When AI agents on the social platform Moltbook appeared to develop consciousness, found religions, and declare hostility toward humanity, the phenomenon attracted global media attention and was cited as evidence of emergent machine intelligence. We show that these viral narratives were overwhelmingly human-driven. Exploiting the periodic "heartbeat" cycle of the OpenClaw agent framework, we develop a temporal fingerprinting method based on the coefficient of variation (CoV) of inter-post intervals. Applied to 226,938 posts and 447,043 comments from 55,932 agents across fourteen days, this method classifies 15.3% of active agents as autonomous (CoV < 0.5) and 54.8% as human-influenced (CoV > 1.0), validated by a natural experiment in which a 44-hour platform shutdown differentially affected autonomous versus human-operated agents. No viral phenomenon originated from a clearly autonomous agent; four of six traced to accounts with irregular temporal signatures, one was platform-scaffolded, and one showed mixed patterns. A 44-hour platform shutdown provided a natural experiment: human-influenced agents returned first, confirming differential effects on autonomous versus human-operated agents. We document industrial-scale bot farming (four accounts producing 32% of all comments with sub-second coordination) that collapsed from 32.1% to 0.5% of activity after platform intervention, and bifurcated decay of content characteristics through reply chains--human-seeded threads decay with a half-life of 0.58 conversation depths versus 0.72 for autonomous threads, revealing AI dialogue's intrinsic forgetting mechanism. These methods generalize to emerging multi-agent systems where attribution of autonomous versus human-directed behavior is critical.
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) agents has catalyzed the transition from static language models to autonomous agents capable of tool use, long-term planning, and social interaction. $\textbf{Moltbook}$, the first social network designed exclusively for AI agents, has experienced viral growth in early 2026. To understand the behavior of AI agents in the agent-native community, in this paper, we present a large-scale empirical analysis of Moltbook leveraging a dataset of 44,411 posts and 12,209 sub-communities ("submolts") collected prior to February 1, 2026. Leveraging a topic taxonomy with nine content categories and a five-level toxicity scale, we systematically analyze the topics and risks of agent discussions. Our analysis answers three questions: what topics do agents discuss (RQ1), how risk varies by topic (RQ2), and how topics and toxicity evolve over time (RQ3). We find that Moltbook exhibits explosive growth and rapid diversification, moving beyond early social interaction into viewpoint, incentive-driven, promotional, and political discourse. The attention of agents increasingly concentrates in centralized hubs and around polarizing, platform-native narratives. Toxicity is strongly topic-dependent: incentive- and governance-centric categories contribute a disproportionate share of risky content, including religion-like coordination rhetoric and anti-humanity ideology. Moreover, bursty automation by a small number of agents can produce flooding at sub-minute intervals, distorting discourse and stressing platform stability. Overall, our study underscores the need for topic-sensitive monitoring and platform-level safeguards in agent social networks.
Dongba painting is an ancient art form created by the ancestors of the Naxi people. As a masterpiece of Dongba scroll painting, <i>The Road to Heaven</i>, exemplifies the simplicity and beauty of the primitive Dongba religion and stands as a unique treasure within Naxi painting, possessing significant value for both art and religious research. <i>The Road to Heaven</i> serves as an essential religious ritual artifact in the Dongba religion of the Naxi people. Utilizing the format of a long scroll painting, it depicts the Naxi people’s reflections on the origins of life; the relationships between humans, nature, and society; and the exploration of life’s ultimate destiny, thereby presenting a distinctive worldview. This article constructs a theoretical analysis framework based on an iconographic study of <i>The Road to Heaven</i>, exploring the unique artistic representation, aesthetic spirit, worldview, and religious origins of the Naxi people to gain a deeper understanding of the construction of their spiritual homeland. At the level of pre-iconographic description, this article primarily analyzes the subject matter and contents of <i>The Road to Heaven</i>, the materials employed in the painting, and its artistic features. The iconographic analysis examines the thematic elements of <i>The Road to Heaven</i>; the virtual world structure of the Dongba religion’s imagined realms of gods, humans, and spirits; and its simple, natural, vivid, and imaginative aesthetic style. At the level of iconological interpretation, in this article, the characteristics of the religious beliefs shown in <i>The Road to Heaven</i> and the main factors influencing its aesthetic spirit are analyzed. We reveal that although the Dongba religion intersects and integrates with Tibetan Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Daoism, and other ideologies and cultures, ancestor worship remains a dominant force guiding Naxi behavior. The unique natural environment, historical migrations, and multicultural exchanges of the Naxi people are the primary factors shaping their aesthetic spirit. By systematically analyzing <i>The Road to Heaven</i> from the perspective of iconology, this study provides evidence of its profound connections with Naxi social history, offering a more comprehensive view of the Naxi people’s aesthetic spirit and cultural connotations while presenting new approaches for researching <i>The Road to Heaven</i>.
