Search

This article engages with sociological and anthropological conversations about the digital experiences of cultural and religious minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating how some Pentecostal Gitanos seized the online world to spread the Gospel in Spain. The article features two ethnographic studies of my Pentecostal Gitano interlocutors. Modalities of digital religious engagement analyzed include testimonies, WhatsApp broadcast lists, praise songs, and praying. The article's main argument is that the pandemic created a social media-enabled window of opportunity for some Gitano believers to reach out to new potential converts and claim online spaces for God. Extensive involvement in social media activities by Pentecostal Gitanos may also be understood as a tool to challenge and question an increasingly secular Spanish society that, during the pandemic, was perceived as dismissive of the spiritual aspects shaping the development of the global health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the situation of national minorities living in the Odesa oblast and in the town of Odesa with the main focus before the Russian war against Ukraine started on 24 of February 2022 but using also the relevant events happened afterwards. It explains what are the historical reasons that made Odesa a region so diverse from the national identity perspective, with a lot of national minorities living here from centuries. Although there are a significant number of studies on the issue of the national minorities in this region, none of them captured, so far, the complex relationship of Ukraine with the kin-states – Romania, Bulgaria and in some extent Turkey. The number of IDP s in Ukraine was already high before the war started, with an important impact on the relationship of the Ukrainian majority with the national minorities and it will certainly be much higher after the war. The article takes into account this situation particularly for the Odesa oblast. The article examines how the institutions and the religious actors have influenced this relationship but how the war will shape it remains an open question. The article offers a perspective on the 2017 Ukrainian law in education, how it was applied until 24 of February 2022 and also on the 2022 Law on minorities, in order to find an answer to the question why a new framework for the national minorities in Ukraine after the end of the war is very important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion has always been, to a certain extent, mediated. Communication practices are at the core of religious communities, but it is in recent decades that the rapid developments of media technologies have created new possibilities for interactions about religion. In this context, a focus on religious minorities represents a unique opportunity for scholars to analyze the internet in nuanced ways within the framework of digital religion. Through the analysis of minority groups, the internet can be understood both as a space of empowerment of marginal voices and as a venue that further increases social exclusion. In this editorial I outline previous works that show this double-faced role of the internet for minorities, and I offer some reflections on theoretical perspectives for the future of digital minority religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion raises many legal questions in confessional systems where a minor child is usually assigned the parents' religion ex officio. In Iraq, as in many Middle Eastern countries, the conversion to Islam of one of the parents results in the conversion of their minor children. For decades, the Iraqi Court of Cassation has granted children the right to choose their religion upon reaching majority. From the early 21st century, the case law of the Court of Cassation has evolved towards denying children this right of option (iḫtiyār). The child is therefore deprived of his/her right to choose and must remain Muslim. In this article, the author criticizes this reversal of jurisprudence and deplores its dire consequences on social peace. After analyzing the teachings of Islamic law and the texts of positive Iraqi law, he concludes that the new trend of the Court of Cassation is ill-founded and flawed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the debate over an 'antisemitic Marx' in the French context. Since the republication of On the Jewish Question in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, the French intellectual field has seen continuous conflict between supporters of this 'thesis' (Mishari, Kaplan, Birnbaum) and their detractors, who are sometimes militant (J. Aron, Bensaïd) and sometimes academic (De Fontenay, Traverso), including those involved in the Grande édition Marx et Engels (Clochec). First, the article examines at length the French debate which spans over 50 years. Second, building on the insights garnered from this debate, it tackles the limits of materialist criticism of religious views. In light of the contemporary crisis of secularism in France, this problem forces Marxist and critical thinkers (Tosel, Meziane) to reassess the issue of religious minorities and their 'assimilation' to the 'national majority'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last Tatar khan in the Crimean Peninsula, Şahin Giray, lived during the period that saw the annexation of this Ottoman suzerainty by the Russian Empire. He is the first recorded Muslim ruler in history who tried to introduce a program of modernization based on contemporary European models, and his reforms concerned all spheres of Tatar society. In