Minority Religious Communities Research Articles

The Politics of Fear and the Experience of Bangladeshi Religious Minority Communities Using Social Media Platforms

Despite significant research on online harm, polarization, public deliberation, and justice, CSCW still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of religious minorities, particularly in relation to fear, as prominently evident in our study. Gaining faith-sensitive insights into the expression, participation, and inter-religious interactions on social media can contribute to CSCW's literature on online safety and interfaith communication. In pursuit of this goal, we conducted a six-month-long, interview-based study with the Hindu, Buddhist, and Indigenous communities in Bangladesh. Our study draws on an extensive body of research encompassing the spiral of silence, the cultural politics of fear, and communication accommodation to examine how social media use by religious minorities is influenced by fear, which is associated with social conformity, misinformation, stigma, stereotypes, and South Asian postcolonial memory. Moreover, we engage with scholarly perspectives from religious studies, justice, and South Asian violence and offer important critical insights and design lessons for the CSCW literature on public deliberation, justice, and interfaith communication.

Political Choices of Muhammadiyah Citizens as a Muslim Minority in the 2018 Bali Governor Election in Indonesia

Purpose: the primary aim of this study is to explore how the Muhammadiyah community in Bali, a minority Muslim group, engaged in the 2018 Bali gubernatorial election to assert and navigate their political identity. This research seeks to understand the impact of their political participation within the broader dynamics of identity politics in a predominantly non-Muslim setting. Theoretical Reference: the study is framed within theories of political identity and political communication, which provide insights into how identities are formed, communicated, and leveraged in political contexts. These theories help elucidate the complex interactions between minority groups and the political environment, particularly in areas where identity politics play a significant role. Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was employed to capture the political preferences and behaviors of Muhammadiyah members during the 2018 gubernatorial election. Data was gathered through interviews, focus groups, and analysis of campaign materials and public statements. This method enabled a detailed and nuanced understanding of the Muhammadiyah community's political engagement. Results and Conclusion: the findings indicate that Muhammadiyah members actively participated in the election, using it as a platform to advocate for their political and social interests. Their engagement was shaped by their minority status and the need to assert their identity in a socio-political landscape dominated by different religious and cultural norms. The election outcomes revealed both the challenges and opportunities faced by Muhammadiyah in navigating identity politics in Bali. Implications of Research: this study highlights the critical role of minority religious communities in shaping political landscapes, even in regions where they do not form the majority. Understanding these dynamics is essential for policymakers, political leaders, and civil society organizations that aim to foster inclusive political processes. It also underscores the importance of effective political communication strategies that cater to diverse communities. Originality/Value: this research contributes to the limited literature on the political behavior of Islamic organizations like Muhammadiyah in regional politics, particularly within non-Muslim majority regions. It offers a unique insight into how identity politics and minority status influence political engagement and communication, adding depth to the discussions on multiculturalism and political inclusion in Southeast Asia.

Differently Imagined: Minorities and Majoritarian Politics in India

The rise of the BJP is usually credited for the shift towards the Hindutva politics in India, but other political parties are also not immune to using confession for electoral purposes. This article discusses how, despite living together for years, a large number of Hindus differently imagine the citizens belonging to the minority religious communities and vice versa. The article then examines the political events of the 1980s and analyses how they are linked with the contemporary social and political developments in India.

Local Wisdom of Minority Religious Groups in Indonesia in Humanitarian and Philanthropic Activities Covid-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has impacted people’s lives worldwide as a global pandemic. It is a shocking health issue and generates other economic and societal problems. With its many citizens, Indonesia faces limitations in dealing with this pandemic. The research was initiated due to global COVID-19, which affects Indonesia economically and socially. They utilized local wisdom to support religious minorities via humanitarian efforts. This research explores the charitable and philanthropic efforts of minority religious communities such as Ahmadiyah, Shia, Baha'i, and Sapta Dharma in Yogyakarta, which often face negative perceptions in Indonesia. This study uses qualitative methods to illustrate how minority religious groups participate in helping others in responding to the pandemic. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, Focused Group Discussions, and documentation. The results showed that minority religious groups in Indonesia have the initiative and actively participate in assisting needy people around them as their responsibility as Indonesian citizens, despite the discrimination and hostility they face because of their beliefs. Philanthropic motivations based on religious values, universal humanity, and moral responsibility as a religious group can be viewed as local wisdom. The existence of cultural views in Indonesia for help and mutual assistance makes aid acceptable as a form of brotherhood, which is inversely proportional to the theological rejection of the group.

