Role Of Religious Actors Research Articles

A Pentecostal and charismatic contribution to peace and reconciliation: Case study of Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT Despite the marking of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (1998), there remains a significant fragility of peace in Northern Irish society today. Recent periods of collapse at Stormont government and high rates of segregation between Catholic and Protestant communities, evidence a need for alternative contributions to peace and reconciliation efforts. A specific focus on the role of religious actors in reconciliation pursuits has often been met with scepticism due to historic religious-political institutional ties. However, challenging the increasing trend of secularism in Northern Ireland has been the growth of Pentecostal and charismatic communities across the region. Thus, a major question is: How can the Pentecostal and charismatic movement contribute positively to peace and reconciliation? This article explores the possibility of adopting a Pentecostal and charismatic approach to peace, forgiveness and reconciliation, utilising the case study of Northern Ireland. Such an analysis is integral to discerning the movement's positive potential for peace and reconciliation work in the pursuit of post-conflict societal transformation.

What do we know about religion and interreligious peace? A review of the quantitative literature

AbstractInterreligious relations remain an important dimension of human coexistence and we currently observe an increase in religiously motivated violence and discrimination. Hence, we need to better understand determinants of interreligious peace. Building on a new concept of interreligious peace which includes but exceeds the absence of interreligious physical violence, we provide a systematic review of 83 quantitative empirical studies examining religious determinants of interreligious physical violence, hostile attitudes, threat perceptions, trust, and cooperation. We find that religious ideas foster or hinder interreligious peace depending on their content. Religious identities have negative effects but must be considered in context. Evidence regarding the role of religious practice is mixed and the role of religious actors and institutions remains understudied. Our results show the need for (1) more conceptual clarity, (2) replications in different contexts, (3) research on dimensions of religion beyond identities, and (4) a better integration of different strands of literature.

“If we Throw the Roma out of the Tent, we Throw Jesus out of the Tent”: Reflections on the Role of Religious Actors in Roma Inclusion in Oslo, Norway

Abstract This article presents reflections on Roma inclusion in the context of intra-European mobility. It begins with accounts of visits to two religious actors running centres providing humanitarian assistance, social services, and opportunities to exercise religion to Roma and other migrants in Oslo, Norway: the Lutheran Church City Mission welcoming Roma migrants as guests in the City Mission Centre at Tøyen Church and the Pentecostal organisation Evangeliesenteret, where Roma migrants receive food and participate in religious gatherings at the Contact Centre. The article reflects on the modes of inclusion represented in these two accounts in relation to three different approaches to inclusion: EU Roma policy, the work of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, and diaconal theology. The article ends with reflections on what inclusion might mean in the context of intra-European Roma mobility.

A post-tsunami sea change? Towards post-secular disaster response in Indonesia

The role of religious actors in disaster response, an issue that is generally understood as being dominated by secular perspectives, is increasingly receiving attention. Surprisingly considering its likelihood to offer relevant insights, however, the concept of post-secularism has seldom been adopted as an analytical framework. In response, in this study we adopt a Habermasian lens to examine the relations between religious and secular actors in Indonesia with respect to the 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami, with particular focus on domestic faith organisations. Through interviewing representatives from three prominent religious organisations and a figure from a relevant independent statutory authority, we highlight these institutions' contributions to the disaster response, alongside their struggles to legitimise their leadership potential. Thus, by demonstrating the existence of constraints on religious groups playing a consequential role in a public concern that would benefit from multiple perspectives and competencies, we exemplify how Habermas’ vision of a post-secular society is playing out in a disaster context and identify areas in which collaboration between ostensibly secular and religious actors might be improved.

