A Way Out of Laïcité? The Child's Best Interests as Justification for Religious Manifestation

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-206
Author(s):  
Esther Erlings
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Sudden Change ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relevant Case ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
Administrative Tribunal

Over the last couple of years, France has built up the reputation of a staunchly secular society where, slowly but surely, signs of religious manifestation are being removed from the public space with an appeal to laïcité (French secularism) and other French values. This is why it came as a surprise that, after a long list of unsuccessful religious manifestation cases, in August 2017 the Dijon Administrative Tribunal ruled against a municipality that had decided no to longer accommodate Muslim and Jewish dietary prescriptions in school canteens. The reason for the sudden change appeared to be the approach taken in the relevant case: rather than basing itself on freedom of manifestation, the tribunal had chosen to decide the case solely on the basis of the best interests of the child. Although that approach offered some much-desired relief for the religious communities involved, following an overview of the case below, I will argue that it may not be a sustainable answer to the curtailing of religious manifestations in the name of laïcité.

Mocking Parades and the Place of Pagan Statuary in Late Antique Alexandria

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-288
Author(s):  
Jonathan Stutz
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Mob Violence ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

AbstractWith the present paper I would like to discuss a particular form of procession which we may term mocking parades, a collective ritual aimed at ridiculing cultic objects from competing religious communities. The cases presented here are contextualized within incidents of pagan/Christian violence in Alexandria between the 4th and 5th centuries, entailing in one case the destruction of the Serapeum and in another the pillaging of the Isis shrine at Menouthis on the outskirts of Alexandria. As the literary accounts on these events suggest, such collective forms of mockery played an important role in the context of mob violence in general and of violence against sacred objects in particular. However, while historiographical and hagiographical sources from the period suggest that pagan statues underwent systematic destruction and mutilation, we can infer from the archaeological evidence a vast range of uses and re-adaptation of pagan statuary in the urban space, assuming among other functions that of decorating public spaces. I would like to build on the thesis that the parading of sacred images played a prominent role in the discourse on the value of pagan statuary in the public space. On the one hand, the statues carried through the streets became themselves objects of mockery and violence, involving the population of the city in a collective ritual of exorcism. On the other hand, the images paraded in the mocking parades could also become a means through which the urban space could become subject to new interpretations. Entering in visual contact with the still visible vestiges of the pagan past, with the temples and the statuary of the city, the “image of the city” became affected itself by the images paraded through the streets, as though to remind the inhabitants that the still-visible elements of Alexandria’s pagan topography now stood as defeated witnesses to Christianity’s victory.

scholarly journals The The Significance of Internal and External Relativism For Religious Harmony

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-28
Author(s):  
Zaprulkhan Zaprulkhan
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Abstract In the public sphere, internal relations between fellow Muslims appear negative. Some Muslims insult, curse and slander each other. Likewise, relations between religious communities externally show a less harmonious relationship. There is mutual suspicion in the relationship between religious communities externally. Some Muslim scholars offer the concept of internal relativism as a solution for relations between fellow Muslims internally and the concept of external relativism as a solution for relations between various religious communities in the public space. Therefore, this article tries to elaborate on the significance of the construction of internal and external relativism in building ukhuwah Islamiyah internally and harmony among religious communities externally. Keywords: significance, internal and external relativism, religious harmony   Abstrak: Dalam ruang publik, relasi internal antara sesama umat Islam tampak negatif. Sebagian umat Islam saling mencaci menjelekkan satu sama lain, saling mengutuk dan memfitnah. Begitu pula, relasi antara umat beragama secara eksternal memperlihatkan hubungan yang kurang harmonis. Ada sikap saling curiga dalam hubungan antara umat beragama secara eksternal. Sebagian cendikiawan muslim menawarkan konsep relativisme internal sebagai solusi bagi relasi antara sesama umat Islam secara internal dan konsep relativisme eksternal sebagai solusi bagi relasi antara berbagai umat beragama di ruang publik. Karena itu, artikel ini mencoba untuk menguraikan signifikansi konstruksi relativisme internal dan eksternal dalam membangun ukhuwah islamiyah secara internal dan kerukunan antar umat beragama secara eksternal. Kata kunci: signifikansi, relativisme internal dan eksternal, harmoni agama

scholarly journals Bayram sofra in Belgrade - a contribution to the interreligious dialogue and visibility of minority religious communities

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-46
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Djuric-Milovanovic ◽  
Jadranka Djordjevic-Crnobrnja
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Context Of Learning ◽  
Religious Festival