Perceptions of mental health and illness amongst Australian Ismaili Muslim youth

ABSTRACT Objective Extant research on mental health within Muslim communities reveals inequalities, with religio-cultural beliefs viewed as influencing experience, access to care, and treatment outcomes. Additionally, religious affiliation is a prominent marker of social identity amongst Muslim migrant communities. This study examined whether acculturative approaches and identity influence perceptions of mental ill health within a Muslim migrant community. Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 Australian Muslim youth – six of whom were recent immigrants and five who were Australian-born/raised. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Two main themes were identified: 1) making sense of mental health, and 2) the influence of social representations. Sub-themes included: 1a) defining mental health, 1b) perceived determinants, 2a) “emotional” vs “factual”, and 2b) education through experience: personal encounters with mental illness. Conclusion Overall, faith and religion played an important role in conceptualisations of mental health for young Australian Muslims – alluding to the necessity of faith-sensitive mental health services for ethnic and religious minority communities.

From Text to Meaning: Unpacking the Semiotics of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Through an analysis of the European Court of Human Rights’ decisions concerning the practice of veiling, this article problematises the semiotics-architectural structure of article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion), questioning which representation of the human and the female subject is recognised and therefore protected by secular/liberal and Human Rights law. It argues that the semiotics-architectural structure of article 9, which is based on the distinction between faith and its manifestation, not only relies on a particular ontological understanding of the religious subject as well as a specific notion of religion, but it also reveals a distinct relationship between the individual and sovereign power through the division between the public and the private spheres. In light of this, the western debate surrounding the women’s veiling overlooks how liberal secularism perceives and defines the religious and legal gendered subject in the modern world, and how this understanding is embedded in and reproduced through the law, which emerges as an instrument for regulating minority religious communities.

Defining the Calling to Islam in Europe

This paper provides a point of view on Islamic daʿwa (inviting to Islam) as interpreted in the European context by the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), the centre established in 1997 to deliver religious and legal guidance to Muslims in Europe. By using the approach of global Islam studies (Green 2020), the paper’s goal is to look at the modern development of daʿwa as a multipurpose tool that shapes the role of Muslims in Europe, as well as the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims and the way the Islamic message is conveyed. As the paper’s conclusion illustrates, daʿwa is a complex concept, especially in countries where Islam is a minority religion. If it is taken as a matter of proselytizing, then the ECFR does not prioritize conversion of non-Muslims over other goals. Instead, the act of spreading Islam among Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe is the way to keep the community together, to read the Islamic tradition in a novel way, to change the perception of European Muslims, to fight Islamophobia, and to find a place as a minority religious community. The study is based on the analysis of European Council for Fatwa and Research publications between 1997 and 2020. The first section of the paper provides the theoretical framework used to frame the topic in scholarship. Therefore, it presents a short introduction to the concept of daʿwa as shaped by classical sources to the present day. The article then provides an analysis of the ECFR’s interpretation of the concept by drawing from the texts and context. Before the conclusion, the last part discusses how the Council’s interpretation of daʿwa is shaping contemporary Islam in Europe. Key words: Islamic daʿwa, Calling to Islam in Europe, Global Islam in Europe, Islamic law, Muslim minorities

Modesty, religion, and community: Therapists' perspectives regarding the treatment of child sexual abuse in the ultra-orthodox community

BackgroundReligion is a significant cultural component that impacts child sexual abuse (CSA) in various ways, including its definition, perception, and treatment. This study focuses on the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, a strictly religious, segregated, and close-knit community with unique cultural practices and beliefs that impact children's safety and vulnerability to CSA. ObjectiveThis qualitative study aimed to explore therapists' perceptions and ascribed meanings of CSA treatment within the ultra-Orthodox community. Participants and settingThirty in-depth interviews were conducted with therapists working with the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel. MethodsThe interviews were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. ResultsThree central axes pertinent to the treatment of CSA in the ultra-Orthodox community were discovered: 1) religious interventions, 2) modest approach, relating to the community's taboo attitude towards sexuality; and 3) the collectivistic nature of the community. The results include specific effect sizes and their statistical significance. ConclusionsThe discussion explores the findings in light of the literature on CSA among religious minority communities and connects them to the unique underlying perception of sexuality in the ultra-Orthodox community. Specific ramifications and recommendations for practice are then considered, alongside the limitations and directions for future study.

