Treatment Of Religious Minorities Research Articles

Georgian Path to Secularism: A Case of ‘Cultural Defense’

ABSTRACT This article intends to understand the dynamics and particularities of the Georgian path to secularism by analyzing whether equal respect for all religions and freedom of conscience -principle of secularism- are fully realized in post-Soviet Georgia and whether state’s neutrality towards minority religions and church-state separation -operative modes of secularism- is truly secured. Employing the data obtained from interviews conducted in Tbilisi and Batumi in 2015–2017 and the related literature, it inquiries into concerns about ineffectual realization of principles of secularism due to the weaknesses in the operative modes of secularism. Research data revealed that weaknesses in the separation between the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) and the state and the state’s neutrality towards minority religions are the result of the power of the GOC caused by its historical significance and ‘cultural defense’, exacerbated by a perception of threat to territorial integrity and national identity. Weaknesses in the operative modes of secularism and cultural defense both conduce to the unequal treatment of religious minorities, which is reflected in the legal framework and newly established institutions, leading to the Georgian path to secularism.

Minority Rights and Hindu Nationalism in India

AbstractIn this paper, I want to focus on some aspects of the political process in India that have an impact on the treatment of religious minorities. Much of the discussion on multicultural jurisdictions deals with differentiated citizenship rights that allow religious groups to maintain their normative universe. This literature shows the tensions surrounding individual and group rights. I want to approach the question of religious freedom from a rather different angle. I want to first focus on the protection of bare life in the face of religious violence and then examine the issue of conversion from one religion to another. The issues of human security and conversion are linked in India, since Hindu nationalists see Muslims as forcibly converted Hindus who should be reconverted. To highlight the importance of majoritarian nationalism rather than political systems in the treatment of religious minorities, I offer a brief comparison with China.

Book Review Editorial: On the treatment of religious minorities

Book Review Editorial: On the treatment of religious minorities

“Don’t Freak We’re Sikh”—A Study of the Extent to Which Australian Journalists and the Australian Public Wrongly Associate Sikhism with Islam

This study emerged from an incidental, and somewhat surprising, finding that 15 percent of working journalists who attend training on improving the ways that mainstream new media report stories about Islam and Muslims, wrongly associated Sikhism with Islam. We wondered if this was indicative of the Australian population and, through a random stratified survey of the Australian population, found that it was. The question about the extent to which populations wrongly associate Sikhism with Islam is an important one. In Australia, Muslims and Sikhs are minorities. Ignorance of Islam and its religious diversity coupled with ignorance of Muslims and their ethnic and cultural diversity underpins the intolerance of Islam in the West and the concomitant animus directed at Muslims. Intolerance and violence directed at Muslims and people wrongly assumed to be Muslims (such as Sikhs) increased after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 (9/11). This speaks to religious literacy, the treatment of religious minorities and raises important questions around educating various publics (including the news media) about both Islam and Sikhism. It also speaks to the role of the mainstream news media in perpetuating Islamophobia, and its detrimental flow-on effects to Muslims and Sikhs.

Individual, Community and State: Thoughts on Jane Norton, Freedom of Religious Organizations

There are two ways in which one can address the freedom of religious organizations. The first is to propose that freedom of religion is a right possessed by individuals and that the rights of groups, collectives or corporate entities derive from the rights of the individuals that constitute such groups. The second is to propose that groups, collectives and corporate entities are themselves entitled to religious freedom as such, without any need to show how it derives from the rights of individuals. Jane Calderwood Norton’s book, Freedom of Religious Organizations, adopts the first approach, and presses it just about as far in the direction of protecting the organizational dimensions of religious freedom as can be conceived. As an exercise in thinking through the implications of such a starting point, it is an exemplary work. However, approaching freedom of religion in this way is to impose a view that few religious adherents would themselves recognise. Many religions are deliberately communal in their practices and beliefs, and they do not regard membership of a religion as an exercise of personal autonomy. Norton also frames the question as if it is the state that has final authority to determine the content and limits of religious freedom. However, this is to frame the question in a manner that places the state and its institutions in a superior position that is not justified by the historical record of states in their treatment of religious minorities. It would be better if the future of religious freedom were negotiated between religion and state, rather than determined by the state unilaterally.