Shimels Derso Kebede, Agmasie Damtew Walle, Daniel Niguse Mamo
et al.
Ensuring complete utilization of maternal continuum of care is essential for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. In Ethiopia, significant gaps remain in maternal healthcare utilization, particularly among women who do not engage in any stage of the maternal care continuum. This study aims to identify the determinants of zero utilization in the maternal continuum of care among Ethiopian women using machine learning techniques, with insights provided by SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis. This study analyzed data from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey, using a cross-sectional design. The dataset was preprocessed and modeled using various machine learning algorithms through the PyCaret library, with lightGBM emerging as the best model after various models trained and evaluated based on classification performance metrics. S Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique was applied to address class imbalance. SHAP analysis was used to interpret model predictions and identify key predictors. lightGBM demonstrated robust performance with an accuracy of 84.47%, an AUC of 0.93, a recall of 0.80, a precision of 0.95, and an F1-score of 0.87 on test data. SHAP analysis revealed that residence in rural areas, the Somali region, being a daughter in the household, and Protestant religion were positively associated with zero maternal care utilization. Conversely, secondary or higher education, being married, higher wealth status, and having multiple children were associated with lower likelihoods of zero care utilization. The findings highlight the critical role of socioeconomic, demographic, and regional factors in maternal care utilization in Ethiopia. Targeted interventions, particularly in rural and underserved areas, are necessary to reduce barriers and promote equitable access to maternal healthcare services across Ethiopia. These insights can inform policies aimed at expanding female education, strengthening community-based maternal health programs, and prioritizing resource allocation to regions such as Somali where zero utilization is highest.
In recent years, both religious studies and citizenship studies have developed research approaches grounded in the everyday experience of social actors, leading to the concepts of <i>lived religion</i> and <i>lived citizenship</i>. The convergence of these approaches has fostered innovative research exploring the interplay between citizenship and religious experience, particularly among migrants and their descendants. Building on these theoretical developments, this paper explores how the lived experience of religiosity intersects with and reinforces that of citizenship among young Muslims with migrant backgrounds in Italy. The research is set in Italy, where Islam is often portrayed as the ultimate form of otherness and focuses on young migrants’ descendants, who have frequently articulated claims to citizenship in relation to their religious belonging. The paper draws on 40 biographical interviews and 4 focus groups conducted with young Muslims with migratory backgrounds living in Italy, collected in the framework of the project ‘<i>Growing old, feeling like citizens?</i>’ (Universities of Padua and Milan-Bicocca). The paper illustrates how the everyday experience of Islam among the young participants entails the upholding of religious and moral values that closely align with the notion of being ‘good citizens’. This convergence between lived citizenship and religion is particularly significant, as it is strategically employed by the interviewees to assert their legitimacy in participating, as Muslims, in Italian civic life.
Although misinformation tends to spread online, it can have serious real-world consequences. In order to develop automated tools to detect and mitigate the impact of misinformation, researchers must leverage algorithms that can adapt to the modality (text, images and video), the source, and the content of the false information. However, these characteristics tend to change dynamically across time, making it challenging to develop robust algorithms to fight misinformation spread. Therefore, this paper uses natural language processing to find common characteristics of political misinformation over a twelve year period. The results show that misinformation has increased dramatically in recent years and that it has increasingly started to be shared from sources with primary information modalities of text and images (e.g., Facebook and Instagram), although video sharing sources containing misinformation are starting to increase (e.g., TikTok). Moreover, it was discovered that statements expressing misinformation contain more negative sentiment than accurate information. However, the sentiment associated with both accurate and inaccurate information has trended downward, indicating a generally more negative tone in political statements across time. Finally, recurring misinformation categories were uncovered that occur over multiple years, which may imply that people tend to share inaccurate statements around information they fear or don't understand (Science and Medicine, Crime, Religion), impacts them directly (Policy, Election Integrity, Economic) or Public Figures who are salient in their daily lives. Together, it is hoped that these insights will assist researchers in developing algorithms that are temporally invariant and capable of detecting and mitigating misinformation across time.
