Religions in the Public Spheres

The book contains articles of philosophers, theologians, and sociologists from 20 countries in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. They describe the status of religions in different cultures and states and formulate the norms and conditions of the presence of religion in public spheres from different perspectives. There has been religious revival and a worldwide process of subjectivization and immanentization of the traditional institutional religions. This book raises questions that are particularly significant to the present-day social, cultural and political practice in a global dimension. It is intended as a companion volume for all those who combine their academic research with wider interests in the promotion of freedom and tolerance.

Tadeusz Buksi?ski holds the chair of Social and Political Philosophy at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan and is Head of the Department of Philosophy. He has published several books and numerous articles on democracy in Western and Post-communist countries, morality in Post-communist countries, and the philosophy of history.

Contents: Tadeusz Buksi?ski: Preface – Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann: How Religion re-entered the Public Political Sphere. A Western Approach – Maciej Zieba OP: Seven Theses on Religion, Democracy and Open Society – Wilhelm Gräb: Each One Is a Particular Case. Aspects of the Transformation of Christianity in Global Modernity – John Farina: Hobbes and the Reconsideration of Secularist Assumptions – Manuel Jiménez-Redondo: Religion in the Public Sphere. Remarks on the Habermas-Ratzinger Debates – Bart Labuschagne: Towards a New Relationship between the Private, Public and Sacred Domains – Jänis (John) T?livaldis Ozoli?š: A Christian Perspective on the Consumer Society – Tadeusz Buksi?ski: Cultural Libertarianism – Karolina M. Cern/Piotr W. Juchacz: Post-Metaphysically Constructed National and Transnational Public Spheres and Their Content – Miklós Tomka: Strengthening Solidarity and Civil Society - Religion’s Social Role in Post-Communist Societies – Sergey Nizhnikov: The Problem of the Status of Religion in Russian Society Today – Gennadii Korzhov: Church, Religion and Religious Identity in Post-Atheist Ukraine – Yaroslav Pasko: On the Specificity of Religious Life in Ukraine – Mihaela Pop: Religious Art and its Deviated Forms in Romania during the Transition from the Communist Regime – Edward Joseph Alam: Religion in the Public Sphere: What the World can still learn from Lebanon – Mohammed Maarouf: The Cultural Foundations of Islamist Leadership in Morocco – Paulo C. João Faria: Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to Angola: An Opportunity of Truth-Telling and Revival of the Public Sphere – Ibrahim Azhar: Malay-Muslim Religious Discourse in Singapore: The Assertions of Religious Elites in the Public Sphere – Mehdi Sanaei: Globalism and Religions – Yuriy M. Pochta: Muslim Society between Fundamentalism and Liberalism: the Problem of Civil Society – Edwin George: Indian Polity and the Implications of Indian Democratic Secular Attitude – Seema Bose: Religions in the Public Sphere: Some Considerations in the Indian Context – Xiao Li: On the Significance of the Christian Religion to the Construction of the Chinese Public Sphere – Ulrich Steinvorth: The Conception of God in Physical Cosmology and Rational Metaphysics – Valery P. Goryunov: Religions and Science: Overcoming Alternatives in a Relativistic Model of Society – Evanghelos Moutsopoulos: Artistic Creativity: An Immanent Value Reflecting Transcendence – Erwin Bader: The Beatitudes. This Reforming of Practical Reasoning Could Overcome the Crisis of Secular Societies – Micha? T.J. Katafiasz: Full Democracy System - a Legal System Contributing to the Welfare of All People.