spite of his collaboration with the Russian Empire, Russian historiography is generally critical toward this khan and skeptical regarding his reforms. The Ottoman historians saw Şahin as a traitor, therefore his achievements were ignored in their writings. A completely different approach regarding Şahin Giray and his innovations can be found in a little-known Jewish-Karaite chronicle, presenting an additional cultural-historical dimension from the perspective of minorities. The purpose of the present article is to analyze political and socio-cultural factors of these distinctions between the imperial standpoint and minority perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support for strangers is deeply anchored in the social ethics of various religious traditions. Based on a qualitative content analysis of interviews with refugees and immigration executives. the article focuses on the role of religion and religious communities in refugee accommodation in Germany between 2011 and 2018. It sheds light on different schemes and measures of support offered by religious communities and explores the significance of religious and cultural differences for processes of accommodation and early integration. The empirical analysis is embedded in conceptual debates on the re-emergence of faith-based service providers in the crisis of the late modern welfare state. The findings suggest that the so called 'refugee crisis' has served as an opportunity structure for Christian refugee aid. At the same time, refugee accommodation centres in Germany have responded to an increase of non-Christian refugees (notably: Muslims) by a more restrictive handling of religious freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since independence, the politicisation of Islam in Pakistan has fostered a culture of atrocities against religious minorities. This explains why Pakistan tops the list of countries at the risk of mass killings. The Islamic revivalist movement that emerged under the military dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq during the 1970s-80s is often equated with Pakistan's descent into religious intolerance. The controversial blasphemy laws modified under his regime continue to abet atrocity crimes across Pakistan. This article reflects on the constitutional and legal frameworks to understand the prevalence of hate speech and incitement in the country. Through case studies of recent episodes of violence, it sheds light on the state's complex governance structures, its struggle to counter episodes that incite violence, and the barriers to implementing rule of law. Furthermore, the article highlights the need for key reforms on both national and international level to push for the implementation of atrocity prevention frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how the evolution of religiosity will affect the secularity of Spanish law. In a liberal constitutional system such as that of Spain, the influence of religion on law is inevitable. The article proposes a model based on two variables: the increase or decrease of the religious population and the capacity and willingness of religions to influence secular law. The four possible resulting scenarios are religious aggrandizement (a growing religious population seeking to shape the law); religious secularization (a growing religious population with a worldview compatible with secularity); religious backlash (some religious minorities undermining the secularity of the law); and religious diminishment (a declining religious population losing its capacity or willingness to influence the law). The model demonstrates theoretically that inclusion policies do not necessarily lead to the Islamization of Spain. Ignoring religious issues can lead to the marginalization of a religious minority, which favors radicalization and non-acceptance of secularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Volume 29, No. 1 b B ARTICLES b Identity Crisis and the Pseudo-Minorities in Bangladesh: Is the Right to Cultural Identity the Answer? 433-475 I E. H. Ngwa Nfobin and Nchotu Veraline Nchang Minang i Restoring (Old) Questions of Sovereignty under the Cover of Minority Protection? 205-229 I Hans Morten Haugen i The Sidama Quest for Self-Rule: The Referendum on Regional Statehood Under the Ethiopian Federation 230-251 I Kjetil Tronvoll i Minority Actorness Through a Non-Europeanised Policy Area 252-276 I Ali Huseyinoglu and Tamara Hoch i Constitutional Protection of the Right to Self-Determination: A Comparative Analysis of the Ethiopian Experience vis-à-vis International Law 277-297 I Marishet Mohammed Hamza i Religious Minorities in the Ideology and Politics of Syria 298-315 I Anita Sylwia Adamczyk and Fuad Jomma i The Survey of Use and Ownership Rights in Finnmark - A Change of Direction?. [Extracted from the article]

