Immediately after the independence of South Sudan in 2011, a nationality law was passed that defined citizenship by membership to clearly and bounded ethnic groups. To acquire citizenship, testimony ‘next kin’, taken be an ‘older blood relative from father’s line’, supposed verify ethnicity and, thus, belonging new nation. Citizenship offices were tasked with checking names assessing life histo...

In this paper I present and defend a definition of vagueness, and draw out some consequences of accepting this definition. §1 asks what we should properly expect of a definition of vagueness, and §2 reviews existing definitions. §3 explains a key background notion necessary to an understanding of the definition to be presented here. §4 presents this definition, and §5 explains its advantages. §...

Scripture Reading — Zechariah 1:1-6 “Return to me ... and I will return to you.” Zechariah 1:3 — The clock counted down to midnight, and the partygoers cheered the beginning of a new year. While everyone was enjoying themselves, one woman engaged in a moment of selfreflection. “Everyone needs a second chance,” she said. She was right. We’ve all spoken words we want to take back. We’ve made deci...

PHILOSOPHY Ever since the time of Pascal men have feared that the 'God' worshipped by believers and the 'God' contemplated by philosophers were somehow different. The former was personal, historically active, slow to anger and plentiful in mercy: the latter was dubiously able to be described in personal terms at all, and infinite in such a way as to baffle the imagination. The 'God' of the form...

Although religiousness is tied to coping, little work examines the role of specific religious beliefs in the coping process. Applying the transactional model of coping, positivity of God image and vertical religious focus were assessed in a national sample of 103 parents of children with disabilities. Controlling for general religiousness, these specific beliefs were correlated with parents’ ap...

Developmental theories suggest that children initially conceptualize God in concrete, anthropomorphic terms. In contrast, recent research has found that from early on, children recognize God as a being radically different from humans. Previous research has been limited to studies of Christian children. The present study questioned children and adults raised in a religious tradition (Church of J...

Some have argued that belief in God is intuitive, a natural (by-)product of the human mind given its cognitive structure and social context. If this is true, the extent to which one believes in God may be influenced by one's more general tendency to rely on intuition versus reflection. Three studies support this hypothesis, linking intuitive cognitive style to belief in God. Study 1 showed that...

Among the most paramount issues related to human self-understanding that are found in various cultures and ages are questions of the perfection of man and ultimate human happiness. In Islamic texts, ultimate human perfection is described as nearness to Allah. This article offers a brief review of the teachings of the Qur’ān on this topic and a sketch of the history of discussions of nearness to...