Status Of Religious Minorities Research Articles

The Status of Samaritans in Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Damascus

AbstractIn this article, we explore the status of Samaritans in early modern Ottoman Damascus through a focus on a particular firman—a sultanic legal decree. The firman orders that Samaritans—a religious group that traces its origins to ancient Israel but differs from Jews in several aspects—are not to be employed as clerks by Ottoman authorities. We argue that the firman indicates Ottoman officials engaged in religious status management despite the lack of legal terminology for minority in the document. The significance of the firman regarding conceptualizing status, we suggest, is that it points to an alternative model of minoritization that is not based in modern European legal approaches to religious minority status and law but which accounts for people’s experiences of minority status before modernity.

Religious Diversity and Cultural Transmission in Pre-modern Europe

Over the past several decades, historians of Medieval Europe have worked to show the complexity and diversity of Europe’s religious, linguistic and cultural landscape. Medieval Europe was neither a multicultural paradise nor an ethnically pure enclave. Archaeology, ethnolinguistics, literary studies and textual studies all show the constant movement of populations into and across Europe, from earliest antiquity until today. I have participated in two European-funded projects that explore different aspects of that religious and cultural diversity. From 2010 to 2015, I directed an ERC advanced grant entitled ‘RELMIN: The legal status of religious minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean world (5th–15th centuries)’. Since 2019, I am one of the four directors of an ERC synergy grant, ‘The European Qur’ān,’ which explores the place of the Qur’ān in European culture between the twelfth and early nineteenth centuries. This article presents these two European research programmes and their implications for understanding the history of Europe’s religious diversity.

How Jews, Christians and Muslims related to each other in Muslim Iberia

Dr. Mònica Colominas Aparicio unravels historical relationships in the research project: The Status of Religious Minorities in Islamic Societies: Jews and Christians in Islamic Iberia (8th-15th c.). This time and place in history can help us understand how faith-based communities and cultures managed to co-exist, despite differences.

Finding a ‘Shi’a voice’ in Europe: minority representation and the unsettling of secular humanitarianism in the discourse of ‘Shi’a rights’

ABSTRACT In contemporary Europe, where the hegemony of modern secular governance remains largely uncontested, how do minority religious communities – especially Muslims – negotiate the tension between religious duty and forms of secularised civic belonging? This contribution takes Twelver Shi’a Muslim activism in Europe as a starting place to interrogate the encounter between Islamic and secular values. In particular, I examine the emergence of what I call the discourse of ‘Shi’a rights’, through which Shi’a Muslims are seeking to gain minority recognition within the European context. Combining elements of Shi’a Islamic ethics with the language of secular humanitarianism, the discourse of ‘Shi’a rights’ is emancipatory and outward-facing while simultaneously being exclusionary and particularistic in the way it promotes specific understandings of what it means to be ‘Shi’a’. Crucially, I argue that this ambivalent nature of ‘Shi’a rights’ is a product of the encounter with secular liberal governance, especially the secular ideal of religious equality. Rather than representing a natural division between religion and society, contemporary secularism cultivates particular ethical attachments that ultimately serve to problematise the status of religious minorities. A focus on ‘Shi’a rights’ in Europe thus serves to illuminate the fractures and fissures that contemporary secular discourse seeks to hide.

The legal status of religious minorities: Exploring the impact of the European Court of Human Rights

In the last 25 years the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has evolved into a venue where some of the most contentious questions related to religion in European society are addressed. This article focuses on the grassroots level impact of the ECtHR in the domain of legal status of religious minorities. In light of scholarly debates questioning the direct effects of courts on the issues they address (i.e., legal reform and policy change), the research on which this article is based explores the nature and extent of the Court’s indirect effects on the legal status of religious minorities: how and to what extent does the ECtHR impact upon religious minorities in terms of their conceptions of, discourse around, and mobilisations pursuing their legal status-related rights? This question is addressed through results of empirical qualitative research conducted at the grassroots level in four country cases – Greece, Italy, Romania and Turkey.

Rebel with a Cause: Ahok and Charismatic Leadership in Indonesia

The representation of minority ethnic communities is an acute issue in many countries in East and Southeast Asia. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, the rise of Jakarta’s governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, nicknamed “Ahok”, was a surprising phenomenon given his ethnic and religious minority status as a Christian of Chinese descent. Even more surprising was his initial success as a politician despite a controversial style of communication that appears to contrast with prevailing cultural norms. We argue that the reason for Ahok’s unlikely rise to prominence lay in his ability to reshape the political narrative by shifting the focus of “Indonesian-ness” away from ethnic or religious identity to moral values based on transparency and integrity. Ethnicity and identity remain powerful forces in Indonesian politics, but we argue that Ahok has established a charismatic relationship with followers by positioning himself in opposition to some of the more pressing concerns in contemporary Indonesia.