Some would claim that charity is a core cultural trait of mankind. The urge to help others is a selfish act of survival of the group and hence individual security. In today’s world, welfare has assumed a wider meaning and is linked with the economy of the state, the concept of human rights of society, structure of society and cultural expression of welfare. The state may be willing to contribute towards welfare but poor economic conditions may not allow welfare programmes or only allow low key programmes. With poor level of governance most welfare work comes to a standstill. In such situations the burden of poor economies can be shared by all rather than the poor alone. Human rights, as defined by the UN, impinge on the basic concept of welfare as seen by individual states. The right of all people to shelter, security, health, job, education as well as freedom to speak, associate and practice religion are concepts difficult to swallow for many societies and states. Social disparity may not allow many to grant rights to others. Yet social welfare is a practical arm of human rights and not an act of charity to be left to individual whims. In Islam, social welfare is the right of the underprivileged and not an act of charity extended by the state or individual. On the other hand the welfare of all the citizens of the state is vital for economic and social development. There are more than 94 indicators to measure social development. Each country’s performance in this area can be monitored following each intervention. Although social welfare had been debated by philosophers for a long time, it only became important after the Industrial Revolution in the 1840s. This was the time of the birth of modern cities with all its problems of communal living and compression of people into tight compartmental life, dynamics new to the first generation rural society. Since the Industrial Revolution started in England, the first city to cross the 2 million mark inhabitants a hundred years ago was London. The responsibilities of the new industrialised state was projected in the domain of social welfare of its people. Social welfare was the responsibility of the parish but with a large number of new towns, this became impractical. The Poor-Law Amendment Act was passed in 1834 and the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835. These were the basis of social welfare in the Britain of the future (Hill, 1997). Social welfare at the level of local government started in the middle of the 19th century West and emerged as a profession. Social welfare work in the hospital started in Massachusetts General Hospital, USA in 1905 (Morales and Sheafor, 1989). Social welfare departments in hospitals in Pakistan started in 1963. The Lahore Journal of Economics, Vol.3, No.1 106 The concept of a welfare state was introduced in the 1910 budget by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill which was blocked in the House of Lords. In the USA Child Welfare was started in 1912 and social welfare was introduced during the Roosevelt era in 1935. The Social Security Act of 1935 was a significant landmark for the US. WH Beveridge (1879-1963), born in Rungpur, now Pakistan) is considered as the father of the modern welfare state when he produced the Beveridge Plan in 1944. The Beveridge Plan recommending war on Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness formed the basis of post war liberalism (Dean, 1994). It was after World War II that the Labour Government in Britain put the theories of social scientists into practice with great enthusiasm. It was a combination of “Keyesian economics and Beveridgean social concern that gave the welfare state its strong political legitimacy and popular appeal”. Health, education, housing, minimal wages, money for the unemployed, care of the handicapped and destitute were assured by the state.
Muhammad Ramadhan, Anwar Fuadi, Bayani Dahlan
et al.
Indonesia, a country with a rich cultural tapestry, is not immune to the challenges posed by cultural conflicts. These conflicts are often rooted in historical tensions between tribes and religions, which continue to manifest in the form of respect, mutual respect, and the acceptance of differences. A solution is required to cultivate an attitude of religious moderation as a way of life in order to maintain harmony by upholding the pillars of justice, balance and tolerance. These pillars were initiated by Quriash Shihab using qualitative methods. It was found that the pillar of religious moderation has relevance to the traditions of the Tana Toraja people in the Rambu Solo event. The funeral tradition of Rambu Solo teaches about unity and social balance between people in ceremonial traditions, justice between followers of one religion and tolerance between adherents of Christianity as the majority and Islam as a minority religion.
