A Report on the Special Executive Committee Meeting of the International Association for the History of Religions in Delphi

This essay is a report on the IAHR’s Extended Executive Committee meeting in Delphi (13-15 September 2019), and a critical account of its decision, formulated prior to that meeting, to reject the IAHR’s long-standing remit to support a scientific study of religion and religions. It is also a warning that insisting the IAHR be open to considering moral, social, political, spiritual or other cultural ideals will dismantle the only academic association committed to a scientific study of religions, transforming the IAHR into a weak, international version of the American Academy of Religion.