Freedom of Religion and Status of Religious Minorities in Pakistan

On world media the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been reported most in the recent past regarding the news relating slow moving peace process and discrimination with religious minorities. They are facing problems regarding the protection of their rights and policies formulated for them but did not implement in right way. Majority of the population is based upon Muslims but numbers of non-Muslims are also the citizens of Pakistan. Constitution of Pakistan guarantees of equal rights for all citizens regardless of their religion, race, language, gender and area. The research explores the worth of minorities by ideology of Pakistan. It discusses the proportion of minorities in Pakistan and their issues. It attempts to diagnose the hindrances in the way of religious minorities and factors associated with them. It elaborates the amendments and policies for protection of their rights passed by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan whether they are applied in real sense or not. To what extent, Religious minorities in Pakistan enjoy the freedom to put into practice their religion and follow their cultural traditions and customs.

Against the Witness: Hindu Nationalism and the Law in India

In the aftermath of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, India, in 2002, NGOs and activists encouraged survivors to testify against Hindu perpetrators in court. Through an ethnographic analysis of a criminal trial in the lower courts of Ahmedabad, I show how state officials and perpetrators used legal procedures to transform Muslim survivors into unreliable witnesses in the courtroom. These formal and informal techniques to destabilize Muslim witnesses are best understood not as byproducts of the law’s failure to address mass violence, but as a legal performance of Hindu supremacy. Procedural and positivistic approaches to the rule of law failed to address the law as a performance embedded in the context of Hindu nationalism in Gujarat. Not only do such trials discredit witnesses of mass violence, but they also give a legal form to the subordinate status of religious minorities within a majoritarian political regime.

Islam and feminism in post-colonial era

Contemporary academic debates often deal with the issue of the compatibility of Islam with liberal values. The issues most commonly encountered in these debates are the compatibility of Islam with principles of secularism, democracy and human rights. The definition of human rights in current international documents includes: the position and status of religious minorities, freedom of belief, opinion and expression, the position of women in society, children's rights, the rights of people with disabilities, and many others. This paper will specifically deal with (co)relations between Islam and the position of women in society, as well as a theoretical analysis of the most important works of women theorists who have dealt with Islamic feminism and rereading of Qur'an from a woman's perspective. Also, once the work has given basic assumptions of the most important works of these women theorists, we will offer their critical review.

A qualitative study of coping with religious minority status in public schools

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore coping and impacts of religious difference and discrimination among a sample of 50 middle and high school Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Universalist Unitarian adolescent public school students. Content analysis employing grounded theory strategies resulted in 7 themes: 1) Importance of religious affiliation and community; 2) Influence of parental religiosity; 3) Parents as advocates and expert consultants; 4) To have or not to have friends from other religions; 5) Response to negative incidents; 6) Perceptions of teachers; and 7) The school culture needs to change. Implications for interventions aimed at promoting resilience and positive religious identity are discussed in addition to recommendations for making schools a welcoming and safe place for students of all religious backgrounds.

The Legal Status of Religious Minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean World (RELMIN)

One of the key challenges facing Europe since the end of the Second World War has been to confirm and protect the rights of minority religious groups: Jews in particular, but also Catholics or Protestants (in countries where one or the other group is a minority) and members of other religions who have immigrated into the European Union: Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and others. The freedom to practice one's religion is a fundamental right inscribed in the laws of the Union and of its member states. Yet in practice, religious expression is perceived differently in various member states and by the members of the diverse religious communities that cohabit in those states. The wearing of a Sikh Turban, a Catholic Holy Week procession, or the call of a muezzin issuing forth from a loudspeaker atop a minaret: each such public expression of religion poses a series of questions involving distinctions between public and private spheres, between religious and cultural symbols, between the identities of religious communities and national polities. The situation is complicated by two contrasting but not mutually exclusive phenomena: an increasing secularization of European societies and a reaffirmation of religious identities. While the broad principles of religious freedom are universally acknowledged, the contours of that freedom in the daily lives of Eu-ropeans of all religions (or without religion) vary from one member state to another and are frequently subjects of debate and polemics. The issues of religious diversity and of the regulation of pluralistic European societies are not new. On the contrary, religious diversity in Europe is grounded in the practice of Christian and Muslim states of the European Middle Ages. In the Christian Roman Empire of the fifth and sixth centuries, emperors banned paganism yet allowed Jews limited freedoms, creating a protected but subordinate status for the empire's Jewish subjects. In the wake of the Muslim conquests of much of the former Roman/Byzantine Empire, Muslim rulers accorded to Jews and Christians the status of dhimmīs 1 , protected minorities that enjoyed broad religious freedoms and judicial autonomy, but whose social and political status was inferior to that of Muslims. In Christian kingdoms of medieval Europe, Jews (and in some cases Muslims) were accepted as subordinate minorities who could maintain their synagogues and mosques and openly practice their religions. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the status of these religious minorities became increasingly precarious in many European states: minorities faced violence and often expulsion: this is the case for Christians and Jews in Almohad Spain (twelfth and thirteenth centuries), for Jews in many medieval and early modern states, and for Muslims in Sicily (thirteenth century) and Spain (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries).

