scholarly journals Porous Religious Economies and the Problem of Regulating Religious Marketplaces

Author(s):  
Orlando Woods

This paper reframes the theory of religious economy by developing an understanding of the effects of transnational religious influence on religious marketplaces. In doing so, it highlights the need to rethink the role of regulation in shaping the ways in which religious marketplaces operate. By reinterpreting regulation as the ability of the state to control the extent to which religious groups are able to access resources, it argues that transnational religious networks can enable access to extraneous resources, which, in turn, can enable religious groups to subvert the regulatory prescriptions of the state. Transnational religious influences therefore highlight the porosity of religious economies and the problem of regulating religious marketplaces. Qualitative data are used to demonstrate how Singapore-based churches create and strengthen transnational religious networks with their counterparts in China. These networks enable religious groups to operate with a degree of independence and to overcome regulatory restrictions on (and other limitations to) religious praxis.

Religious economies are a novel idea with potential application in a free market economy. They bring the idea of the existence of the supernatural and concern with ultimate meanings, so ubiquitous to religions, in touch with the multiplicity of paths available to us. In Islamic Sufism, there are as many paths to God as there are individuals. A situation in which people could compare and evaluate religions, regarding them as a matter of choice, can best described as a religious economy. Just as commercial economies consist of a market in which different firms compete, religious economies consist of a market (the aggregate demand for religion) and firms (different religious organizations) seeking to attract and hold clienteles. Just as commercial economies must deal with state regulations, religious economies' key issue is the degree to which they are regulated by the state. From Stark's viewpoint, the natural state of a religious economy is religious pluralism, wherein many religious “firms” exist because of their special appeal to certain segments of the market or the population. However, just as there is incentive for a commercial organization to monopolize the market to maximize its profit, it is always in the interest of any particular religious organization to secure a monopoly, maintain its followers, and expand into new interest groups. This can be achieved, (and even then to a very limited extent) only if the state forcibly excludes competing faiths (Stark, 2001). The building blocks of Stark's ideas are the assumption of a free market, a market economy, and the key issue of rational choice theory, hand in hand with American Pragmatism. As with the history of religions, which are not and have not been free from contest and cooperation, similarities, and differences, so religious economies have not been and are not easily shaped without considering forces from within and among different economies. Religious actions, reactions, and interactions in monotheism, diversity of textual interpretations, the growth of intellectualism or counter-intellectualism, human perception of transcendence and the sacred, as well as the realities of everyday life, all imply that the idea of religious economies needs more exploration. Christianity and Islam, one dominating the West and the other the East and Africa, offer the instances of two massive markets. Each religion has more than a billion adherents and a history of sharing the monotheistic market. Both religions, in spite of Islamophobia in the West, have formed and will participate in the decline, incline, or stability of the market. This subject is timely in light of the political movements in the Middle East and monolithic misconception of Islam.


2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-605
Author(s):  
Paul S. Rowe

AbstractAn increasing concern for the place of religion in global politics in the past decade is reflected in the work of William Cavanaugh, a political theologian coming from the radical orthodox movement of the Roman Catholic tradition. Taking aim at key tropes in international relations, Cavanaugh introduces a strong critique of the legitimacy of the state and against its martial attitude. This review questions the historicity and generalizability of Cavanaugh's analysis. It also challenges Cavanaugh's exaltation of the church from both an internal and external perspective. Finally, it considers the expanded role of the state as compared to Cavanaugh's vision of the martial state. By way of conclusion, it questions the extent to which Cavanaugh provides an alternative to consigning religious groups to civil society or a workable role for Christian engagement with global politics, even though he provides us with a strong critique of the state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Sarah Francine Schreiner ◽  
Mateus Gruber

