Categories
Life(style)

Religion in Uganda #TFBloggers

In the village that we’ll be spending 3 days in, Ogongora, Tearfund works with Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) as a partner church, so I went off to the Bradt Guide (2004) to see what it says about Ugandan religion:

Some 85% of Ugandans are Christian, divided roughly equally between the Protestant Church of Uganda (an offshoot of the Church of England) and the Roman Catholic Church. In most rural areas, these exotic religions have not entirely replaced traditional beliefs, so that many people practice both concurrently. Roughly 11% of Uganda is Islamic, a legacy of the Arab trade with Buganda in the late 19th century. There is little or no friction between Christian and Muslim in modern Uganda. Although the country’s Asian population was forced into exile by Amin in 1972, many individuals, both Islamic and Hindu, have been repatriated since 1986. The main centre of animism is the northeast, where the Karimmojong – like the affiliated Maasai and other Rift Valley pastoralists – largely shun any exotic faith in favour of their own traditional beliefs.

See the ‘PAG’ blog – need a little updating!

http://www.pag-uganda.org
http://www.pag-uganda.org
Categories
Life(style)

Are women in religion like turkeys voting for Christmas?

Looks interesting:

Aberdeen sociologists investigate mystery of female religiosity. Matthew Reisz reports

Two sociologists have set out to explain the mystery of why women almost everywhere seem to be more religious than men.

Given that “all the major world religions have…been intensely patriarchal”, argue Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce – lecturer and professor in sociology at the University of Aberdeen, respectively – women’s well-evidenced greater religiosity might seem paradoxical.

Although it “may not be as counter-intuitive as turkeys voting for Christmas”, they write, “it certainly seems similar to manual workers voting for conservative … parties”.

Their new book, Why Are Women More Religious Than Men?, attempts to find the reasons for this predisposition.

Read full story.

Categories
Academic Life(style)

The Science Delusion

Having shocked myself by saying that much scientific theory is just that – theory – and that so many people like to say that science/religion can’t be compatible (both run on a certain amount of faith), I was interested to see this book reviewed in Times Higher Education:

After Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion comes the reply. Wham bam! Rupert Sheldrake takes on the “truth-finding religion” of science in general and “ten dogmas” of the 21st-century worldview in particular. These include arguments that consciousness is “a by-product” of the biochemistry of the brain; that evolution is purposeless; that God is only an idea. Each is dealt with swiftly and efficiently in its own chapter, at the conclusion of which are some sceptical questions that challenge the reader to think again, and a clear summary of the main arguments.

Sheldrake recalls, disapprovingly, the philosopher of science George Sarton saying: “Truth can be determined only by the judgment of experts … The people have nothing to say but accept the decisions handed out to them.” Verily, says Sheldrake, here is an attitude worthy of the Roman Catholic Church at its most zealous. And he hints that religion lies behind many philosophical certainties, starting with Descartes splitting asunder mind and matter, that have shaped the modern, supposedly “objective” worldview.

Read the full review. Buy the book. Another book of interest is Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Co-Operation which takes a biological perspective on cooperation.