Visions of Community (VISCOM): Comparative Approaches to Ethnicity, Region and Empire in Christianity, Islam and Buddhism (400-1600 CE)

MEDIEVAL WORLDS provides a new forum for interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Specifically it encourages and links comparative research between different regions and fields and promotes methodological innovation in transdisciplinary studies. Focusing on the Middle Ages (c. 400-1500 CE, but can be extended whenever thematically fruitful or appropriate), MEDIEVAL WORLDS takes a global approach to studying history in a comparative setting. MEDIEVAL WORLDS is open to regular submissions on comparative topics, but also offers the possibility to propose or advertise subjects that lend themselves to comparison. With a view to connecting people working on related topics in different academic environments, we publish calls for matching articles and for contributions on particular issues. TABLE OF CONTENTS Walter POHL and Andre GINGRICH Medieval Worlds: Introduction to the First Issue Patrick GEARY, The Discourse of Herrschaft as the Practice of Herrschaft in the Fifth Century Robert MOORE, The First Great Divergence? Lars Boje MORTENSEN, Comparing and Connecting: the Rise of Fast Historiography in Latin and Vernacular (Twelfth to Thirteenth Century) Helen SIU, Historical Anthropology: A View from »South China« COMPARATIVE PAPERS: UNIVERSAL HISTORIES Ian WOOD, Universal Chronicles in the Early Medieval West Ann CHRISTYS, Universal Chronicles in Arabic before c. 900 COMPARATIVE HISTORY IN THE MAKING: ONGOING MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECTS Gwen BENNETT, »I Spy with my Little Eye«: GIS and Archaeological Perspectives on Eleventh Century Song Envoy Routes in the Liao Empire (Kitan-Liao Archaeological Survey and History KLASH) Michael BORGOLTE, Foundations »For the Salvation of the Soul« – an Exception in World History? (Foundations of Medieval Societies FOUNDMED) Catherine HOLMES and Naomi STANDEN, Defining the Global Middle Ages (AHRC Research Network) Eduardo MANZANO, Why Did Islamic Medieval Institutions Become So Different from Western Medieval Institutions? (Power and Institutions in Medieval Islam and Christendom PIMIC) Walter POHL and Andre GINGRICH, Visions of Community (VISCOM): Comparative Approaches to Ethnicity, Region and Empire in Christianity, Islam and Buddhism (400-1600 CE) John TOLAN, The Legal Status of Religious Minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean World (RELMIN)

Metaphysical Univocity and the Immanent Frame: Defending Religious Liberty in a Secular Age?

As the first of three installments, this article examines and appropriates concepts such as metaphysical univocity (a scheme initiated by John Duns Scotus and enriched by insights proffered by Muslim philosopher Ibn Sīnā) and then considers the immanent frame as part of my defense of religious liberty. The second installment applies my defense to current controversies in the United States. The third utilizes ideas and concepts from the first two articles as part of a comparative study of religious liberty in Turkey wherein I considers the status of religious minorities within Turkey's borders. This tri-part study is sparked by the contention that: The freedom to practice one's chosen faith is of vital importance to the United States. It was a quest for religious freedom that motivated many of America's founders, and this remains fundamental to [the United States]. Recently President Obama said: "The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in [our] country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are." Today, throughout the world and indeed even here in the [Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe] (OSCE), governments and societies are struggling with rising religious diversity even as they are called upon to protect the fundamental rights of individuals in all communities who seek to practice their own religious beliefs.As [former] Secretary Clinton put it, "religious freedom provides a cornerstone for every healthy society." The right to believe or not to believe, and to practice one's convictions without fear of government interference or restriction, is a basic human right. Today, religious freedom is restricted in ways both overt and subtle in too many countries, including participating States. [Ambassador Ian Kelly, United States Mission to the OSCE, Delivered at the OSCE (March 3, 2011).] The first installment of this project shows there are, indeed, grounds for pessimism regarding the fate of religious liberty in both the Latin West and the United States.