The Ahmadiyya, a messianic Muslim missionary movement that expanded globally from South Asia, provided religious, social, and educational services and offered a compelling End Times message in colonial Ghana. An Ahmadi missionary arrived at the invitation of African Muslims, who learned about the movement from the Ahmadiyya's English-language publications. Africans negotiated the terms of the mission's founding and supported the residence of a South Asian missionary. Other West African Muslim movements navigated the colonial era with reformed religious practices and organizational changes, and the Ahmadiyya was distinctive with its English-language schools and an eschatology based on its founder's claims to receive divine revelation as the Messiah and Mahdi. Ghanaian Ahmadi Muslims were a small minority within an overall Muslim minority in Ghana. Their initiatives created a dynamic regional center in an expanding Ahmadiyya network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minorities are not defined by mere numbers but must be considered as emergent formations within their wider surroundings. As such, minorities are defined by the relations to their majorities, especially by the differences to, but also by their exchanges with them, which have an impact on their lives and communal identities. Minorities emerge in larger processes and narratives by which their surrounding societies render themselves into imagined communities and thereby partake in the remaking of the wider social fabric. Focusing on religious minorities in Muslim Africa, this introduction to the special issue provides a framework for how to understand how various minorities form and how their minority status impacts how they live their religion, see themselves as members of society, and make claims towards the state. The introduction moreover reviews the scholarly work done on the different religious minorities found within Muslim Africa and presents the essays included in the special issue. Considering the resulting social dynamics and their surrounding debates, we move beyond an understanding of Muslim Africa as coined solely by its Sunni Muslim majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay proposes a framework for understanding the construction of religious groups and minorities in Muslim societies through two intersecting and inter-related discourses. The first is a discourse and experience of modern state formation with roots in Africa's colonial history. And the second is a discourse of the Other in Islamic jurisprudence and theology. It builds on Talal Asad's thesis that a modern state discourse of secular authority does not preclude religious symbols that shape religious minorities. However, the essay goes beyond Asad by showing that Muslim reformist groups also articulate a religious discourse on minorities and religious groups. The essay argues that a discursive construction of Muslim religious minorities and groups occurs through contemporary state and Islamic reformist discourses. The article presents Egypt and Nigeria as case studies to illustrate this construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Islamica is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although the Middle East is widely associated with Islam, it is diverse in terms of religion. Syria is an example where two religious groups dominate, i.e. Muslims and Christians, which are internally diverse. The purpose of this article is to examine the position of religious minorities in the ideology and politics of Syria. Syria is not chosen by accident as the authors believe that the failure to recognize the existence of minorities and to respect their rights was one of the reasons for the civil war in Syria. The article consists of three parts. The first discusses the theoretical issues related to the definition and understanding of the notions of what constitutes a religious minority and of pan-Arabism in Syria. The next presents the complex religious pattern in country, and the last concerns the policy of the Syrian authorities, who are influenced by Arab nationalism, towards various religious groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the satisfaction of religious minorities in Pakistan subject to government policies and attitudes of the Muslim majority. A cross-sectional study design was used to collect data from 120 respondents living in rural areas in Pakistan. Descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used to measure the relatedness of essential factors of freedom of expression, opportunity in government services, security of unprotected assembly, prejudice in relationship with Muslims and welcomeness in Muslim neighbourhoods. Yeh's Index of Satisfaction was used to measure the satisfaction level of religious minorities with government policies and attitudes of the Muslim majority. The study findings revealed that religious minorities are least satisfied with their citizenship rights in Pakistan, which poses various questions to government policies and legislation. Further, they were also least satisfied with the attitudes of the Muslim majority with whom they must interact in their everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how religious diversity is manifested and represented in contexts undergoing intense urban pressures. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the Raval quarter of Barcelona, we analyse the open-air festivities of religious minorities and the emergence of new neighbourhood associations' mobilizations. Specifically, we focus on the role of food in these events as a way to explore how diversification and urban transformation interrelate. Whilst food becomes the means through which religious and secular actors interact and articulate forms of place-making, it also becomes a resource to present religion in forms deemed 'acceptable' to the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manifestation of belief is a key component of religious freedom, however in modern pluralist states there are inherent conflicts between practices of the more religious minorities and those of the secular majority. In attempting to mediate those conflicts judges have been faced with the sensitive task of determining the extent to which a particular symbol or practice is worthy of protection by the law. The case law arising from this process has produced some inconsistencies and has shown