Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
Spencer W. McBride
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Mob Violence ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Southern States

The Conclusion of the book considers the extent to which Joseph Smith was correct that the states’ rights doctrine condoned mob violence against religious minorities and that the United States would never experience universal religious freedom without a federal government empowered to protect religious minorities. The Missouri militia’s invocation of the violent expulsion of Mormons from the state as their plan to expel abolitionists in the 1850s is examined as a telling example. Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign and its tragic end encapsulate the failure of nineteenth-century Americans to establish universal religious freedom. Many Americans championed states’ rights as a way to maintain race-based slavery in the Southern states, but few acknowledged that this philosophy also disadvantaged religious minority groups. The Conclusion also considers the role of systemic religious discrimination in federal policy for the management of Utah Territory and the multiple denied applications for Utah statehood.

Religious Freedom and Equality Concerns under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Ishiyama Smithey
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
Religious Convictions

Section 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of conscience and religion. In interpreting the Charter, the courts have interpreted this provision to prevent the legislatures from discriminating against religious minorities by promoting particular religious practices. Judges have been much less willing to protect religious minority groups from secular laws that interfere with their religious convictions. The religion cases hold important implications for those concerned about cultural diversity and the equality of Canada's many ethnic communities, as well as for the debate over the increased power of courts under the Charter.

Religious Regulation: Discrimination Against Religious Minorities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Fox
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
World Region ◽  
Definition Of

The definition of the term “religious discrimination” is contested, but for the purposes of this discussion religious discrimination is defined as restrictions on the religious practices or institutions of minority religions that are not placed on the majority religion. Religious discrimination can include restrictions on (a) religious practices, (b) religious institutions and clergy, (c) conversion and proselytizing, and (d) other types of discrimination. Globally, 88.5% of countries discriminate against at least one religious minority, and religious discrimination is becoming more common over time. Religious discrimination is the norm worldwide regardless of world region, government type, and majority religion. Motivations to discriminate are multiple and complex. They include (a) differences in religious ideologies and beliefs—many religions are ideologically intolerant of other religions; (b) religious organizations seeking an institutional monopoly in a country; (c) religious beliefs and practices running counter to liberal and secular values, including human rights; (d) countries seeking to protect their national culture from outside influences, including nonindigenous religions; (e) countries having anti-cult policies; (f) countries restricting minority religious practices that are considered objectionable to the national ideology or culture; (g) a historical conflict between minority groups and the majority; (h) the perception of minorities as a security threat; (i) the perception of minorities as a political threat ; (j) long-lasting historical tensions between the majority and minority; (k) national politicians mobilizing supporters along religious lines; (l) societal prejudices against minorities leading to government-based discrimination; (m) religious identity; (n) general discrimination that is also applicable to religious minorities. Although these are among the most common motivations for discrimination, in many cases the motivations are unique to the specific situation.

“Many Think This Is a Hoax”

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-41
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
National Bank

This chapter discusses the issue on religious liberty that drove Joseph Smith into the 1844 presidential election. It explains how Joseph Smith wrapped his call for a federal government that is empowered to protect the citizenship rights of religious minority groups in a seven-point platform aimed at sweeping political and social reform. It also describes how Joseph Smith advocated for the reestablishment of the national bank, the end of the burgeoning penitentiary system, the territorial expansion of the United States throughout North America, and the abolition of slavery. The chapter investigates how newspapers focused on Joseph Smith as a leader of a rising religious group that deemed to be fanatical by mainstream Protestants. It discusses the ecclesiastical position of Joseph Smith's presidential candidacy that might influence the way the American public viewed him.

Impact of the Charter of Quebec Values on psychological well-being of francophone university students

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1139-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghayda Hassan ◽  
Abdelwahed Mekki-Berrada ◽  
Cécile Rousseau ◽  
Gabrielle Lyonnais-Lafond ◽  
Uzma Jamil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Women Immigrants ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Positive Perception ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
The Public

This paper discusses results from a pilot study conducted in the spring of 2014 among young adults living in Montreal. The main objective of this study was to assess the relation between perception of the Charter of Quebec Values, 1 self-identification, perception of intercommunity relations, perceived discrimination, and psychological well-being in young students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs of a francophone university in Montreal. A total of 441 students (30.5% male, 69.5% female) took part in a web survey designed by the research team. The data analyses and results suggest that the debate around the Charter of Quebec values was associated with a shift from a predominantly positive perception of intercommunity relations to a predominantly negative one, particularly among women, immigrants, and those who self-identified as cultural or religious minorities. In addition, more than 30% of participants reported having experienced some form of ethnic or religious discrimination since the Charter was released (personally or as a witness). This was particularly the case among immigrants, as well as those who self-identified as bicultural or from cultural or religious minority groups. This study’s results thus highlight the exacerbation of intercommunity tensions linked to the public debate around identity and intercommunity relations in Quebec.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Spencer W. McBride
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
History Of ◽  
Discriminatory Effect

The Introduction to the book explains the reasons that Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844. Though electoral victory was extremely unlikely for Smith, his unlikely campaign is significant to the history of the United States because it encapsulates the discontent of thousands of Americans with the political status quo. The campaign also illuminates the political obstacles to universal religious freedom in nineteenth-century America. In particular, it demonstrates that political philosophies such as the states’ rights doctrine, which, on the surface, had nothing to do with religious freedom, had a discriminatory effect on religious minorities when implemented. Accordingly, Joseph Smith found himself on the vanguard of Americans calling for a stronger federal government, one that could enforce the Bill of Rights in individual states.