Demonizing ISIL and Defending Muslims: Australian Muslim Citizenship and Tony Abbott's “Death Cult” Rhetoric

In the lead-up to Australia committing military resources and personnel to the coalition opposing the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL), Prime Minister Tony Abbott consistently categorized the al-Qaeda splinter group as a “death cult.” Examining Abbott's official rhetoric on ISIL and the threat it poses to Australia and the world, this article argues that his use of the term “death cult” reflects patterns in Western political demonology and demonizing enemies, namely, creating adversaries as monsters by highlighting the atrocities they commit in order to garner support for (often lethal) actions against them. In traditional political demonology, establishment representatives often target minority or marginal groups as these pariahs. However, in demonizing ISIL, Abbott deliberately made distinctions between it and its members and the majority of Muslims, including Australian Muslims, and utilized political demonology differently. In so doing, he affirmed this religious minority's status within the parameters of Australian citizenship. This is indeed commendable. However, Abbott rarely mentioned Muslims outside of references to terrorism. Despite the fact that Abbott acknowledges that only a comparative handful of Muslims are indeed violent, he has not yet fully engaged with the broader notions of Australian Muslims’ contributions to Australian society and their citizenship.

The legal status of religious minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean world (5th–15th centuries) [RELMIN

Article The legal status of religious minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean world (5th–15th centuries) [RELMIN] was published on August 1, 2013 in the journal Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische Abteilung (volume 99, issue 1).

Religion and Interest in Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa

Since the 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced a major wave of democratization, and concurrent expansions of independent Christianity and Reformist Islam. Scholarly narratives about the relationship between religion and politics have alternated between emphasizing religion’s inclusive and divisive political potential. Using data from thirteen countries, we evaluate competing hypotheses arising from these narratives. Focusing on the grassroots level, we analyze the effects of religious identity, active religious membership, and education on political interest. We find that active religious membership positively shapes political interest in almost all countries. Yet contrary to extant elite-focused literature, we find no tradition to be uniformly more “political.” Further, religious identity and religious minority status frequently condition the effects of education on political interest. The effects of religion on interest in politics are therefore context-dependent, exhibiting both inclusive and divisive potential.

Fertility Differentials among Religious Minorities: Cross‐national and Regional Evidence from India and Bangladesh

ABSTRACTThe article examines the independent effect of religious minority status on fertility at two levels i.e. cross‐country level of India and Bangladesh and intra‐country level (district) of India. Demographic and health survey data from India (2005–2006) and Bangladesh (2006–2007) are used for the cross‐country comparison and the census of India (2001) for the intra‐country comparison. Minority status is operationalised first as an interaction between country and religion, and second through a religion‐based concentration index. This article finds empirical support for the independent effect of religious minority status on fertility at the cross‐country (India and Bangladesh) and intra‐country (districts of India) level. This article contends that high fertility among religious minorities is a result of vulnerability due to socio‐economic disadvantageous position of minorities in India and Bangladesh. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Daniel Tsadik. « The Legal Status of Religious Minorities: Imāmī Shī‘ī Law and Iran’s Constitutional Revolution ». Islamic Law and Society, 10/3, 2003, pp. 376-408.

Le role des minorites religieuses non-shi‘ites dans le mouvement constitutionnel iranien a fait l’objet de peu d’etudes jusqu’a present. Cet article fut publie dans un numero thematique d’Islamic Law and Society consacre au statut legal des minorites religieuses en terre d’islam (The Interaction Between Islamic Law and Non-Muslims : Lakum Dīnukum wa-lī Dīni). Daniel Tsadik souhaite ici demontrer que si le mouvement constitutionnel marqua une amelioration du statut politique et social des non-...

The Concept of Freedom of Belief and Its Boundaries in Egypt: The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baha'i Faith Between Established Religions and An Authoritarian State

A number of new religious communities have been emerging in Egypt since the second half of the nineteenth century. The most important of them—both numerically and in terms of the attention they attract—are the Baha'i Faith and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Both groups have been officially dissolved and face strong opposition from the established religions as well as a number of legal problems. Egyptian courts have dealt with Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses in a number of contexts, and have on these occasions had to discuss the question of how the principle of freedom of belief, which has been part of all Egyptian constitutions since 1923, affects the status of religious minorities not recognised by the state. Their arguments allow interesting conclusions not only about the prevailing understanding of the principle of freedom of belief, but also about the relationship between Islam, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the state.

The Legal Status of Religious Minorities: Imāmī Shī'ī Law and Iran's Constitutional Revolution

AbstractThis study investigates the extent to which the laws of Iran's Constitutional Revolution mark a break with Islam with regard to the legal status of religious minorities as reflected in the writings of some eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Imāmī Shī ī ulamā . Whereas Shī ī law usually treated religious minorities and Shī īs differentially, some—but not all—of the Revolutionary enactments treat religious minorities as the equals of Muslims. I conclude that the legal status of some religious minorities improved only somewhat during the Revolution as compared to their status under Shī ī law. The two-faced nature of the Revolution's enactments echoes the rival forces at work. The controversy over whether religious minorities should be treated as equals was legal in nature, but no less a dispute over the orientation of Iranian society.