that not all symbols are equal before the law. As a matter of practice, the law of religion is based on liberal values which tend to favour faith based on orthodoxy over orthopraxy. This article argues that the time has come for a remodelling of the current approach to manifestation of religion and belief and puts forward a holistic approach which considers religion as an element of identity and as such ascribed rather than merely a life choice. It explores the possibility of a modification of current legal tests which would give way to this approach. The argument is considered from three different perspectives namely the emphasis on autonomy within the "liberal law of religion," the religious vs. secular binary present within the courts' approach and the difficulty of defining religion and belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Turkey, the Roman Catholic Church faces an uncertain future as it lacks official recognition of its legal status. Thus, the survival of the small parishes signifies the survival of the Catholic Church in contemporary Turkey. This article focuses on the perseverance of the multicultural Roman Catholic community of Our Lady of Lourdes (Notre Dame de Lourdes) of Göztepe (in Izmir) after the arrival of Father Gabriel Ferone in 2008. The revival of Our Lady of Lourdes resulted from people of different backgrounds (i.e., Europeans, African students, Turks) moving to Izmir and joining this parish. The paper also explores the change in the demography of the parish during its transformation throughout the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of minorities in Pakistan has been the subject of much debate and controversy since the country's conception in 1947. Although Christians played a pivotal role in the Pakistan Movement, the state-sponsored Islamization and exploitation of Blasphemy Laws created a precarious situation for Pakistan's religious minorities. This article explores the perceptions of the Christian minority on the Islamization of the state asking how it has been affecting their life course. Qualitative research methods involving in-depth interviews and case studies explore the lived experiences of the Christian minority in Wah Cantonment city, Pakistan. Using purposive sampling techniques, 33 Christian respondents (16 males, 17 females) and eight senior Christian High Court lawyers (four males, four females) were interviewed. Based on empirical evidence, this article demonstrates that Islamic majoritarianism and lack of pluralist vision impedes minorities' freedom in Pakistan, creating issues of safety, legal abuse and discrimination in their own homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest book by Stuart Schwartz, the leading historian of the early modern Iberian Atlantic, deals with the emergence and transformation of these social hierarchies. After all, if race is a social construct, as Schwartz himself repeats (91), historians are well placed to see that it was constructed differently in different societies of the past. [Extracted from the article]

The introduction to the special issue on Muslim minorities in Subsaharan Africa argues that a focus on the circumstances and challenges faced by them opens up productive lines of inquiry into forms of religious coexistence and plurality, in Subsaharan Africa and elsewhere. Starting from a conceptual reflection on different forms of religious plurality, the article enters a plea for more a sustained reflection on the effects of state regulation of religious coexistence and how it is lived in everyday life. To this effect, the introduction invites readers to take the different case studies of the special issue as a way to assess and compare the genealogies and legacies of state regimes of religious governance in Subsaharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the social science literature on how religious and scientific communities relate to one another is focused on the relationship Christian communities have to science in the US and to a lesser extent the UK. Our pilot research begins to address this gap by studying Muslim scientists, a key group of actors who are important to understanding the social implications of global discussions about religion and science. We ask: How do Muslim scientists in non-Muslim majority national contexts perceive the relationship between religion and science and the connection between their faith and their work? In this pilot study, we analyze 13 in-depth interviews with Muslim scientists from three non-Muslim majority national contexts—France, India, and the United Kingdom. We find that Muslim scientists in our sample generally view their faith as compatible with their identities as scientists. Despite this connection, Muslim scientists do not consider the scientific workplace to be a supportive environment for their faith expression and believe the visibility of Muslim identity creates the potential for religious discrimination in science. Initial findings contribute to our understanding of how national context shapes religious experiences and highlights potential challenges to facilitating more religiously plural workplace environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Armenians in Iran negotiate their space with the state and with their own communities? That is the central question of this paper, focusing on ways Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, the prelate of the Armenian Church in Iran, negotiates and explains boundaries with both the Iranian state and his community, from approximately 2000 to 2013: The state sets the structural framework for marginalized groups; yet minority groups, by responding to the framework and through negotiating boundaries, can influence and/or redefine the framework. In the same way, members of minority communities, through their responses to the set structures within the community, challenge and influence the framework. Moreover, the influences of globalisation and mobility have posed a greater challenge to the community's own structures than to the state's framework. 