A Religious Media Revolution? The Syrian Conflict and Mediated Sunni Authority

The Syrian Baath Party and Sunni Islam: Conflicts and Connivance

I the first weeks of the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011, religious symbols and figures rapidly emerged as important components of the movement. Allah Akbar (“God is the Greatest”) was often shouted, along with liberal slogans like “God, Syria, Freedom, and that’s it!” Certain Muslim scholars or ulama became iconic figures of the protests, and many demonstrations took place in and arou...

Models of Religious Authority

A rational choice theory of religious authority

The rational choice literature on religion has been noticeably silent on the nature and purpose of religious authority. I first summarize the rational choice theory of authority and offer a rational choice definition of religious authority. A primary insight is that (religious) authority exists to coordinate social action. I then argue that social coordination is a fundamental aspect of religio...

The State's Authority in Religious Rights

Legal analysis of church-state relations in European countries presupposes a concept or at least a notion of the state. The concept is largely avoided in contemporary legal and political theory. Nonetheless, Western and Central European Continental legal systems, including the Croatian Draft Law on the Legal Position of Religious Communities of April 2002, tacitly presuppose the idea that the s...

A comparative study of the approach of Shiite and Sunni Muslim thinkers on the issue of the Islamic Revolution

The revolution is the broadest and fastest change in a society, which is both the result of change and a factor for subsequent changes; The present article with a comparative method and library tools; Aiming to make a comparative study of the approach of Shiite and Sunni Muslim thinkers towards the Islamic Revolution. Research findings show that in the minds of Sunni thinkers, the priority is t...