Fundamentalism

Dinin siyasete alet edilmemesi, din ve devlet işlerinin ayrıştırılması ve
toplumsal dinin laiklik ile dengeli bir görünüm arz etmesi meselesi uzun
yıllardır Türkiye’nin gündemindedir. Gerek dünyada gerekse de Türkiye’de
dinin toplumsal görünümü arttıkça, din ve siyaset ilişkisi daha da tartışmalı hale gelmektedir. Kamusal ve toplumsal alanda dini referansların yoğunlaştığı durumlarda Kemalist ideoloji özellikle laiklik ve modernizm ilkeleri bağlamında çeşitli refleksler ortaya koymaktadır. Kemalist ideolojinin ilkeleri açısından “sekülerlik ve laiklik” kavramları uygulama bağlamında seküler fundamentalizm olarak karşımıza çıkmakta; din ve siyaset ilişkisinin Türkiye’ye yönelik değerlendirmesinde farklı bir bakış açısı sunmaktadır.
Kemalizm, sekülerizm ve fundamentalizmi tartışmak için öncelikle
kavramsal çerçevenin çizilmesi gerekmektedir. Çalışmada laiklik, sekülerizm ve fundamentalizm ilişkisi bağlamında Kemalizm’in Türkiye uygulamalarının seküler fundamentalizme nasıl dönüştüğü tartışılmaktadır. Sekülerizm daha çok toplumsal yaşamın bir parçası olarak değerlendirilirken, laiklik rejimin korunması noktasında siyasal bir kavram olarak nitelendirilmektedir. Çalışma, kavramsal farklılıkların yanı sıra Kemalist ideolojinin laiklik ilkesinin uygulanmasının seküler fundamentalizme dönüştüğünü vurgulamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Fundamentalizm, Kemalizm, Laiklik, Modernleşme,
Seküler Fundamentalizm, Sekülerizm.
KEMALISM AND SECULAR FUNDAMENTALISM
Abstract: The issue concerning religion should not be an instrument for
politics; the separation of religion and state affairs and the social religious appearance to have a balanced appearance with secularism has long been in the agenda of the world and our country. As the social aspect of religion grows, the relationship between religion and politics is becoming more controversial in the world, as well as in our country. When religious references are concentrated in public and social space, Kemalist ideology reveals various reflexes, especially in the context of the principles of secularism and modernism. In terms of the principles of Kemalist ideology, secularism emerges as secular fundamentalism; offering a different perspective in the assessment of the relationship between religion and politics in Turkey.
In order to examine Kemalism, secularism and fundamentalism, it is
primarily necessary to draw the conceptional framework of these concepts. In the study, how the Turkey practices of Kemalism were transformed to fundamentalizm is discussed within the context of secularism and fundamentalism relationship. While secularism is mostly evaluated as a part of
social life, it is described as a political concept in the point of the defense of secular regime. It is argued that the Kemalist ideology practices secularity by transforming it into a fundamentalist form.
Keywords: Fundamentalism, Kemalism, Laicism, Modernization, Secular
Fundamentalism, Secularism.

Islamophobic sentiments in the Western world have gained scientific attention, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However, the effects of religious stigma on Muslim minorities’ identity formation have rarely been studied. Using structural equation modeling, this cross-sectional study examined direct and indirect effects of different forms of religious stigma on the national affiliation of 210 Norwegian-Pakistani and 216 German-Turkish Muslims. Furthermore, the study examined the mediator role of religious identity. Our results suggest that being a Muslim in Norway is more reconcilable with affiliating with the nation than being a Muslim in Germany. However, across the samples, the results indicated that various forms of religious stigma affected Muslims’ national identity and engagement in the public and private sphere in distinct ways. These effects were both positive and negative, differed between the two samples, and in Germany, were mediated by the participants’ religious identity. The findings indicated that the ways in which religious stigma influences Muslims’ national affiliation is context and culture bound.

