12/14 Religion, Society, and Power Free Online FlashCards

What does intersectionality examine?

Intersectionality examines how systems of power, such as gender, race, class, religion, and sexuality, overlap and shape people’s experiences.

What is lived religion?

Lived religion means how ordinary people practice, interpret, and negotiate religious traditions in everyday life.

Why should “religious” rules be analyzed cautiously?

A religious rule may reflect a particular interpretation, political decision, customary practice, or combination rather than one universally accepted religious position.

What does religious freedom protect?

Religious freedom protects the right to hold, adopt, change, manifest, or reject a religion or belief, subject to legitimate protections for others’ rights and safety.

What is religious nationalism?

Religious nationalism links national belonging and government authority to a particular religion.

What is syncretism?

Syncretism is the blending or mutual transformation of religious traditions, often under conditions of unequal power.

How can religion relate to class inequality?

Religious institutions may legitimize hierarchy and wealth, but they may also criticize exploitation and support charity, redistribution, worker organizing, or care for the poor.

How could religion support colonialism?

Colonial powers often used religious classification, conversion, education, and law to justify domination, assimilation, forced labor, or seizure of sacred lands.

What is a theocracy?

A theocracy grounds political authority explicitly in religious institutions or norms.

Why is religion alone insufficient to explain violence?

Religion rarely explains violence by itself; conflict usually involves interacting political, economic, territorial, ethnic, organizational, or state-related causes.

What does peacebuilding involve?

Peacebuilding addresses injustice, rebuilds trust, reforms institutions, protects rights, and creates relationships that make renewed violence less likely.

How can religious institutions support social movements?

Religious organizations can provide meeting spaces, leadership, fundraising, communication networks, volunteers, and moral arguments for social movements.