Religious protest and its impact on cultural policy

Abstract

This paper explores the implications for public cultural policy of recent religious protests against cultural productions and of requests for cultural organisations to accommodate religious rulings. It examines this subject in the context of the idea and practice of secularism, and considers whether religious protests and pressures over culture have had an impact on the assumptions of public cultural policy. The paper questions whether some of the theoretical approaches which have been brought to bear on these questions – the ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis, models of multiculturalism, and freedom of expression arguments – can help to understand these tensions and their resolution. The paper examines the case of Arts Council England's ‘Faith and the Arts’ project, as an example of a significant policy initiative, in order to provide insight into the role of public cultural policy itself in resolving these tensions between culture and religion.