Accommodating Religious Pluralism in Denmark

2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-274
Author(s):  
Anne Mark Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Structural Differentiation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
High Level

AbstractThis article discusses the room for accommodating religious diversity offered by the particular configuration of secularity existing in Denmark. Theoretically, the article adopts Jose Casanova and Mark Chaves’ proposals to separate analytically between the core elements of secularisation, and to leave open for empirical analyses the development and potential connections between these in different geographical and geo-political contexts.From this perspective, the article discusses the conditions for accommodating religious diversity offered by the peculiar combination prevailing in Denmark of a low level of structural differentiation combined with a high level of rationalisation, generalisation, and privatisation of religion. The article argues that the legal inequality existing in Denmark between religious communities stemming from the existence of a state supported church (i.e. a low level of differentiation) matters less for the accommodation of religious diversity than do widely held and strongly embedded popular sentiments and imaginations of the public sphere as strictly secular (i.e. a high level of rationalisation, generalisation and privatisation of religion).

scholarly journals Freedom of religion and worship places: visualization of religious pluralism at local level

2017 ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Gorka Urrutia Asua
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Cities ◽  
The Public Sphere

The visualization of religious pluralism in the public sphere is a growing phenomenon in all major European cities, and one of the elements that most clearly reflects it is the proliferation of worship places for religious minorities. In many cases, these situations have been quite conflictive, generating bases that make coexistence at local level more difficult. Attitudes coming from public opinion and the speeches by public administration representatives have clashed with the demands of religious communities. These tensions describe a situation where a greater effort should be made to accommodate basic demands related to a human right such as freedom of religion. This article, based on a particular case, pretends to identify the basic fundaments that should be taken into account when the management of religious pluralism is faced at the local level.Published online: 11 December 2017

Tolerance and Accommodation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori G. Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter problematizes the notions and language of tolerance and accommodation in relation to religious diversity, and traces their genealogy both as legal solutions and as discursive frameworks within which religious diversity is increasingly understood in the public sphere. The problem they pose is that they create a hierarchy of privilege that preserves hegemonic power relations by religious majorities over religious minorities. Tolerance in this context might be imagined as the broadly stated value that we must deal with diversity and those who are different from us by tolerating them. Accommodation might be seen as the implementation of this value—that in order to demonstrate our commitment to tolerance we must accommodate the ‘demands’ of minority groups and those individuals who position themselves or align themselves with minorities.

scholarly journals A semantics of love: Brief notes on desire and recognition in Georges Bataille

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-136
Author(s):  
Herivelto Pereira de Souza
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Disruptive Effect ◽  
Sexual Encounter ◽  
Normative Structure ◽  
Love Relationships ◽  
The Public ◽  
Philosophy Of Life ◽  
The Core ◽  
Central Notion ◽  
The Public Sphere

According to the Hegelian scheme re-proposed by Honneth, the first pattern of intersubjective recognition, still below the juridical mediation, is the sphere of interactions marked by affective bonds, or love. It is considered a first stage mostly because recognition is rooted in the partners' mutual dependency as needy creatures, which demand care and the emotional approval that follows it. In this sense, a constitutional lacking emerges as the fundamental character of the most primitive kinds of interaction embedded in social norms. And that is important inasmuch the other stages of recognitive practices depend on this first one, in which subjects acquire capacities for rational and moral reasoning and action in the public sphere. However, one could question to what extent the same normative structure can be taking as underlying every loving relationship, as oriented by an affirmation of the subject's independence, while presupposing involuntary feelings of liking and attraction. After all, if the aspirations of reciprocal recognition in this realm are intrinsically related to very concrete features, why taking child caring, friendship and sexual encounter as referred to the same set of recognition patterns? If Honneth's recourse to psychoanalytic theory makes it clear why in all these kinds of interaction is to be found erotic contents of libidinal character, on the other hand one gets no clue on why the very different forms of satisfaction of the drives do not come into consideration. At this point it seems important to recall Georges Bataille's account of sexuality to think not only about the limits of recognition, but also its dialectical structure. The central notion of transgression helps understand why the normative grounds of intersubjective acknowledgment regarding at least some love relationships require a sort of suspension which is not the mere suppression of their validity: the violence that resides at the core of such erotic, transgressive experiences points to a disruptive effect over the features of subjective arrangement, intersubjectively formed. That is why excitement and fear, pleasure and anguish intertwine in eroticism, and desire becomes the name of a fascinating and frightening ontological excess. It is this very paradoxical character that is decisive for Bataille, for if norms need their transgression in order to exert a subjective inscription, one should not take the passage from desire to recognition as just a progressive process towards a determined form of sociality. Bataille associates a certain Durkheimian heritage with a philosophy of life to account for a libidinal economy of recognition in which desire lies at its very core. This paper proposes a reflection on what is at stake in this conceptual operation, and on the significance of the peculiar enjoyment of norms to a rethinking of the particular aspirations of recognition in love relationships.