What space for the dead? The making of burial places for and by religious minorities in The Netherlands

In this article, we examine how religious minorities in the densely populated Netherlands manage burial norms in the face of scarcity of land. Using legal pluralism, we explore how local and national authorities; funeral agents; and three religious minority communities deal with the spatial and temporal dimensions of death and burial, both inside and outside the Dutch conurbation The Randstad, in a context where the Dutch tradition of consociationalism lingers on. Based on fieldwork and legal analysis, our findings show that religious burial norms have peripheral existence, both within Dutch law where they are treated as exceptions, and geographically, as religious cemeteries still remain situated outside The Randstad. Furthermore, tensions can emerge not only between communities, but also within them, as exemplified by challenges faced by non-believers. In a context of migration, Dutch cemeteries become spaces where multiple normative orders concerning emotion, (non)belief, religion, society and the state intersect. This turns the space for the dead into a place where some members of minority groups can find the rest they are longing for, while others cannot.

Religious nationalism and religious governance: Overlaps and divergences. The case of Croatia

In this article, we argue that the religious governance in Croatia was shaped by the specific position that was given to the Catholic Church in Croatia as the historical and moral guardian of the Croatian people. We describe how the fusion of religious and national identity occurred and how it was connected to the relationship between the Catholic Church and the political party that governed Croatia in the 1990s, as well as the relationship between the state and minority religious communities. The article also deals with the issue of whether religious nationalism, which is very strong at the levels of society and national self-consciousness, played any role in the governance of religious diversity and how it has influenced social movements that have reconfigured mutual recognition of different religious communities in Croatia.

A religious minority tax in healthcare? Insights from Muslim American physicians

Physicians from marginalized racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender backgrounds often encounter adversity, ranging from overt discrimination to subtle microaggressions, which impacts their professional careers. Consequently, concerted efforts to promote workforce diversity in healthcare have begun to tackle these issues. In this study, we further these efforts by uplifting the voices of a minority religious community, Muslim physicians, and their experiences in the medical profession. Using a community-engaged research approach, we recruited 18 physicians from 3 national Muslim clinician organizations who had worked at a university hospital within the last 20 years to participate in semi-structured interviews focused on how their religious identity intersects with experiences of discrimination and accommodation. Deploying a phenomenological framework, we identified four emergent themes that cut across the 18 interviews. The physicians’ experiences demonstrated that they i) shouldered extra labor to uphold their religious identity, (ii) denied their personal experiences of religious discrimination, (iii) feared religious discrimination, and (iv) mislabeled their personal management of religious practices as institutional accommodations. These experiences suggest that the additional responsibilities and burdens that saddle underrepresented racial and ethnic identities in medicine – dubbed “the minority tax” – extend to this religious minority group. They also highlight a unique set of psychological and professional costs associated with carrying a Muslim identity in the physician workforce. Our findings underscore the need for healthcare systems to take bold action in creating non-discriminatory, inclusive, and equitable working environments that attend to the religious identities of diverse physicians.

The Latin American Bullring: US Evangelicals and the Reception of Anti-Protestant Violence from Cold War Colombia

In the shadow of the Cuban Revolution, American Baptist preacher Billy Graham and US President John F. Kennedy barnstormed South America through overlapping tours in 1961 and 1962. Kennedy's presidency has often been presented as an intermission in the drama of evangelical political power, but grassroots activism provides new angles for analysis at the intersection of the US and Latin America. While claiming an apolitical stance, Graham worked alongside the US State Department, planting spiritual seeds on the tilled ground of foreign policy. Graham – and Protestant leaders orbiting him – curated acts of violence, painting a picture of persecution for a watching public. This narrative employed violence to draw lines of worldwide spiritual affiliation and political obligation. US evangelicals placed themselves as custodians of America's most sacred values at home and abroad, responsible for upholding democratic values, including religious tolerance, the rule of law, and anticommunism. Graham's tactics created an entangled relationship with Kennedy, where Graham arose as a metaphorical matador, fighting for persecuted Christians. Here, American evangelicals could flex their growing political muscle, while operating as an imagined religious minority community. Narratives, discourses, and representations of violence circulated transnationally and acquired differing meanings depending on the political interests of those mobilizing them.

Lesser Than Equal?

