Religious dialogue and cooperation

PREFACE

Zoran Matevski — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The human awareness of social appertaining has deep biological and social roots. The alienated
individual, on his own, is of no significance and is not a human in the real sense of the word, unless
he becomes a member of any group, reaches a social position and his own place within the system of
relationships. In contrast to the political parties, which are a relatively new phenomenon, the religiosity
represents a universal social phenomenon. Hardly any civilization of significance does not have a certain
religious component incorporated within itself or has not been based on it.
Evaluating the claims of the secularization story, we face several unresolved questions:
1. Is the suppression of religion limited to the area of Europe and is the narrative of secularization at
the same time an attempt to present the European experience to the rest of the world.
2. Are religious beliefs being comprehensively suppressed and people becoming less religious, or
are we dealing with new forms of religiosity, where new models of religious beliefs and practices are
emerging that replace the old/traditional ones?
3. Has the religiosity of people not decreased and what has been achieved with the process of secularization.
Is this a change in the social role of religion? Secularism is not the suppression of religion but
an aspect of the weakening of religious authority.

ROMAN CATHOLICS AND MUSLIMS IN GREECE: INTERRELIGIOUS AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE IN A BALKAN COUNTRY

Costanza Salvatore — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This paper is intended to analyse Islamic presence in Modern Greece especially under the
perspective of interreligious dialogue between Muslim refugees and Christian majority of Greek
population. In this context, many initiatives held by Roman Catholics in Greece, especially Jesuits,
Franciscans, local Caritas, Sisters of Mother Theresa, are devoted to Muslim refugees and people
of different migratory background. Humanitarian activity promoted by Roman Catholics favours
an interactive process with immigrants but also a fight for justice with the result of establishing
an interfaith dialogue with Greek Orthodox Christians. The meeting with refugees is aimed not
only to give them the possibility of making an income, but also to restore the dignity of migrant
people. So, for example, the Jesuit Refugee Center (JRS) and the Jesuit Welcome Center (JWC) are
meant to answer the urgent needs of people from Central Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan), Northern
and Sahel Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Nigeria) and other countries with Muslim majority. On
the other hand, these initiatives favour a regular daily routine through work and/or learning. This
goal inspired the “Pedro Arrupe Center”, a social justice and educational project, aimed to help
young refugees or children of families with migratory background to better pursue their school
integration process.

POLITICS AND RELIGION

Emil Dimitriev — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

There is almost no other common evolution of two phenomena that builds its uniqueness
and specificity on overlapping and separating at the same time, like the relationship between
politics and religion. The axis around which both phenomena exist is the man, or in more recent
times from the aspect of their political awareness - the citizen. The specificity of the coexistence
of politics and religion, among other things, is based on the complexity of individual phenomena,
on their place and role in social processes. What politics and religion have in common is that
their identity is based on the concrete complemented by the abstract. In other words, their scope
of action moves beyond the limits of the rational and empirically verified. The key to explaining
this challenge is that both phenomena have belief as spiritus movens in their essence. One of the
characteristics of the historical evolution and mutual influence of politics and religion is the process
of refining, i.e. building one’s own identity. In the beginning it was more difficult to make the
demarcation between them to establish the special specificity and identity, today modern societies
establish the distinction to the point of absolute incompatibility. Even the personification of the
two phenomena was in the beginning in the same persons, i.e. in one person it had the legitimacy
to communicate with God at the same time and rule the people. In the past, one person usually
claimed the right to the secular and the sacred, today those roles are clearly differentiated in different
persons. Taken at the national level, Macedonia throughout history has built its own specificity
when it comes to the relationship between politics and religion. Its specificity is based on the
historical fact that glorifies our country as the country through which Christianity was spread on
European soil, and is one of the routes for the spread of Islam in Europe. Today’s contemporary
reality characterizes it as a multiethnic and multiconfessional country.

