Browsing by Subject "religion"

Religion väcker nyhetsmediers intresse i en tid när stora konflikter knyts till religioner, när den religiösa mångfalden i samhället ökar och med den kontrasten mellan religiöst och sekulärt. Teorin om medialisering av religion utgår från nordiska kontexter, där banden till religionen försvagas, och hävdar att det är mediernas representationer av religioner som i dag ligger till grund för människors kunskap. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är därför att få kunskap om finlandssvenska journalisters attityder till nyhetsmediernas roll som källa till information om de två största världsreligionerna: kristendomen och islam. Det här uppnås genom att granska hur journalisterna förhåller sig till frågor om representation, ansvar och kunskapsbehov. Metoden som används är kvalitativ attitydforskning, vilken bygger på att människors attityder formas i sociala situationer och kan studeras genom deras ställningstaganden och argumentationer. Materialet består av intervjuer med åtta journalister från finlandssvenska nyhetsmedier. I intervjuerna ställdes informanterna inför 20 påståenden som rör religionerna och det redaktionella arbetet. Attityderna analyserades genom att granska och kategorisera informanternas ställningstaganden och motiveringar. En djupare analys av attitydernas objekt och subjekt gav vidare kunskap om informanternas syn på sitt eget arbete, ansvar och journalistens yrkesroll. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen är att journalisterna omfattar tanken att nyhetsmedierna har en roll som källa till information om kristendom respektive islam. Den här rollen är ändå sekundär både till principer som karakteriserar journalistrollen och till de praktiska omständigheter som styr arbetet. Synen på nyhetsmediernas roll och porträttering av religionerna är också av distinkt olika karaktär. För kristendomens del är det icke-kontroversiellt att se nyhetskriterierna som den främsta faktorn som avgör dess plats och roll i nyheterna. När det gäller islam finns en annan nivå av känslighet och fokus på korrekthet, bildning och nyans i rapporteringen. Ett centralt drag i attityderna är spänningen mellan inställningen till porträtteringen av religionerna å ena sidan och nyhetsjournalistikens principer å andra sidan. Informanternas attityder uppvisar stora likheter med tidigare studier och det finns klara paralleller mellan attityderna och den dokumenterade bilden av nyhetsrapporteringen om religion. De attityder journalisterna i den här studien uttrycker ger stöd för tesen att medierna har en central roll i att definiera och rama in frågor om kristendom och islam i samhällsdiskussionen. Informanterna tillstår möjliga negativa konsekvenser av hur framför allt islam representeras i olika typer av media. Samtidigt fyller flertalet attityder en funktion av att förklara och rationalisera det redaktionella arbetet. Ur journalisternas synvinkel kan nyhetsmedierna inte beskyllas för att fokusera på negativa nyheter, eftersom yrkets ideologi och mediets logik säger att dessa har prioritet. Det här kan i sin tur antas påverka hur det egna arbetet utförs. Den sammanlagda bilden blir att attityderna till nyheterna som källa till information om kristendomen och islam, bland journalister i västerländska kontexter, i stor utsträckning gynnar status quo i nyhetsrapporteringen.

Finland is currently considered having one of the lowest total birth rates in the world. Even though declining fertility rates is a common phenomenon in most European countries, the ideal family size of European women has not followed the same trend. Recent research indicates, however, that fertility ideals might be declining as well. Given that fertility ideals are among the key factors driving fertility behavior, it is important to explore which factors are involved in their formation. The cognitive-social model of fertility intentions posits that our social context shapes our mental representations of the world and our role in it – our schemas. It is likely that religion influences even non-religious people’s schema formation through cultural components such as values, including those regarding family. To further understand how fertility ideals are formed in relation to religion and family values, I examined the personal ideal number of children reported by Finnish men and women of fertile age in cross-sectional 2008 and 2015 survey data. Based on the cognitive-social model of fertility intentions, I posed the hypotheses that the perceived importance of religion in one’s life is related to the personal ideal number of children, and that this association is, at least in part, explained by the perceived importance of family values. A simple mediation analysis conducted separately for both the 2008 and 2015 data supported both hypotheses, but the mediation role of family values was marginal. Both the importance of religion and family values were associated with a higher ideal number of children. Most of the influence of the importance of religion on the ideal number of children was independent of family values.

This Master’s Thesis proposes a reading of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (first edition published 1818) against the historical background of secularization and the philosophical problem of secular ethics. At a moment in Western history when religious views of man and the world he inhabits were rapidly losing significance, many intellectuals sought to find a non-theistic foundation for ethical values. Among them were many of the renowned British Romantic poets, much of whose literary opus can be read as an ethico-philosophical undertaking. This thesis reads Frankenstein against the backdrop of the religious and ethical thought of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s companion, literary mentor during the composition of Frankenstein, and later husband. In comparison with other period texts, Frankenstein presents a distinctly naturalistic outlook from which the supernatural is strikingly absent. Furthermore, the religious and ethical views of the novel’s protagonist are remarkably similar to those of Percy Shelley; this finding dovetails with recent scholarship which suggests that Victor Frankenstein was modeled upon the author’s real-life companion. However, the fact that the novel’s Shelley-like protagonist can easily be read as the villain of the story and that his distinctly Romantic attitudes result in an ethical catastrophe suggests a subtle but powerful critique of Shelleyan Romanticism and its metaphysical and ethical tenets. This interpretation is underscored by an analysis of Victor Frankenstein’s first-person confession narrative employing James Phelan’s taxonomy of narratorial unreliability, which highlights the protagonist’s lack of ethical clairvoyance and his inadequate engagement with his severe ethical failures.

Counter-terrorism discourses have been increasingly studied during the recent decades but still mostly in the context of the Global North. One of the key researchers in this area is Elizabeth Shakman Hurd whose ‘Two Faces of Faith’ conceptual framework shows the tensions and consequences that arise when religion becomes an object of international public policy. The current study uses critical discourse analysis to apply this framework to two West African cases, ECOWAS and the G5 Sahel, to see how they construct the role of religion and religious actors in conflicts and peacebuilding. The data consist of 10 publicly available counter-terrorism and peacebuilding policy documents of the two organizations. The findings indicate that the ‘two faces’ framework is a relevant and useful analytical lens for investigating the role religious actors are given within the context of counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism. However, the documents are not a reproduction of Hurd’s arguments and often, the discourses do not follow the secularist dichotomies of the ‘two faces’ framework. Instead, religion is conceptualized through its role and position in the complex historical, cultural, and social systems in the region. Thus, even though the ‘two faces’ framework has been successfully used to explain the US-led political discourse on religion, more complex approaches based in systems thinking might be needed to conceptualize the West African understanding of the issue.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine how values, specifically Conservation, relate to religion, between Catholics and Protestants in particular, and with spirituality. It explores previous research and literature, and seeks to understand how human values are related to religiosity in Europe today by focusing on socioeconomic variables and the participants’ self-reported measurements of values and religiosity. It also considers the history and significance of current values, as well as the social dynamics that inspire and shape, support and challenge them. Values, religion, and society dynamically interact, and this study attends to this relationship. Survey data regarding values and religiosity were taken from the European Social Survey 2010 and were analyzed using paired independent sample t-tests. All genders, ages, education levels, and income levels were considered. Regarding Conservation, there was a very significant difference between those affiliating with a religion and those not affiliating with a religion, and also between Catholics and Protestants. These results may indicate that while Europe is a post-industrial, post-modern region of the world, religion remains an important influence among many.