摘要: 在伊朗的亚美尼亚人如何与政府和自己的社群交涉他们的空间呢？这是本文的核心问题，重点是大约 2000 年至 2013 年间，伊朗亚美尼亚教会前身的塞布·萨尔基相大主教，是如何与伊朗政府及其社区谈判和解释界限的。本文的主要数据是 2013 年 3 月对塞布·萨尔基相大主教的采访。本文的结论表明，通常情况下国家为边缘化群体设定了结构框架: 然而，少数群体通过对框架作出反应和通过谈判界限，可以影响和/或重新定义框架。同样，少数群体社区的成员通过对社区内的固定结构作出反应，对框架也提出挑战和影响。此外，全球化和流动性的影响对社区自身结构提出了比国家框架更大的挑战。本文的贡献在于社会科学和宣教研究中的宗教界限的交涉。 Resumen: ¿Cómo negocian los armenios de Irán su lugar con el Estado y con sus propias comunidades? Esa es la pregunta fundamental de este trabajo que se centra en cómo, aproximadamente entre los años 2000 al 2013, el arzobispo Sebouh Sarkissian, prelado de la Iglesia armenia en Irán, negocia y explica los límites tanto al estado iraní como a su comunidad. Los datos principales para este trabajo provienen de una entrevista con el arzobispo Sebouh Sarkissian en marzo de 2013. Las conclusiones de este trabajo sugieren que, generalmente, el Estado establece el marco estructural para los grupos marginados; sin embargo, los grupos minoritarios pueden influir y/o redefinir el marco por la manera en que responden a las circunstancias y a través de la negociación de los límites. De la misma manera, los miembros de las comunidades minoritarias desafían e influyen al marco por cómo responden a las estructuras establecidas dentro de la comunidad. Además, las influencias de la globalización y la movilidad han planteado un desafío aún mayor para las propias estructuras de la comunidad que para el propio marco estatal. Este trabajo contribuye al estudio de la negociación de los límites religiosos dentro de las ciencias sociales y el estudio de las misiones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a controversial figure and has polarised public debate for over a decade. He is criticised for the decline in growth rate and increase in unemployment rate. It has been five years since the Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, so analysing the economic performance and extremist religious behaviour of the Modi-led BJP/RSS (Rastriya Sevak Sangh) is interesting. This article discusses the non-conventional views on the economic performance of the government in India, and the ideology of Hindutva and hatred towards religious minorities. This deep-rooted hatred of religious minorities and the lower caste is the core philosophy of Hindutva and is followed by the BJP and RSS. Under the shadow of the RSS, the Modi government has focused on Hindutva rather than the economy and the people, which has been the most important factor in the economic decline of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a part of a wider research on the Ismaili identity, peculiarities of the Ismailis' self-identification in various parts of the world under different historical circumstances. The ambiguous status of the Ismailis in Afghanistan turned to be particularly problematic by the end of the 19th century when the Pashtuns became dominant in the traditionally Ismaili-inhabited areas. In a hostile milieu, under severe persecutions, the local Ismaili identity acquired a tendency of unification with other ethno-religious identities, the principle of taqiyya having been widely spread. Since then, the Ismailis became especially dependent on the political situation in Afghanistan and the policy of its rulers towards ethnic and religious minorities. The War of 1979-1989 turned to be the most dramatic episode in the history of the Ismaili community in Afghanistan when its very survival appeared to be questioned: Ismaili intellectuals left the region, and lower social layers got involved in drug cultivation and trafficking. Supporting any of the conflict's sides could have led to a community tragedy, possibly to its complete annihilation. The limited information we obtained, including the memoirs of the Afghan War veterans, demonstrate the identity split in the Ismaili community of Afghanistan whose members were fighting on the opposite sides of the armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is the site of the largest mass repression of an ethnic and/or religious minority in the world today characterised by extra-judicial detention of Uyghurs in 're-education' centres, pervasive surveillance, and repression of Uyghur ethnic identity. While Beijing frames such draconian measures as necessary 'counter-terrorism' measures, the intersection between concern for the 'welfare' of subject populations and the desire to eradicate 'defective' elements of cultural identity central to the 're-education' system in Xinjiang betray the fundamentally colonial nature of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) endeavours in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the Jewish Question went from being a question of whether to give Jews, as a religious minority, citizenship, to a racial theory of a conflict between the Aryan and Semitic races. It explores the origins of Christian anti-Judaism in Europe and describes how it flared up during the Crusades, Inquisition, and Pogroms. It then describes how and explains why the Jewish Question became pseudo-secularized into a pseudo-scientific racial anti-Semitism, which culminated in the Final Solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It appears