There is a long history of atrocities committed in the name of religion, likewise there is an equally long committed by atheists. There central trait that it shares, is fundamentalism. Which this report will argue that new atheism is oriented with. The rise of the new atheist movement in the recent years can be argued to be a natural phenomenon of modernity. The emphasis of science and reason as a worldview claimed by the new atheist slogans offer a charming and intriguing worldview to its followers. However, a closer enquiry into the abundance of texts and comparative analysis to the history of ideas, will prove that the ideas advocated by new atheist movement isn’t in any way new nor prevalent to modernity as previous predecessors have been advocating atheist ideals at a much more philosophical level .Closer analysis of new atheism under sociological and philosophical perspectives will be argued in this report to be a revitalization from its previous predecessors. However, unlike its predecessor, the new atheists militancy and disturbingly lack of tolerance towards critiques, but most central, the new atheists claim to the objective truth and knowledge presents a threat to society in which is similar to that of fundamentalist religious movements.

Alija Ali Izetbegović (1925-2003) is one of the outstanding Muslim thinkers in recent history who have re-conceptualized the Islamic worldview and ethos in the context of the contemporary world on the one hand and critically reflected upon the modern Western civilization, on the other. Izetbegović conceives Islam as a system representing a middle path between Christian spiritualism and materialism of modern civilization. However, like any profound philosophical system, his thought requires exposition and interpretation, which the present paper ventures to undertake. Specifically, the paper inquires whether and how far his vision of Islam facilitates coexistence between Muslims and the others, especially regarding the Muslims living in Western societies. The query is crucial because some writers have accused Izetbegović of being a fundamentalist who pursued an agenda of monolithic Islamic culture with little room for meaningful participation of non-Muslims. The paper concludes that c...

The purpose of faith!

Kein Wort ist vielleicht so vielen Missverständnissen ausgesetzt, wie der Begriff „Glaube“. Dazu haben die Kirchen und Gemeinden erheblich beigetragen. Heute versteht man darunter in der Hauptsache nur: etwas für wahr halten, eine Sache für zutreffend halten, obwohl sie der – zumindest eigenen – Erfahrung widerspricht. So haben viele Christen keine Schwierigkeit, an die Jungfrauengeburt oder die Wunder Jesu zu glauben. Schwierig wird es erst, wenn man daran glauben soll, dass man z.B. von der eigenen Krankheit durch Glauben gesund werden, oder, dass man durch Glauben wesentliche Veränderungen in der eigenen Psyche hervorrufen kann. Allein Veränderung ist Sinn und Zweck des Glaubens!

In order to map out the extent to which the interplay between professional creationist and anti-creationist organizations in the United States determines the state of the creation/evolution debates, I shall proceed in three steps. First, I will present an example that characterizes the way in which professional creationism works in the United States. Second, I will review some key aspects of the history of professional creationism and anti-creationism in America. Third, I will present a sociological model that helps explain why creationism in the United States has developed in the way it has. This model is based upon the theory of social fields as developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Its main function is to make visible the way in which professional creationists and anti-creationists are attuned to each other with regard to their arguments, strategies, and the concepts they apply to Interpret their own actions and those of their opponents.

Abstrak Tindak Pidana Terorisme merupakan sebuah perjalanan panjang dari sebuah perang yang pada akhirnya akan berkepanjangan. Adanya konsep fundamentalis islam dan Insurgensi serta kesalahan pemikiran dalam pendefinisian lone wolf merupakan sebuah keberhasilan dari kegiatan terorisme dalam memotivasi ideologi, melakukan perekrutan, dan juga melakukan publikasi atas apa yang sudah dilakukan. Dengan memahami konsep fundamentalis islam, maka kita dapat memahami bagaimana sebuah ajaran yang seharusnya murni mengajarkan sebuah jalan yang lurus pada umatnya, menjadi sebuah tindakan radikal yang dilakukan oleh para terorisme saat ini. Elemen psikologis yang menjadi tujuan utama dari kegiatan terorisme untuk mengambil simpatik masyarakat dan menjadikan perbuatan mereka sebagai sebuah pembenaran di jalan Tuhan. Dengan memperkenalkan konsep bai'at dalam mengimplementasikan khilafah islamiah, merupakan langkah yang diambil dalam mewujudkan tujuan dari insurgensi yang membutuhkan perjuangan akan sebuah perang yang panjang.

