The "ethical anthropic principle" and the religious ethics of Levinas

Why did Levinas choose Isaiah 45:7 ("I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all that") as a superscription of his essay on evil? This article explores the role of evil in Levinas's religious ethics. The author discusses the structure of evil as revealed phenomenologically and juxtaposes it to the structure of subjectivity found in the writings of Levinas. The idea of the "ethical anthropic principle," modeled upon the cosmic anthropic principle, is then used to link evil to the responsibility of the subject. The link is subsequently extended to God. This is proposed as one way of understanding the meaning of Isaiah 45:7. © 2001 Journal of Religious Ethics, Inc.

The socio-religious beliefs and nature of the contemporary Vampire Subculture

The contemporary Vampire Subculture can be defined as a multi-faceted, socio-religious movement with its own distinct collective community and network of participants who share a similar belief system and customary lifestyle that reflect their concept of the vampire. The Vampire Subculture consists of individuals who profess to be 'real vampires', vampire communities of like-minded persons, 'blood-donors' who willingly allow vampires to partake of them, occult-based and mystical-orientated groups that appeal to their spirituality, the blood fetishists, and the live-action vampire role-players. In response, a Christian counter-movement of self-proclaimed 'vampire-slayers' has emerged that actively opposes the vampire subculture and its beliefs and practices. The socio-religious nature of the Vampire Subculture can be best described as a Segmented, Polycentric and Integrated Network of participants.

Religious beliefs and practice, and alcohol use in Thai men

Buddhism, the Thai state religion, teaches that use of intoxicants should be avoided. Nonetheless, many Thai people drink alcohol, and a proportion are alcohol-dependent or hazardous or harmful drinkers. This study examines the relationship between Buddhist upbringing and beliefs and alcohol use disorders in Thai men. Three groups, comprising 144 non/infrequent/light drinkers, 77 hazardous/harmful drinkers and 91 alcohol dependents were inter-viewed regarding their early religious life and current religious practices and beliefs. No protective association was shown between early religious life and later alcohol use disorders, indeed, having lived as a buy in a temple for a period was commoner in those with adult alcohol problems. Few subjects reported frequent involvement in current religious activities (9, 8 and 6% in the non/infrequent/light drinkers, hazardous/harmful drinkers, and alcohol dependents respectively). Hazardous/harmful drinkers [odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, 95% confidence interval (0) = 0.2-0.9] and alcohol dependents (OR = 0.5, 95% Cl = 0.2-0.9) were less likely to report being moderately to strongly religious, than were non/infrequent/light drinkers, Understanding the association between religious beliefs and drinking behaviour can potentially assist in the development of prevention and treatment programmes.

Simultaneous observations of ionospheric quasiperiodic scintillations from short and long meridional baselines using VHF transmissions from transit satellites

For the first time it was possible to observe regular quasiperiodic scintillations (QPS) in VHF radio-satellite transmissions from orbiting satellites simultaneously at short (2.1 km) and long (121 km) meridional baselines in the vicinity of a typical mid-latitude station (Brisbane; 27.5degreesS and 152.9degreesE geog. and 35.6degrees invar.lat.), using three sites (St. Lucia-S, Taringa-T in Brisbane and Boreen Pt.-B, north of Brisbane). A few pronounced quasiperiodic (QP) events were recorded showing unambiguous regular structures at the sites which made it possible to deduce a time displacement of the regular fading minimum at S, T and B. The QP structure is highly dependent on the geometry of the ray-path from a satellite to the observer which is manifested as a change of a QP event from symmetrical to non-symmetrical for stations separated by 2.1 km, and to a radical change in the structure of the event over a distance of 121 km. It is suggested the short-duration intense QP events are due to a Fresnel diffraction (or a reflection mechanism) of radio-satellite signals by a single ionospheric irregularity in a form of an ellipsoid with a large ionization gradient along the major axis. The structure of a QP event depends on the angle of viewing of the irregular blob from a radio-satellite. In view of this it is suggested that the reported variety of the ionization formation, responsible for different types of QPS, is only apparent but not real. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exus e pombas-giras : o masculino e o feminino nos pontos cantados da umbanda

Trabalho realizado durante a vigência de bolsa de produtividade em pesquisa/CNPq.

Pentecostais na política capixaba : representação parlamentar da Igreja Assembleia de Deus nas eleições (2002, 2006, 2010)

A presente dissertação pretendeu observar a presença de candidatos da Igreja Evangélica Assembleia de Deus no Estado do Espírito Santo no âmbito de sua representação parlamentar no legislativo estadual nas eleições de 2002, 2006 e 2010. Observou-se a relação entre religião e política ressaltando-se a expansão evangélica pentecostal, especificamente o caso da Assembleia de Deus. O estudo parte da ideia de que a escolha de líderes dentro das estruturas institucionais religiosas também pode influenciar escolhas no âmbito da estrutura social como, por exemplo, a escolha de lideranças políticas.

The Experience of the Religious through Silent Moving Image and the Silence of Bill Viola's Passions

With the creationof the moving image at the end of the 19th century a new way of representing and expressing the Religious was born. The cinema industry rapidly understood that film has a powerful way to attract new audiences and transformed the explicit religious message into an implicit theological discourse of the fictional film. Today, the concept of "cinema" needs to be rethought and expanded, as well as the notion of "tTranscendental" since the strong reality effect of the film can allow a true religious experience for the spectator.

Um candomblé na Bélgica: traços etnográficos de tentativa de instalação e suas dificuldades

Com este artigo, proponho analisar algumas das dificuldades encontradas na tentativa de instalação de um candomblé (culto afro-brasileiro) na Bélgica. Minha análise tem como suporte três categorias de fatos: afrontamentos à legitimidade do chefe de culto assim como o respeito para com as restrições rituais; diversas tentativas de adaptação aos recursos humanos e materiais disponíveis; dificuldades de aprendizagem de certas categorias de saberes que não repousam sobre uma formulação lingüística. Essa focalização sobre as situações problemáticas não tem por objetivo esboçar o retrato de um culto "desenraizado", mas de explicar, com base na etnografia, a construção da dinâmica e do caráter heterogêneo da experiência religiosa.

In permanent transit: discourses and maps of the intercultural experience

Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto

Cluster analysis using affinity aoefficient in order to identify religious beliefs profiles

International Scientific Forum, ISF 2013, ISF 2013, 12-14 December 2013, Tirana.