Academic literature on the topic 'Religious pluralism – Europe'
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Journal articles on the topic "Religious pluralism – Europe"
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Hofri-Winogradow, Adam S. "A Plurality of Discontent: Legal Pluralism, Religious Adjudication and the State." Journal of Law and Religion 26, no. 1 (2010): 57–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0748081400000916.
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The norms that the official legal systems of North American and European states apply do not derive directly from any religion. While some of those norms, such as some of the norms governing marriage, do originate, historically, in religion and religious law, no norms are today enforced by those legal systems because the norms are part of a specific religious legal order. And yet, adjudication according to religious norms is commonplace. In North America and Europe, the legal systems applying norms associated with specific religions to adherents of those religions are principally nonstate community tribunals. Outside this Northwestern world, state legal systems, particularly those of Muslim-majority jurisdictions, often permit religious normative materials to be applied to adherents of the relevant religions as a matter of state law. Both situations are examples of legal pluralism.The popularity of the application of religious norms by state legal systems throughout much of the contemporary world raises a challenge for the Western assumption that state-enforced legality and expressly religious norms should stay apart. Can a modern state provide its citizens, residents and others subject to its power with ajustandstablelegal order by referring them to norms associated with their several religions and enforced by state courts?
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Titarenko, Larissa. "Religious Pluralism in Post-communist Eastern Europe." Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 19, no. 1 (March 1, 2010): 40–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2010.190104.
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There is a stereotype that such former Soviet republics as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are totally Orthodox. However, this statement is not entirely correct, as part of the population in these countries belong to many different churches, while a large part have rather eclectic religious and para-religious beliefs. In the case of Belarus, a major part of the population belongs to two Christian confessions, Orthodox and Catholic, while many other confessions and new religious movements also exist. Religious pluralism is a practical reality in Belarus which has the reputation of the most religiously tolerant post-Soviet country. Contemporary laws provide the legal basis for the tolerant relations in the country, and there is a historical tradition of religious tolerance in Belarus. Research data from the EVS studies and national surveys are used.
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Jain, Shalin. "Religious Pluralism in South Asia and Europe." Indian Historical Review 32, no. 2 (July 2005): 298–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/037698360503200231.
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Kippenberg, Hans. "Europe: Arena of Pluralization and Diversification of Religions." Journal of Religion in Europe 1, no. 2 (2008): 133–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187489108x311441.
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AbstractIf participation in church activities is critical for the strength or weakness of religion, there is no denying that Europe comes off poorly. According to American sociologists of religion the rise of religious pluralism in the USA was due to the strict separation between state and church; it compelled congregations and denominations to compete for believers. The European case is different. Here the diversity of religions existed long before the modern period. Since its ancient beginning European culture sought its authorities outside its geographical confines. Greeks and Jews, Hellenism and Hebraism, Athens and Jerusalem, later Mecca and Islam became cultural points of orientation for people living in Europe. The article addresses the cultural and social processes that transformed these and other foreign religious traditions into typical European manifestations: the Roman legal system turned foreign religions into legal categories; it was modernization that led to the articulation of distinctly religious meanings of history and of nature; and it was the detachment from the church that provided the impetus for new societal forms of religion. Those processes are at the center of the European plurality and diversity of religions.
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Zucca, Lorenzo. "A Secular Manifesto for Europe." Law & Ethics of Human Rights 10, no. 1 (May 1, 2016): 157–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/lehr-2016-0006.
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Abstract The article argues that secularism in Europe needs to be fundamentally reconsidered. Everywhere European secular states face a double threat: On one hand fundamentalist religion, on the other negative secularism. Firstly, the paper explains negative secularism and the reason it is a problem rather than an asset. It then elaborates a new conception of positive secularism that can be understood either as a political or as an ethical project. Either way, the point of positive secularism is to distance itself from religion in order to embrace diversity of all types, religious and non-religious. Political secularism, however, relies on an elusive hope of reaching overlapping consensus between religious and non-religious people. Ethical secularism aims instead to protect diversity by promoting the establishment of a marketplace of religions, which acknowledges a public role for religion while regulating it. The marketplace of religions promotes religious pluralism and helps to iron out the different treatments between religions. Ethical secularism aims to be a worldview of worldviews that creates the preconditions for all religious and non-religious people to live well together.