"Although negative reactions accompanied the reception of Darwinism in the Islamic World from the beginning, a full fledged Islamic creationist movement did not appear before the 1970s. Originally it was restricted to Turkey, where Islamic
groups attempted to undermine the materialist foundation of Marxism and Kemalism. From the late 1990s onwards the subject became popular among Muslims in the diaspora. This was due to the efforts of Adnan Oktar alias Harun Yahya, a
hitherto marginal figure in Turkey, to propagate his ideas via the Internet. The Internet allows him to adapt his propaganda constantly to new issues and creationist and anti-creationist publications and to recruit volunteers willing to translate his
books. Thanks to the combination of a neglected subject with the innovative use of new media Oktar gained the opinion leadership in this field. Even movements, the founders of which had attacked Darwinism, now refer to Oktar as main authority on this issue. However, he failed to gain an equal degree of attention for topics like conspiracy theories and eschatology. In these fields he had to compete with a bulk of
existing material in conventional media. The success of his former disciple Mustafa Akyol shows that using the Internet as main means of propaganda may restrict the political impact. He became the chief Muslim ally of Christian creationists in the
USA by managing to get published by respectable “old media”. For him the Internet only fulfils an auxiliary function."

This book explores the moral psychology of devotion. In the first part of the book, I provide I analysis of devotion; an examination of its motivational role; and an explanation of its connection to a distinctive form of valuing, in which certain values are seen as inviolable and are rendered invulnerable to the typical effects of justificatory reflection. In the second part of the book, I assess the ethical significance of devotion, arguing that certain forms of ethically praiseworthy relationships require devotion. In the third part, I examine how devotion can easily devolve into pathological forms. I focus on fanaticism, arguing that devotion can arise from a particular form of psychological fragility that is linked to group violence. I further argue that this form of fragility can be stoked by group resentment, and that certain social groups can thus be fanatical in the sense that they encourage the emergence of individual fanatics. In the final part of the book, I ask whether there are ways of preserving some of the beneficial features of devotion while avoiding their pathologies. I investigate whether we can be devoted through irony; through affirmation; and through what I call the "Deepening Move." Each of these stances preserves a degree of flexibility and openness in the object of devotion; each one tries to preserve a form of wholehearted devotion despite this openness. (The attached file contains the introductory chapter. Email or message me if you'd like a draft of the entire book.)

The purpose of the article is describe the philosophical analysis of the issue of fundamentalism, focusing on its theoretical aspects, not analyzing existing movements labeled
“fundamentalist”. The crucial part of analysis will be the way of understanding and defining the issue, and presentation of the conclusions from those elements, using the perspective of political philosophers such as Cornel West, John Gray, Michael
Walzer or Slavoj Żiżek. The interpretation axis of this issue will help to expose not only the differences in understanding and implementing fundamentalist ideologies, but also to point out the problems with such ideologies and the role of utopian element in fundamentalism. This article will highlight the essential characteristics of fundamentalists, such as the element of belief (not necessary religious belief devoted to the
afterlife and supreme beings) and the totality of professed ideological system (or even the “absoluteness”). The author will also raise the question of two extreme forms of fundamentalism: extreme isolationism and radical proselytism (also ideological proselytism) and the reason for both forms.

The turn of the twenty-first century has seen an ever-increasing profile for religion, contrary to long-standing predictions of its decline. Instead, the West has experienced what some call a ‘realignment’ of religion where it persists in conjunction with other institutions and structures. Outside the West, religion is an ever more prominent force in social and political movements of both reform and retrenchment. Across these contexts, no issue in religion is of as much concern as fundamentalism – or rather the fundamentalisms within various traditions – which are seen to be fomenting religious, social, ethnic, and political tension and conflict.

The contributions to this volume represent the first effort to look at ‘fundamentalisms’ and ‘the media’ together and address the resulting relations and interactions from critical perspectives of history, technology, geography, and practice. The result lays important groundwork for scholarship on these new and increasingly important phenomena.

