Handbook of Research on Diversity and Gender Differences in Spiritual Experiences

Book excerpt: In society, diversity is often complicated by the considerations of the intersections of gender and religion. Given that religion is particularly shaped by and intertwined with its social context, as well as constructed by social actors through social relations in complex ways, the conversations of the intersectionality of diversity with bias to gender, sex, and religion are also clearly socially located. This social location as well includes spatial location, which is continuously changing geographies and is also linked to shifting demographics with its dynamics of the complex picture of new diversity. The Handbook of Research on Diversity and Gender Differences in Spiritual Experiences discusses diversity in multidimensional perspectives such as religion, gender, sex, the degree of acceptance in the public sphere, the ideological commitment to values of diversity, and the increasing scope of acceptability of multiple layers of diversity in society. It further interrogates how religious diversity manifests itself in society, how it provides sites for political contestation and stratification as well as inclusion and exclusion, how it affects other social dimensions, and how to respond to it in the effect toward a more peaceable and just society. Covering topics such as gender discrimination, religious identity, and spiritual needs, this major reference work is a comprehensive resource for leaders of religious and related organizations, theological scholars, students and educators of higher education, government officials, business leaders and managers, librarians, researchers, and academicians.