CESNUR - Centro Studi sulle Nuove Religioni diretto da Massimo Introvigne
www.cesnur.org

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Regione Siciliana
Assessorato dei Beni Culturali ed Ambientali
e della Pubblica Istruzione


CESNUR 2005 International Conference – June 2-5, 2005 – Palermo, Sicily
Convegno Internazionale del CESNUR – 2-5 giugno 2005 – Palermo

Religious Movements, Globalization and Conflict: Transnational Perspectives

Identità e futuro dei movimenti religiosi. Prospettive trans-nazionali fra globalizzazione e conflitto

CYBERPROCEEDINGS

Resort Hotel Saracen, Isola delle Femmine (Palermo)


Programme / Programma

 June 2, 2005 / 2 giugno 2005

7 p.m. – Welcome Cocktail and Greetings / Cocktail di benvenuto e saluto delle autorità

9 p.m. – Session 1 (Plenary) / Sessione 1 (Plenaria): Identity and Future of Religious Controversy / Identità e futuro del dibattito religioso

Chair: J. Gordon MELTON

Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Torino): “Beyond The Da Vinci Code: History and Myth of the Priory of Sion”

Michael HOMER (Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City): “‘Assisting the Trier of Fact’: The Rules of Evidence Concerning Expert Witnesses in American Jurisprudence and the Cases about Religious Movements”

Jean-François MAYER (University of Fribourg): “Hizb-Ut-Tahrir: An Islamic Political Movement in the West”

June 3, 2005 / 3 giugno 2005

 10 a.m. – Session 2 (Plenary) / Sessione 2 (Plenaria)

Chair: Reender KRANENBORG

Assessore Regionale dei Beni Culturali ed Ambientali e della Pubblica Istruzione / Secretary of State for Culture and Education On. Prof. Alessandro PAGANO – “Identità e futuro dei valori religiosi in Sicilia” (Greetings – in Italian, with English translation)

Death, Evil, and Religious Movements / I movimenti religiosi di fronte alla morte e al male

George CHRYSSIDES (University of Wolverhampton): “Sources of Doctrine in the Solar Temple”

J. Gordon MELTON (ISAR, Santa Barbara): “Death and the New Religious Movements”

Susan PALMER (Dawson College, Montréal): “Death and Dying in New Religions”

Afe ADOGAME (University of Bayreuth): “Dealing With Local Satanic Technology: Deliverance Rhetoric in the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries”

12.30 p.m. – Lunch / Pranzo

2 - 4 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions / Sessioni concomitanti

 

Session 3 / Sessione 3Islam, the Mediterranean Region and the West between Dialogue and Conflict / Occidente, Islam e Mediterraneo fra dialogo e conflitto

Chair: Jean-François MAYER

Jeffrey KENNEY (DePauw University): “Public Religion and Public Life in Egypt”

A.O. SHURIYE (International Islamic University, Malaysia): “Islamic Views on Bioengineering Issues, Abortion, and Euthanasia”

Maria ALVANOU (Università di Trento): “Islamic Incitement and Palestinian Female Suicide Terrorism”

Baqer Talebi DARABI (Center for Religious Studies, Qom): “Potential Scope for Interfaith Accommodation in Shi’ism”

 

Session 4 / Sessione 4Identity and Future of Local and/or Global Movements / Identità e futuro di movimenti locali e/o globali

Chair: Constance A. JONES

Maria De Lourdes ALCANTARA (University of Sao Paulo): “Fragmentation of the Religion and Construction of New Narratives: The Guarani Religious Narrative of the Reserve of Dourados”

M.A. BRIGHTMAN (University of Cambridge): “Transnational Evangelism and Social Hierarchy: The Political Use of Religion in the Guianas”

Liselotte FRISK (Högskolan Dalarna University): “Is New Age a Construction? Popular Religiosity in the Light of Globalization Theories”

Frederic LAMOND (Consultant and Lecturer): "Varieties of Neo-Paganism"

