identity Construction Burin Yildiztekin, Department of Sociology and Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Overview: I destabilize the approach of identities as either secular or religious in secularization theories and intermarriage literature. Self-identifications of Jewish-Muslim couples point in a new direction that is "faithful secularity." Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences in Prison: Comparative Transformations in Islam and Christianity Dr. Malcolm L. Rigsby, Department of Sociology, Human Services and Criminal Justice, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, USA Overview: This is a qualitative study of inmates converting to either Islam or Christianity and their life narratives about their transformations. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences It's All About Zoroastriansim? Dr. Priscilla Starratt, History Program Department of Social Inquiry, University of Wisconsin-Superior, Superior, USA Overview: I explore links between and other Abrahamic . Important research concepts include the day of atonement, number of daily , and concepts messiah and paradise. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Brewing Coffee Party Activism in Tea Party Territory: Faith and Politics in Rural America Dr. Alisa Garni, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA Dr. L. Frank Weyher, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA Tayler Christian, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA Overview: How does religion inform politics within a left-leaning, religiously diverse group that is politically active in an otherwise highly conservative area? Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Room 3 Religion's Histories The Costa Rican and the Civil War in 1948 Dr. Brett Troyan, History Department, State University of New York at Cortland College., Cortland, USA Overview: This paper will examine the role of the Catholic Church during the Reformist period of Costa Rican history in the 1940s as well as its alliance with the Communist Party. Theme: Politics of Religion Revisiting the Roots of Indigenization in Philippine Protestant History: The IEMELIF Experience, 1909-1933 Asst. Prof. Kristoffer Esquejo, Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines Overview: Though Protestants are the most Americanized Filipinos, local churches such as IEMELIF have asserted their desires to be autonomous from the in the early stage of American colonial rule. Theme: Politics of Religion Contemporary Religious Aphorisms and Its Social Functions in Taiwan: A Study on Jing Si Aphorisms of Master Cheng Yen Kai-wen Cheng, The Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan Overview: This paper will discuss Taiwanese Buddhist leader, Master Cheng Yen of Tzu Chi Foundation, and focus on her “Jing Si Aphorisms,” an ordinary but amazing sayings in contemporary Chinese society. Theme: Religious Foundations From “Fides et Ratio” to “Moralistic Therapeutic ”: From Doctrinal Communities to Feeling Communities Dr. George Worgul Jr., Theology Department, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA Overview: Fides et Ratio will be contrasted with Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. The shift from reason/doctrine to feeling will be underscored as well as possibilities and limits for social change. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 4 Special Issues: Islam and the Muslim World Sport within Muslim Organizations in Norway: Ethnic Segregated Activities as an Arena for Integration Kristin Walseth, Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway Overview: The paper reports on a research project which examine the role of Muslim organizations in Norway in the development of social capital and integration through sport. Theme: Politics of Religion The Nature of Man in Islam Dr. Recep Dogan, Islamic Studies, Centre for Islamic Sciences & Civilization (CISAC), Sydney, Australia Overview: The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning of humankind from Isamic perspective in relation to the rest of creation. Theme: Religious Foundations Social Movements of Religious Life in Indonesia: The Study Jamaah An-Nadzir as Non-mainstream Muslim Community Dr Mustaqim Pabbajah, Faculty of Education, University Technology of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Overview: An-Nadzir is one of the religious movements to actualize Islamic values in public life. Although in religious practice, An-Nadzir methodologically shows different movements to the mainstream. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Room 5 Values and Aspirations Still Hymns: Cutting across Cultural, Chronological, and Geographical Boundaries Tim S. Pack, School of Music, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA Overview: Cutting across , cultures, and chronologies, hymns more than any other form of sacred music have been an essential component of worship in numerous religions worldwide for over three millennia. Theme: Religious Foundations Interpreting Islamic Concept of Taqwa into Architecture Seyed Mahdi Khatami, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Prof. Michael Tawa, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Overview: This paper attempts to clarify the interlinear version of Quran in its traditional context in order to extract potential architectural layers of the Islamic concept of taqwa. Theme: Religious Foundations Animals in Religious Context: A Parable from San Rafael Frank E. Bayham, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico, Chico, USA Overview: The relationship between people and animals can express spiritual truths of different religions. Through Catholic tradition with reference to San Rafael, I explore the role of animals in healing. Theme: Religious Foundations An Investigation of How Religious and Spiritual Views of Muslim Headteachers Influence their Leadership Styles Asima Iqbal, Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Overview: This research aims to describe the leadership approaches used by Muslim headteachers in state schools and investigate how these leadership approaches are influenced by their eligiousr and spiritual views. Theme: Religious Foundations Room 6 Spirituality, Wellbeing, and Socialization Faith and Remission in Psychosis Edoa Mbatsogo Helene Carole, Departement of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Crissier, Switzerland Overview: This study aims to examine the place and function of faith in the remission process of psychotic patients seen in psychiatric institutions in Cameroon. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Harnessing the Sacred-Secular Nexus: Immersive Experiences in the 21st Century Art Museum Dr. Nico Roenpagel, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Einbeck, Germany Overview: Art museums in contemporary society emerge as rare, secular environments conducive for "slowing down" and inviting contemplative, if not spiritual, experiences, independent of visitors' particular belief systems. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences The Comparative Role of Religious Internalization and Social Support in Alcohol Use in a Conservative Christian University Wendy Thompson, School of Social Work, Jackson State University, Jackson, USA Overview: I examine the relative statistical explanatory power of internalization of religious values and social support in understanding alcohol use in a student population at a conservative Christian university. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences

15:25-15:40 COFFEE BREAK THURSDAHURSDAYY, 16 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PPARALLEL SESSIONS KrutchKrutch Publishing YYourour Article or Book with Common GrGroundound Publishing TheatrTheatree In this session the Community Editor for the International Journal on Religion and Spirituality in This session will Society will present an overview of Common Ground's publishing philosophy and practices. She will be held from: also offer tips for turning conference papers in to journal articles, present an overview of journal 15:40-16:25 publishing procedures, and provide information on Common Ground's book proposal submission process. Please feel free to bring questions - the second half of the session will be devoted to Q&A. Room 1Room 1 Political Systems: Friend or Foe The Role of Religion in Political Participation of Educated Indian Womenomen Dr. Bhawna Bhawna, Sociology Department, Mahila Maha Vidyalya P.G College Kidwai Nagar Kanpur, Kanpur, India Overview: This is an empirical study of 100 educated women belonging to four religions and their political participation in religion, society and politics. Theme: Politics of Religion Defining a Secular Identity in an IncrIncreasinglyeasingly ReligiousReligious World:World: EU and US ForForeigneign Policy in Comparison Dr. Anne Jenichen, Center for European Studies (CEuS), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Overview: The paper compares discourses on religion in EU and US foreign policy to understand how ideas about religion in politics form the background against which "secular" foreign policies are defined. Theme: Politics of Religion Room 2Room 2 Counterpoints in Belief Systems Roots of the Spirit: What Etymology Reveals about Spiritual Experience Dr. Charles Burack, B.A. Psychology Program, John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, USA Overview: By exploring the Indo-European roots of “spirit” and its more than one hundred semantic cousins, we get a more concrete, palpable, and vital sense of how spirit has been experienced. Theme: Religious Foundations Hindu Spirituality: A Theory of Everything Dr. Indira Y. Junghare, Institute of Linguistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA Overview: This paper is about Hindu worldview, and a pragmatic theory of cosmopolitianism for modern living. Theme: Religious Foundations Gospel-CulturGospel-Culturee Relationship of TTraditionalraditional Filipino Religion and Catholicism Prof. Fides del Castillo, Theology and Religious Education Department, De La Salle University Manila, Manila, Philippines Overview: The indigenous Filipinos had their own worldview and religion before the Catholic missionaries came to the Philippines.Despite the limitations, the Catholic religion took root in the Philippines and prospered. Theme: Religious Foundations The TThe Tensionension between Religion GrGroupoup and Secular Education: Perspectives of Max WWebereber and Émile Durkheim Yuhai Chen, St. John's University, Taiwan, New Taipei City, Taiwan Overview: Through the theories of Sociologist Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, I analyze the essence of the conflict between Religion Group and Secular Education. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 3Room 3 Politics of Religion: Sexuality Forming Citizens by TTeachingeaching in Sexuality Education Katia Moles, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA Overview: I argue that democratic sexuality education incorporates Moore’s cultural studies approach to religion because it encourages students to become engaged citizens by examining how religious values influence sexual politics. Theme: Politics of Religion Polygamedia: Reality TTelevisionelevision as an Impetus for Social Change Lindy Demarest, Department of Comparative Religion, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, USA Overview: Combating negative portrayals of polygamist lifestyle, the popular TV show, Sister Wives has challenged the constitutionality of laws against bigamy and widened the discourse surrounding . Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith TTrue to True Traditionradition and TTruerue to the PrPresentesent Moment: Re-rRe-readingeading St. Paul thrthroughough Luther for a Revitalized Theology of the Human Person Jill Cox, Centre for Religious Studies, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Overview: Using ’s situational hermeneutic, paired with postmodern thought, we can re-read St. Paul to understand queer people as having faith and exercising love. Theme: Politics of Religion THURSDAY, 16 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 4 Social Science and Religion Does the Pledge of Allegiance Prepare Students for Effective Citizenship? Dr. Terri Susan Fine, Department of Political Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA Overview: The Pledge of Allegiance as a mechanism for teaching effective citizenship is analyzed. College student reactions to the 1954 change adding “under ” to the pledge is also considered. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Traveling Eastward for Spirituality: Narratives of Western Spiritual Seekers in Sri Aurobindo Ashram, India Tuhina Ganguly, Department of Anthropology School of Language, Social and Political Sciences, University of Canterbury (UC), Christchurch, New Zealand Overview: Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper looks at the (re)production of "spiritual India" through Western spiritual seekers’ travels to India, their faith and individual locations within global political asymmetries. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Always Reforming? Evangelical and the “Women in Church Office Issue" in the Christian Reformed Church Tamara Van Dyken, Department of History, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, USA Overview: Gender reformers in the Christian (Dutch) Reformed Church developed an evangelical feminism rooted within their own particular ethnic and theological tradition and shaped by the broader feminist movement. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization The "Ripple Group" as a New Form of Social Change: The Case of American Catholicism Maureen K. Day, Ethics and Social Theory, Graduate Theological Union, El Cerrito, USA Overview: This paper will cover the major features of a new type of change organization. The "ripple group" is well-suited for fragmented and professional populations and dovetails with contemporary Christian ideas. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Room 5 Diversity, Tolerance, and Understanding Ethics, Dharma and Secularism: The Transcendental Social of Bengali Muslims Fernande Pool, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, UK Overview: Findings from research among Bengali Muslims demonstrate why the natural category "transcendental social" should replace the use of the cultural categories "religion" and "secularity" in the comparative study of societies. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Untangling the Relationship between Religion and Inter-group Conflict: An Evolutionary Perspective Dr. Russil Durrant, Institute of Criminology School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Overview: In order to better understand the relationship between religion and intergroup violence, an evolutionary model highlighting direct and indirect pathways is presented. Theme: Politics of Religion Was a Feminist? Theological Reflection on the Significance of the Christian Faith for Gender Equality M. E. Muonwe, Diocesan Secretariat Staff, Catholic Diocese of Awka, Awka, Nigeria Overview: This paper argues against the opinion that Christianity is inherently misogynist and patriarchal. It demonstrates how Christianity’s core message is liberation from every form of oppression, including gender-based ones. Theme: Politics of Religion Why Business Executives Should Be Concered with Religious Freedom Dr. Paul Godfrey, Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, Brigham Young University, Provo, USA Overview: Issues of religious freedom have tremendous impact on global corporations. Internal challenges such as hiring/ balancing a diverse workforce and external opportunities in products and markets represent areas of advantage/ problems. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences THURSDAHURSDAYY, 16 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PPARALLEL SESSIONS Room 6Room 6 PowerPower,, Institutions, and Politics The Spiritual Crisis of Early Capitalism Prof. Stephen Alan Strehle, Depatment of Philosophy and Religion, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, USA Overview: In the seventeenth century, the Jansenists recognized that self-interest contained societal benefits. This early emphasis of capitalism engendered a secular interpretation of life's forces and spiritual crises among its followers. Theme: Politics of Religion Has Iconoclasm Ended ? Blasphemous Arts and the OfOffensefense of Religious Sensibilities in the Era of Globalization Dr. Eleni Polymenopoulou, Brunel Law School, Brunel University, London, UK Overview: The paper discusses the case of "blasphemous arts." It argues that globalized controversies triggered by artworks cannot be considered solely in their legal dimension. Theme: Politics of Religion Faith in Ferguson Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, Religious Studies Global Studies Africana Studies, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, USA Overview: "Faith in Ferguson" describes the of clergy involved in anti-police brutality protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Not since the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 have street protests sustained such momentum. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith

17:20 END OF DAAYY FRIDARIDAYY, 17 APRIL

8:30-9:00 REGISTRAEGISTRATIONTION DESK OPEN 9:00-9:10 HOST OPENING COMMENTS 9:10-9:40 PLENARLENARYY SESSION Rhys Williams, Loyola University Chicago, USA

"Religious Activism and the Making of 'American Exceptionalism'" 9:45-10:15 BREAK & GARDEN SESSION 10:15-11:55 PPARALLEL SESSIONS KrutchKrutch Religious TReligious Textsexts and SacrSacred Soured Sourcesces TheatrTheatree Islam as "Her"Heresy"esy" in Early Christian WWritingsritings Dr. Ramez Maluf, Department of Communication Arts, The University of Balamand, , Overview: The paper will explore how early Christian writers on Islam viewed the new religion. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences "This is My Body BrBroken for Yoken You":ou": Commodification and Objectification of Bodies and the Crucifixion as a Cautionary TTaleale Haley Feuerbacher, Religious Studies Religion and Culture Women's and Gender Studies, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA Overview: This paper explores possible connections between the commodification of women in contemporary advertisements and predominant Christian interpretations of the that emphasize the crucified body as an object of exchange. Theme: Politics of Religion One God: A Commonality in WWorldorld Religions Dr. Saba Yunus, Sociology Department, C.S.J.M. University, Kanpur, India Overview: There are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. However, in researching six major religions of the world I found there is one similarity among them, which is “Oneness of God." Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Room 1Room 1 Commonalities The Forgotten Practice of the Spiritual JourJourneyney, T, Truerue Love and the Purpose of Life thrthroughough Self-awarSelf-awareness:eness: Spiritual JourJourneyney Sukru Serdar Demirci, Interfaith Spiritual Path, Inc, Concord, USA Overview: This paper is about the forgotten practice of spiritual journey, true love and the purpose of life through self- awareness Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Saint Thomas Aquinas and Imam Al-Ghazali on the Attainment of Rania Shah, Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA Overview: This paper examines the virtue theories of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Imam Al-Ghazali, both spiritual masters of the Catholic and Islamic faiths and inheritors of Aristotle’s philosophy of virtues. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences The Religious and Moral Relevance of CarCaree and Compassion Dr. Lloyd Newell, College of Religious Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, USA Overview: Authentic religiosity and moral living involves care and compassion for others. Recognizing and appreciating humankind’s inherent diversity acknowledges the need for a universal moral code that applies to all peoples. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences “T“Truth Wherruth Whereverever It Is”: Hip Hop as a Critical Category for the Study of Religion and Spirituality Dr. Roy Whitaker, College of Arts and Letters, Department of Religious Studies, San Diego State University, San Diego, USA Overview: Alongside other faith movements, Hip Hop should be appreciated anew as a critical category for the contemporary study of religion and spirituality—particularly, its consciousness of its doctrines and practices. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

10:15-11:55 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 2 Histories of Faith Medieval Voices, Modern Mystic: The Continuing Tradition of Female Mystical Writing in the 20th Century Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska Kenneth DiMaggio, Humanities, Capital Community College, Hartford, USA Overview: St. Faustina's Diary engages a mystical discourse with Jesus. But do these 21st century saint's visions reflect a medieval, mystical, literary tradition from writers such as Julian of Norwich? Theme: Religious Foundations Mystical Qur’anic Exegesis and the Canonization of Early Sufis in Sulamī’s ?aqā’iq al-Tafsīr Sara Abdel-Latif, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Overview: This paper investigates how ?adīth master Sulamī established Sufi saints as qur'anic authorities in 11th century Persia by claiming Sufi mystical experience as a legitimate form of scriptural interpretation. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Room 3 Community and Belief Systems Spirituality and Treatment Outcomes for Justice Involved Veterans Amy James, UConn School of Social Work, Research Division, Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, USA Overview: One hundred Veterans in Connecticut Involved in the Criminal Justice System were studied for 12 months. Baseline spirituality was examined with regard to outcomes. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Meditation as an Effective Therapeutic Technique Chand R. Sirimanne, Department of Studies in Religion, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia, Sydney, Australia Overview: Today mindfulness meditation is a mainstream psycho-therapeutic tool in the West. Its limited efficacy and attrition rate could be due to its disengagement from its source, Buddhist teachings. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Family, Friends, and Religious Communities: Examining Patterns of Social Support among Asian and Latino Immigrants Dr. Amelia Derr, Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work, Seattle University, Seattle, USA Overview: This paper examines the influence of social support systems on immigrant health and mental health. Religious communities emerge as an important locus of social support. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Climate Change and the Evangelical Response Dr. Jack Goodyear, The Gary Cook School of Leadership, Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, USA Overview: The theological influences on evangelical leadership concerning the politics of climate change is the focus of this research. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Room 4 Politics, Socialization, and Communities of Belief Apocalyptic Catastrophe, and the Intensity of Information in the Mediapolis Dr. Steven Knowles, Theology and Religious Studies Dept, University of Chester, Chester, UK Overview: This paper specifically examines the way information in "rapture cultures" is received and interpreted in print and online and correlated inline with eschatological expectations--the end of the world. Theme: Politics of Religion Historical Survey on the Relationship between Muslims and Other Religious Communities in the Early Islamic Society Prof. Salah Al-Haideri, History Department, University of Soran, Erbil, Iraq Overview: After the emigration of the prophet Muhammad to Medina, he tried to build a new society. Caliphs, who came after him, treated the Non-Muslims as the prophet did. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization A Critical Examination of Non-Native Practice of Native American Spirituality Allison Goar, Department of Ethnic Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA Overview: This paper explores non-Native participation in indigenous spiritual practice. This project is guided by the question: What are the experiences and perceptions of non-Natives who practice Native American influenced spirituality? Theme: Politics of Religion "Taigs" and "Prods": Catholic and Protestant Tribal Identities in Northern Ireland Dr. Michael Stephens, English Department, Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte Campus., Charlotte, USA Overview: In Northern Ireland religion is a central indicator of cultural identity. Each individual's inherited religious denomination as either a Protestant or Catholic connects them to an indelible tribal allegiance. Theme: Politics of Religion FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