Reconciling state promises and practices: Constitutional promises and discrimination against religious minorities

2021 ◽  
pp. 003776862110123
Author(s):  
Roger Finke ◽  
Dane R Mataic
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Independent Judiciary ◽  
Poor Predictor

Research on religious freedom has found a vast chasm between constitutional promises and state practices, with constitutional promises being a poor predictor of the state’s support of religious freedom. This research changes the focus from religious freedom to religious equality. We propose that constitutional promises of religious equality will be associated with less discrimination against minority religions and we explore the relationships governance and the promises of religious equality hold with religious discrimination. We find that promises of religious equality are associated with less discrimination. When exploring the interactions between promises of equality and our governance measures, we find constitutional promises of religious equality largely erase the differences in religious discrimination between countries with and without free elections and an independent judiciary. Yet, the reduced discrimination against minority religions does not suggest that the state removes restrictions on minority religions, only that they are equal with other religions.

Religious Freedom

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tisa Wenger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
National Discourse ◽  
American Life ◽  
Politics Of Race ◽  
Christian Population ◽  
Ways Of Life

Religious freedom is so often presented as a timeless American ideal and an inalienable right, appearing fully formed at the founding of the United States. That is simply not so, Tisa Wenger contends in this sweeping and brilliantly argued book. Instead, American ideas about religious freedom were continually reinvented through a vibrant national discourse--Wenger calls it “religious freedom talk”--that cannot possibly be separated from the evolving politics of race and empire. More often than not, Wenger demonstrates, religious freedom talk worked to privilege the dominant white Christian population. At the same time, a diverse array of minority groups at home and colonized people abroad invoked and reinterpreted this ideal to defend themselves and their ways of life. In so doing they posed sharp challenges to the racial and religious exclusions of American life. People of almost every religious stripe have argued, debated, negotiated, and brought into being an ideal called American religious freedom, subtly transforming their own identities and traditions in the process. In a post-9/11 world, Wenger reflects, public attention to religious freedom and its implications is as consequential as it has ever been.

Cultural Variations and Relevance to Etiology

2016 ◽  
pp. 90-110
Author(s):  
Jorge Delva ◽  
Sandra L. Momper ◽  
Claudette L. Grinnel-Davis ◽  
Mark B. Padilla
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Substance Use Disorders ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Structural Forces ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

This chapter begins with a description of the role of culture on the etiology of substance use, misuse, and disorders among youth in the United States. This is followed by a discussion of how present constructions of majority-minority groups oversimplify the tremendous diversity individuals experience and how they tend to negate individual agency and fail to critique the structural forces that impact individuals’ drug-using behaviors. The chapter concludes with the thesis that a critical intersectionality framework is necessary to understand how substance use disorders vary as a function of individuals’ multiple dimensions, including how these are manifested and impacted by societies’ social and structural forces.

Democratization, De Facto Power, and Taxation: Evidence from Military Occupation during Reconstruction

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario L. Chacón ◽  
Jeffrey L. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
United States Army ◽  
Black Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Joint Effect ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Southern States ◽  
Black Politicians ◽  
Triple Difference ◽  
The Military

AbstractHow important is the enforcement of political rights in new democracies? The authors use the enfranchisement of the emancipated slaves following the American Civil War to study this question. Critical to their strategy, black suffrage was externally enforced by the United States Army in ten Southern states during Reconstruction. The authors employ a triple-difference model to estimate the joint effect of enfranchisement and its enforcement on taxation. They find that counties with greater black-population shares that were occupied by the military levied higher taxes compared to similar nonoccupied counties. These counties later experienced a comparatively greater decline in taxation after the troops were withdrawn. The authors also demonstrate that in occupied counties, black politicians were more likely to be elected and political murders by white supremacist groups occurred less frequently. The findings provide evidence on the key role of federal troops in limiting elite capture by force during this period.

“Standing in the Crater of a Volcano”

2021 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-27
Author(s):  
Brent M. S. Campney
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American West ◽  
The United States ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Mob Violence ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Arizona Territory ◽  
Definition Of

This study investigates anti-Chinese violence in the American West—focusing primarily on events in the Arizona Territory between 1880 and 1912—and the role of diplomatic relations between the United States and China in tempering the worst excesses of that violence. Recent scholarship asserts that the Chinese rarely suffered lynching and were commonly targeted for other types of violence, including coercion, harassment, and intimidation. Building on that work, this study advances a definition of racist violence that includes a broad spectrum of attacks, including the threat of violence. While affirming that such “subtler” violence achieved many of the same objectives as the “harsher” violence, it seeks to explain why whites used such radically different and less openly violent methods against this minority and explains why this difference mattered. Using these insights to interrogate the complex relationship between the United States and China, this essay shows that Chinese diplomatic influence stifled anti-Chinese mob violence by white Americans. It argues that this relationship denied white racists the same agency against the Chinese immigrants as they possessed against other racial and national minorities and thus forced them to “choose” the “subtler” acts of violence against this group rather than those usually employed against these others.

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