Bill PITTS (Baylor University): "Davidians, Branch Davidians, and Globalization"

 

Session 5 / Sessione 5Satanism: Fact vs. Fiction / Leggende urbane e realtà del satanismo

Chair: James BEVERLEY

Rafal SMOCZYNSKI (Polish Academy of Sciences): “The Role of Fantasy in the Ritual Abuse Scare”

Kennet GRANHOLM (Abo Akademi University): “Symbolic Death in the Left Hand Path”

Reender KRANENBORG (Free University of Amsterdam): “The Evil of Satanism”

 

Sessione 6 / Session 6Forme di spiritualità nella società secolare / Spirituality in a Secular Society (in Italian)

Chair: PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI

Luigi BERZANO (Università di Torino): “Spiritualità giovanili tra identità e identificazione”

Giuseppe GIORDAN (Università della Valle d’Aosta): “Verso una sociologia della spiritualità?”

Carlo GENOVA (Università di Torino): “Forme di militanza nell’associazionismo religioso giovanile”

 Nicola PANNOFINO (Università di Torino): "Secolarizzazione versus conversione religiosa?"

 

4 p.m. – Coffee Break

 

4.30 - 6.30 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions / Sessioni concomitanti

 

Session 7 / Sessione 7Scientology Revisited / Scientology: un riesame

Chair: J. Gordon MELTON

James BEVERLEY (Tyndale Seminary, Toronto): “Curbing Vicious Circles in the Scientology Wars”

Régis DERICQUEBOURG (University of Lille): “Religious Rituals in the Church of Scientology: Are They Really Important?”

Respondents: Martin WEIGHTMAN and Raffaella DI MARZIO

 

Session 8 / Sessione 8Identity and Future of Esoteric Movements / Identità e futuro dei movimenti esoterici

Chair: Liselotte FRISK

Milda ALISAUSKIENE (Vytautas Magnus University, Riga): “The Revival of Occultism in Lithuanian Society”

Sylvain IMBS (Meudon, France): “Western Esotericism at 21st Century: Spiritual Filiation or Doctrinal Conflicts?”

PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI (CESNUR, Torino): “G.I. Gurdjieff and his Grandson in Kurliyun”

Dorota HALL (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw): “The New Age in Poland: Lines of Conflict”

 

Session 9 / Sessione 9Identity and Future of Chinese and Japanese Movements / Identità e futuro di movimenti cinesi e giapponesi

Chair: Giuseppe GIORDAN

Carlo BARONE (University of Milan Bicocca, Italy): “The Expansion of the Soka Gakkai in Italy: Analysis of a Success-Story”

Michiaki OKUYAMA (Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya): “Religious Freedom for Japanese Politicians? East Asian Religious Contention Surrounding Yasukuni Shrine”

David OWNBY (Montréal University): “Qigong, Falun Gong and the Future of Religion in China”

 

8 p.m. – Banquet / Cena di gala
La Montagnola, Contrada Carrubella, Borgetto (PA)

Michele VILARDO (Partinico), “When Sicily (Almost) Became a U.S. State: Sicilian Separatism and the Church, 1945-1955” / “Quando la Sicilia stava per diventare uno Stato degli Stati Uniti: il separatismo siciliano e la Chiesa, 1945-1955” (English / Italian)

June 4, 2005 / 4 giugno 2005

9 - 11 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions / Sessioni concomitanti

Session 10 / Sessione 10Pluralism within Islam in Malaysia and Elsewhere / Pluralismo all’interno dell’Islam in Malaysia e altri paesi

Chair: A. O. SHURIYE

Mohammad YUSOFF (Putra University of Malaysia): “Religious Issues and Party Politics: The Case of Two Muslim Based Political Parties in Malaysia”

Mohd. Noor YAZID (University of Malaysia, Sabah): “The September 11 and Islamic Movement in Southeast Asia: A Comparative Studies Among the Majority and Minority Muslim Countries”

Zakariyya ABDEL-HADY (Abu Dhabi University): "Why do Muslims Fear Globalization?"