The paper focuses on the celebration of Ramadan Bayram and the organization of the feast Bayram sofra in Belgrade. The Islamic Community of Serbia and the Cultural Society of Muslims in Serbia - ?Gajret?, have been organizing the Bayram sofra since 2009 as the celebration which symbolizes the end of the Ramadan fasting. The celebration is held in the public space in front of the Bajrakli mosque in Belgrade. Since it is organized as part of the celebration of Ramadan Bayram, its meaning can be observed and analyzed in a religious, but also in a broader social context. In this paper, we observe the Bayram sofra in the context of learning about Islam, as the minority religious community, but also as an event which initiates interreligious dialogue at several different levels. Thus, we focus on identifying the elements of dialogue between the Islamic community and other religious communities, as well as the citizens of Belgrade, relying on some theoretical concepts of interreligious dialogue. The ethnographic research of the Bayram sofra started in 2020 with the main focus on the social and religious elements of Ramadan Bayram and the role of this religious festival in enhancing the visibility of this religious minority in Serbia.

scholarly journals Interreligiösa gruppers samarbete med kommuner i Sverige

Politik ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Nordin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Community ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Plurality ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
The Public Sphere

In Swedish contemporary society we nd ongoing processes of secularization and the idea of secularism be- ing challenged by a growing religious plurality in society. e overall purpose of this article is to highlight what happens when religion in a secularized and secular society enter into the public sphere as a result of inter-religious groups’ collaboration with local authorities. is is done through interviews and observations of three inter-religious groups meetings during 2010 and 2011. e collaboration between the inter-religious groups and the local authorities were initiated as a result of perceived problems of integration in the society and aims to include religious communities in society which may change the ongoing processes of seculariza- tion. One of the major problems with the collaborations was related to which religious community could be included by reasons of economic resources, access to personnel and premises and the acceptance and establishment in society. 

Secularization — the Return of Religions - Post-secularism

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Zinser
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Secular Society ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Historical Transition

In his contribution, Hartmut Zinser views the processes of secularization within European or so-called Western societies, which have mainly taken place since the Enlightenment, through the lens of the sociology of religion. Starting from a definition of the profane and the sacred, he considers the historical "transition of sacralized objects into a secular use" and then explains why the so-called "secularization thesis", which assumes "an increasing replacement of the meaning of religion as a universal historical process," today cannot be considered valid anymore and is finished. But what consequences does this have for a modern, post-secular society as religions leave the "private" sphere, regain the public space and aspire again to social participation? Zinser approaches this question in the last chapter of his essay, where he also deals with the position of Jürgen Habermas in this regard.

Multiculturalism, gentrification, and Islam in the public space: the case of Baitul Mukarram in Lavapiés

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Óscar Salguero Montaño ◽  
Hutan Hejazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Right To The City ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The City

In plural and secular societies today, religious communities understand access to public space as a right to the city. Thisright legitimises their status as social actors and, through various notions linked to modernity and transparency, entitlesthem to have a public life and be recognised by others. By examining the case of Bangladeshi Muslims in Lavapiés, oneof Madrid’s multicultural district undergoing intense gentrification and touristification processes, this article analyses theconditions through which this community accesses public space and achieves legitimisation and recognition through different practices and discourses displayed in a variety of events and festivities.

The Problem of Religious Diversity

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Complete Separation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Plurality

Religion and religious diversity are one of the toughest diversity challenges that European societies face today. Old paradigms of republicanism or multiculturalism seem to be in crisis but a new “third way” between laicité and state religion is not yet visible. This book questions whether the best way to deal with religious diversity is to equalise upwards or downwards, what are the obstacles to a more egalitarian religious pluralism, and what we can learn from policies and practices in the Middle East and Asia where religious plurality and the integration of religion in the public space is the norm rather than the exception. The first part of the book discusses the type and degree of secularism that is fit for addressing the challenges of religious diversity that contemporary western societies face at a theoretical or normative level, while its second part engages with the experiences of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania in their governance and accommodation of diverse religious communities within a single state. These chapters seek to assess whether respect and acceptance of religion as one dimension of public and political life can provide for a more appropriate basis for the governance of religious diversity than European or North American models of moderate or complete separation of church and state.