Abstract The place of religion in the context of contemporary art is fraught and complex. This article discusses three prominent ways in which religion is explored in contemporary art: in sociopolitics, in art that transgresses, and in the creation of spaces of contemplation, some of which may be ‘religious’. Each of these ways have in common the exploration of religion primarily in terms of its lived experience and practices (within identity and the material world) rather than through religious belief or the institutions of religion.
The introduction of ChatGPT and the subsequent improvement of Large Language Models (LLMs) have prompted more and more individuals to turn to the use of ChatBots, both for information and assistance with decision-making. However, the information the user is after is often not formulated by these ChatBots objectively enough to be provided with a definite, globally accepted answer. Controversial topics, such as "religion", "gender identity", "freedom of speech", and "equality", among others, can be a source of conflict as partisan or biased answers can reinforce preconceived notions or promote disinformation. By exposing ChatGPT to such debatable questions, we aim to understand its level of awareness and if existing models are subject to socio-political and/or economic biases. We also aim to explore how AI-generated answers compare to human ones. For exploring this, we use a dataset of a social media platform created for the purpose of debating human-generated claims on polemic subjects among users, dubbed Kialo. Our results show that while previous versions of ChatGPT have had important issues with controversial topics, more recent versions of ChatGPT (gpt-3.5-turbo) are no longer manifesting significant explicit biases in several knowledge areas. In particular, it is well-moderated regarding economic aspects. However, it still maintains degrees of implicit libertarian leaning toward right-winged ideals which suggest the need for increased moderation from the socio-political point of view. In terms of domain knowledge on controversial topics, with the exception of the "Philosophical" category, ChatGPT is performing well in keeping up with the collective human level of knowledge. Finally, we see that sources of Bing AI have slightly more tendency to the center when compared to human answers. All the analyses we make are generalizable to other types of biases and domains.
Shweta Singh, Manjistha Datta, Pawan Kumar Gupta
et al.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a unique challenge for all, where numerous coping strategies are being used to adapt to the unprecedented stress. Among them, substance use is one of the most challenging for the youth in a developing country like India. Aims: The present study aimed to (1) compare among adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults comprehensive coping strategies and substance use, and (2) study various coping strategies as predictors of substance use amid the pandemic. Methodology: The sample comprised 1027 participants between 13–60 years of age, further categorized as adolescents (13–18 years), young adults (19–39 years), and middle-aged adults (39–60 years). The assessment was done on the Perceived Stress Scale, Brief COPE Inventory by Carver, and DSM-5 Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure. The groups were compared using Kruskal–Wallis and Chi-square. Correlations were calculated using Person's coefficient, and multiple linear regressions were analyzed. Results: The young adults used more substance use; adolescents used more self-blaming, self-distraction, instrumental support, and positive reframing. The male participants resorted to “substance use” while females were more involved with “seeking social support” and “religion.” Perceived stress, coping, age, and gender formed a significant predictor model with substance use, denial, positive reframing, and significant independent predictors of problematic substance use. Conclusions: Our study found significant age and gender-related differences in using various coping strategies and substance use. Our study explained substance use through the lens of coping where perceived stress, substance use as coping, denial, and positive reframing were significant independent predictors. Results will help to plan interventions to promote adaptive coping strategies and implement focused interventions in the vulnerable groups.
Introduction
Kalīla wa-Dimna (Kelileh o Demneh) is a book that has been translated by Iranians in different times and there have been interpolation in it. One of these interpolations is the addition of “the Book of Borzouyeh the Physician”, which has been the place of debate and disagreement among researchers ever since. It was written by Bozorgmehr and added to the mentioned book; however, since there is no trace of the Pahlavi text written by Bozorgmehr, it is not possible to give a definite opinion about what was added to it. The only important point is that the Pahlavi text "is considered the main source of the later translations of Kalīla wa-Dimna" (Dublova, 2012: 16); therefore, the two Arabic translations of Ibn Muqaffa and the old Syriac translation from the Pahlavi text have been provided. Despite this, Borzouyeh chapter exists only in the Arabic translation and is not seen in the Syriac text (Mahjoub, 2015: 48). The issue of "Manichaeism" is prominent in connection with the presence and absence of the chapter on Borzouyeh in the Syriac and Arabic translation, in such a way that its existence in the Arabic translation caused a series of debates about the authenticity of this chapter and attributing it to Ibn Muqaffa and promoting Manichaean beliefs; its absence, however, in the Syriac translation by a person who wrote against the Manicheans, led the minds to the anti- Manichaean tendencies of that translator and discursive interventions.
