Religious Engagement and the Migration Issue: Towards Reconciling Political and Moral Duty

Joanna Kulska

doi:10.3390/rel11050236

Abstract

The increasingly acknowledged post-secular perspective has resulted in the emergence of some new approaches theorizing this phenomenon. One such approach has been the concept of religious engagement, which calls for the redefinition of the perception of religious non-state actors towards including them as important partners in the process of identifying and realizing political goals. According to this view, due to the multidimensional role played by religious communities and non-state religious actors, they need to be recognized as pivotal in creating a new form of knowledge generated through encounter and dialogue of the political decision-makers with these subjects. Among numerous others, the challenge of migration calls for enhanced debate referring to both political and ethical issues. When such a perspective is applied, the question is raised of the duties and limits of nation-states using more or less harsh political measures towards refugees and migrants based on the concept of security, but also short-term political goals. In the face of a state’s lack of will or capacity to deal with the problem of migration, the question of religion serving not only as the service-provider but also as the “trend-setter” with regard to fundamental ethical questions needs to be considered.

Highlights

Out of many unexpected, yet decisive dimensions of religion’s “come back” in the social-political arena over the last decades, both globally and locally, the revisited relation between “the secular” and “the religious”, and as a result, “the political” and “the religious” has emerged
As a result of the “post-secular turn”, post-secular consciousness and post-secular sensitivity have been created, which to a significant extent express themselves in the concept of religious engagement
Politics is about relationships, and active citizens are the ones who increasingly contribute to broadening of comprehension of how politics should be understood and how it should be performed (Saunders 2005)

Summary

Introduction

Out of many unexpected, yet decisive dimensions of religion’s “come back” in the social-political arena over the last decades, both globally and locally, the revisited relation between “the secular” and “the religious”, and as a result, “the political” and “the religious” has emerged. As a result of the “post-secular turn”, post-secular consciousness and post-secular sensitivity have been created, which to a significant extent express themselves in the concept of religious engagement This new perspective allows religion to be more present in the public sphere, and sees religion and religious actors as the valuable resource in all the domains of socio-political reality as “religion’s importance and relevance is more wide ranging than is indicated by limiting its presumed role to the impact of ideas on politics” (Petito and Thomas 2015). This definition encompasses state-based politics and policies, and dominant ideological visions that shape those policies and influence the narratives of the broader civil society and public sphere Such a perspective brings recognition of the non-state religious actors as those who affect the understanding of power through contesting its source and meaning, but at the same time contribute to perceiving it through the prism of relationships (May et al 2014). Politics is about relationships, and active citizens are the ones who increasingly contribute to broadening of comprehension of how politics should be understood and how it should be performed (Saunders 2005)

FBOs: Bridging Religious Engagement and Religious Peacebuilding

Dialectics of Migration as a Political and Ethical Problem

Humanitarian Corridors

Findings

Conclusions