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Jaspert, Nikolas. "Communicating Vessels." Medieval History Journal 16, no. 2 (October 2013): 389–424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0971945813514905.
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The objective of this article is to analyse several ways of handling religious diversity that were practised in medieval Latin Christian Europe, paying particular attention to the interdependencies between the following fields of religious diversity: first the presence of other religions than Latin Christianity within Medieval Europe, which is all too often reduced to Iberian ‘convivencia’. Second, religious diversity within Christianity is stressed, drawing particular attention to the so-called and frequently overlooked Oriental churches. A third block deals with the mechanisms the Christian Latin Church developed in order to control religious plurality, of which the demarcation between orthodoxy and heresy was only one. The development and institutionalisation of varied forms of religious life can also be understood as an attempt to channel diversity. Seen from this angle, the vivid world of sainthood—the fourth field—might be interpreted as a form of transcendental pluralism and as a flexible ‘market’ that catered to societal and religious change. Some final reflections are dedicated to the theological consequences European religious diversity heralded within Latin Christianity. Intra-religious diversification and inter-religious demarcation were closely related.
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Rutkevich, Elena D. "The Impact of Immigrant Religions on the Nature of Religious Pluralism in the USA and Western Europe." Sociological Journal 25, no. 2 (2019): 8–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.19181/socjour.2019.25.2.6384.
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Some of the most significant consequences of transnational immigration is growing religious diversity and finding a way to manage it. This article considers the concept of pluralism, the differences in religious pluralism between America and Western Europe occurring due to immigration, as well as the roles and possibilities of immigrant religions in the process of adapting to the host society. The history of immigration, models of immigrant incorporation and adaption, patterns of religious pluralism and types of secularism strongly vary in the aforementioned regions. Religion in America is a positive resource and a basis for incorporating immigrants into American society, their recognition in public life, assimilation and construction of an American identity. By contrast, in Western Europe immigrant religions, particularly Islam, are perceived primarily as an obstacle to incorporating immigrants into European societies and their recognition in the public domain. This is explained mainly by the secularist mindset of European people in general, their uncertain “private” religiosity in the context of “Euro-secularity”, the European concept of religion’s place in the “private domain”, as well as types of state-religion relations and institutional patterns of recognition which differ from America.
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Lavrič, Miran, and Sergej Flere. "Divergent Trends in Legal Recognition of Religious Entities in Europe: The Cases of Slovenia and Hungary." Politics and Religion 8, no. 2 (March 25, 2015): 286–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755048315000140.
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AbstractReligious dynamics in Europe, especially regarding religious pluralism, are largely affected by the characteristics of legal recognition of religious entities in individual countries. The implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights clearly points to democratic pluralism as the essential principle in treating religious entities by the state. On the other hand, the situation in European countries is very complex and certain tendencies opposite to the European Convention of Human Rights directions, particularly in terms of privileging of traditional entities, are still deeply entrenched. Recent changes in Slovenia, where two essentially parody religions have been registered, and in Hungary, where registration and recognition of previously registered churches have been annulled, are considered. It is argued that the implementation of the liberal course set by the Council of Europe is (still) largely dependent on the political situation in individual countries.
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Spohn, Willfried. "Europeanization, Religion and Collective Identities in an Enlarging Europe." European Journal of Social Theory 12, no. 3 (August 2009): 358–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368431009337351.
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This article analyzes the conflictive role of religion in post-1989 Europe. Three major reasons for this are addressed: first, the restoration of structural and cultural pluralism of European civilization since the breakdown of communism entails the reconstitution of the full diversity of European religion. Second, international migration as a crucial part of globalization has intensified, contributing to the transformation of Europe into a complex of multi-cultural and pluri-religious societies. Third, the wave of contemporary globalization has been accompanied by an intensification of inter-civilizational and inter-religious encounters and conflicts — particularly between Christianity and Islam. As a result, European integration and enlargement as a secular and humanist mode of cultural integration and religious governance are basically challenged by this three-fold revitalization of religion. The growing tendency is to respond to this challenge by enhancing the Christian foundations of Europe rather than, as this article argues, to follow a more cosmopolitan, secularist and religious pluralist mode of European cultural integration.