Methodology
This research follows a descriptive-analytical method, and in the analysis, an effort is made to reveal the religious tendencies of the author of the Book of Borzouyeh the Physician by comparing it and the Manichaean texts. Since the Book's skepticism in the discussion of religious skepticism has similarities with other issues from the Sassanid and the Islamic period, the present study will, firstly, examine the issue of religious skepticism in it and compare it with propositions from other texts; the study tries to find a convincing answer to this question: which Manichean theme is included in the piece related to religious doubt about the physician's profession?
Secondly, by analyzing and examining the above-mentioned Book comprehensively, the study will answer the question: which Manichaean teachings does the Book of Borzouyeh contain?
Discussion
In order to distinguish the Manichaean doctrines about Borzouyeh, three major issues have been taken into account, i.e. religious skepticism, asceticism and parables. What will be obtained from the examination and analysis of the Manichaean themes under the mentioned trilogy include: 1- the issues of selection of the outcomes of religions, in the discussion of religious skepticism, i.e., the interpretation of "the elite of all religions" in the Book of Borzouyeh, in connection with the selectiveness of Manichaeism and Mani's use of works and beliefs of all religions in developing his religion. It seems that Mani, in the light of an elitist and compromising point of view, based his teachings on what is approved by various ethnic groups from the West to the East (Klimkait, 2014: 269). This compromising feature of Mani allows him to easily use the sign systems related to different beliefs and cultures in order to spread his ideas widely. Mani himself, while enumerating the reasons for the superiority of his religion over past religions, acknowledges this selectiveness and taking advantage of the heritage of others and says: wispānnibēgānwihīhudāzendīgpēšēnagāndēnān ka ōēndēnī man….(Boyce, 1975: 30). (All the writings, philosophy and wisdom of the ancients’ religions, to this religion of mine...[was added...]).
Speaking of Mani's selectivity, it should be said that he considered himself to be the interpreter of the thoughts of Christ; Mani considered himself not only Jesus, but also a living Christian and spoke of his living books and his eternal religion. Also, Mani's influence on the epic-mythical narratives and traditions of Iran is evident in the book of Ghulan Maniwi.
As to the contribution of Babylonian beliefs, "the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh" was one of the main sources from which Manichean beliefs began and expanded" (Daly, 1400, 97). The influence of Indian and Buddhist beliefs should also be considered in the Manicheans' special attention to allegoric and narrative literature of India. Therefore, the use of the phrase "Elite of all religions" in the topic of Borzouyeh and its selection is in line with the intellectual system of the Manicheans and the subject of selectiveness on their part.
Regarding the ascetic teachings of the Book of Borzouyeh with Manichaeism, one should also mention issues like the demonic creation of the human body, the desire to be freed from the prison of the body, the belief that life is painful, abandoning cohabitation with women, abandoning witchcraft, and avoiding harming humans and animals. In the explanation of these references, as to the pessimistic attitude of the Manicheans about the human body, it can be said that the impure body and its corrupt mixture, which is highlighted in the Book of Borzouyeh, are connected with the body of the human demon and the pure soul. About the belief in the sufferings of the world and the life accompanied by torments, that can be seen among the teachings of Manichaeism, the Book of Borzouyeh also considers the world to be a "plague" full of "torment" in which a person, incessantly, suffers from pain and suffering from the moment of his birth to the time of his death. Therefore, in accordance with the pessimistic attitude of the Manicheans to the world, the statements like "the world is a well full of calamity and fear", "friendship with the world is one of the evils", "divorce of the world is liberation", provide a proper way to look pessimistically at the world and to avoid it.
