Opinion Polls and the Dynamics of the Public Sphere: The Catholic Church in the Federal Republic after 1968

In the aftermath of the Katholikentag in Essen in September1968, conflicts about various issues of religious practice andchurch activities became visible in the Catholic Church in theFederal Republic. These conflicts, and the growing demand forparticipation in the preparation of the Würzburg synodof the West German dioceses (1971-1975), provided the contextfor the first large-scale application of opinion polling inthe Catholic Church. In the spring of 1970, twenty-one millionquestionnaires were distributed to all German Catholics, accompaniedby a survey based on a quota sample of interviewees. The discourseabout the implementation of polling techniques in the churchwas structured along the lines of binary dichotomies. Whereassome theologians and grass-roots activists demanded the inclusionof taboo topics such as the abolition of celibacy, many bishopsand a conservative current feared that the questionnaire wouldallow for new vistas and hence deliberately liberalize and diluteessential elements of Catholic doctrine. Another controversialtopic was the possibility of responsiveness, that is the extentto which decisions of church bodies should react to public opinionas it was reflected in the polls. Not only grass-roots activists,but also the renowned theologian Karl Lehmann were scepticalthat the poll could be used to manipulate public opinion aboutpastoral issues and to gloss over substantial problems. Butthere was also substantial concern about the possible use ofthe polls in a plebiscitarian manner, which would charge factsabout the state of public opinion with normative power. In thecontext of the preparations of the Würzburg Synod, thepolls worked as a technology of the public sphere. In the aftermathof Essen 1968, the politicization of conflicts brought the questionof responsiveness to the forefront. It would be misleading,however, as this example makes clear, to equate the reflectionof public opinion in the polls with a ‘critical’public capable of exercising democratic oversight.     

晚清天主教会与耶稣教会的冲突

1891—1911年间,中国天主教会与耶酥教会的矛盾激化,屡屡发生历史上前所未有的天主、耶酥教派冲突。目前主要史籍中有案可查的这类冲突共有42起,经分析归纳其有五大特点,七种原因。中国政府对教派冲突问题非常重视,对它的处理不同于对其他教案,具有两种特点。     

Religion and Politics in the Philippines: The Public Role of the Roman Catholic Church in the Democratization of the Filipino Polity

Abstract

From a social-ethical point of view, an appalling lack of a sense of common good continues to haunt Philippine political life even after the restoration of democracy through the 1986 People Power revolution. Our study contends that it is mainly caused by a polity that does not allow for a participatory deliberation and envisioning of the common good and a political culture that is not nurturing but hindering the collective and institutional commitment for it. While the Roman Catholic Church has been partly responsible for this democratic deficit, it nevertheless remains a social force with a moral high ground for political transformation, if it is able to change its social location and re-invent its social mission. A self-critical Filipino church whose base ecclesial communities are inserted like leaven in civil society holds the most important key to the democratization of Philippine polity and culture in the light of the Gospel.     

顺治朝全国各地天主教教堂教友考略

关于顺治朝全国各地天主教教堂、教友的统计 ,中西文献均有记录 ,但所录数据歧异甚大 ,令人莫衷一是 ,很多研究者对于各种数据亦未加考辨 ,即取其中一数为其论述之根据 ,固所得结论不可信。因此 ,如不将顺治朝全国各地天主教教堂教友的数据考订确实 ,对于整个天主教在清朝前期的发展是无法讲清楚的。据目前所见资料 ,关于顺治朝全国各地教堂教友统计数者有四种文献 :一是由方豪先生收藏的《辩学》手抄本 ,之后附《各处堂志》 ,录全国各地教堂 3 5处 ,无教友数 ① 。据方豪言 ,该抄本言康熙时期 ,而我判断应是顺治末之情形 ;二是杨光先《不得…     

东帝汶天主教会的变迁及其影响

在短短十几年里 ,东帝汶天主教徒迅速增多 ,由不到总人口的三分之一上升到占绝对多数。与此同时 ,原先作为葡萄牙殖民工具的天主教会不但实现了东帝汶化 ,而且在社会政治方面的影响日益增强 ,崛起为印尼在东帝汶统治的最大抵抗和反对力量。 70年代中期以来东帝汶社会内部的这一巨变 ,对后来东帝汶问题的走向产生了重大影响。对东帝汶天主教会的变迁进行考察 ,将有助于弥补东帝汶历史尤其是东帝汶问题的研究偏重暴力冲突和外部干预的不足。     

Women and the Public Sphere

In Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the contrast between ‘public’ and ‘private’ worlds drew not on one, but on multiple, contrasts. However, recognising such variations does not necessarily provide us with new analytical tools. This article examines some of the ways in which twentieth-century commentators have attempted to categorise these contrasts. In particular the article critically engages with Habermas's definition of the public sphere and suggests the advantages and disadvantages of using his notion through a discussion of the relationship of the British women's suffrage movement to the debate over citizenship in the 1860s.