The newly-adopted Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Social Workers (2005a) includes in its preamble:
The Code of Ethics does not specify which values and principles are most important and which outweigh others in instances of conflict. Reasonable differences of opinion exist among social workers with respect to which values and principles should be given priority in a particular situation (p.2).
This article explores the implications of the Code’s openness to the “reasonable differences of opinion” clause with particular attention to groups of people who might be identified as “fundamentalist.” This article argues that recent trends in immigration and religion will require the social work profession to reflect on how it can remain committed to anti-oppressive practice while at the same time making room for the perspectives of those belonging to religiously orthodox groups.  A multiple pluralities approach which recognizes humans’ narrative character is suggested as one way to resolve potential conflicts.

Here is my initial response to David Currie's book. I was very disturbed after reading it, and found it hard to give Mr. Currie the benefit of doubt, in other words, the trust that his presentation was just the result of sincere (though perhaps sloppy) scholarship and investigation, and not a calculated misrepresentation of Scriptures and Evangelicalism. I would very much like to correspond with him, as soon as I get a hold of his address, hoping he would indeed prove to me that he came to these conclusions only as a result of having been misled by others... including poor representatives of his fundamentalist background. But I fear he has adopted too quickly the Roman Catholic theology for all the wrong reasons and after too little study on the subject of final authority. Anyway, here are my findings of Currie's use of Scripture in support of his positions in the first quarter of his book.

In 1964, Firm Foundation editor Reuel Lemmons, for decades one of the most powerful voices in Churches of Christ, created something never before seen in the United States – a public battle over whether a state should adopt textbooks that accept evolution as fact. Although mentioned briefly in several accounts of the history of the American creationist movement, a full accounting of the 1964 Austin, Texas, textbook controversy has not taken place before now.

This paper shows that although other figures more commonly associated with broader American fundamentalism eventually became national representatives of the Texas anti-evolution movement, Lemmons and the Churches of Christ in fact led the charge in this groundbreaking moment. The paper shows how Lemmons provided the infrastructure to mount a statewide, and eventually national, campaign against the adoption of new science texts, and how his supporters leveraged resources from the newly established Creation Research Society to articulate a series of then-novel arguments describing creationism as a scientifically supported notion deserving equal time with evolution in public schools.

Extremism is an ideology that is considered to be far outside mainstream attitude of society. Usually it is an attack on values’ system. We can see political, religious and ideological forms (some of them can interlace each other). I would like to discuss one page 'a kind of theory', "Where extremism can turn into the violent form?" (for instance Daesh/so-called Islamic State is the group where we can see a violent ideological approach driven by will of political changes, and inspired by fundamental beliefs).

Please comment and share your thoughts.

Worldview is the general outlook on life. It is the blueprint by which people perceive reality and interpret the world. Worldview is a rich concept and an all-­‐encompassing notion. It can be described as a large cognitive-­‐mental mapping, an affective-­‐emotional tuning, and a comprehensive-­‐ philosophical landing. It is the collection of views and conceptions about life, existence, and humanity at large. Worldview is a group of theories, impressions, and conclusions that an individual or a community holds. It can be based on pure abstract notions or mere experiential grounds. In addition, worldview can be personally formulated at one point in time or can be built through the years, propagating from one generation to the next. Worldview is how we normally conceptualize the world and act upon life. Virtually, it is an integral part of the fabric of cultures, beliefs, attitudes, and traditions.

This literature review provides definitions of religious supremacism and fundamentalism on the one hand and racial or white supremacism, the UK Far Right and the Alt Right on the other. It also contains a discussion of gendered approaches to preventing violent extremism. The review notes significant gaps in knowledge and research but identifies five cross cutting issues: purity and imperialism; particular manifestations of intimate partner and family violence; sexual violence; anti-feminism; and masculinity.