In India, Hindu family law is often touted as a progressive and gender-just law that ought to be emulated and extended to minority religious communities through a common civil code. Against this backdrop, the present article examines the question of whether Hindu family law in India adequately protects women’s rights and, if law reform is required, what should be the factors guiding it. The article further analyses the status of women within Hindu family law in India from the time of the country’s independence and the law reform measures that have led to advancement in women’s equality rights in recent decades as well as discriminatory provisions that continue to persist through a historical, legal and feminist lens. It argues that further reforms to Hindu family law must be undertaken to realize women’s equality rights, albeit within the larger framework of constitutional norms and international human rights standards, rather than an interpretation/re-interpretation of Hindu religious texts based on dubious claims of a “glorious past.” This includes recognition of trans* and queer relationships within the folds of Hindu law. Moreover, the article argues in favor of applying feminist discourses on formal and substantive equality to the Uniform Civil Code debate to ensure plural family laws are gender-just.

Educational Loan for Religious Minority Under Arivu Scheme

Objective: Education is the system of instruction designed to provide individuals with the tools they need to take part in day-to-day activities. It rejects ignorance and instils moral values in individuals. The functioning of the education sector is dependent upon the availability of different resources, most notably financial resources. Education funding comes from a variety of sources, including government spending, fees, educational loans by nationalized banks, cooperative societies, and others. Among these, educational loans have been identified as an alternative method of financing education. This study attempts to examine the Arivu loan Scheme's education loans for religious minorities. ABCD analysis was performed to determine its advantages, benefits, constraints, and disadvantages. Methodology: This study made use of secondary sources in order to have comprehensive evidence-based research on educational loan under the Arivu scheme. The semi-systematic review is carried out using various government publications and articles from newspapers, Google Scholar, Srinivas publications, Research Gate, SSRN, and other sources. Findings: A thorough examination revealed that in India religious minorities face challenges in the areas of social status, economic expansion, and higher education opportunities. Students from religious minority communities can pursue professional courses through the Arivu loan Scheme. This scheme benefited a large number of religious minority students and also found that Pupils are adversely affected because the government has ceased releasing funds for Arivu loan scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic. Practical Implications: This research will inform students about the state government-sponsored Arivu Educational Loan under KMDC, which helps students from religious minorities pursue higher education. It will also assist government officials in learning more about the funds allotted by the government and the total number of students in Dakshina Kannada who benefited from the Arivu educational loan scheme, which improves minorities' educational standing. Originality/ value: As a secondary data-driven study, it may provide an overall perspective on Arivu Educational Loans under KMDC. This Arivu loan will improve the status of the religious minority community, but the concept of the Arivu education loan by KMDC can also be better understood by conducting a primary survey, which serves as the study's limitation. Paper type: Case study

Freedom Believers 2020: anti-vaccine activism and political liberalism in Oregon

ABSTRACT This contribution examines recent developments in the activism of a Russian religious minority community in the United States. After fleeing persecution in Russia to Manchuria, Turkey, and Brazil, since the 1960s 10,000 Old Believers have settled in the Williamette Valley, Oregon. The contribution describes how and why this paradigmatically ‘closed’ religious group, which has eschewed active political engagement for centuries, made a sudden and effective entry into Oregon politics in 2019–20. Initial political mobilisation was provoked by Oregon State Legislature’s attempt to pass a law to eliminate exemptions on religious or philosophical grounds for children’s vaccinations. Following the theorising of Rawls, I argue that the Old Believers formed with other Americans opposed to mandatory vaccinations an ‘overlapping consensus’ of political liberalism. Their exclusive reliance on political arguments grounded in the secular American tradition of liberal rights and freedoms conflicts with the influential thesis of ‘public religion’, articulated prominently by Casanova and Habermas, who highlight the spiritual and theological character of interventions by religious groups into modern politics. Notwithstanding the secular tenor of their political intervention, I argue that it constitutes a form of ‘religious activism’ motivated by the pursuit of values at the heart of their centuries-old religious project.

‘From a woman's point of view’: the Presbyterian archive as a source for women's and gender history in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland

AbstractThis article responds to ‘An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900’ by highlighting the explanatory potential of the Presbyterian archive in extending and reshaping our understanding of women, gender and the family in Ireland. Discussed here as the ‘Presbyterian archive’, the records of the Presbyterian church offer a tantalising insight into the intimate worlds of women and men in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland. Although Presbyterians were a minority religious community in Ireland, their records provide much more than a marginalised picture. Instead, the Presbyterian archive casts fresh light on the wider Irish evidence, enriching our knowledge of the everyday lives of women and men in Ireland. The article begins by introducing the Presbyterian archive and the community responsible for its creation. Next, it considers how the Presbyterian archive both meets and advances the aims of the ‘Agenda’ and reveals what it can tell us about the lives of women and men as gendered subjects. Overall, the article underlines the importance of the Presbyterian archive as a source for Irish historians because it underscores why all history is gender history.