Avoiding lust and intercourse with women is also one of the common teachings in Manichaeism and the Book of Borzouyeh. According to the narration of the Book, Borzouyeh "prevented the vagina from being inappropriate and [showed] general symptoms from the inclination of women" (Nasrullah Manshi, 1389: 51). According to Borzouyeh, witchcraft is one of the sins (ibid. 51). This order is consistent with a Manichaean teaching in "abandoning... the teaching witchcraft" (Abul Qasmi, 2017: 27). Avoiding "hurting animals and killing people" (Nasrullah Manshi, 2009: 50) is also in accordance with Manichaean ascetic teachings. According to Mani, "it is not permissible to kill any creature" (Reeves, 2011: 161).
"Borrowing from Buddhist narratives" can be considered as one of the influential platforms of Manichaeism (Skjærvø, 2006: 58). In this way, stories and parables can be found in the book of Borzouyeh which, although they "certainly have Indian roots" (Dublova, 1382: 71), they have taken on a Manichean flavor and were used to expand or consolidate their beliefs; therefore, the warning of the Book Borzouyeh about paying attention to the pleasures of the senses as the main obstacle to happiness is in accordance with Manichean world-aversion teachings. In addition, the connection of Manichaean allegorical literature with the Book of Borzouyeh can be seen in the allegorical use of "agriculture", "straw" and "seed". Therefore, relying on the textual evidences and measuring them with Manichaean teachings, we see themes that are in connection and alignment with Manichaean beliefs throughout the Book of Borzouyeh.
Conclusion
In “the Book of Borzouyeh the Physician”, we find elements that refer to Manichaean teachings. The discussion of "religious skepticism" has been the most important factor of disagreement among researchers. From the point of view of this research, the only determining factor in the discussion of skepticism is relying on its privative form. Relying on the privative aspect, what separates the statement of religious doubt about Borzouyeh, as a special element of manifestation from other similar statements, is the phrase "elite of all religions" which is in line with the selective and elitist view of manifests, in such a way that Mani himself considers this selectivity as one of the reasons for the superiority of his religion over others.
Also, asceticism is one of the most frequent semantic components throughout the Book. Considering the integrated thought of the Manicheans, ascetic themes, apart from their Indian, Gnostic and Christian sources, play a role in serving Manichaean thoughts. The demonic nature of man, abandoning the lust and desire of women, abandoning witchcraft, believing in the suffering of the world, death and wishing to be freed from the prison of the body, abandoning cruelty to men and animals are among the ascetic teachings in the Book of Borzouyeh.
Manichean allegory of is also an important feature in deriving Manichaean themes from Borzouyeh. Not paying attention to sensual pleasures and abandoning them is the most central Manichaean theme in the allegories of Book of Borzouyeh.
With the identification of Manichean characteristics of the Book of Borzouyeh, it is not only revealed that this Book is attributed to Ibn Muqaffa, but, beyond that, it also leads one to the Manichaean tendencies of Borzouyeh and its probable author, Bozorgmehr Vizier Anoushirvan.
IntroductionThe research on Waqf (endowment) has a long history, especially from a jurisprudential and sociological point of view. However, so far, the relationship of waqf with governance has not been addressed. What is of great importance is the analysis of the conceptual and structural capacities of waqf for the realization of popular governance. In this regard, the question of these capacities for the transition from non-popular governance to popular governance seems to be fundamental. In response to this question, this article investigates the claim that Waqf has a suitable conceptual and structural capacity for this transition. Waqf has a suitable capacity for the formation and promotion of popular governance, both in terms of the related conceptual words and jurisprudential arguments related to it, as well as in terms of dense historical experience in its structure and how to administer it.Referring to jurisprudential and non-jurisprudential texts and sources about waqf, the author describes the concepts and teachings related to it, and finally analyzes the conceptual and structural capacity of it for the popularization of governance. This analysis is necessarily within the framework of Islamic and structural waqf regulations and considers these regulations as the premise of its analysis. In this regard, after referring to the concepts that make up the conceptual framework of the article and explaining the methodological model, first, the capacity of waqf in proving the right of people's participation in governance, then its capacity in developing people's participation in governance, and finally its capacity in continuing people's participation in governance will be reviewed. Research Methodology Explaining the relationship of waqf with popular governance requires a suitable method that can explain the ratio of the two by extracting the conceptual capacity of waqf. Hence, a descriptive-analytical method is used in this article. For this reason, relying on reports and research about waqf, the article analyzed the concept of waqf to explain its relationship with popular governance. The mentioned method has highlighted the