A religião contribui para o debate de questões importantes à sociedade, favorecendo que o Estado estruture regras aplicáveis à coletividade. Contudo, se crenças religiosas de determinado grupo forem usadas como único parâmetro de fundamento para a tomada de decisões com afetação geral, há possibilidade de um pressuposto individual ser aplicado ao coletivo sem que efetivamente tenha cabimento e importância a todas as pessoas, eventualmente privilegiando apenas o grupo de onde emergiu tal crença. Assim, o problema que surge, e que impulsiona esse estudo, envolve a laicidade como eventual limite da atuação de grupos religiosos na esfera pública, entendida para fins desse estudo como o poder estatal. Os objetivos da análise envolvem - a partir do pressuposto da laicidade estatal, relativa à ausência de uma religião oficial do Estado – analisar se essa laicidade é um limitador da atuação de grupos religiosos no poder. Para isso, conceituam-se estado secular e estado laico, e sobre a liberdade religiosa prevista constitucionalmente, destacam-se garantias e os limites de atuação dos movimentos religiosos no exercício de funções públicas. A metodologia utilizada é a bibliográfica, e segue a estrutura dos direitos fundamentais, com vistas a uma relação com os direitos humanos. Os resultados apontam que o aspecto laico do estado brasileiro - que tem no pluralismo seu fundamento, e assegura a todos o direito de exercer seus direitos políticos, sem discriminação por motivos de origem, raça, cor, sexo, crença religiosa -, é limitador da influência religiosa nas decisões que atingem toda a coletividade. Religion contributes to the debate on issues that are important to society, favoring the State to structure rules applicable to the community. However, if the religious beliefs of a given group start to suit as the only basic parameter for decision-making with general affectation, an individual assumption is seen applied to the collective eventually without actually having a place and importance to all people, which it favors only the group from which such belief emerged. Thus, the problem that arises, and that drives this study, involves secularism as an eventual limit to the performance of religious groups in the public sphere, understood for the purposes of this study as state power. The objectives of the analysis involve - based on the presupposition of state secularity, relative to the absence of an official state religion - to analyze whether this secularity is a limiting factor in the performance of religious groups in power. For this, the secular state and the secular state are conceptualized, and on the constitutionally foreseen religious freedom, guarantees and limits of action of the religious movements in the exercise of public functions stand out. The methodology used is bibliographical, and follows the structure of fundamental rights, with a view to a relationship with human rights. The results show that the secular aspect of the Brazilian state - which has pluralism as its foundation, and ensures everyone the right to exercise their political rights, without discrimination for reasons of origin, race, color, sex, religious belief -, is limiting the religious influence in decisions that affect the whole community.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1251-1266
Author(s):  
M. Omar Faruque

Contemporary scholarship on neoliberal globalization and countermovement tends to focus on the global dimension of political struggles. The role of nationalist imaginaries in mobilizing grievances against neoliberal globalization receives little attention in this literature. This article probes these ideas using the case of NCBD, known for its political struggles against global extractive capital in Bangladesh. Drawing on critical globalization scholarship vis-à-vis the power of the state and the ability of countermovements to contest neoliberal globalization, the article analyzes how NCBD’s political imaginaries center on nature, nation, and the state to achieve its movement agenda. Based on qualitative data derived from a set of interviews and relevant organizational documents, it demonstrates the relevance of national scale as a movement site in mediating local and global questions for emancipatory political struggles. It explains how NCBD articulates nationalist imaginaries to mobilize a political vision of the “national” in an era of neoliberal globalism.


Author(s):  
Ah. Fajruddin Fatwa

This article focused on assessing the role of media broadcasting in the spreading religious radicalism in Indonesia. The emergence of numbers broadcasting and diversity of content used was not only have positive impact on the delivery of information in the community but also possible negative impact among the communities. The research found three identified negative impacts among society. First, spreading hatred information towards certain social or religious groups. Second, the potential for disintegration of national disintegration with messages that conflict with national values. Third, the potential for legal violations that occur due to the weak supervision of digital-based broadcast content. The research also found three weaknesses to develop the capacity Indonesia Broadcast committee first, restoring the weak of statement regulation and contradictory norm within the Broadcasting Behavior Guidelines and broadcasting behavior standard. Second, Developing the institutional coordination among the state institution, and strengthening the socialization of new Broadcasting Behavior Guidelines and broadcasting behavior standard.