Compulsory Heterosexuality in Indonesia: A Literary Exploration of the Work of Ayu Utami

The fall of Suharto from the presidency in the Reformation of 1998 created space for greater freedom of expression, including for women, in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia. Ayu Utami is an Indonesian writer whose first novel, Saman, was published at the time of the Indonesian Reformation to critical and commercial acclaim. Other women writers followed her lead, expressing their work on women and sexuality. Through her writing, Utami challenges a patriarchal culture which continues to marginalise women. This paper focuses on the two of Utami’s literary works, Si Parasit Lajang: Seks, Sketsa dan Cerita (The Single Parasite: Sex, Sketches and Stories) (2003) and Pengakuan Eks Parasit Lajang (Confessions of a Former Single Parasite) (2013). These two books have parallel themes, representing Utami’s challenges to dominant discourses on women and marriage. In the first book, Utami shows that women face discrimination if they remain single. Her political stance to remain unmarried is a way to show that women can choose alternative ways of life, rather than submit to the valorised option: to get married. Utami’s shift of position, as elaborated in the second book through the story of her autobiographical character A, who is a Catholic, has to do with a developing tendency of the Islamic conservatism in Indonesia to silence the expression of minority groups, including minority religious communities. This paper argues that to understand Utami’s shift in position on marriage, we must understand the ways in which her position as a member of a minority and, sometimes endangered, religious community shapes her position.

Muslim Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Western Sydney: Understanding the Role of Community-Specific Communication Infrastructure

ABSTRACT In Australia, the COVID-19 pandemic rendered visible and exacerbated socio-economic inequalities and divides. Migrant and religious minority communities in Australia faced particular challenges during the pandemic when government responses were not made culturally accessible, appropriate or relatable. This paper examines the role played by community-specific communication infrastructures in addressing government deficiencies to meet the needs of Muslim communities. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with Muslims in an area hit hard by the pandemic – Western Sydney – we consider the role communication infrastructures played in combatting misinformation, providing up-to-date information and creating spaces for locally and culturally informed responses to be developed. We propose that community-specific communication infrastructures were critical to Muslims seeking to address gaps, needs and inequalities during the pandemic and they were effective because they were designed with an understanding of Muslim communities’ social and cultural norms, practices, experiences and needs. The research offers insights relevant to migrant and religious communities, not-for-profits, and government agencies seeking to develop effective strategies to respond to challenges and crises as they emerge.

Muslim Chaplains in the Clinical Borderlands: Authority, Function, and Identity.

This article, based on twenty in-depth interviews, examines the experiences of Muslim interfaith spiritual care providers in US healthcare institutions. These Muslim chaplains represent a public face of a minority religious community; provide a ministry of presence or accompaniment for those in the healthcare institution; and exercise a new form of professionalized religious leadership in the Islamic tradition. The border between religious leader and spiritual caregiver, between imam and chaplain, is blurry, gendered, and contested. We outline how Muslim healthcare chaplains interpret their authority, function, and identity within a professional space defined by dominant American religious norms as well as by shifting standards for leadership within American Muslim communities. We argue that the Christian hegemony often masked by "spiritual care" discourse and educational practice impels Muslim chaplains to critically evaluate, recover, and adapt traditional sources integral to the professional development of contemporary American Muslim religious leaders.

Iraq’s Religious Minorities: On the Precipice

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is often described as the cradle of the three Abrahamic faiths and Iraq as a land “where faith was born.” But the past two decades have dealt a severe, possibly fatal blow to religious communities that were once vibrant and integral parts of Iraq’s social fabric—and perhaps to the very idea of pluralism in the region. Ensuring the continued presence of religious minority communities is vital to preserving Iraq’s social diversity and nurturing a culture of pluralism. Iraq’s best hope to save its vanishing minorities from extinction and revive religious pluralism lies in the Iraqi Region of Kurdistan (IRK). Fully incorporating displaced non-Muslim components of Iraqi society into host communities in the IRK while preserving their distinctive collective identity would advance the prospects for the survival of religious minorities and the future of pluralism in the IRK, the country at large, and the wider region.