 

Session 11 / Sessione 11Alcune prospettive italiane / Some Italian Perspectives (in Italian)

Chair: Luigi BERZANO

Raffaella DI MARZIO (Pontificia Facoltà di Scienze dell’Educazione “Auxilium”, Roma): “La psicologia sociale dei gruppi religiosi”

Luigi MASSARA (Palermo): “Brevi considerazioni sulle frontiere sociopolitiche e religiose – Conseguenze della immigrazione in Occidente”

Andrea MOLLE (Università di Milano): “L’insegnamento divino della gradualità alla base della politica di espansione di Sukyo Mahikari in Italia: un’interpretazione socio-antropologica”

Alessandro AMICARELLI (Università di Urbino): "La questione del velo islamico in Francia, Gran Bretagna, Turchia e Uzbekistan: osservazioni giuridiche"

Antonio MUSARRA (stagista, Università di Firenze): "Esoterismo e cultura di massa: il caso Luther Blisset"

 

Session 12 / Sessione 12Historical Figures, Identity and Values / Figure, identità, valori

Chair: Milda ALISAUSKIENE

Zane ALTMAN (Graduate Student, University of Colorado, Boulder): "Location, Location: New Religious Movements as a Cultural Product"

Edgar J. BAUER (Heidelberg, Germany): “Pier Paolo Pasolini: Revelation, Revolution and the Symbol of the Desert”

Jane WILLIAMS-HOGAN (Bryn Athyn College): “Swedenborgians: Common Confession, Conflicting Views of the Path to Peace”

 

11 a.m. – Coffee break

 

11.15 a.m. - 1.15 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions / Sessioni concomitanti

Session 13 / Sessione 13Certains Problèmes en France et en Francophonie / Alcuni problemi in Francia e nei paesi francofoni (in French)

Chair: Régis DERICQUEBOURG

Jean-Jacques GABUT (Lyon, France): “Les rapports entre l’Eglise catholique et la franc-maçonnerie en France, des origines à nos jours”

Etanislas NGODI (Marien Ngouabi University, Congo): “Foisonnement religieux et crise urbaine au Congo Barazzaville”

Discussant : Sylvain IMBS

 

Session 14 / Sessione 14Identity and Future of Religious Pluralism within the Globalization Context / Identità e futuro del pluralismo religioso nella globalizzazione

Chair: George CHRYSSIDES

Aleksandra Kanalec IVANCIC (Koper, Slovenia): “Alternative Religions Through the Mirror of Personal Law”

Petia GENKOVA PETROVA (University of Passau, Germany): “Is the Globalization Another Way to the Dominance of Individualism? A Cross-cultural Study (Germany, France, Bulgaria, China)”

Pietro DE MARCO (Università di Firenze): “Law, Politics, and Fundamentalism in Italy: From the Concordat of 1929 to the Contemporary Democratic State- (Nation-) Building ”

John B. BROWN, II (Social educator, Tucson, Arizona): "Jehovah's Whiteness and the Anticult Movement: A Human Rights Perspective"

 

Session 15 / Sessione 15Religion, Violence and Geo-Politics / Religione, violenza e geopolitica

Chair: Mark SEDGWICK

Daniela-Emanuela DANACICA (Constantin Brancusi University of Tg-Jiu): “The Religious Phenomenon and Contemporary Geopolitics"

John WALLISS (Liverpool Hope University College): “Millenarianism and Violence: Towards a Critique of the ‘Cultural Opposition’ Model”

Ines GABEL (The Open University, Israel): “The National Religious Movement in Israel: The (Unsuccessful) Attempt to Integrate a Religious Lifestyle into the Secular State”

Irene BRIONES (Complutense University of Madrid): “Problems of Religious Pluralism in China and Pakistan”

 

Session 16 / Sessione 16Some Esoteric Groups in Sicily and the Baltic Countries / L’esoterismo in Sicilia e nei Paesi Baltici