Sexual rights, Religion and Post-Neoliberalism in Argentina (2003–2015)

This paper examines the relation between sexual politics and post-neoliberalism/populism in Kirchners’ Argentina between 2003 and 2015, focusing on the role of religious actors. Despite the opposition of religious leaders, including that of Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), Argentina advanced in the recognition of gender and sexual rights during the Kirchners’ administrations. Conflicts around gender and sexuality, particularly around same-sex marriage, explain some of the tensions between political and religious actors in the period. The focus of this paper on sexual politics shows that the Kirchners’ administrations, unlike other traditional populist or post-neoliberal administrations, had a strong liberal component, which explains the tensions between that populist government and conservative religious actors.

La mission civilisatrice au Congo. Réduire des espaces de vie en prison et en enfer

The first book by Evariste (Kentey) Pini-Pini (°1955, Congo DRC) deals with the nature and the effects of the European domination in the Kongo Kingdom dating back to the end of the 15th century (“Kongo-Dyna-Nza”), the second wave of colonisation in the 19th and 20th centuries in the larger Congo territory (“Congo-prison”) and the post(neo)colonial period until the present day (“Congo-enfer”). The author gives special attention to the resistance of the Congolese people to this domination and he makes a strong plea for a “renouveau” of the “Nsi Kongo, espace de vie et de liberté”. Pini-Pini touches on a huge number of topics and evokes just as many questions about the past, present and future of the DRC Congo; about the clash and the possibility of reconciliation between the fundamental characteristics of 'the West' and 'Africa'; about the specfic role of religious actors within that relation; about the position of African immigrants in our Western/ Belgian society. The book, along with the work of a large part of the Congolese intelligentsia, does apparently not get the attention it should in Dutch-speaking Belgium. And while objections can be raised to the book, it deserves to be read and reviewed in order to stimulate the dialogue with authors such as Pini-Pini. Thus it may pave the way to the much broader dialogue, strongly asked for and desired, between ‘the West' and 'Black Africa' or, in a larger sense still, the 'Monde Noir'. Key words: Congo DRC, Kongo, colonialism, resistance, tradition, dialogue

The Role of Religious Actors in Implementing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The Role of Religious Actors in Implementing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

Cautious Democrats: Religious Actors and Democratization Processes in Senegal

AbstractThis article analyzes the role of religious actors at different stages in the long and gradual processes of democratization in Senegal. It examines the transformations in their political influence from pillars of the stable (but non-democratic) post-independence state, to a more ambiguous posture in the decade of democratic opening. A discussion of the interactive relationship between religious change and the transition to democracy over the course of the 1990s leads us to an analysis of the role of religious actors in debating the substantive content of Senegalese democracy in the decade that followed. The article concludes that whileprocedurallyreligious actors are playing an important role in the development of the democratic system in Senegal,substantivelythey are doing so in part by calling into question some understandings of what democracy entails. The ultimate evaluation of their contribution to the consolidation of democracy hinges at least in part on our conceptualization of democracy itself.

The Radicalisation of Buddhism in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: The Buddhist Sangha in Sri Lanka

The ideas of non-violence, peace and non-discrimination have been systematically developed in Buddhism. Nonetheless, as research has shown, Buddhist ideas can also contribute to escalation of conflicts, racial belief systems and radical movements. Political theory suggests that political actors regularly try to exploit religion in order to remain in power or to establish exclusive group identities, and so on. From this perspective, religion does not have an independent role; rather, the state co-opts a certain form of religion. However, there is ample evidence that religious actors further their own objectives and strategies, and in extreme cases attempt to take over a political system. The development of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is presented here as an example of the radicalisation and politicisation of Buddhism. This case study deals with the role of religious actors in promoting ethno-religious nationalism, the exclusion of the minority population and the justification of violence.