Ces dernières années, nos sociétés ont été le théâtre d’un regain en vigueur (et en intolérance) des religions monothéistes, lequel s’est accompagné d’une mise en question de l’évidence de la sécularisation et de la pertinence de la laïcité, accusées d’oppresser les « sensibilités religieuses ». Et tandis que prolifèrent fake news, « théories du complot » et autres délires de conflits de portée civilisationnelle voire cosmique, la défiance de l’autorité des sciences s’accroit et instaure une certaine désespérance de l’idéal démocratique. Face à cette situation, il est utile de se ressourcer dans les écrits de John Dewey consacrés aux religions et au naturalisme. Si le philosophe américain a pu dire en 1930 qu’il n’a « jamais été capable d’attacher beaucoup d’importance à la religion en tant que problème philosophique», il s’y est souvent intéressé en tant que problème intellectuel, social et politique.
Le présent livre rassemble vingt-cinq de ses interventions sur les religions et le naturalisme, couvrant une période allant de 1893 à 1950. En offrant en français l’accès à un pan méconnu de l’œuvre du philosophe et intellec- tuel américain, ce recueil aimerait contribuer à un rafraichissement pragmatiste de la critique des religions ; Dewey le montrait, c’est au nom des exigences de l’idéal démocratique qu’il faut critiquer les religions surnaturalistes et promouvoir le naturalisme.

This provides an overview of the 1.5M ERC Starting Grant on the Epistemology and Ethics of fundamentalism that was recently awarded to me. I aim to carry out the research from 2020 to 2025 in the Philosophy Department (Faculty of Humanities) and the Faculty of Religion & Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Prezentul studiu adresează problema spinoasă a rolului religiei în dezvoltarea radicalismului cu care se confruntă lumea de azi. Înmulțirea actelor terorise în ultima vreme a dat naștere unor întrebări precum: este religia sursa violenței? Creșterea fundamentalismelor religioase poate fi corelată cu o creștere a radicalizării? Are terorismul un substrat religios, sau cauzele lui primare trebuie căutate în altă parte? Care sunt cele mai eficiente strategii de deradicalizare? În acest material se vor urmări câteva voci influente din domeniul științelor sociale, în special Gilles Kepel și Olivier Roy și se va evidenția direcția spre care se îndreaptă cercetarea din domeniul științelor sociale în analiza și interpretarea fenomenului.