FAITH, INTOLERANCE, VIOLENCE AND BIGOTRY: Legal and Constitutional Issues of Freedom of Religion in Indonesia

Religious intolerance and bigotry indeed is a contributing factor in social and political conflict including manifestations of terrorist violence. While freedom of religion is enshrined in Indonesias Constitution, social practices and governmental regulations fall short of constitutional and international law guarantees, allowing institutionalised bias in the treatment of religious minorities. Such bias inhibits Indonesias transition to a fully-functioning pluralistic democracy and sacrifices democratic ideals of personal liberty and freedom of expression for the stated goals of religious and social harmony. The Ahok case precisely confirms that. The paper examines the constitutional bases of freedom of religion, Indonesias Blasphemy Law and takes account of the history and tenets of Pancasila which dictate a belief in God as the first principle of state ideology. The paper argues that the Indonesian states failure to recognise the legitimacy of alternate theological positions is a major obstacle to Indonesia recognising the ultimate ideal, enshrined in the national motto, of unity in diversity.

Securitization of Islam and religious discrimination: Religious minorities in Western democracies, 1990–2008

This study draws substantially on ‘securitization’ theory to examine whether religious discrimination against Muslims as compared with other religious minorities is disproportionately higher in Western democracies. We explore variation in the treatment of religious minorities in the West using a special version of the Religion and State-Minorities Round 2 (RAS2-M) data set. We analyse the extent and causes of 29 different kinds of religious discrimination against 86 religious minorities in 27 Western democracies (coded yearly from 1990 to 2008). The results support the securitization argument showing that Muslims suffer from higher levels of discrimination in comparison with other religious minorities, especially since 2001.

Religious Discrimination against Muslim Minorities in Christian Majority Countries: A Unique Case?

Previous research on Muslims in Christian majority states either focuses exclusively on Muslims or assesses public opinion concerning Muslims and/or religious minorities but does not assess cross-national trends comparing Muslims and non-Muslims. This study compares the extent of religious discrimination against Muslim minorities in Christian majority countries to the treatment of other religious minorities in the same countries as well as to the treatment of religious minorities in non-Christian countries. We utilize a new dataset that includes 24 types of restrictions placed on the religious practices or religious institutions of 590 religious minorities in 175 countries. This measure is more detailed than any previous measure and, unlike previous studies, we include all religious minorities which meet a minimum population threshold. We find that Muslim minorities do not suffer from disproportionate levels of religious discrimination when compared to other minorities in Christian majority states. This is true both of the extent of discrimination and specific types of discrimination. Discrimination is relatively low in general in Christian majority states, other than those in the former Soviet bloc, when compared to non-Christian states.

Culture vs. Rational Choice: Assessing the Causes of Religious Discrimination in Muslim States

This study focuses on explaining the variation in the treatment of religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries using a novel dataset on religious discrimination—the Religion and State-Minorities (RASM) Dataset. As few theories exist to explain the causes of religious discrimination, this study compares theories related to general religion-state relations based on ideology, culture, and rational choice. We find that while political and structural factors are important in explaining variation in levels of discrimination across Muslim countries, ideational factors may help to explain why certain minority groups appear to be targeted more than others within individual countries. Regional and cultural differences in levels of discrimination exist across the Muslim world, and the identity of the religious minority group matters in determining why some groups face greater repression than others. We argue that knowing the targets of discrimination is important in developing theory about the causes of it.

The Treatment of Religious Minorities in South-Eastern Europe: Greece and Bulgaria Compared

(2002). The Treatment of Religious Minorities in South-Eastern Europe: Greece and Bulgaria Compared. Religion, State and Society: Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 9-31.

Religio—nationalist minorities and the development of minority rights law

The end of the Soviet period in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans has seen the open development of tensions in the region based on the presence of minority groups in states trying to reassert their individual identity. There has been a flurry of international activity by various organizations to establish minority rights standards and to ensure their implementation. It is the thesis of this article that the idea of minority rights in international law stems originally from the treatment of religious minorities, and subsequently minorities defined in other terms, in this region, and that modern mechanisms to guarantee minority rights can be seen to have developed from the perceived need to make minority rights a matter of international concern rather than one solely for the kin-state. The various mechanisms in use now directly build upon the perceived successes and failures of earlier systems.

A New Role for the Greek Church?

With the advent of Archbishop Christodoulos, a new phase in the relations between the Greek Orthodox Church and the state appears to have opened. Under its new leadership, the church is becoming more and more involved in secular issues, including major policy decisions. However, the church's new activism cannot be assessed in the abstract. The conditions that favored Archbishop Christodoulos's unprecedented popularity existed long before his election in April 1998. These conditions may be understood by examing the institutional framework of church-state relations in Greece and the treatment of religious minorities within that framework.