10:15-11:55 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 5 Change and Change Agents in Social Movements and Faith Finding the Kingdom of God in the City of Cain: Undoing the Augustinian Dualism of the Individual and the Recovery of an Urban and Social Spirituality August Higgins, The Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality Christian Spirituality, Ph.D program, The Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, USA Overview: Today, humanity exists in an increasingly urban context, I argue that Stan Grenz's social reading of the imago Dei may offer us something redemptive to an urban and holistic spirituality. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Pope Francis's "New Evangelization" and the Demands of Christian Social Ethics Today Dr. Trent Davis, Faculty of Education, St. Mary's University, Calgary, Canada Overview: This paper derives a Christian social ethic for today from Pope Francis's Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, or "The Joy of ." Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Protest as Prayer: Paul Ricoeur’s Symbolics and the Surplus of Political Meaning Dr. Timothy Harvie, Humanities, St. Mary's University, Calgary, Canada Overview: Using Paul Ricoeur's work on symbols and ethics, this paper argues that protest for social justice may take the form of prayer in Christian communities. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Faith in Revolt: The Journal Radical Religion, 1973-1981 Dr. Timothy Scott Brown, Department of History, Northeastern University, Northeastern University, Oakland, USA Overview: This paper examines the founding, goals, and course of the journal Radical Religion, founded in 1973 by theology students at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith

11:55-12:50 LUNCH 12:50-13:35 PARALLEL SESSIONS Hallway Poster Sessions An Association of Beliefs in Divine Intervention and Moral Foundations Travis Dumais, Department of Psychology, Rhode Island College, Providence, USA Dr. David Sugarman, Department of Psychology, Rhode Island College, Providence, USA Overview: An online survey showed a relationship between belief in intervening divine imagery and moral foundations. Theme: Religious Foundations Supporting Refugees in Europe in Light of Catholic Social Teaching Dr. Emoke Korzenszky, Faculty of Theology, Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary Overview: The refugee photography exhibition in the European Parliament served a twofold purpose: communicate the message of the Catholic Church to European politicians, and show the human dignity of refugees. Theme: Politics of Religion and Render unto God: Dualistic Loyalties of Religious Communities as Barriers to Monolithic State Power Lucie Adamski Miryekta, Politics Department, The Catholic University of America, Benicia, USA Emily Butler, Politics Department, The Catholic University of America, Washington, USA Overview: This project explores the relationship of religious secondary associations in promoting social diversity while at the same time promoting a free and open society. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization The Credibility Structures: The Case of Mosques in the Czech Republic Daniel Topinka, Department of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology, Palacky University in Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic Overview: The paper deals with the credibility structures around mosques in the Czech Republic. At the time, Muslims have been founding organizations, establishing themselves in public and attempting to de-privatize religion. Theme: Politics of Religion Room 1 Workshop Spiritual Practices in the Workplace: Practical Applications of Mindfulness and Meditation RuthAnn Ritter, Rossier School of Education, University ofSouthern California, USA Overview: Learn how applications of spirituality in organizational settings increase productivity and reduce stress. Experience representative practices inspired by Buddhist mindfulness and meditation that expand present moment awareness. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 4 Publishing Your Article or Book with Common Ground Publishing FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