<em>Towards Researching Peace</em>

The articles in this issue of African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review were selected from those presented at two conferences sponsored by the West African Research Association (WARA). The first of these two, part of a three-conference US Department of State-supported project, took place in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in December 2010. The second was held in Praia, Cape Verde, in December 2011. Both conferences focused on peacemaking in West Africa: in Freetown, the topic was “Faith Communities and their Role in Conflict,” and in Praia, “Media and Conflict.” The settings for both conferences–West Africa–is the site of religious diversity if not conflict, in every country of the region and most of its corners. As Edmond Keller and Ruth Iyob (2012) point out in a recent article, while volumes have been written on Africa’s conflicts, little scholarship has focused on the role of religious actors and institutions in these clashes. Peace, conflict, media, and faith and spirituality are all potent compass points in contemporary African life. I remember my first trip to Ghana, in the early 1990s, where I was struck by the infinite number of times the names of God or Jesus helped to advertise the most prosaic of institutions. I found the “Bless Me Jesus Beauty Parlor” or the “God Guides Me AutoRepair Shop” and the like all over Accra and Kumasi. I asked my own guide, Ransford, the student who had accompanied me to Accra, why Jesus appeared so often in these commercial settings. Ransford did not try to hide his exasperation with my question when he answered, “Steve, can’t you see our poverty??!!” I might have thought that invoking the holy was a critical part of attracting customers in a religious society like Ghana, a phenomenon not unlike the Muslim

From Faith to Freedom: The Role of Religious Actors in Global Democratic Progress

Examining all cases of global democratization between 1972 and 2009 (excluding countries with populations of less than 1 million, while including countries that made democratic progress but fell short of consolidated democratic perfection), the paper explores where and why religious actors made a pro-democratic difference. The analysis finds that religious actors played a significant supporting or leading role in more than half of all cases of global democratization in this period. Although the majority of the pro-democratic religious actors in these cases was Roman Catholic, the best explanation for their pro-democratic activity lies not in religious tradition or identity per se (Catholic v. Protestant or Christian v. Muslim, for example). Instead, the paper argues that the best explanation lies in a combination of two key variables: (1) the given religious actor's institutional or structural relationship to the state and (2) the religious actor's theology of politics and government -- its political theology. Where religious actors enjoy some instititutional independence from the state as well as a political theology that is at least compatible with liberal democracy, they are likely to play a democratizing role. The combination of these two factors -- a religious actor's proximity to power and its theology of power -- provides a robust explanation even of differences in political behavior between religious actors of the same religious tradition (for example, why Brazilian and Chilean Catholic actors were pro-democratic while Argentine Catholic actors were not for the most part) as well as offers a satisfying explanation of the so-called democracy deficit in the Muslim world.

The role of religious actors in global political processes

В статье анализируется место и роль религиозных аторов в современной мировой политике

The multi-faceted role of religious actors in democratization processes: empirical evidence from five young democracies

The article comparatively investigates the role of religious actors in the democratization processes of five ‘young’ democracies from the Catholic, Protestant, Christian-Orthodox and Muslim world: West Germany after World War II (1945–1969), Georgia and Ukraine post-1987/9, Mali (post-1987), and Indonesia from 1998. The analysis provides an overview of the roles religious actors played in the erosion of authoritarian rule, the transition to democracy and subsequent democratic consolidation processes, as well as de-democratization processes. Our three paired comparisons, including one in-country comparison, show that the condition which most affected the role of religious actors in all three phases of democratic transitions was the de facto autonomy they enjoyed vis-à-vis the political regime as well as the organizational form these actors took. Their aims, means, and the political significance of their theology were highly dependent on the extent to which they benefitted from de facto autonomy within the state.

A Missing Peace? The Role of Religious Actors in Countering Terrorism

Despite the surge of scholarly interest in terrorism and counter-terrorism in the post-9/11 world, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of religious actors (especially faith communities and faith leaders) in combating the threat of terrorism. However, the resurgence of religiosity in contemporary politics should not be viewed as an inherently dangerous force. As Appleby has argued, a new secular-religious model of inter and intra-state diplomacy looms as a development with significant potential to resolve conflict and deny terrorist groups access to communities of support. By drawing on an Australian example, we argue that in societies that have a strong multicultural and multifaith character secular-religious diplomacy pitched at the national and sub-national level can play an important role in the formation of a flexible long-term counterterrorism strategy.