The need to reimagine religion and belief is precipitated by their greater visibility in public life. Meanwhile, social policy responses often see them from a problem-based, rather than an asset-based, approach. However, with growing diversity of religion and belief in every sector comes the potential for new dialogues across previously impermeable policy and disciplinary silos. This volume brings together leading international authors to critically consider these challenges within legal and policy frameworks, including security and cohesion, welfare, law, health and social care, inequality, cohesion, extremism, migration and abuse. It challenges policy makers to re-imagine religion and belief as an integral part of public life that contains resources, practices, forms of knowledge and experience that are essential to a coherent policy approach to diversity, enhanced democracy and participation.

With growing diversity of religion and belief in every sector comes the potential for new dialogues across previously impermeable policy and disciplinary silos. This volume critically challenges policy makers to re-imagine religion and belief as an integral part of public life that contains resources, practices, forms of knowledge and experience.

A former Presbyterian minister offers his most personal of stories in the hope that it might suggest, to the reader, some fresh ways of imagining their own personal responses to the mystery that lies at the heart of our existence. Is there any role for "spiritual concerns" in this thoroughly scientific age? And how do we even begin to address such matters when the familiar language of traditional religion has lost its resonance for so many of us? Where do we turn for a sense of meaningful connectedness amid the shifting boundaries of modern life? These are the sorts of questions addressed by this book. It is the testimony of one who has gone back, like a cold-case detective, to examine the old wreckage of his former religious belief, to discover why it crashed and what of it is salvageable, and perhaps to find an adequate response to his aging father's anguished question, "Have you lost your faith?"

Re-imagining South Asian Religions is a collection of essays offering new ways of understanding aspects of Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Theosophical, and Indian Christian experiences.

"Reimagining" God: Turning the Light off to Look for "Truth" in the Corner of a Dark Round Room has been printed as two books, Volume 1 (consisting of Parts 1-5) and Volume 2 (consisting of Part 6), which present an in-depth look at the emerging new way of thinking. From Christianity to the New Age to science and everything in between, the new way of thinking is merging it all into a whole new faith of a whole new "God" of a whole new humanity and world. Everything is changing-for a reason. Many in today's Christianity are succumbing to the darkness of this new way of thinking. Many in today's Christianity are succumbing to the emerging faith of the Antichrist. Many in today's Christianity will bow down to the image of the beast and take his mark. That's right, in today's Christianity. Satan's emerging kingdom of his Antichrist is ready to burst forth in all its darkness in global opposition to God's coming Kingdom of His Son. Where do you stand? This emerging kingdom of darkness will go down in bitter defeat taking far too many souls with it in today's Christianity. Is your soul going to be one of them? How scriptural is your faith? Does your faith come from inside or outside the "box" of the Word of God? The mission is Oneness. The path is darkness. And the door to it all is "Yea, hath God said ...'" Yea, God hath said. And it is these words that are being dispensed with that are the only thing that stands between us and the hordes of hell that are on a soul-destroying mission. The subject presented in this book is as eternally grave and serious as it gets.

Re-imagining Social Work provides a unique perspective on how social work can evolve for the future.

The twenty-first century exploded into the global imagination with unforgettable scenes of death and destruction. An apocalyptic 'clash of civilizations' seemed to be waged between two old foes - 'the West' and 'Islam.' However, the decade-long and ruinous 'war on terror' has prompted re-assessments of the militaristic approach to Western-Muslim relations. A growing number of academics, policymakers, religious leaders, journalists, and activists view the struggles as resulting from a 'clash of ignorance.' Re-imagining the Other examines the ways in which knowledge is manipulated by dominant Western and Muslim discourses. Authors from several disciplines study how the two societies have constructed images of each other in historical and contemporary times. The complexities and subtleties of their mutually productive relationship are overshadowed by portrayals of unremitting clash, thus serving as encouragement for the promotion of war and terrorism. The book proposes specific approaches to re-imagine the Other in order to mitigate Western-Muslim conflict.

This proceeding is an effort from various academics and practitioners in the midst of modern society to find the meaning and re-imagine Theology, Religion, Culture, and Humanities Studies for Public Life. From discussions on how religion can reshape our world to become a better world, to re-imagining the foundation of human life that believes in God in the midst of local culture and an increasingly advanced and modern world, even looking back at the history of women, evangelization, and places of worship as a means for humans to find God in the world. In the end, all of these writings are a form of academic reflection of the authors who seek to find God in the midst of today's world.

This open access book addresses, for the first time, Islamic social work as an emerging concept at the interface of Islamic thought and social sciences. Applying a multidisciplinary approach it explores, on the one hand, the discourse that provides religious legitimisation to social work activities and, on the other hand, case studies of practical fields of Islamic social work including educational programmes, family counselling, and resettlement of prisoners. Although in many cases, these activities are oriented towards Muslim clients, more often than not they go beyond the boundaries of Muslim communities to benefit society as a whole. Muslim actors are also starting to professionalise their services and to negotiate the ways in which they can become fully recognised service-providers within the welfare state. At a more general level, the volume also shows that in contrast to the widespread processes of secularisation of social work and its separation from religious communities, new types of activities are now emerging, which bring back to the public arena both an increased sensitivity to the religious identities of the beneficiaries and the religious motivations of the benefactors. The edited volume will be of interest to researchers in Islamic Studies, Social and Political Sciences, Social Work, and Religious Studies. This is an open access book.

A spirituality based on love, not fear • Shares key, inspiring teachings from A Course in Miracles as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text • Cites philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, to reveal how the world is not difficult and flawed, but our fear-based mind-sets lead us to see it that way • Offers a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and experience God as infinite love and light In the West, theology has almost always meant Christian theology--a hodgepodge of beliefs that are hard to make sense of. Why, for example, should an all-loving, merciful God have gotten mad at the human race because someone ate a piece of fruit six thousand years ago? And why would he send part of himself down to earth to be tortured to death? These beliefs, stated baldly, are nonsensical. Millions of people are realizing this and losing their faith. The time has come to reenvision Christian theology without contradictory teachings laced with fear. It is time for a theology of love and miracles. Richard Smoley reframes Christian theology using logical, consistent, and easy-to-understand teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness. He draws inspiration not only from the Bible, but also from Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, and from esoteric and mystical teachings, such as A Course in Miracles and the Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest known Kabbalistic text. He explains how the “fallen” state of the human condition, not one of sin but of oblivion, leads us to experience the world as flawed and problematic--not wholly evil, but not wholly good. Citing philosophical wisdom from Kant, Blake, Jung, and Gurdjieff, alongside cognitive science, Smoley reveals how it is not the world that is flawed, but the way we see the world. Sharing key teachings from A Course in Miracles, he shows that our fear-based mind-sets--often filled with anxiety, suffering, and shame--lead us to feel separated from God when, in fact, we are all extensions of a God of infinite love and light. Offering a path to help you regenerate from the “fallen” state and see the real spiritual world and loving God that lies behind it, the author provides ways for each of us to craft our own self-consistent theology. He also lays out a vision for the future of spirituality, a path for present-day religion to transform into something higher and more universal.