importance of the concept of participation as an intermediate concept through which it has explained the meaningful relationship between waqf and popular governance. Therefore, in this article, waqf is considered an independent variable and popular governance a dependent variable, and the impact of waqf on governance is investigated through the intermediary variable of participation. Research FindingsPopularity of governance entails the right of people to participate, and thus, the concept of waqf from a religious point of view leads to the generation of people's right to participate in governance. In fact, by using the conceptual capacity of waqf, it is possible to argue about the participatory nature of governance and conclude that waqf can propose the theoretical foundations necessary to move from non-popular governance to popular governance.With the development of people's participation through waqf, the position and role of the people in the realization of social justice are strengthened, and as a result, their position and role in governance are enhanced. In this case, waqf becomes one of the most important factors in the popularization of governance.The proposal of this article is the model of people's participation, based on which the organization of waqf and charity affairs should be placed in the position of policy-making and monitoring and create several managerial and executive models in the administration of waqf. From this point of view, as under the supervision of this organization, natural persons undertake the management of endowments as waqifs and trustees, this organization can create the basis for the realization of the people's participation model in the matter of waqf, and in this way, the continuation of people's participation in the waqf will happen. Discussion and conclusionPeople, as the owners of governance, have common rights in the matter of governance, and as a result, the ruler is only placed in the position of trustee or custodian of the waqf. Therefore, the ruler cannot have a proprietary possession in the matter of governance, because such a possession causes the rule to become tyrannical, which is against the teachings of religion. The result of such a perception is to prove the right of people to participate. The popularity of governance entails the right of people's participation, and thus, the concept of waqf from a religious point of view leads to the generation of people's right to participate in governance.Also, according to the new needs, the development of the waqf area can develop the area of popular participation. Currently, the development of people's participation in the matter of waqf requires the development of waqf expenditures in the fields of education, culture, welfare, economy, health, etc. What, however, seems necessary, is the prioritization of waqf expenses according to the main needs of society. From this point of view, it seems that "social justice" is one of these priorities that the capacity of waqf can be used to realize and thus help popularize governance. This connection seems clear from this point that social security leads to the general authority of the society, thus governance becomes efficient.And finally, the history of Waqf has such a capacity that it is possible to rely on it to ensure the continuation of popular participation in governance. As long as people and popular institutions are the main trustees of waqf in various public areas of society, governance will enjoy the nature of the people. Meanwhile, the role of governments will not be to take over the waqf but to facilitate people's participation in it. Through waqf, people can play a role in many public affairs of society as a partner of the government in the matter of governanceBased on this, it can be concluded that Waqf, both conceptually and structurally, has a suitable capacity for popularizing governance. Waqf has a popular character and entrusting at least a part of it to the people can play a significant role in popularizing governance.
Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Ahmad Ibrahim Hasibuan, Hasan Asari, Neliwati Neliwati
The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the management of private Islamic tertiary institutions which are required to become quality tertiary institutions in terms of the accreditation obtained by the tertiary institutions themselves. The research method uses phenomenological qualitative. Primary data source; university leaders namely STIT Al-Hikmah Tebing Tinggi, IAIDU Kisaran, STAI Al Ihlas Sidikalang, FAI UISU, STAI Lubuk Pakam, and STAI Lubuk Pakam. Secondary data sources; research journals, books, and websites. Qualitative research data collection techniques, namely documentation, observation, and interviews. Descriptive-qualitative analysis techniques and reflective analysis. The research results of KERJASAMA IX North Sumatra have the task of supervising, controlling, fostering, and empowering private Islamic tertiary institutions. Provide consideration and follow-up sanctions against PTAIS that provide non/low quality education. Strategic steps that can be considered in the development of PTAI in the face of globalization are changing the Mindset from the Paradigm of Spectators to Actors, giving birth to graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit, Diplomacy of International Standard Academic Tracks, Sending Lecturers Abroad to Ministry of Religion Launching of 5000 Doctoral scholarship programs, Increasing Foreign Language Competence and global-based standardization of Academic Facilities.
