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Factors Influencing Military Personnel Utilizing Chaplains: A Literature Scoping Review, Mark D. Layson, Katie Tunks Leach, Lindsay B. Carey, Megan C. Best

IES Papers and Journal Articles

Chaplains have been embedded in military settings for over a millennium. In recent years however, the decline in spiritual/religious (S/R) affiliation of military personnel across Western cultures has led to some commentators questioning the utilization of religious chaplains by defence personnel. This scoping review maps the literature on S/R and non-S/R factors that influence utilizing military chaplains— with a particular emphasis on the Australian military context. A systematic scoping review of tertiary literature databases using Arksey and O’Malley (2003) and Joanna Briggs Institute methodologies (JBI, 2021), revealed a total of 33 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Results fell into three …

Christianity And The Law: Trial Separation Or Acrimonious Divorce?, Michael Quinlan

Law Papers and Journal Articles

This article considers the relationship between Christianity and the law in Australia beginning with the arrival of the First Fleet and the declaration of the Swan River Colony. It examines in some detail the influence of the Western legal tradition and of Christianity on the jurisprudence relating to one elemental aspect of Western society: marriage. It considers the make-up of contemporary Australia, contemporary attitudes to religion and the relationship between law and religion in Australia. The article concludes that the once close relationship between law and religion may be better described today not as a trial separation but as an …

A Website Supporting Sensitive Religious And Cultural Advance Care Planning (Acptalk): Formative And Summative Evaluation, Amanda Pereira-Salgado, Patrick Mader, Clare O'Callaghan, Leanne Boyd

Philosophy Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) promotes conversations about future health care needs, enacted if a person is incapable of making decisions at end-of-life that may be communicated through written documentation such as advance care directives. To meet the needs of multicultural and multifaith populations in Australia, an advance care planning website, ACPTalk, was funded to support health professionals in conducting conversations within diverse religious and cultural populations. ACPTalk aimed to provide religion-specific advance care planning content and complement existing resources.

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to utilize the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) framework to …

Apostate Religion In The Book Of Mormon, A Keith Thompson

Law Papers and Journal Articles

Nephite missionaries in the first century BC had significant difficulty preaching the gospel among Nephites and Lamanites who followed Zoramite and Nehorite teaching. Both of these groups built synagogues and other places of worship suggesting that some of their beliefs originated in Israelite practice, but both denied the coming or the necessity of a Messiah. This article explores the nature of Zoramite and Nehorite beliefs, identifies how their beliefs and practices differed from orthodox Nephite teaching, and suggests that some of these religious differences are attributable to cultural and political differences that resonate in the present.

Religious Leaders' Perceptions Of Advance Care Planning: A Secondary Analysis Of Interviews With Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh And Bahai Leaders, A. Pereira-Salgado, P. Mader, C. O'Callaghan, L. Boyd, M. Staples

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Background: International guidance for advance care planning (ACP) supports the integration of spiritual and religious aspects of care within the planning process. Religious leaders’ perspectives could improve how ACP programs respect patients’ faith backgrounds. This study aimed to examine: (i) how religious leaders understand and consider ACP and its implications, including (ii) how religion affects followers’ approaches to end-of-life care and ACP, and (iii) their implications for healthcare.

Methods: Interview transcripts from a primary qualitative study conducted with religious leaders to inform an ACP website, ACPTalk, were used as data in this study. ACPTalk aims to assist health professionals conduct …

'When She Calls For Help' - Domestic Violence In Christian Families, L Westenberg

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Violence in relationships is a common experience for a significant number of women. VicHealth (Australia) has noted that one of the underlying and contributing factors towards violence against women is their environment, citing ‘faith-based institutions’ such as churches as one such environment for many women. Indeed, international research shows that the language of religion is often used by women to explain abuse. Additionally, abused Christian women are more likely to remain in or return to unsafe relationships, citing religious beliefs to support avoidance of ‘family break-ups’ despite abuse. In contrast, however, churches can address domestic violence within a context of …

Religion Research In International Relations: A Taxonomy, John Rees

Arts Papers and Journal Articles

The discipline of international relations (IR) is beginning to readily engage with the variegations of religion manifest in world politics. The essay argues that the perception of research about religion can therefore no longer remain homogenous and it is imperative to differentiate between types of religion research available to IR scholars and policy-makers. With this objective in mind, the essay differentiates between four suggested types of religion research in the IR corpus (policy, cultural, global and postsecular research) and briefly identifies three additional types (disciplinary, data, and primary source research). It is posited that the demarcation between types is important …

Religious Actors, Civil Society, And The Development Agenda: The Dynamics Of Inclusion And Exclusion, Duncan Mcduie-Ra, John A. Rees

Arts Papers and Journal Articles

This article uses the World Bank's engagement with religious actors to analyse their differentiated role in setting the development agenda raising three key issues. First, engagements between international financial institutions (IFIs) and religious actors are formalised thus excluding many of the actors embedded within communities in the South. Secondly, the varied politics of religious actors in development are rarely articulated and a single position is often presented. Thirdly, the potential for development alternatives from religious actors excluded from these engagements is overlooked, due in part to misrecognition of the mutually constitutive relationship between secular and sacral elements in local contexts.

Religion And Politics In Review, John Rees

Arts Papers and Journal Articles

A international scholarly review of two contemporary works in the study of religion and international realations. Eric O. Hanson, Religion and Politics in the International System Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Scott M. Thomas, The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations: The Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-First Century (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005). Published in the official journal of the London School of Economics and Politics.

The Shi'ites, The West And The Future Of Democracy: Reframing Political Change In A Religio-Secular World, John Rees

Arts Papers and Journal Articles

The present article critically reviews Paul McGeough’s important analysis of the most recent Iraq war within a broader consideration of secular-religious relations in international affairs. The thesis of Mission Impossible: The Sheikhs, the US and the Future of Iraq (2004) can be summarised around two ideas: that the US strategy in Iraq was flawed because it wilfully bypassed the traditional power structures of Iraqi society; and that these structures, formed around the tribe and the mosque, are anti-democratic thus rendering attempts at democratisation impossible. The article affirms McGeough’s argument concerning the inadequacy of the US strategy, but critically examines the …