12:50-13:35 PARALLEL SESSIONS In this session the Community Editor for the International Journal on Religion and Spirituality in Society will present an overview of Common Ground's publishing philosophy and practices. She will also offer tips for turning conference papers in to journal articles, present an overview of journal publishing procedures, and provide information on Common Ground's book proposal submission process. Please feel free to bring questions - the second half of the session will be devoted to Q&A. 13:35-13:45 BREAK 13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Krutch Corruption, Communication, and Change Theatre The Cultural Relations in the Catholic Church: Understanding the Evangelization Process Enrique Grez, Bach. en Teología por la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Licenciado) Mag. en Comunicación por la Universidad Austral de Chile (Estudiante), Instituto Secular Padres de Schoenstatt, Valdivia, Chile Overview: Catholic Church has developed a way of reflection on the complex elationshipr between evangelization and local cultures. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences The Role of Buddhist Monks and Politics in Myanmar Ven. Sumana, Mingalarama Pali Monastery, Thein Phyu Road, Botahtaung Township, Yangon, Myanmar, Mingalarama Pali Monastery, Yangon, Myanmar Overview: Monks are a symbol of peace, and "sons of Buddha" in Myanmar that need to build trust to eradicate fear. Many people are suffering from the political conflicts. Theme: Politics of Religion Exploring Holistic Dialogue as Sine-qua-non to solving the problem of Religious Misunderstanding Dr. Paul Ademola Ojebode, Department of Christian Religious Studies, Federal College of Education (Special), P.M.B 1089, Oyo, Oyo, Nigeria, Oyo town, Nigeria Overview: Lack of balanced teaching on Comparative Religion has been the bane of religious conflicts. Holistic dialogue is proposed to allow for religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence. Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences Room 1 Budhist Perspectives The Way to Enlightenment: A Case Study of Education for Rāhula Fashi Daofu Shih, Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan Overview: This paper aims to present an integrated work on exploring the education for Rāhula by the Buddha- the Buddhist pedagogy refers to how to effectively practice to achieve Enlightenment. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Buddhist Nunnery in the Western Context Dr. Chapla Verma, Department of Philosophy and Religion, American Public University, Bloomington, USA Overview: This paper is based on my field esearr ch of Theravada nunnery in the US, as it exists and functions in 2014. It looks into their practices, challenges, and assimilation issues. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Being Peace: The Order of Interbeing Alexander Sieber, Religion, Society and Social Change, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, USA Overview: While remaining authentically Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing is creating a culture of peace around the world by making accessible to almost anyone. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Cheri Huber’s Teachings on Self-hate Dr. Jeffrey B. Gold, Philosophy Department, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, USA Overview: Cheri Huber is a contemporary American Zen Buddhist. My paper explains her views on self-hate and it also provides an explanation as to why her views cause us discomfort. Theme: Religious Foundations FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 2 Schools, Education and Religious Practice Spiritual Intersections: Asian American Evangelicals, College Fellowships, and the Search for Identity Rachel Lim, Ethnic Studies Department, University of California - Berkeley, Berkeley, USA Overview: My paper looks at the construction of spiritual identity among Asian-American Christian college students, demonstrating that racial and spiritual identity are constitutively constructed in the Evangelical context. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization "Ye Do Err, Not Knowing the Scriptures": Situating Religious Texts in American Studies Rachel Schwaller, Department of American Studies, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA Overview: This paper analyzes the use of sacred texts in the study of religion in American Studies. It argues that the lack of scriptural analysis weakens current scholarship. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Faith Considerations in the Effective Operation of a Higher Education Campus in Singapore Dr. Robyn Margaret Anderson, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Singapore, Singapore Overview: A case study conducted at a university campus in Singapore found that including the staff's spiritual beliefs in campus organization was crucial to the effective operation of the campus. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization and Religious Education: Challenges and Opportunities Dr. Helena Van Coller, Law Faculty, Rhodes University, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa Overview: The paper will address some challenges and opportunities associated with the right to freedom of religion and religious observance at public schools. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Room 3 Women, Feminism and Religion Surrendering to the Spirit: Gender Differences in Religious Experience among Catholic Charismatics in Trinidad Raquel L. M. Sukhu, Institute for Gender and Development Studies, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Overview: This is a discussion of preliminary findings of feminist phenomenological esearr ch on gender differences in religious experience amongst members of the Catholic Charismatic community in the Caribbean island, Trinidad. Theme: Politics of Religion The Compassionate Example of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dante Alighieri’s "Divine Comedy" Lisa Tortolani, Boston College, Providence, USA Overview: This paper is an analysis of the role of the Virgin Mary in Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" and the way in which the author advances his Marian-based theology. Theme: Religious Foundations Spiritualizing Maternity: Responses from the Counterculture Dr. Marianne Delaporte, Philosophy and Religious Studies Department, Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, USA Overview: Ina May Gaskin's Spiritual Midwifery was a revolutionary text in the 1970s. This paper examines the religious underpinning of the work and the socialization from which it arose. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Singaporean Malay Women’s Utilization of Islam in the Construction of the Ideal Childbirth Sharifah Huseinah Madihid, Department of Malay Studies Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Overview: Having the ideal childbirth experience is dominant in Singaporean Malay women’s narratives of maternity. They regulate their bodily activities by utilizing Islam as a framework to achieve this ideal. Theme: Religious Foundations Room 4 Naming and Boundaries of Faith What's in a Name? A Comparison of Being Branded a Religious “Cult” in the US and the PRC Dr. Teresa Wright, Department of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, USA Teresa Zimmerman-Liu, Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, USA Overview: This paper is a comparison of the process by which a controversial religious group—the Local Churches, or “Shouters”—was branded a “cult” in the US and China. Theme: Politics of Religion Recent Developments in the Chemistry of Life and "Science Playing God": A Critical Study of the Theological and Moral Aspects of Science's Attempt to Synthesize Life Dr. Beena Jose, Jesuit School of Theology, Sanata Clara University, Berkeley, USA Dr. Binoy Jacob, Department of Systematic Theology of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, Berkeley., Santa Clara University, California, Berkeley, USA Overview: This work is the critical evaluation of the ethical and theological implications of the Chemistry of life and "science playing God" with special emphasis on Craig Venter’s synthetic cell. Theme: Religious Foundations FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

13:45-15:25 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 5 The Common Good and Social Movements and Faith Civil Rights Christianity under Pacifist Attack: Violence in Nonviolent Ideology Gregory Hotchkiss, School of Liberal Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Berkeley College, NJ, Newark, USA Overview: This article examines the of the theologian John Howard Yoder insofar as he used it in 1963 to criticize the Christianity of the civil rights movement. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith The Russian Orthodox Church and Protest Social Movements: Is Unity Possible? Yulia Sweet, Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University, Staten Island, USA Overview: The Church and social movements distance themselves from each other. Church opinions of the Putin’s regime discredited it. As a result, protesters did not consider it a valuable ally. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith A Pentecostal Witness in the Public Sphere: The Civic Engagement of Four Non-Government Organizations among the Most Vulnerable People in the City of Vallejo California Dr. Joel Tejedo, Department of Theology, Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, Baguio City, Philippines Overview: This article reports the civic engagement of faith-based organizations among the under-privilege people in the City of Vallejo. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith

15:25-15:40 COFFEE BREAK 15:40-17:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS Krutch Late Additions Theatre Surfing as Deep Blue Religion: The Deification of Miki Dora Stephen Florian, English Department, California State Univeristy Northridge, Los Angeles, USA Overview: I am proposing that since surfing is often described in spiritual and eligiousr terms that there is a justification for surfing to be included as a world eligion.r Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith The Role of Diaspora in Kabirpanth Dr. Purnendu Ranjan, Department of History, Government Post Graduate College for Girls-42, Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India Overview: Expansion of Kabirpanth over the last 500 years in several countries has been facilitated by a series of diasporas forced upon these followers – both of intra-nation and international scales. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Religious “Other” in Text and Context: Mapping the People of the Scripture in Qur’anic Approach and CID’s Conferences in Contemporary Iran Ahmad Moghri, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran ( of) Overview: The question of this essay is: how does the Qur’anic approach towards the people of the scripture reflect on the concept of religious otherness in Iran’s contemporary interreligious dialogue? Theme: Religious Commonalities and Differences FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 1 Socio-economic Issues in Faith Communities Praxis and the Poor: Latin American and Eastern Orthodox Social Ethics in Dialogue Fr. Philip LeMasters, School of Social Sciences and Religion Department of Religion, McMurry University, Abilene, USA Overview: Latin American liberation theology and Eastern Orthodox social ethics share points of similarity and of difference on the question of appropriate praxis in response to situations of poverty and injustice. Theme: Politics of Religion Power Politics, Biblical Hermeneutics, and the Widening Gap between the Rich and the Poor in the US Dr. LeAnn Snow Flesher, Free standing seminary; member school of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, USA Overview: Religion, the Bible, and theology have been used by US politicians to organize religious socially conservative masses to vote against their own best interests with regard to US economic policies. Theme: Politics of Religion Faith as Social Capital in Britain: How Religious Involvement Contributes to the Integration of Ethnic Minorities Yinxuan Huang, The Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMIST), The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Overview: This study explores different patterns of religious involvement in Britain and compares their social consequences for British ethnic minorities. Theme: Politics of Religion Religious Ethics and Economy Practices: The Case of Jewish Entrepreneurs in 19th Century Russia David Schick, Department of Eastern and Southeastern European History, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Munich, Germany Overview: The interconnectivity of religion and economy is explored empirically by using business correspondence and business documents that are analyzed applying approaches of cultural history. Theme: Religious Foundations Room 2 Children and Families Parents, Religion and Children: The Case Against Restricting a 's Education on Religious Grounds Dr. Mark Vopat, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, USA Overview: I argue that the supposed right to restrict a child’s education in order to protect a particular belief system, is a conflation of a parental rights with parental privileges. Theme: Politics of Religion Investigating Children’s Spiritual Development by Using Narratives in Religious Education Classrooms Seema Ali Lalani, STEP Department (Secondary Teacher Education Proramme), Affiliated with Institute of Ismaili Studies London, working in Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan Overview: The study explores children’s spiritual development in religious education classrooms by using religious narratives. The purpose was to nurture children’s spirituality and to present and discuss their spiritual characteristics. Theme: Religious Foundations Pray, Plan, Love: Religious Couples Negotiate Planned Parenthood Lea Taragin-Zeller, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel Overview: An ethnographic study of religious fertility management in Israel reveals how members negotiate and draw boundaries between modern and scientific knowledge and ancient knowledge ootedr in religious authority and texts. Theme: Religious Foundations Bridging the Gap in African-Ibibio Socio-religious Landscape: Spirituality and Social Justice Paradigm in Luke’s Gospel Dr. Effiong Joseph Udo, Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Arts., University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria., Uyo, Nigeria Overview: Despite the intense religiosity of the African-Ibibio society, its social reality remains largely inhumanising. How this gap is exposed and bridged, depends on the resource the people’s cosmology is evaluated. Theme: Religious Foundations FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 3 Religious Socialization Religious Belongings in Urban Hong Kong Society: Catholic and Buddhist Ways to Deal with Hong Kong’s Contemporary Issues Mariske Westendorp, Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University, Sydney (Australia), Sydney, Australia Overview: In my paper I will describe the relationship between religion and Hong Kong’s contemporary society by discussing how Catholicism and Buddhism provide necessary identity anchors in the complex urban environment. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization The Apocalypticism Movement in the China Border: A Case Study of the Hmong People in Southwestern China Chijui Hu, Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan Overview: This study examines the Millennialism between the social movement and the historical memory of the Hmong people who live in the northwest Guizhou, China. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Religion and Spirituality in Nigeria: A Focus on Islamic Movements of Social and Political Inclination Prof. Sulaiman. M. Jamiu, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria Overview: The research showcases the role played by some Islamic movements in Nigeria as well as the positive and negative socio-political impacts of the Islamic movements on the Nigerian people. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Room 4 Profound Faith Politicizing an Outlaw Religious Movement Dr. Laurie Cozad, Division of Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Lesley University, Cambridge, USA Overview: This paper explores a new form of religiosity: cannabis ministries. These ministries have been actively involved in politicizing their respective movements so that they might be regarded as judicially legitimate. Theme: Politics of Religion Religion, Democracy, and the Environmental Imagination: Radical Romanticism and Contemporary Civic Engagement and Activism Mark Cladis, Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, Providence, USA Overview: My paper presents a triscopic hermeneutics—located at the intersection of religion, democracy and the environment—that illuminates salient Romantic texts that have nurtured a contemporary radical environmental imagination and political engagement. Theme: Politics of Religion Restoring a Rhythm of Sacred Rest in a 24/7 World: An Exploration of Technology Sabbath and Connection to the Earth Community Lisa Naas Cook, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon, Hood River, USA Overview: This phenomenological and multidisciplinary study of perspectives on rest suggests how technology Sabbath might foster personal and planetary well-being in a 24/7 world. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith Walking through the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong Wing Shan Cheung, Department of Educational Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Prof. Wan Chi Wong, Department of Educational Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Overview: Focused in civic spirituality, this study used “the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong” to explored how the civic dissidents articulate their inner spiritual journeys in social engagements. Theme: Special Theme: Social Movements and Faith FRIDAY, 17 APRIL

15:40-17:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS Room 5 Identity, Ritual, and Politics Seeking a Modus Vivendi through an Ethics of Debate Justin Jalea, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Ontario and Durham College, Toronto, Canada Overview: A way of living together in spite of religious diversity requires equitable and sustainable dialogue characterized by an ethics of debate that refines our methods of engaging with one another. Theme: Politics of Religion Armenian Ethno-Religious Identity in the Los Angeles Diaspora Madlen Avetyan, Anthropology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, USA Overview: Has the Armenian Apostolic Church maintained its significance in the identity politics of Armenians of the Los Angeles Diaspora in the twenty first century? Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Korean : Charismatic Christian Exorcism or Shamanic Exorcism? Kyung Hong, Graduate Division of Religion, Drew University, Easton, USA Overview: This paper discusses a form of charismatic Korean Christian exorcism, anchal-kido, focusing particularly on recent incidents in the Korean diasporic community across the U.S. Theme: Religious Community and Socialization Minority Stress, Spirituality and Psychological Quality of Life for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Individuals Megan Purser, Clinical Health Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, USA Mark Vosvick, University of North Texas, Denton, USA Overview: This study examines spirituality, minority stress and quality of life in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people. Theme: Politics of Religion

17:20-17:50 CONFERENCE CLOSING AND GRADUATE SCHOLAR AWARD CEREMONY Held in Krutch Theatre

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Abdel-Latif Sara University of Toronto Canada Ajayi Segun Oyetunji Christ the King Rescue Global Ministry Nigeria Al-Haideri Salah University of Soran Iraq Almane Nasser Mohammed King Saud University Alomrani Aljoharah Imam Mohammed Bin Saud University Saudi Arabia Amin Yehia University of Toronto Canada Anderson Robyn Margaret James Cook University, Singapore Singapore Avetyan Madlen California State University Northridge USA Bartlett Emily Tufts University USA Bayham Frank E. California State University, Chico USA Mahila Maha Vidyalya P.G College Kidwai Nagar Bhawna Bhawna Kanpur India Brake Matthew George Mason University USA Brown Timothy Scott Northeastern University USA Burack Charles John F. Kennedy University USA Burky Richard California State Polytechnic University USA Burrow-Branine Jonathan University of Kansas USA Bussières Luc Hearst University Canada Butler Emily The Catholic University of America USA Cameron Christopher University of North Carolina at Charlotte USA Chen Yuhai St. John's University Taiwan Cheng Kai-wen National Chengchi University Taiwan Cheung Wing Shan Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Christian Tayler Kansas State University USA Cladis Mark Brown University USA Cox Jill Monash University Australia Cozad Laurie Lesley University USA Crescenzi Angela Calgary Catholic School Board Canada Davis Trent St. Mary's University Canada Day Maureen K. Graduate Theological Union USA DeGusti Franca Calgary Catholic School Board Canada del Castillo Fides De La Salle University Manila Philippines Delaporte Marianne Notre Dame de Namur University USA Demarest Lindy Western Michigan University USA Demirci Sukru Serdar Interfaith Spiritual Path, Inc USA Derr Amelia Seattle University USA DiMaggio Kenneth Capital Community College USA