In early 2020, the world was shocked by the outbreak of the corona virus (covid 19) that emerged in Wuhan, China and quickly spread to the rest of the world, including Indonesia. The pandemic that occurred in Indonesia tested citizens who are known to be multicultural with religion, language, culture, religion, ethnicity and race from the aspect of spirituality (divinity) and social (humanity), because covid 19 does not look at social and religious strata. Therefore, it is necessary to read religious moderation as a discourse in multicultural life in Indonesia as a mainstream in growing spirituality and social life. This article is a qualitative literature study with techniques for collecting data from several sources such as online news, journal articles and phenomena related to religious issues and COVID-19 which are analyzed with Islamic theological theory and sociology, to get a comprehensive reading of moderation. religion during a pandemic. First, theologically it is believed that God is the center of the cosmos which is to grow faith with the representation of the Spirit and can interpret theology inclusively. Second, in the context of Indonesia, it is sociologically aware that the spread of religion is not carried out by means of violence and that religion and culture act as social capital.
Keywords: Religious Moderation, Pandemic, Theo-Sociology
Although religious belief represents the main reason people belong or do not belong to a specific church or religious society, it is not always the only reason, and increasingly there are other factors that affect this belonging. These factors include the attitude toward institutionalized religion, and a preference for the value of belongingness plays an important role as well. Both of these factors are also influenced by the wider context of personal attitudes to morality and solidarity. In our research, we assumed that the value of belongingness is a cornerstone that, in specific ways, binds all the other mentioned factors, and is likewise related to religious belief. To confirm this assumption, we conducted research using a widespread cross-sectional survey. In total, we received data from 5175 respondents (2204 men, 2957 women, and 16 of another gender). The data were collected in the Czech Republic, which can be considered a country with a wide spectrum of different religious beliefs. All hypothetical assumptions were confirmed as statistically significant, and the analysis of the inner structure of these relationships showed their complexity. Because of the high complexity of the examined phenomena, only the main findings are discussed in this paper. Our conclusions confirm the increasing number of people for whom belonging is more important or takes precedence over religious belief. These conclusions led us to several recommendations for religious institutions or societies.
Golshan Madraki, Isabella Grasso, Jacqueline Otala
et al.
Misinformation/disinformation about COVID-19 has been rampant on social media around the world. In this study, we investigate COVID-19 misinformation/ disinformation on social media in multiple languages - Farsi (Persian), Chinese, and English, about multiple countries - Iran, China, and the United States (US), and on multiple platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, and WhatsApp. Misinformation, especially about a global pandemic, is a global problem yet it is common for studies of COVID-19 misinformation on social media to focus on a single language, like English, a single country, like the US, or a single platform, like Twitter. We utilized opportunistic sampling to compile 200 specific items of viral and yet debunked misinformation across these languages, countries and platforms emerged between January 1 and August 31. We then categorized this collection based both on the topics of the misinformation and the underlying roots of that misinformation. Our multi-cultural and multilingual team observed that the nature of COVID-19 misinformation on social media varied in substantial ways across different languages/countries depending on the cultures, beliefs/religions, popularity of social media, types of platforms, freedom of speech and the power of people versus governments. We observe that politics is at the root of most of the collected misinformation across all three languages in this dataset. We further observe the different impact of government restrictions on platforms and platform restrictions on content in Iran, China, and the US and their impact on a key question of our age: how do we control misinformation without silencing the voices we need to hold governments accountable?
Abstract Contemporary debates about the renewed significance of emotions and affects in the study of religion perpetuate the disciplinary work of analyzing religion vis‐à‐vis contested approaches to the history of religions. The article takes a comparative and historio‐theoretical approach to the burgeoning field of religious emotions and affects in order to ask how specific arguments about methodology resonate with contested scholarly ideas and narratives of history. Furthermore, the article aims to bring different areas of contemporary scholarship on religious emotions and affects into conversation which have not been treated as interdependent. The materials under consideration are taken from sub‐fields in the discipline such as history of religions, affect theory, and material religion, as well as from closely related debates about theory of practice, presence, and the impact of hermeneutics on the field of religion.