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERNATURAL PROTECTORS AND HELPERS IN ESTONIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Hiiemäe Reet — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Estonia has been repeatedly called the least religious country in Europe or even the
whole world. The Estonian mainstream media and politics mainly resonate with the identification
of Estonians as a rational high-tech and science-oriented nation. Although the number of people
who believe in biblical God and/or feel affiliated to any canonical religion is indeed low according
to representative polls, there are numerous other forms for communicating with the numinous
(e.g., in the form of protective angels, spirit animals, nature spirits, spirits of dead relatives, or pets
who give spiritual guidance) observable in the Estonian society. Based on personal experience narratives
from the recent decade, this article will give an overview of supernatural helpers and protectors
with whom people in Estonia communicate. Answers will be sought to the following questions:
Who are these beings? From which traditions do they stem? Which ways of communicating
with them are practiced? What are the differences compared to older layers of religion? This paper
will demonstrate a recent heterogenous pluralism, presented in the co-existence and fluctuation
of – partly situational – beliefs in various supernatural figures, and try to locate these findings in
the current (post)secularization debates. The author concludes that such contemporary models of
religious beliefs and practices are not necessarily replacing the traditional ones but rather recycle
already existing religious ideas in somewhat modified configurations that are adjusted to the contemporary
needs. Despite the rather polarized view of religion and science in the mainstream media
and political discourse, the empirical material shows that such vernacular beliefs and practices
may build symbioses with scientific conceptions of the world.

PRIDE AND PUNISHMENT: THE CHURCH, THE STATE, AND PRIDE PARADES IN SERBIA (2012-2024)

Danica Igrutinović — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

A process of desecularization, sacralizing the nation, and retraditionalizing gender roles
has been ongoing in post-Yugoslav Serbia since the late 80s, but has gained new steam since 2012,
when a new government of a coalition similar to the 1990s politics was formed, albeit this time
with the ostensible aim of joining the EU. Against the backdrop of these processes, Serbian identity
has been constructed in a particularly masculine way. And although the use of homophobia
to Other the ‘Enemy within’ is not new in Serbian nationalism, a notable shift has been observed
as Serbia has been pushed to accept LGBT bodies as part of its Europeanisation process, which is
now further complicated by the war in Ukraine. The pride parades, which Serbia has had to endure
due to its European integration process, and the tactical decision to appoint a lesbian prime minister,
have contributed to the impossibility to openly rely on stereotypical homophobic means of
othering. As such, the focus of the ‘enemy’ within shifted from the homosexual to other ‘Others’:
Albanians, migrants traversing the Balkan route, non-maternal women, and most recently, ‘gender
ideology’ in biology textbooks and gender-sensitive language. Tracing the debates in the Serbian
media, especially with regard to the discursive chasm between LGBT communities/feminisms and
the Serbian Orthodox Church, but also with changes in the dominant media discourse, this paper
contends that nationalist othering in Serbia is consistently reshaped in order to accommodate
the changing political climates. It demonstrates the moving boundaries in the construction of the
nation, which constantly fluctuating representations of identities stereotypically associated with
LGBT communities, masculinities and femininities, ‘Serbhood’, and Orthodoxy.

A METASYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE OF CHRISTIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY IN DEFINING LEADERSHIP AND ITS CRITERIA

Naum Ilievski, Angelina Ilievska — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The purpose of this paper is a description of the concept of leadership as a key component
in the Christian church community, as well as the criteria of a healthy leadership style not
only in its internal framework, but in the overall social context. This paper is a qualitative-descriptive
study with research on leadership, styles and personality of the leader according to Christian
theology, and applying a metasystemic perspective within wider domains of society. We define
criteria for healthy leadership in correlation with social deviations of the same, observed and described
in the framework of Christian psychotherapy and application of the Transactional Analytical
methodology in the analysis of the focused phenomena. Leadership in the Christian Church has
an antinomian character and a pastoral dimension. The personality of the church leader is formed
according to the criteria of the degrees of spiritual development. The presented model of church
leadership with qualities of antinomy has its applicability in the social system of secular leadership,
where the function of leadership paradoxically merges into a duty of service against its deviant
social phenomena of identification (nation, party, state).