Dogan Recep Centre for Islamic Sciences & Civilization Australia Doner Jonathan Independent Scholar USA Dumais Travis Rhode Island College USA Durrant Russil Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand Elgenaidi Maha Islamic Networks Group USA Eren Cervantes-Altamirano Carleton University Canada Esquejo Kristoffer University of the Philippines Diliman Philippines Research Center of Sociological and Psycologic Febles Perez Mairim Studies Cuba Feuerbacher Haley Southern Methodist University USA Fine Terri Susan University of Central Florida USA Flesher LeAnn Snow American Baptist Seminary of the West USA Florian Stephen California State Univeristy, Northridge USA Fones-Wolf Elizabeth West Virginia University USA Fones-Wolf Ken West Virginia University USA Freudenberg Maren Freie Universitaet Berlin Germany Ganguly Tuhina University of Canterbury New Zealand Gantolea Eugen Lucian Blaga University Romania Garni Alisa Kansas State University USA Geiger Megan University of Florida USA Gilkeson Holly Retired USA Goar Allison Colorado State University USA Godfrey Paul Brigham Young University USA Gold Jeffrey B. East Tennessee State University USA Gomez-Rossi Alfonso Universidad de las Américas Puebla Mexico Goodyear Jack Dallas Baptist University USA Grez Enrique Instituto Secular Padres de Schoenstatt Chile Grovijahn Jane Our Lady of the Lake University USA Hardman Ben University of Southern Mississippi USA Harris Corey Alvernia University USA Harris Ronald A. University of San Francisco USA Harvie Timothy St. Mary's University Canada Helene Carole Edoa Mbatsogo University of Lausanne Switzerland Higgins August The Oblate School of Theology USA Hong Kyung Drew University USA Hossain Mohammed Dulal Rumena Development Society Bangladesh Hotchkiss Gregory Berkeley College USA Hu Chijui National ChengChi University Taiwan

Huang Yinxuan The University of Manchester UK Iqbal Asima University of Warwick UK Jalea Justin University of Ontario and Durham College Canada James Amy University of Connecticut USA Jamiu Sulaiman. M. Kwara State University Nigeria Jenichen Anne University of Bremen Germany Jose Beena Sanata Clara University USA Joy Utsha Barua Mahananda Sangharaj Bihar Bangladesh Junghare Indira Y. University of Minnesota USA Kakoriya Brajesh Guru Gangeshwar Ved Dham India Khatami Seyed Mahdi The University of Sydney Australia Kime Katie Givens Emory University USA Knowles Steven University of Chester UK Korzenszky Emoke Péter Pázmány Catholic University Hungary Lalani Seema Ali Institute of Ismaili Studies London Pakistan Lee Pamela Chandler Saint Leo University USA LeMasters Philip McMurry University USA Lightstone Jack N. Brock University Canada Lim Rachel University of California, Berkeley USA Liqueur Cedric Performing Arts USA Luzny Dusan Palacky University Czech Republic Madihid Sharifah Huseinah National University of Singapore Singapore Makanda Joseph University of Kwazulu-Natal South Africa Maluf Ramez Lebanese American University Lebanon Martins Leonardo Breno University of São Paulo Brazil Milicevic Mladen Loyola Marymount University USA Moles Katia Graduate Theological Union USA Damian Mary Moneke Chukwunenye University of Aberdeen UK Muonwe M. E. Catholic Diocese of Awka Nigeria Myers Christopher American Public University USA Naas Cook Lisa Marylhurst University USA Newell Lloyd Brigham Young University USA Newton Diana Rosemary Teesside University UK Ojebode Paul Ademola Federal College of Education Nigeria Okuyama Yoshiko University of Hawaii at Hilo USA Omotoye Rotimi Williams University of Ilorin Nigeria Pabbajah Mustaqim University of Technology Yogyakarta Indonesia

Pack Tim S. University of Oregon USA Pakeeza Shahzadi Fatima Jinnah Women University USA Parker Heather Saint Leo University USA Peretz Jeremy Jacob University of California, Los Angeles USA Pervez Riaz Prime Foundation Pakistan Peshawar Medical College Pakistan Pfaff Steven University of Washington USA Polymenopoulou Eleni Brunel University UK Pool Fernande London School of Economics and Political Sciences UK Potter Justin University of St. Thomas USA Purser Megan University of North Texas USA Ratan Bhikkhu Bodhi Dhammadut Buddha Vihar India Rigsby Malcolm L. Henderson State University USA Ritter RuthAnn University of Southern California USA Roenpagel Nico University of New South Wales Germany Islamic Republic of Sajedi Sayyed Hadi International Institute for Islamic Studies Iran Schick David Ludwig Maximilians University Germany Schwaller Rachel The University of Kansas USA Shah Rania Graduate Theological Union USA Shih Daofu National Chengchi University Taiwan Sieber Alexander Claremont School of Theology USA Singh Sukhmander Santa Clara University USA Sirimanne Chand R. University of Sydney Australia Snow Steven Wagner College USA Starratt Priscilla University of Wisconsin, Superior USA Stephens Michael Johnson & Wales University USA Stockbridge Kevin James Chapman University USA Strehle Stephen Alan Christopher Newport University USA Sukhu Raquel L. M. The University of the West Indies Trinidad and Tobago Sumana Mingalarama Pali Monastery Myanmar

Sweet Yulia Rutgers University USA Tapalla Raquel National Teachers College Batangas Philippines Tejedo Joel Asia Pacific Theological Seminary Philippines Thompson Wendy Jackson State University USA Tobias Saul California State University, Fullerton USA Topinka Daniel Palacky University Czech Republic Tortolani Lisa University of Rhode Island USA Troyan Brett State University of New York at Cortland College USA

