Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion and at its present rate of expansion it will soon be the predominant religion of mankind. This is not a new or unexpected statistic, however it is something that is slowly making people re-examine their understanding of a religion of which many remain ignorant. Some are taking positive step, and by educating themselves they are discovering the truth...

Disclaimer: This paper was written by two authors1 who grew up in the developed part of the Western world with experience in different countries and cultures within the developed Western world and to a limited extent in the southern hemisphere world. One of the authors brings with him an academic background in engineering. The other author brings a background in education and Religious Studies,...

In 2004, one of us (PJV) wrote a discussion paper entitled ‘Religion, spirituality and psychiatry: A field wide open for discussion and research’ [1] and in 2005, on behalf of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry (SRSP), this was circulated amongst colleagues around the world as a basis for discussion. Amongst other groups, this paper was sent...

Previous research on religion and helping has left some questions unanswered. In the present study, participants expressed willingness to help groups of people in need (homeless people and illegal immigrants), and this after having been religiously versus non-religiously stimulated. The activation of religious context increased the willingness to help, but only the homeless. Orthodox religious ...

Religious beliefs and practices are prevalent and important to people in many countries around the world. For example, Gallup polls indicate that 96% of persons living in the US believe in God, over 90% pray, 69% are church members, and 43% have attended church, synagogue, or temple within the past 7 days (Princeton Religion Research Center, 1996). Despite advances in education, communication, ...

In the beginning was the Word. Often quoted, these opening words from the Gospel according to John nonetheless show that the relationship between language and religion goes beyond intimacy to identity. Whether this is taken as a specific moment in the theorization of one religion, the culmination of a particular line of thinking, or a more general truth about how humans grasp the essence of the...

The overall aim of this paper is to highlight a transcendental usage of the Religion of Islamin the Qur’an. I will show that the notion of Islamas a unitary Religion is used in the Qur’an as a genus for religions (adyan) which have appeared throughout human history. This usage will show that there is a sense of Religion which guarantees the essential unity of all religions and...