CHRISTIANITY AND SECULARIZATION FOLLOWING THE IDEAS OF ŽELJKO MARDEŠIĆ

Vlaho Kovačević , Krunoslav Malenica — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Following the interpretation of the famous Croatian sociologist Željko Mardešić (Jakov
Jukić), this paper analyzes secularization in the context of contemporary sociology of religion.
Considering various social, cultural, and religious changes, the presented secularization process
is the origin of the sudden and unexpected flourishing of various forms of new religiosity and the
alarming appearance of relics of the past, i.e., the increasingly present fundamentalism and integralism
in major religions. According to Željko Mardešić, the secularization process consists of
three levels and includes society, the Church, and – most deeply – the individual person. The individual
finds themselves in a strange gap. On the one hand, secularization swallows up and annuls
the sacred, while, on the other hand, the individual produces the sacred, which is not a substitute
for traditional religion, but something completely new and opposed. Željko Mardešić sees the future
of Christianity following in the footsteps of the Second Vatican Council, which seeks the effort
of sincere questioning its state on the part of Christianity; to choose either political religiosity or
authentic religiosity with no political security. It is important to note that Christianity, deprived of
its many worldly roles, in the new secularization context is encouraged to focus on ritual celebration
and spiritual immersion to creatively transform society and cultural life. In this context, there
emerges an increasingly acceptable interpretation according to which, using Željko Mardešić’s
words, secularization is seen as a happy event for historical Christianity, because it draws Christianity
a little closer to the original evangelical truth and a more authentic living of the goodness of
its members. This event manifests in rejecting the collectivist and ideological vision of Christianity
and advocates accepting the light of goodness rather than one’s own group, supporting freedom
and the free human in a group defined by the community of people who believe in the person and
teachings of Jesus Christ.

NAVIGATING FAITH IN A SECULAR STATE: ISLAMIC LAW AND MUSLIM PRACTICES IN MACEDONIA

Enis F. Muarem — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This study explores the multifaceted implementation of Islamic law among the Muslim
community in North Macedonia, a secular country. It examines how Muslims navigate and practice
various aspects of Sharia in their daily lives, despite the secular framework of the state. The
research focuses on key religious practices such as religious marriage (Nikah), the giving of obligatory
charity (Zakat), and the observance of fasting during Ramadan. It investigates the challenges
and adaptations faced by the Muslim community in maintaining their religious obligations while
complying with secular laws. This study provides insights into the dynamic interaction between
Islamic law and secularism, highlighting the resilience and creativity of Muslims in preserving their
religious identity. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of religious coexistence and
the practical realities of implementing religious laws in a secular context.

SERGE RAYNAUD DE LA FERRIÈRE’S DOCTRINE READJUSTMENT: THE UGB AND THEOCRACY

Rita Santillán — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Serge Raynaud de la Ferrière (1916-1962) left his native France to the Americas. He knew
the predominance of America for the New Age of Aquarius that was about to begin. In 1948 he
founded the Great Universal Brotherhood (UGB) in Caracas, Venezuela, a worldwide and cultural
institution to re-educate humanity. After traveling the five continents, he returned to Europe in
1953. Right after he re-established communication with his disciples in America, he noted that his
work and literature was being deformed. He even said that he couldn’t recognize his own foundation!
Consequently, he began readjusting his work and wrote most part of his extensive literature.
In this period, Ferriz, his fourth and last emblematic disciple appeared. He translated under his
supervision some of his most important texts, and among other tasks he asked him to write his
books’ prologue, exegesis and be his Literature’s Coordinator. In the context of the New Age, R. de
la Ferrière discusses theocracy and mentioned some precursor signs for its advent. These are briefly
discussed in this essay. They were misinterpreted by his other emblematic disciples – contrary to his
idea of a government of wise people. They believed in absolute authority and autocratic government
that in various instances they applied it in the UGB. Ferriz asserts that this was probably the
seed that caused their failure to follow R. de la Ferrière’s Readjustment and created an ideological
and doctrinaire difference between their beliefs and R. de la Ferrière’s thought. In 1990, to safeguard
the original UGB and R. de la Ferrière’s thought, Ferriz left in Exodus the deformed UGB and
created a new one.

RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AS A KEY TO INTERETHNIC COOPERATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Milica Šiljak — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country characterized by the interconnectedness of ethnic
and religious affiliation, the country is home to three main ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats and
Bosnians) who are members of three different religions (Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam). The
history of Bosnia and Herzegovina is accompanied by deep religious and ethnic divisions and aspirations.
The cause of conflict and intolerance in the country is often because of the different interest
between all three religious parties. The intention of the authors of this paper is to draw attention
to the importance of religious dialogue in interethnic relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the
main key for spreading a culture of peace, mutual tolerance and understanding.

CHRISTIANITY OF FUNDAMENTALISM AND SECULARISM: ARE THERE HINTS OF SOCIAL TEACHING WITHIN THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH?

Vladan Stanković — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The scientific paper before us will question the role, scope and importance of Orthodox
Christianity in social issues, especially in the case of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). The topic
of the scientific work is focused on questioning the connections between the specifically Orthodox
experience of religion and its place in contemporary (Serbian) society. Therefore, the views
of church dignitaries of the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding the role of the Orthodox faith
in social issues were selected as the subject of research. Through his research, the author has set
himself the goal of predicting the possibilities of establishing and building the social teaching of
the Serbian Orthodox Church. The increasingly active role of religious communities and churches
in contemporary society: from culture, through politics and economy to the natural environment
points to the legitimate social significance of the basic assumptions of this scientific paper. The
questioning of theoretical assumptions, religious conceptions and spiritual-political phenomena:
fundamentalism, integralism and secularism on the example of an isolated case study in the ideas
and value positions of dignitaries and theologians of the Serbian Orthodox Church leads to an
indisputable innovative contribution and scientific justification of the research. After all, the SOC
has always been the foundation of the national rallying of the Serbian ethnos, and the main lever
of national identity, so the overall justification of the topic is greater. In the paper, the author
started from the initial assumption that the current opinion in the Serbian Orthodox Church is
not favorable towards the establishment of the social teaching of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The research was based on numerous methods in social sciences, such as: observation, case study,
content analysis, comparative approach...

CURRENT SITUATIONS IN THE CHRISTIAN CONTEXT FROM THE ASPECT OF THE GENDER PERSPECTIVE

Stefan Vasev — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

This study aims to analyze three key dimensions: the historical-cultural approach, theological
interpretations, sociological analyses, and narratives, with a particular emphasis on the
Old Testament and gender asymmetry in the creation myth, as well as the Apostle Paul’s teachings
on women. The historical-cultural approach seeks to investigate the historical foundations of gender
roles within Christianity and the various interpretations that have shaped societal attitudes
and norms concerning gender. Additionally, this research will examine the manifestations of gender
within Christian communities, particularly the status of women in the Christian tradition and
the role of Christianity in shaping and reinforcing gender stereotypes. This involves an exploration
of gender dynamics across different Christian denominations, highlighting both progressive and
conservative perspectives. Furthermore, this study will address women’s activism and the role of
feminist theology, commonly referred to as Christian feminism, within Christian communities. It
will examine contemporary challenges faced by women in their efforts to resist patriarchal traditions
and explore potential avenues for transforming patriarchal structures within religious institutions.
Ultimately, this research aims to assess the broader impact of the Christian tradition on
modern society and its influence on religious and cultural frameworks from a gendered perspective.