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Casanova, José. "The Karel Dobbelaere lecture: Divergent global roads to secularization and religious pluralism." Social Compass 65, no. 2 (June 2018): 187–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768618767961.
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This article analyzes the two divergent, though intertwined, roads of European secularization and global religious pluralism. In continental Western Europe, modernization and urbanization were accompanied by drastic secularization with limited religious pluralism. By contrast, in much of the rest of the world, in the Americas, North and South, throughout Asia and the Pacific and in Sub-Saharan Africa, modernization and urbanization have led to religious pluralism with limited secularization. In our contemporary global secular age, the parallel religious and secular dynamics are becoming ever more intertwined and interrelated.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Religious pluralism – Europe"
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ALQAWASMI, AMAL YOUSEF OMAR. "Muslim Family Law in the Legal Pluralism System in Europe, Justifications and Conflicts." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/385020.
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Nella rivoluzione silenziosa che i diritti di famiglia stanno attraversando negli ultimi decenni in Europa a seguito delle nuove tendenze socio-culturali, il diritto di famiglia musulmano è stato al centro di particolare attenzione, in quanto la comunità musulmana sta diventando una realtà visibile delle società pluralistiche europee. I dati empirici evidenziano che le disposizioni del diritto di famiglia musulmano vengono applicate in modo non ufficiale, in quanto non accolte all’interno dei sistemi legali europei. Al contempo, vi è l’esigenza di applicare queste disposizioni per la famiglia, in quanto strettamente legate al diritto religioso sia della sfera familiare che dell’identità religiosa. Questa situazione sta generando nuove sfide legali e sociali in Europa in quanto la mancanza di ufficialità ha portato a diritti di famiglia non tutelati e ad incertezze in sede legale. Inoltre, vi è una seria preoccupazione che ciò possa dare luogo all’interno delle società europee a comunità segregate che regolano le questioni riguardanti la famiglia al di fuori del controllo dello Stato. Da qui emergono notevoli responsabilità e problematiche complesse per i sistemi giuridici europei. Questa tesi si propone di discutere le ragioni fondamentali e le reali sfide del diritto di famiglia musulmano in Europa all’interno delle principali tematiche che seguono: in primis, il quadro giuridico del diritto religioso e della famiglia nell’applicazione del codice religioso di famiglia. In secondo luogo, l’applicabilità del Diritto Privato Internazionale nel riconoscimento e implementazione delle disposizioni del diritto di famiglia musulmano in Europa. In terzo luogo, il caso studio dell’applicazione non ufficiale del diritto di famiglia musulmano in Italia, comparato con i risultati di studi effettuati in altri paesi europei. Infine, le principali sfide relative alle questioni del pluralismo legale e dei diritti umani, incluso il quadro giuridico del diritto di famiglia musulmano. Ciò che è principalmente emerso è la complessità della tematica, dove è fondamentale adottare un approccio interdisciplinare a livello socio-legale, per trovare soluzioni concrete nelle società pluralistiche europee attraverso un maggiore coinvolgimento della legge di stato e una migliore comprensione delle sfide che la giurisprudenza e i musulmani affrontano.Abstract In the silent revolution that family laws in Europe have witnessed over the past decades as a result of new social and cultural tendencies, Muslim family law has been the focus of particular attention since Muslims are becoming a visible part of European pluralistic societies. Empirical data shows that Muslim family provisions are being applied unofficially since there is no official accommodation within the European legal system. At the same time there is a need for these family provisions which are strongly connected with religious rights in family life as well as religious identity. This situation is bringing new legal and social challenges in Europe since the lack of officiality has led to unprotected family rights and legal uncertainty. Moreover, there is deep concern of creating segregated communities within the European societies that regulate their family issues outside the control of the state. All this brings to the scene important responsibilities and challenging issues for the European legal system. This thesis discusses the meaningful justifications and real challenges of Muslim family law in Europe in the following main areas: First, the legal framework of religious and family rights when applying a religious family code. Second, the applicability of International Private Law when recognizing and implementing Muslim family law provisions within Europe. Third, the unofficial Muslim family law applied in Italy, as a study case, in comparison to the results of studies in other European countries. Fourth, the main challenges when addressing and dealing with legal pluralism and human rights concerns, including Muslim family law. The major finding is the complexity of this issue, where an interdisciplinary socio–legal approach is essential in order to find concrete solutions for pluralistic European societies through the greater engagement of state law and a better understanding of the challenges that face the legal system and individual Muslims.
