Regulation of religious communities in a multicultural polity

Abstract

The question of how to manage diverse religious communities within a single political community for social peace is a recurring one. If one accepts that religious differences are permanent features of societies, and could not and should not be eliminated by force (expulsion or genocide) or overcome by coercion (forced conversion), formulating systems of governance to manage different religious communities within the nation-state becomes imperative. Historically, several systems of religious governance of multicultural polities have been practiced. The Ottoman millet system is one such system, whereby recognized religious communities were granted jurisdictional autonomy over a limited area of personal law. The millet system is still practiced in some form in certain former Ottoman territories. In contrast, within the Anglo-European context, secular governance (either in emphasizing separation or in emphasizing even-handedness among different religious groups) became the dominant approach to address religious difference. Secular governance posits that peaceful coexistence could be established if states develop a unified form of political authority that was differentiated and furthermore neutral as among rival religious communities. In this chapter, I argue that the primary organizing factor in the state’s structure of governance of religious communities is whether they are regarded as private or public subjects of regulation. The consideration of whether religious communities are conceptualized as private actors or public actors is integral for the purposes of organizing structural approaches to the regulation of religious communities in multicultural polities. This itself reflects whether the state conceptualizes society as being a community of individuals or of ‘nations’. Where religious communities are private actors, they are treated like associations and their members interact with the state primarily as individuals. Where religious communities are treated as public actors, the communal aspect of those communities tends to be emphasized, often over the individual interests within the community. Consequently, the primary regulatory approach towards private religion tends to be one of self-regulation, in addition to general statutory regulation. In comparison, where religious communities are treated as public actors, the state relies on a broader range of regulatory approaches, namely religion-specific statutory regulation, co-regulation, in addition to self-regulation. This article therefore examines the particular challenge of multicultural polities, introduces the modes and dimensions of regulation, dominant approaches to regulating religious communities as public or private subjects, and lastly, the ideological postures that determines the regulatory reach of the state.