This chapter deals with the recent oscillations within the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) between traditionalism and fundamentalism. After the political changes in Serbia that took place in the aftermath of October 2000, SOC has assumed much more prominent political and religious roles in the Serbian society. The new “symphony” with the state has enabled the church to exert an unprecedented symbolical and normative influence, offering a new framework of ideology and values for the state institutions and public education system. This political and ideological shift, sometimes labeled as the process of clericalization, is very conservative in its character. On the one hand, it is founded on a vague concept of svetosavlje, the ideology of the leading SOC theologians since the mid-20th century. The projection of a golden medieval past, the “Kosovo testament” (cult of martyrdom), and the myth of St Sava - the greatest Serbian saint, resemble, to a certain extent, Sunni Salafism and the Shiite cult of Ali and the myth of Karbala, i.e. the historical defeat that turned into a “heavenly triumph”.
On the other hand, the recent experience with the wars of the 1990s, an international isolation and the delayed process of accession to the EU, gave rise to a specific “Masada complex” and a self-righteous attitude with occasional messianic and eschatological overtones and ethno-nationalist references to territory and people (especially in the context of the Kosovo problem). Monoculturalism (accompanied by an “organic” view of the state, church and society) and the opposition to secularism, civil society, enlightenment, ecumenism and religious and social pluralism, are only some of the elements of this new religious-political agenda of SOC. The para-clerical organizations acting under the auspice of the SOC, and supported by its Information Service, openly advocate the formation of an “Orthodox public opinion.” Moreover, the program of de-secularization of the Serbian society has recently been announced from a high position in the church hierarchy. It seems as if this new political agenda has been based on religion, but its true aims are trans-religious: they tackle the future course of development of the Serbian society and hinder the process of democratization and accession to the EU. Such a shift to a monistic, archaic, “testamentary” pattern was probably best exemplified by the Draft of the National Program of the Serbian Youth for the 21st Century, proposed and adopted in 2004.
Typologically, this recourse to traditionalism and conservatism within the SOC - largely embraced by the highest state officials and embedded in a joint religious-political concept of “conciliar unity” or sabornost – might also be observed in the context of religious fundamentalism. What we have in mind here, in the first place, are the following features:
1. The return to the fundamental principles, to the origin, or something that has been corrupted in the course of time. The SOC representatives, for example, often express their fear from the destruction of the “true faith” through their open resistance to secularization of the modern (Western) world. Instead of initiating a dialogue with that world, the SOC opts for an official condemnation of secularization.
2. Exclusiveness in interpretation: fundamentalism is against hermeneutic pluralism, because it leads, as it were, to cognitive and value relativism. Instead, fundamentalism prefers the dualistic, Manichean rhetoric (Us-Them, God-Satan, Friends-Foes). An essential feature of fundamentalism is its resistance to pluralism in interpretation, whereas its hermeneutic monism leads to sectarian exclusiveness. The rigid adherence to only one interpretation of a phenomenon may eventually turn a hermeneutic problem into a serious political or even military issue. Concerning the SOC, one could refer to its fear of re-interpretation of Christianity and ultimate “demise” of Orthodoxy in its encounter with the more pluralistic and ecumenical discourse and dialogue.
3. Resistance to (Western) secularization and the rejection of a secular world-view. The Enlightenment poses a special “threat” to any fundamentalism. Taking into account that the two greatest Serbian theologians, Nikolaj Velimirović and Justin Popović, held an unreservedly anti-Western position in their works, it would be worthwhile to explore the current stance of the Serbian theologians regarding Europe, European Union and the West in general, seen as the historical, political and religious-metaphysical Other.
4. Fundamentalism is often a product of the political, social and economic crisis, or a response to a crisis situation. In Serbia, such conditions were created after the assassination of the former PM Zoran Djindjić and the subsequent suspension of the reform and transition of the Serbian society. The SOC public discourse in this latest period has ranged from the scandalous speech at Djindjić’s funeral, to the direct public defense of the persons indicted of war crimes (in some clerical circles they are still glorified as patriots and heroes).
5. In an ideological sense, the fundamentalist ideas are directed against science and secular public education, although in practical terms fundamentalism often takes advantage of modern science and technology. Apart from the introduction of the confessional, denominational religious education in public schools in 2001, I will refer to some more recent tendencies of the SOC School of Theology to interfere with the plans and programs of other schools within the University of Belgrade.
6. The spirit of ecumenism, dialogue and tolerance is alien to fundamentalism and often its greatest opponent. One may include here the SOC reservation towards initiating a more productive dialogue and reconciliation with other religious communities in the Balkans within various ecumenical organizations and initiatives.

Besides the general literature on fundamentalism, religion and globalization (e.g. Marty-Appleby, B. Parekh, O. Roy, P. Beyer, A. Meddeb, K. Kienzler, T. H. Eriksen et al.), the more specific sources for this study include the public statements of the SOC clergy, the theological works of Nikolaj Velimirovic, as well as the Orthodox youth organizations’ documents, their periodicals and internet presentations. The supporting documents also include the Law on the Churches and Religious Communities (2006), the statements of the Serbian Minister of Religious Affairs and statements of other conservative politicians.

Keywords: Serbian Orthodox Church, ethno-nationalism, ideology, de-secularization, traditionalism, conservatism, sabornost, myth, testament, martyrdom, crisis, instrumentalism, civil society, public sphere

It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As a sociological fact, this may be hard to argue against. Much that goes by the name Christianity looks quite near to what Ernest Becker described as a fearful “death denying ideology.” In theological terminology, such ways of being amount to self-salvation programs. The terror of death drives us to avoid all forms of death. Yet, at the heart of Christianity stands one who chose his own death and encouraged his followers to take up their own crosses and follow him. Such an act, apparently, has an important role to play in an understanding of Christian salvation. In this thesis, I make use of developmental stages theory to illuminate what that role is. I argue that Christian salvation is founded on a paradoxical death that is best made sense of in light of contemporary developmental stages theory, in particular, at the thresholds of developmental stage transition. To illuminate this claim I trace out the logic across the rational, desirous, and active dimensions of human being. These dimensions are explored, in order, by way of Paul Tillich’s philosophy of religion, Sebastian Moore’s spiritual Christology, and the practice of Centering prayer. Taken together, it is concluded that Christianity has tremendous resources for helping its adherents come to grips with their death denying strategies and therefore enlarge their capacity for psychological and spiritual maturity.