that in accordance with the regulations of International Minority Rights Law, Iranian Sunni Muslims constitute a religious minority. The instrumental aim of the minorities' protection system is to prevent conflict between persons belonging to minorities and those of majority populations in the light of territorial integrity, domestic stability and the national security of the states involved. The authors maintain that protecting the Sunni minority and observing their internationally recognised rights in Iran – through removing the reasons behind dissatisfactions of persons belonging to this group, resolving potential religious conflicts and promoting national integration – have a direct link with the maintenance of internal stability of the country, which, in the long term, tend to reinforce Iran's national security and provide a good pattern for other countries in the region or other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international protection of human rights, including those of religious minorities, has mainly developed through instruments adopted under the framework of the United Nations. After clarifying the concept of minorities, this article focuses on the legal protection of minority rights, particularly of religious minorities, under international instruments. It sheds light on the participation of Arab Mashreq states in the preparation of these instruments, in terms of their position in the elaboration of the instruments, and their multiple reservations. It offers an objective analysis of the issue of religious minorities in the Arab Mashreq region, and the necessity to respect their rights fully in order to build democracy and states of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Pakistan is listed as a highly intolerant country, this intolerance has rarely been investigated in the context of Pakistan. The current study aims to provide a contextual account of religious tolerance in Pakistan with a special focus on schools (including madrasas) and religiosity. Building on the pre-existing literature we tested to what extent madrasas , secular (worldly) education schools, and individual religiosity explain religious tolerance among students. We measured four dimensions of religious tolerance: freedom, respect, discrimination, and acceptance. Random sampling techniques were used to collect data from students (N = 937) of madrasas and mainstream schools. Structural equational modelling analyses revealed that madrasa students were least tolerant of religious minorities and private school students were the most tolerant. The study also found that the higher the religiosity of an individual, the lower their levels of religious tolerance, particularly, among private school students. Implications for research and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian minorities form less than two per cent of the Iranian population, the recognition of their official rights and the institutionalised legal discrimination against them has been a matter of a long conflict between minority rights activists and Muslim jurists since the Constitutional Revolution in 1905. The major part of this controversy relates to the assumed status of non-Muslims in traditional Shi'a jurisprudence. The present study examines and assesses the recognised status and rights of religious minorities in the two constitutions of 1906 and 1979 and their development. Although, due to the formation of new recitations in Shi'a jurisprudence, some changes have been made in identifying the fundamental rights of religious minorities, the domination of the general spirit of the rulings in Shi'a jurisprudence in the formulation of both constitutions means there is still a long way to go before recognising equal human rights for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study discusses language as a tool of identity construction by Muslims from the Late Medieval and Early Modern Christian Iberian Peninsula who could practice Islam by law in exchange for paying taxes (Mudejars). Their writings, as well as those of the group who were later forced to convert to Christianity (Moriscos), are in various languages and scripts. The Arabic (Aljamiado) used to transcribe Romance is distinctive and abundant evidence of it is left from the later Morisco period. The earlier uses of language by the Mudejars are nonetheless essential to understand how Muslims negotiated their community boundaries within a Christian majority society. My analysis will concentrate on two Mudejar polemics against the Christians and the Jews, which were most likely composed in fourteenth-century Aragon. In these works, approaches to language and the interplay of Arabic—both as a target language and as a script—with Romance escape discrete definitions of religion and culture. 