Author(s):  
Muhammad ◽  
Syafei Ibrahim ◽  
Ismail

The Honorary Agency of Board has various roles in maintaining dignity in the interests of the state, nation and also every member of the board needs to be held responsible both in fact and in commission. Increased ability of Honorary Agency of Board to maintain dignity, especially prioritizing the interests of the state which is more oriented in the interests of individuals and groups in this case the bearer party to parliament. The method used in this study is qualitative, data collected through observation, interviews and analysis of documents that exist in Aceh House of Representatives. The results and conclusions of the study show that the role of Honorary Agency of Board in addressing the Behavior of Members of the Board of Aceh House of Representatives related to maintaining dignity, maintaining the honor and credibility of the board shows that The Honorary Agency of Board has a good role in terms of maintaining dignity for the interests of the State, Nation and prioritize a sense of responsibility in carrying out the mandate.


Author(s):  
Hasan Shahpari ◽  
Tahereh Alavi Hojjat

Religious economies are a novel idea with potential application in a free market economy. They bring the idea of the existence of the supernatural and concern with ultimate meanings, so ubiquitous to religions, in touch with the multiplicity of paths available to us. In Islamic Sufism, there are as many paths to God as there are individuals. A situation in which people could compare and evaluate religions, regarding them as a matter of choice, can best described as a religious economy. Just as commercial economies consist of a market in which different firms compete, religious economies consist of a market (the aggregate demand for religion) and firms (different religious organizations) seeking to attract and hold clienteles. Just as commercial economies must deal with state regulations, religious economies' key issue is the degree to which they are regulated by the state. From Stark's viewpoint, the natural state of a religious economy is religious pluralism, wherein many religious “firms” exist because of their special appeal to certain segments of the market or the population. However, just as there is incentive for a commercial organization to monopolize the market to maximize its profit, it is always in the interest of any particular religious organization to secure a monopoly, maintain its followers, and expand into new interest groups. This can be achieved, (and even then to a very limited extent) only if the state forcibly excludes competing faiths (Stark, 2001). The building blocks of Stark's ideas are the assumption of a free market, a market economy, and the key issue of rational choice theory, hand in hand with American Pragmatism. As with the history of religions, which are not and have not been free from contest and cooperation, similarities, and differences, so religious economies have not been and are not easily shaped without considering forces from within and among different economies. Religious actions, reactions, and interactions in monotheism, diversity of textual interpretations, the growth of intellectualism or counter-intellectualism, human perception of transcendence and the sacred, as well as the realities of everyday life, all imply that the idea of religious economies needs more exploration. Christianity and Islam, one dominating the West and the other the East and Africa, offer the instances of two massive markets. Each religion has more than a billion adherents and a history of sharing the monotheistic market. Both religions, in spite of Islamophobia in the West, have formed and will participate in the decline, incline, or stability of the market. This subject is timely in light of the political movements in the Middle East and monolithic misconception of Islam.


Sociology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 940-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergej Ljubownikow ◽  
Jo Crotty

This article examines Russian human service non-profit organisations (NPOs) to investigate the nature of civil society in a managed democracy. Specifically the focus is on emerging vertical ties between NPOs and ruling and governing elites. Drawing on qualitative data collected from health and education NPOs in three industrial regions, we find that in establishing such vertical ties the role of organisations and individuals within is changing – they have moved away from ignored outsiders towards accessing the circles of power and being tasked with managing the boundary between the state and civil society. In exploring these arrangements this article highlights that in the post-Soviet space, NPOs and the state are closely intertwined resembling co-optation. As a result the democratisation potential of human service NPOs is constrained. In discussing these insights we also draw parallels to contexts in which the state has outsourced welfare service to human service NPOs.


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