Chair: PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI

Martin P. STARR (Chicago, Illinois): “Thelema in Sicily: A Portrait in Black and White”

Nikandrs GILLS (University of Latvia): “Last Testament’s Church: History, Current Situation and the Outlook Experience in Latvia”

Pietro SAJA (Cefalù, Italy): “Aleister Crowley, pittore e scalatore” (in Italian)

 

Session 17 / Sessione 17Issues in Mormonism / Problemi del Mormonismo

Chair: Susan PALMER

Timothy MILLER (University of Kansas): “Social Roots of the Mormon United Order"

Will BAGLEY (Salt Lake City, Utah): “The Press in Utah: A Critical View”

James BEVERLEY (Tyndale Seminary, Toronto): “The New Mormon-Evangelical Dialogue”

Discussant: Michael HOMER

 

1.30 p.m – Business Lunch / Pranzo

 

2.30 - 7 p.m. – Escursione di studio: alla scoperta del patrimonio culturale e religioso siciliano (Visite guidate a Palermo e Monreale) / Field trip: Discovering Cultural and Religious Treasures of Sicily (Tour of Palermo and Monreale with English-speaking guide)

 

7.45 p.m. – Dinner / Cena

 

9 p.m. Sessione 18 (Plenaria) / Session 18 (Plenary) Il pluralismo religioso in Sicilia tra identità e futuro: lo stato della ricerca / Religious Pluralism in Sicily: Identity and Future (in Italian)

Chair: Massimo INTROVIGNE

Panel: S.E. Mons. Cataldo NARO (Arcivescovo di Monreale), Luigi BERZANO (Università di Torino), PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI (CESNUR)

 

June 5, 2005 / 5 giugno 2005

9.30 - 11.30 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions / Sessioni concomitanti

Session 19 / Sessione 19Issues in Studying Religious Movements in Western and Eastern Europe / Lo studio dei movimenti religiosi e i suoi problemi nell’Europa dell’Est e dell’Ovest

Chair: Jane WILLIAMS-HOGAN

Julia S. KOVALCHUK (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Novosibirsk): “Contemporary Religious Situation in South Siberia: New Developments and Change of the Traditional Religious-Ethnic Patterns”

Sébastien GREGOV (French University Nanterre, Paris): “The Relationship Between the CESNUR and the Golden Rosy Cross: Operation or Cooperation?”

John Paul HEALY (The University of New South Wales, Sydney): “Beginning to Comprehend the Lie of the Land in Researching New Religious Movements”

 

Session 20 / Sessione 20Identity and Future of Mormonism in Italy / Identità e futuro del Mormonismo in Italia

Chair: Michael W. HOMER

James A. TORONTO (Brigham Young University): “Joseph Toronto, First Italian Convert to Mormonism”

Eric DURSTELLER (Brigham Young University): “Mormons in Italy, 1867-1965”

James A. TORONTO (Brigham Young University): “The Second Italian Mission, 1965-Present”

Discussant: Mario DePILLIS (University of Massachusetts)

 

Session 21 / Sessione 21Identity and Future in Movements Originating from India / Identità e futuro nei movimenti di origine indiana

Chair: Nikandrs GILLS

Boris FALIKOV (Russian State University of Humanities, Moscow): “ISKCON in Russia: Kirtanas Amidst Cultural Change”

Constance A. JONES (California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco): “Expanding the Definition of New Religious Movements: Hindu Movements as Examples of Ethnic Churches”

Mark SEDGWICK (American University in Cairo): “New Religious Movements, Religious Plurality, and the Bengal Renaissance”

 

11.30 a.m. – Coffee Break

 

12 noon – Conferenza stampa conclusiva / Press Conference

Assessore Regionale dei Beni Culturali ed Ambientali e della Pubblica Istruzione / Secretary of State for Culture and Education On. Prof. Alessandro PAGANO - Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR) - J. Gordon MELTON (ISAR, Santa Barbara)

 

1 p.m. Final Lunch / Pranzo conclusivo