Regulating religion in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Some remarks on Religious Association Law and 'official' Islamic institutions in Tajikistan

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Epkenhans
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Islamic Institutions

AbstractAlthough Tajikistan is a participating state of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and has acceded to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), religious associations are under increasingly scrutiny limiting the freedom of conscience. Tajikistan's government follows a similar policy as her Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. While a restrictive and contradictory religious association law limits the public space for religious associations, the government successively strengthens 'official' Islamic institutions and therefore directly interferes in internal religious affairs. Considering the diversity of Islamic beliefs in and practices in Central Asia and Tajikistan in particular, this policy could generate further friction among religious communities.

scholarly journals GOD IS TELLING US SOMETHING

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Sabih
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Abrahamic Religions ◽  
The Many ◽  
A Site

The conflicting and different reactions to Covid-19 pandemic, ranging from a willingness to cooperate with health authorities to a violent rejection of all decisions and measures suggested or taken by local and international authorities are but expressions of framing meanings of and finding answers to why Covid-19 broke out on a such global scale beyond biological boundaries. This is to show why epidemics such as Covid-19 deserve to be investigated within their broader cultural, political, scientific, and geographic contexts. Religion or the religious rationale once again has made itself a site of interest in the public space; both as one of the many competing explanatory frameworks and as a scapegoat for contributing to the breakdown of the social order and for promoting unscientific, irrational and superstitious understandings and interpretations of Covid-19. As a matter of fact, certain religious communities across all the Abrahamic religions do present theological and eschatological interpretations of the pandemic. As we shall see, Messianic Jewish groups actually present a hermeneutical framework that consists of a theological-eschatological framework of the Covid-19 pandemic and a socio-political pantheism plan of action the aim of which is to maintain the believer immune to the attacks of secularism and its ills. On the latter point, I find Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak’s explanatory framework of the Covid-19 pandemic very informative as both to how the religious rationale is still at work in post-secular societies, and why Jewish ultra-orthodoxy’s theological-eschatological explanation and social pantheist response are worth investigating. In this article, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak’s “perception, interpretation and response” to the Covid-19 pandemic and its global impact on both the biological and the social aspects shall be the primary subject of our analysis.

INTERACTION BETWEEN RELIGION AND POLITICS UN WESTERN AND EASTERN EUROPE: THE COMMON AND THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

Via Latgalica ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Valdis Tēraudkalns
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common ◽  
Secular Society

The common and the distinctive features in the interaction between religion and politics in Western and Eastern Europe are discussed in the paper. At the beginning, the relative, flowing character of the concepts used is outlined, and the difficulties are indicated in making generalizations, since Europe sees great diversity regarding the involvement of religions in politics. The author also outlines the causes for greater interest of religious groups in politics – a large number of religious practitioners refuse to acquiesce with the place allocated for religion in the private space, where it was positioned by the Enlightenment. In the civil society, which strives to facilitate the participation of various society strata in the political process, the new tendency should not be perceived negatively. Full-value existence of democracy is inconceivable without the principles of solidarity and justice and public awareness of them, however, these are ethical categories. Increase of intolerance in many places of Europe makes one reflect upon the fact that the agreement of the public majority about the minimum common values is quite indispensable. However, in a secular state, religious groups cannot claim privileges and situation control. This is impossible also due to the fact that collisions of ideas are taking place also in religions and their movements themselves, and therefore, a discussion about the content and quality of politics is not to be perceived in a simplified way as a dialogue between the secular part of the society and the religious practitioners, but at the same time it is a conversation (often stressful) within the religious groups. The common features of the process of interaction between the Eastern and Western Europe: (1) increase of the role of religion in public space characteristic of post-secular society; (2) religion is a social phenomenon, therefore, unavoidably, the opinions and activities of its practitioners affect politics; (3) secularization, although on a different degree, affect all Member States of the European Union; (4) all the more actively, religious minorities announce themselves in public space. The different features: (1) in Eastern Europe, a larger number of people trust in churches than in Western Europe, which increases their role also among a large part of population who use to be secularly oriented on the daily routine; (2) the religious organizations in Eastern, more than in Western Europe, conceive spirituality as primarily directed towards maintaining definite ethical standards; (3) in Eastern Europe many religious organizations still are forming relations with the state and the public majority according to the principle of medieval Christendom, which provided special privileges for the church; (4) in Eastern, more than in Western Europe, the religious organizations are more sympathizing to the rightist forces. The religious groups, alongside with other non-governmental organizations, can provide an essential contribution in the discussions about the Western democratic models in the future, but they must be able to “translate” their ideas into rational arguments understandable to the secular society, avoiding theological naivety, which sees sacred texts as a monolith system of values to be transferred directly to the contemporary society.

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