The range and use of ecosystem services provided by urban sacred sites has hardly been considered in studies of urban ecology, sustainability and human wellbeing. This paper examines the perceived ecosystem services supplied by green spaces or gardens associated with places of religious worship and appreciated by worshippers in a mid-sized town in South Africa. A questionnaire with open, closed...

Sacred lotus is rich in biologically active compounds, particularly benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs). Here, we report on isolation of genes encoding (S)-norcoclaurine synthase (NCS) in sacred lotus, which is a key entry-enzyme in BIA biosynthesis. Seven NCS genes, designated NnNCS1 through NnNCS7, were identified in the sacred lotus genome, and five are located next to each other within a 83...

In 1992 in a historic move, the Church of England voted to allow women’s ordination to priesthood and in 1994 the first women priests started to be ordained. Despite much research interest, the experiences of priests who are mothers to dependent children have been minimally investigated. Based on in-depth interviews with seventeen mothers ordained in the Church, this paper will focus on how the...

ion of the Trin i ty idea. But the reconci l iation might have taken p lace on a qui te d i fferent basis provided by the vision i tself and i ts u nearthly [ 1 46] SEMIOTICS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE actua l i ty much to the d isadvantage of the Christ ian conception of God and no doubt to the sti l l greater disadvan tage of B rother Klaus himself, who would then have become not a sa int...

Sanctuary, which comes from the Latin sanctus, meaning “holy,” has played a strategic role in political resistance for hundreds of years. Today concept returned as one importance protection refugees worldwide. In this article, focuses on sanctuary practices Germany, we examine spaces church-based asylum—the structure, physical spaces, and neighborhood church itself. We investigate ways these ar...

BACKGROUND Many ecosystem services provided by forests are important for the livelihoods of indigenous people. Sacred forests are used for traditional practices by the ethnic minorities in northern Thailand and they protect these forests that are important for their culture and daily life. Swidden fallow fields are a dominant feature of the agricultural farming landscapes in the region. In this...