scholarly journals Anonymity and Democracy: Absence as Presence in the Public Sphere

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
HANS ASENBAUM
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Identity Performance ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Identity Creation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Explanatory Concept

Although anonymity is a central feature of liberal democracies—not only in the secret ballot, but also in campaign funding, publishing political texts, masked protests, and graffiti—it has so far not been conceptually grounded in democratic theory. Rather, it is treated as a self-explanatory concept related to privacy. To overcome this omission, this article develops a complex understanding of anonymity in the context of democratic theory. Drawing upon the diverse literature on anonymity in political participation, it explains anonymity as a highly context-dependent identity performance expressing private sentiments in the public sphere. The contradictory character of its core elements—identity negation and identity creation—results in three sets of contradictory freedoms. Anonymity affords (a) inclusion and exclusion, (b) subversion and submission, and (c) honesty and deception. This contradictory character of anonymity's affordances illustrates the ambiguous role of anonymity in democracy.

Varieties of Atheism in Science

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Howard Ecklund ◽  
David R. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Daniel Dennett ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Science In Society ◽  
New Atheism ◽  
Depth Interviews

Not all atheists are New Atheists, but thanks in large part to the prominence and influence of New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens, New Atheism has claimed the pulpit of secularity in Western society. New Atheists have given voice to marginalized nonreligious individuals and underscored the importance of science in society. They have also advanced a derisive view of religion and forcefully argued that science and religion are intrinsically in conflict. Many in the public think that all scientists are atheists and all atheist scientists are New Atheists, militantly against religion and religious people. But what do everyday atheist scientists actually think about religion? Drawing on a survey of 1,293 atheist scientists in the U.S. and U.K., and 81 follow-up in-depth interviews, this book explains the pathways that led to atheism among scientists, the diverse views of religion they hold, their perspectives on the limits of what science can explain, and their views of meaning and morality. The findings reveal a vast gulf between the rhetoric of New Atheism in the public sphere and the reality of atheism in science. The story of the varieties of atheism in science is consequential for scientific and religious communities and points to tools for dialogue between these seemingly disparate groups.

scholarly journals Hypersensitive Site 2 Specifies a Unique Function within the Human β-Globin Locus Control Region To Stimulate Globin Gene Transcription

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 3062-3072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Bungert ◽  
Keiji Tanimoto ◽  
Sunil Patel ◽  
Qinghui Liu ◽  
Mark Fear ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transgenic Mice ◽  
Gene Transcription ◽  
Control Region ◽  
Globin Gene ◽  
Dnase I ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Transgenic Lines ◽  
High Level ◽  
Chromatin Opening

ABSTRACT The human β-globin locus control region (LCR) harbors both strong chromatin opening and enhancer activity when assayed in transgenic mice. To understand the contribution of individual DNase I hypersensitive sites (HS) to the function of the human β-globin LCR, we have mutated the core elements within the context of a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) carrying the entire locus and then analyzed the effect of these mutations on the formation of LCR HS elements and expression of the genes in transgenic mice. In the present study, we examined the consequences of two different HS2 mutations. We first generated seven YAC transgenic lines bearing a deletion of the 375-bp core enhancer of HS2. Single-copy HS2 deletion mutants exhibited severely depressed HS site formation and expression of all of the human β-globin genes at every developmental stage, confirming that HS2 is a vital, integral component of the LCR. We also analyzed four transgenic lines in which the core element of HS2 was replaced by that of HS3 and found that while HS3 is able to restore the chromatin-opening activity of the LCR, it is not able to functionally replace HS2 in mediating high-level globin gene transcription. These results continue to support the hypothesis that HS2, HS3, and HS4 act as a single, integral unit to regulate human globin gene transcription as a holocomplex, but they can also be interpreted to say that formation of a DNase I hypersensitive holocomplex alone is not sufficient for mediating high-level globin gene transcription. We therefore propose that the core elements must productively interact with one another to generate a unique subdomain within the nucleoprotein holocomplex that interacts in a stage-specific manner with individual globin gene promoters.