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences & Missions is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article demonstrates legal and non-legal limitations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in Georgia, characterized by an absence of relevant case law of common courts about restrictions to FoRB with legitimate aims. Instead, the State is using various instruments for interference, such as administrative barriers and artificial obstacles for religious communities. In certain occasions, its policy and practice do not comply with the constitutional principles and international human rights commitments of the country. The State's preferential treatment of the dominant and influential religious institution, the Georgian Orthodox Church, ostracises other religious communities. This is further aggravated by the attempts of securitising and weaponising FoRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses legislative changes in the area of freedom of religion or belief in Denmark between 2014 and 2018. Recent legislation has placed pressure particularly on religious minorities to limit certain religious manifestations, and it is possible to trace a certain "juridification" of freedom of religion, by which the values underlying freedom of religion according to international standards are not always fully reflected. Additionally, there is a tendency to address societal concerns by means of legal interventions. The article argues that by making increased use of soft law developed by the EU, the Council of Europe and the UN, Danish lawmakers would be able to reach a more comprehensive understanding of freedom of religion or belief as well as include non-legal solutions to societal concerns. It further argues that while Denmark's national (Lutheran) church possess the majority of constituents, nonetheless its privileged position may paradoxically strengthen freedom of religion for religious minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Ogilvie's martyrdom in February 1615 should be seen in the context of a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people of Scotland between the Jesuit mission and James VI and I's government. Nowhere was this struggle more intense than within the town of Glasgow, where Ogilvie was imprisoned, tried and executed and which a large and influential Catholic community had long called home. Propaganda was disseminated by both sides during and after his trial and the archbishop of Glasgow, John Spottiswood, orchestrated its proceedings as a demonstration of royal and archiepiscopal power that involved local elites as well as central government officials. This article examines the events that took place in Glasgow during the winter of 1614–15 and provides a prosopographical analysis of the people involved. It makes the argument that, as had been the case during the Protestant Reformation of the 1540s and 1550s, Scotland's church and state mishandled Ogilvie's public ritual execution such that the local religious minority (now Catholics) became emboldened and more committed to Counter-Reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two cases of deliberation on the issue of religious arbitration in Canada: first, the Sharia law debate in Ontario (deliberation in the larger public sphere); and second, a deliberation on religious arbitration in British Columbia (deliberation in a small-scale structured setting). Relying on both secondary and original data, this article demonstrates that while the Sharia law debate failed to fulfill the key functions of a deliberative engagement, the small-scale deliberation was able to achieve all three functions: participants had the chance to express their opinions; there was ample dialogue and communication evident by increased empathy, perspective-taking ability, and knowledge gains; and finally, participants were able to come to a decision, however broad, together. Through this comparison, the article highlights key barriers to deliberation across differences and concludes with some suggestions for carrying out such engagements in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toleration of religious minorities is changing in the Netherlands. In this paper we analyze three recent developments in Dutch society that are important for understanding the way the Dutch regime of religious tolerance is adjusting to 21st century circumstances. The first one concerns the growing homogenization of Dutch society and the emergence of a secular and liberal majority. The second is the dominance in policy and public debate of a "Protestant" conception of what religion amounts to. The third development is the fragmentation of religion and its simultaneous combination into new networks and groups made possible by new information and communication technologies. These developments pose challenges to constitutional rights and principles. There are no simple solutions to these challenges, but the Dutch tradition of consociationalism, as a liberal tradition in its own right, may provide some valuable perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Denmark, the recognition of religious minority associations dates back to absolutism in the late 1600s when it was exerted by royal grace. However, the legal basis was not established as foreseen in the constitution of 1849, and recognition continued to be an ad hoc administrative act, which was modelled over the acts of grace during absolutism. By tradition, the cases were handled by the bishop of Copenhagen. After a criticism of this practice, the government established an expert committee in 1998 to take over the work of the bishop. In the absence of a dedicated law, the committee developed rules for recognition. The considerations and experiences of the expert committee are discussed in light of theories of contemporary public governance and with a view to the 'by grace' principle of absolutism. The article also discusses the preparation of the first law on recognition of religious minority associations from 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of Bangladeshi Hindu religious minorities have been dropping rapidly during the last few decades. Bangladesh shares a long border with India, and due to linguistic and cultural similarities, many Bangladeshi religious minorities choose to take refuge in India. This research explores the reasons forcing Hindu minorities to leave Bangladesh. It also provides