The 'They are the Enemy, so Beware of Them' film series began with the release of the first video instalment in January 2012 during a period when Al-Shabaab was facing severe political, financial, and military pressures due to a renewed series of offensives by AMISOM, SFG, and allied Somali militia forces. However, the first video instalment included footage of the confession of an accused spy, Ahmed Kisi, which was originally broadcast in early February 2011 in a trial run of Al-Shabaab's terrestrial television station, the Al-Kataib News Channel, which stopped broadcasting after the group's withdrawal from Mogadishu in August 2011. In the footage, Kisi confessed to working for the CIA. He was later publicly executed by Al-Shabaab in the Huriwa district in northeastern Mogadishu. In a 2 February 2011 statement from Al-Shabaab, Kisi, a former member of the Somali Salafist Al-I'tisaam group that eventually became critical of Al-Shabaab, was accused of working for the CIA since 2004. Later video instalments included lengthy narrative confessions from other Somalis arrested by the Amniyyat and accused of spying for the group's enemies, including the CIA and the French intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE). In the third instalment, for example, a young Somali man, Muhammad Gele Abdullah, "confessed" to guiding French commando forces to the town of Buulo-Mareer in a failed attempt in January 2013 to rescue Denis Allex, who the DGSE had sent in 2009 to train Somali government forces and who was captured by Al-Shabaab in July of that year.

The purpose of the film series and other videotaped 'confessions' and written and photographic
reports from Al-Shabaab's media apparatus about alleged spies is to both warn current or potential spies working against the group and to broadcast an image to the group's enemies of an organisation that, although having suffered significant urban territorial losses, remains a both formidable and capable force, especially in terms of internal security and intelligence. Although reports and the production of written, audio, and audio-visual media focusing on spies has
increased since Spring 2011 as Al-Shabaab began to suffer major battlefield setbacks, the militant group has long been concerned about the dangers posed by domestic spies, particularly during periods of territorial upheaval.

http://www.janes.com/

This Research aims to analyze the concept of the Individual in the philosophy of the Danish thinker Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), who was the founder of the modern existentialist movement, and sought to find a new basis for unity of Individuality during a time when Western society was facing a crisis brought on by the industrial revolution and its impact on culture, religion and Sciences.

      This Research is composed of two parts : the first part is more descriptive ,in which I tried to define the concept of the Individual with accordance to the theory of Individualism as it appears in modern philosophy and thought, The second part is analytical and focused on Kierkegaard's writings, trying to define his concept of the Individual with reference to his concept of the "crowed" which according to Kierkegaard is the negation to the individual and an anonymous entity that demolish the human identity.

This book explores the significance of a saying of the Prophet Muhammad -- namely, "Die before you die" -- from the perspective of an individual who has been journeying along a path of discovery for more than 50 years. The contents of this book might be one of the most unique, intriguing, and challenging accounts of Islam and the Sufi path that has been published in North America.
Just a few years ago, the author of this book died -- several times -- in the emergency room of a local hospital. This book starts with those events and, then, expands outward to talk about an array of experiences (including spiritual abuse) that has shaped his understanding of Islam, the Sufi path, life, ands himself.
In addition, the book critically reflects on a series of issues that have relevance in today's world. These ideas range from: Sam Harris, to topics such as: Education, religion, mysticism, science, and shari'ah.
While each of the book’s four sections has something to offer readers with respect to assisting a person to work toward developing a deeper understanding of Islam and its mystical dimension (as well as a number of other topics), the book's section on shari'ah might prove to be the most illuminating and thought-provoking facet of the book. More specifically, Dr. Whitehouse introduces readers to a way of engaging the topic of shari'ah that is quite different from what is normally thought of in conjunction with that term and, if God wishes, could serve as a way of helping to bring the Muslim world and the West closer together in a variety of constructive and harmonious ways.

Siyasal sistemler, devletlerin yönetim şekli ile ilgili iken ideolojiler zihniyetleri ile ilgilidir. Hükümetlerin sağlık, eğitim, sosyal güvenlik, kamu güvenliği gibi alanlarda olduğu kadar temel haklar ile uluslar arası ilişkiler alanında da politik tutumlarını sahip oldukları siyasal sistemlerden ziyade ideolojileri belirler.