Udo Effiong Joseph University of Uyo, Uyo Nigeria Van Coller Helena Rhodes University South Africa Van Dyken Tamara Western Kentucky University USA Verma Chapla American Public University USA Vesely-Flad Rima Warren Wilson College USA Vopat Mark Youngstown State University USA Walseth Kristin Akershus University College Norway Westendorp Mariske Macquarie University Australia Weyher L. Frank Kansas State University USA Whitaker Roy San Diego State University USA Williams Rhys Loyola University Chicago USA Williams Trevor B. Pepperdine University USA Wolny Witold The University of Virginia's College at Wise USA Woods Patricia J. University of Florida USA Worgul Jr. George Duquesne University USA Yildiztekin Burin University of Toronto Canada Yunus Saba C.S.J.M. University India Zimmerman-Liu Teresa University of California, San Diego USA

A Social Knowledge Platform Create Your Academic Profile and Connect to Peers

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Utilize Your Free Scholar Membership Today through • Building your academic profile and list of published works. • Joining a community with a thematic or disciplinary focus. • Establishing a new knowledge community relevant to your field. • Creating new academic work in our innovative publishing space. • Building a peer review network around your work or courses. Scholar Quick Start Guide

1. Navigate to http://cgscholar.com. Select [Sign Up] below ‘Create an Account’. 2. Enter a “blip” (a very brief one-sentence description of yourself). 3. Click on the “Find and join communities” link located under the YOUR COMMUNITIES heading (On the left hand navigation bar). 4. Search for a community to join or create your own. Scholar Next Steps – Build Your Academic Profile

• About: Include information about yourself, including a linked CV in the top, dark blue bar. • Interests: Create searchable information so others with similar interests can locate you. • Peers: Invite others to connect as a peer and keep up with their work. • Shares: Make your page a comprehensive portfolio of your work by adding publications in the Shares area - be these full text copies of works in cases where you have permission, or a link to a bookstore, library or publisher listing. If you choose Common Ground’s hybrid open access option, you may post the final version of your work here, available to anyone on the web if you select the ‘make my site public’ option. • Image: Add a photograph of yourself to this page; hover over the avatar and click the pencil/edit icon to select. • Publisher: All Common Ground community members have free access to our peer review space for their courses. Here they can arrange for students to write multimodal essays or reports in the Creator space (including image, video, audio, dataset or any other file), manage student peer review, co-ordinate assessments, and share students’ works by publishing them to the Community space.

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Scholar also answers one of the most fundamental questions students and instructors have of their performance, "How am I doing?" Typical modes of assessment often answer this question either too late to matter or in a way that is not clear or comprehensive enough to meaningfully contribute to better performance.

A collaborative research and development project between Common Ground and the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Scholar contains a knowledge community space, a multimedia web writing space, a formative assessment environment that facilitates peer review, and a dashboard with aggregated machine and human formative and summative writing assessment data.

The following Scholar features are only available to Common Ground Knowledge Community members as part of their membership. Please email us at [email protected] if you would like the complimentary educator account that comes with participation in a Common Ground conference.

• Create projects for groups of students, involving draft, peer review, revision and publication. • Publish student works to each student’s personal portfolio space, accessible through the web for class discussion. • Create and distribute surveys. • Evaluate student work using a variety of measures in the assessment dashboard.

Scholar is a generation beyond learning management systems. It is what we term a Digital Learning Platform—it transforms learning by engaging students in powerfully horizontal ‘social knowledge’ relationships. For more information, visit: http://knowledge.cgscholar.com.

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CALL FOR JOURNAL EDITOR

The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society seeks an editor, or team of editors, for a one-year term. This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to a group of leading journals and, more broadly, the conference and book imprint associated with the journal.

The roles of the editor are to: • Suggest a special theme that might become a panel at the conference, a special journal issue, or an edited book. • Select papers addressing the special theme and compile them in an edited book to be launched at the conference at the completion of the editor’s term. The chapters may be drawn from submissions to the journal during this or recent years, and other material as considered appropriate. • Suggest plenary speakers for the conference, preferably from the conference locale, and also to contribute papers to the journal. • Recommend the journal to your colleagues; solicit submissions from members of your professional network. • Serve as an advisor for the selection of the International Award for Excellence and the papers to include in the Annual Review. • Maintain a significant presence within the community via social media (e.g. via Facebook, Twitter, Community, and our website and monthly e-newsletter). The editor will be offered a complimentary electronic subscription to The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society, an electronic subscription to the book imprint, and complimentary registrations to attend the conferences at the beginning and end of their term.

Interested applications should send the following to [email protected]:

• Cover letter outlining areas of interest and relevant experience, • Curriculum Vitae (CV), • Suggestion for a special theme with a paragraph explanation or outline.

The deadline for applications is 31 August 2015.

SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIETY

CALL FOR PAPERS

23-24 March 2016

The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C., USA

2016 SPECIAL FOCUS Religion in the Age of the Anthropocene: Towards a Common Cause? A new framework has been presented in recent years to periodize and interpret the effects of human life on the natural environment: the age of the ‘anthropocene’. By this definition, we are now in an era when human activities have become a key macro-determinant of the destiny of the ecosystems of Earth. Critical analyses of this age generally have one of two orientations. One perspective looks back, re-examining the relationship of human social, economic, and technical developments on the natural environment. Another looks forward, attempting to build alternative models of human development that put ecological sustainability as a foundational principle.

The natural environment presents itself as a ground for life and a gift of life in all communities of faith and spiritual meaning. In the ‘age of the anthropocene’, how might faith (and explicitly non-faith) communities productively engage in these critical discussions? Looking backward: could this be an opportunity for productive dialogues between principles of science, economics, and religion? Looking forward: in what ways might faith communities and other communities of spiritual meaning set agendas for personal and community action? What principles of stewardship, compassion, or mutual obligation might they offer? How might they provide leadership on issues of the environment, ecological sustainably, and climate change? Could addressing these concerns also offer a basis for productive inter-faith dialogue, a locus for the development of unified moral voice across differing belief systems? Could the age of the anthropocene, as a focal interpretive mechanism for understanding the intersection of human action, science, and faith, become a site for joining into a ‘common cause’ and a place to share imaginations for the future of human development? Not only might such an agenda have implications for our relations in the natural environment, but also such considerations of the future might prompt us to address related questions of inequality, poverty, and human suffering.

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