O DISCURSO DE EDIR MACEDO NO LIVRO ORIXÁS, CABOCLOS E GUIAS. DEUSES OU DEMÔNIOS?: IMPACTOS E IMPASSES NO CENÁRIO RELIGIOSO BRASILEIRO

Esta dissertação é uma análise do discurso de Edir Macedo no livro Orixás, Caboclos e Guias. Deuses ou Demônios? Nosso estudo trata do discurso e retórica que Macedo e a Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus utilizam para falarem a respeito das religiões afro-brasileiras e mediúnicas nesse livro. Elegemos este livro como objeto de estudo por causa da presença constante desse tema no discurso e nas práticas da Igreja Universal; pelo sucesso dessa publicação, com mais de quatro milhões de exemplares vendidos; em função da polêmica provocada pelo discurso demonizador das religiões afro-brasileiras e mediúnicas. Procuramos analisar o discurso de Macedo e de sua Igreja a luz dos impactos e impasses causados por eles no cenário religioso brasileiro. Relacionamos o discurso e a retórica de Macedo ao sucesso e a criação de uma identidade própria de sua Igreja. Nosso estudo diferencia-se das demais investigações já publicadas ao relacionar a criação de identidade religiosa e o uso de mecanismos acusatórios como instrumento eficaz para convencer e transmitir ideologias que favoreçam a expansão da Igreja Universal. Procuramos também, trazer para a discussão acadêmica que a análise de discurso de uma literatura religiosa pode ser uma referência para se estudar uma instituição religiosa, seus mecanismos de construção identitaria, legitimação e expansão no cenário religioso.(AU)

Religious diplomacy and socialism. The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Church of England, 1956-1959

This article analyzes the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the communist regime during one of the most intense periods of religious persecution in the Romanian People's Republic from 1956 to 1959. The church hierarchy demonstrated its support for the socialist construction of the country, while, at the same time, the regime began a campaign against religion by arresting clergy and reducing the number of religious people in monasteries; rumours even circulated that in 1958 Patriarch Justinian was under house arrest. Seeking closer contact with Western Europe, the regime allowed the hierarchy to meet foreign clergymen, especially from the Church of England. These diplomatic religious encounters played a double role. The regime realised that it could benefit from international ecclesiastical relations, while the image of Justinian in the West changed from that of "red patriarch" to that of a leader who was genuinely interested in his church's survival.

Intolerance of ambiguity, gender stereotypes, and attitudes to sexuality

The premise of this thesis is that Western thought is characterised by the need to enforce binary classification in order to structure the world. Classifications of sexuality and gender both embody this tendency, which has been largely influenced by Judeo-Christian tradition. Thus, it is argued that attitudes to sexuality, particularly homosexuality are, in part, a function of the way in which we seek to impose structure on the world. From this view, it is (partly) the ambiguity, inherent in gender and sexual variation, which evokes negative responses. The thesis presents a series of inter-linked studies examining attitudes to various aspects of human sexuality, including the human body, non-procreative sex acts (anal an oral sex) and patterns of sexuality that depart from the hetero-homo dichotomy. The findings support the view that attitudes to sexuality are significantly informed by gender-role stereotypes, with negative attitudes linked to intolerance of ambiguity. Male participants show large differences in their evaluations of male and female bodies, and of male and female sexual actors, than do female participants. Male participants also show a greater negativity to gay male sexual activity than do female participants, but males perceive lesbian sexuality similarly to heterosexuality. Male bodies are rated as being less 'permeable' than female bodies and male actors are more frequently identified as being the instigators of sexual acts. Crucial to the concept of heterosexism is the assumption that 'femininity' is considered inherently inferior to 'masculinity'. Hence, the findings provide an empirical basis for making connections between heterosexism and sexism, and therefore between the psychology of women, and gay and lesbian psychology.

Wittgenstein and the justification of religious belief

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The use of metaphors as models in religious discourse, with special reference to implications for syllabuses in religious education

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Religious young adults recounting the past:narrating sexual and religious cultures in school

Schooling can be a pivotal time in young people’s formative experience when identities are negotiated and forged. However, contradictory dominant cultures can operate within the school context, making it very challenging for individuals to negotiate their religious and sexual identities within a sexualised and heteronormative space. This essay draws on interview data relating to 18- to 25-yearolds of diverse religious faiths in the UK, who recounted their secondary schooling experiences, and focuses on the formal and informal ways in which the school was constituted in relation to religion and sexuality.