scholarly journals The Chilean Military after Antuco: Shortcomings of a Post-Secular Discourse

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Cristobal Bellolio
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Local Version ◽  
Liberal Neutrality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Military

In their two hundred years of existence, the Chilean armed forces have had a close relationship with the Catholic faith, especially with a local version of the Virgin Mary (Virgen del Carmen), who is held as the patroness of the military. After its greatest tragedy in peacetime, when 44 soldiers—half of them Christian evangelicals—died buried in the snows of the Antuco volcano, the army and other branches of the military felt compelled to add Protestant chaplaincies to their repertoire of religious assistance, hitherto reserved for Catholics. This has been understood as a move towards a more egalitarian and inclusive understanding of religious freedom, but also as opposing exclusivist versions of liberal neutrality, in which the state fulfils its duty by taking religion out of the public sphere altogether. According to the times’ intellectual climate, the Chilean authorities have been framing these developments—not only in the military, but elsewhere—as the embodiment of a post-secular strategy, in which religion (all religion) should be welcomed back into public life and state institutions. This article presents five concerns with this chosen strategy: (a) whether inclusive secularism is a practical impossibility, since there is no way to accommodate all religious and non-religious expressions; (b) whether a post-secular narrative is adequate for states that that have not gone through the previous (secular) phase; (c) whether post-secular institutional arrangements—which entail welcoming religion in the public sphere—are adequate in countries without religious pluralism; (d) whether post-secular institutional arrangements—which entail welcoming religion in the public sphere—are not actually disparaging for non-religious people; (e) whether sponsored religious expressions and practices within public institutions put undue pressure on dissenters. This way, I offer the case of the Chilean armed forces as a proxy to illuminate the normative problems that an incipient process of growing religious pluralism and a move towards religious egalitarianism, framed as a post-secular discourse, faces in hegemonically Catholic countries.

Ties and Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-104
Author(s):  
Doriano Saracino
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

Abstract Immigration from the Global South is a recent phenomenon in Italy, which is turning from a prevalently homogenous Catholic country into a multi-faith one. This transformation is evident too in prisons, where people from different religious traditions share space. The long road from religious diversity to social acceptance of differences is difficult. The public debate concerns essentially Muslim inmates, and the arguments swing from ‘securitarian’ views to an inclusive approach as an alternative way to prevent radicalisation. The lack of meaningful relationships between inmates of different faiths and their religious communities can be a serious obstacle to social reinsertion. An analysis of the Italian prison system with statistical data and qualitative research enables us to outline a model of the evolution of the penitentiary systems.

The Transnationalization of Public Spheres and Global Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Ingrid Volkmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Global Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Container Model

The globalized spheres of digital communication require a substantial revision of conventional conceptions of ‘the public sphere’. This article lays out the core strands of such a new debate by identifying the limitations of traditional public sphere approaches which are caused by the boundedness of the foci on the national ‘container’ model associated with the European nation state. Instead of limiting publicness to national boundaries, new approaches are required to understand the new discursive spheres of connectivity of citizens across all society types, today enabled by digital communication. Such an approach is necessary to map out the new dimension of public discourse. The article concludes with the suggestion of a model of publicness understood as ‘reflective interdependence’ connecting citizens across societies.

Religious Education Between the Traditions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eboo Patel ◽  
Noah Silverman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Interfaith Education

This chapter addresses how the continuity of individual and communal religious identity can be preserved in a modern context characterized by a rapid rise in religious diversity and a concomitant decline in traditional religious association. The chapter discusses various postures that religious communities can take in such a context. The authors advocate an intentional and engaged religious pluralism, achieved through “interfaith education.” This concept is defined and parsed into three activities in which religious communities should engage: developing a theology of interfaith cooperation, nurturing appreciative knowledge of shared values, and engaging in relationship-building activities. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of how North American seminaries have been on the vanguard of adopting interfaith—sometimes referred to as multifaith or inter-religious—education.

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