Siyasî İdeolojiler kitabı, geçen iki yüzyıldan beri devlet politikalarını yönlendiren ideolojileri kapsamlı ve düzenli bir şekilde ele almakta; ideolojilerin tarihi gelişimini, temel kavramlarını, köşe taşlarını, temsilcilerini, Batı dünyasındaki, Müslüman dünyadaki ve Türkiye’deki yansımalarını derinlikli ama sade bir dille okuyucunun ilgisine sunmaktadır.

Kitabın içinde neler var?

* Ele alınan ideoloji hakkında ön bilgi
* Okuyucuyu içeriğe odaklayan sorular
* Renkli ve kalın yazı ile gösterilmiş kavramlar
* İdeolojilerin, Müslüman coğrafyadaki yansımaları
* İdeolojilerin demokrasi ve şiddetle olan ilişkileri
* Bilgilerin müzakeresini sağlayacak tartışma soruları
* Maddeler halinde her bölümün özeti

Religious identity has, in recent times, become an important point of inquiry because of the growing awareness of religious diversity. On the one hand, this reality of diversity has served as an impetus to return to the roots of one’s religion. On the other hand, others have called for a more pluralist stance, out of the need to open up to other traditions. In light of this polarity, I argue that one can commit to one’s religion while opening up to the religious other in a way that does not threaten one’s own tradition. This is done through a hermeneutic analysis of the religious identity, taking off from Paul Ricoeur’s phenomenological hermeneutics – how this identity is formed and informed by the different significations of meaning within the tradition, and how the believer interacts with this tradition to construct his or her own narrative identity, through his or her imagination, mapping out the constellations of possible human action that root themselves in the necessity in encountering and working with the religious other, for this necessity is constitutive of one’s commitment to the tradition, embodied in the biblical narratives that call for this encounter. In sum, it is possible to be committed to one’s faith conviction while being hospitable to the religious other because it is constitutive of religion itself to encounter its other, and it is in this encounter that faith is truly understood as conviction.

This work is a critical exploration of a book by Sam Harris entitled 'The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason'. While the book by Mr. Harris puts forth arguments that attempt to paint all spirituality and religion with broad strokes of derision, castigation, and rejection, Mr. Harris also reserves a great deal of space within his book for casting aspersions on Islam and Muslims. The present critical review examines the many errors, misunderstandings, and problems contained in the aforementioned work of Mr. Harris. This book -- minus corrections, new formatting, and name changes -- was previously published as:  'Sam Harris and the End of Faith: A Muslim's Critical Response'.

This paper explores fundamentalism from the perspective of the sociology of religion. It begins by tracing the history of the term fundamentalism and then argues that fundamentalism is often caused by proclivities toward secularization. While a key distinction between fundamentalism and normative Christianity is made, the argument specifically examines the fundamentalism occurring in the modern milieu of Eastern Christianity. In the end, a taxonomy of Orthodoxy fundamentalisms is offered based on the institution of elders, on the authority of the Church Fathers, and on liturgical practices.

Great journeys must be imagined first
and so trenchant in their intent
to slake the deepest kind of thirst,
they grasp imaginers by the throat
and tell them bluntly
only through travail and trial,
by purging fire
and hammer blows be smote
can their spirit be reforged
and history's child
be sired.
This ordeal can either temper
or destroy
according to its whim,
or perhaps the pilgrims’ strength within.
Courage can surmount faint hearts,
but how can faith presume
that having gambled all,
there is a way to save us in the end?
There are no roads upon the other side,
except the ones we make,
every step perhaps at stake
our lives,
every view through soldiers’ eyes.
And so we wile away our days
beside brooding familiarities
that will not speak to us for fear
that it is not the sun that brightens
all that we hold dear,
but the bonfire of our vanities;
that the deepening darkening shade it castes
is not shadow,
but decaying sanity.
We look for hopeful signs,
but at midnight,
the clock rings its hands and says
in anguished tones,
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
it’s time.”