an overview of the situation in Bangladesh with regard to minority protection, law enforcement and government actions. The findings of this research also illustrate why forced migration is an ongoing process and the main factors behind that exodus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exodus of the largest religious minority, the Hindus, from Bangladesh into neighbouring India over seven decades since the 1950s is owed, in no small part, to the enactment of the former Enemy Property Act and the subsequent Vested Properties Act. The article explores the trajectory of these Acts from examining the political and legal context of its origin, to tracing the various changes made in them through subsequent legislation and executive orders perpetuating an illegality, until the eventual passing of the return of vested property acts. A review of key cases on the issue of vested property acts shows the vacillating role of the judiciary in response to the use of legal tools of legislation and executive orders to oust Hindus from their lands and properties. The article assesses the potential for success of the project of returning vested properties given the realities of the state of the properties and procedural challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Russian Supreme Court's 2017 decision to ban Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists." The decision will bring Russia's anti-extremism law before the Council of Europe via the European Court of Human Rights. The article considers why this particular religious minority group became a test case by examining the unique beliefs and practices of Witnesses and their history of episodic conflict with the state. It also highlights the role of the Orthodox Church in shaping attitudes, popular and political, toward religious pluralism in Russia. In the Putin era, an increasingly illiberal rhetoric about totalitarian cults and traditional values connected nontraditional faiths to national security threats, a link made clear in the Putin regime's promotion of spiritual security. Overall, the article argues that the 2017 ban signals the repudiation of European human rights norms by Russian governmental authorities, lawmakers, and religious elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction offers an overview of the 2002 Russian anti-extremism law and a summary of the contributions by individual authors to this special journal issue. The authors detail the significant impact of the law, particularly for religious minorities. They note that the authors approach the law from different angles, ranging from the evolving rhetoric of extremism in Russia and the law's application to particular religious minority cases to the censorship of the online world and the politicized and partisan nature of the Russian legal system. In doing so, they draw out the contradictions, inconsistencies, and arbitrariness of the law's application and some unexpected continuities with earlier historical periods. Overall, they conclude that the anti-extremism law represents a serious impediment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in contemporary Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the history of marginalizing rhetoric in Russia as applied to evangelizing faiths, particularly the Jehovah's Witnesses, from the postwar period to the present day. Such churches have been portrayed as presenting a distinct threat to Russian society, even as the cited reasons for this perceived danger have shifted over time. While obviously connected to legal definitions of toleration, the language of religious (in)tolerance existed apart from state policy. Moreover, public rhetoric frequently adopted a hostile tone toward evangelizing churches regardless of their legal status. Seen from this perspective, the recent "extremism" label is part of a broader history of sustained marginalization of evangelizing faiths in modern Russia. The article argues that Russian media has not fully embraced the rhetoric of "extremism" as applied to evangelizing communities, but has also done little to challenge the underlying state policy it represents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jewish Americans represent both a minority religious group and a minority ethnic group with specific concerns related to Jewish identity, stereotypes, antisemitism, and invisibility as a minority. Counselors may lack spiritual, religious, and overall multicultural competencies for working effectively with this population. The authors offer a brief primer on Jewish Americans, literature on Jewish identity and potential client concerns, practical and clinical considerations, and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious violence in Indonesia has its origins mainly in factors that are external to religion. One factor in particular is the striving for political power initiated by the Ministry of Religion wherein religion and the state seek to subordinate the other. Within the Pancasila-based state religions have been enabled to live together in peace and harmony; opportunities have been created in which each religion can play an active role in the public sphere. This principle allows all religions and beliefs to function in public life. In a society like Indonesia a civil society—and how a particular religion functions—must begin with the reality of religious diversity. On this foundation a 'public religion' in the service of a civil society has the potential to be a transforming and liberating power necessary for democratic socio-political life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]