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Schouppe, Jean-Pierre. "Les aspects collectifs et institutionnels de la liberté de religion dans la jurisprudence européenne de la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme." Thesis, Paris 2, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013PA020029.
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La liberté de religion prend de plus en plus d’importance dans la jurisprudence de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme. Bien que le centre de gravité historique de ce droit fondamental réside dans sa dimension individuelle, les juges sont fréquemment confrontés à des aspects « institutionnels » ou communautaires de la liberté de religion : des droits revenant aux groupements religieux comme tels. En quête des prémisses de cette liberté, le chapitre 1er retrace les apports spécifiques du christianisme, du judaïsme et de l’islam en la matière. Les principaux instruments de droit international, universels et européens, ainsi que la jurisprudence de la Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne, sont abordés au chapitre 2 du point de vue de la liberté de religion collective et institutionnelle comme la toile de fond nécessaire à l’activité de la Cour de Strasbourg. Le chapitre 3 examine l’article 9 de la CEDH ainsi que d’autres articles protégeant des droits connexes à la liberté de religion avant de se pencher sur la notion de groupement religieux, dont la distinction d’avec les sectes (dangereuses) s’avère souvent problématique. Les deux derniers chapitres sont consacrés à une étude systématique de la jurisprudence de Strasbourg depuis l’admission, en 1979, de la première requête d’une « église requérante ». Le versant procédural, puis les droits substantiels sont successivement abordés. Leurs contenus seront analysés selon un double axe : d’abord, la liberté d’ « existence » du groupement, puis les plus nombreuses facettes de sa liberté d’ « action » ou de son « autonomie »Freedom of religion is becoming increasingly important in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Although the historical centre of gravity of this fundamental right lies in its individual dimension, judges are frequently confronted with “institutional” or communal aspects of freedom of religion: the rights of religious groups as such. Within the scope of the search for the premises of this freedom, chapter 1 explains the specific contributions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in this respect. The principal instruments of international law, both universal and European, as well as the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union are discussed in chapter 2 in terms of collective and institutional religious freedom as the background necessary to the Strasbourg Court’s activities. Chapter 3 examines article 9 of the ECHR as well as other articles protecting any rights related to freedom of religion and subsequently addresses the notion of religious groups, whose distinction from (dangerous) sects is often problematic. The two final chapters are dedicated to a systematic examination of the case law of the Strasbourg Court since the admission in 1979 of the first application by an “applicant church”. The procedural aspect and the substantive rights are discussed successively. Their contents will be analysed on the basis of a double axis: firstly a group’s freedom to “exist”, secondly the more numerous aspects of its freedom to “act” or its “autonomy”
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SAMKALDEN, Channa. "Believing in secular states : freedom of religion and separation of state and religion as legal concepts in Europe." Doctoral thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/12972.
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Defence date: 19/01/2009Examining Board: David Feldman (External Co-Supervisor, Cambridge University); Egbert Myjer (Free University of Amsterdam / European Court of Human Rights); Wojciech Sadurski (Supervisor, EUI); Jacques Ziller (EUI)
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This thesis examines the meaning and scope of freedom of religion and the principle of separation of state and religion, as well as their interaction, in both theory and practice. The first part explores the theoretical aspects of these two principles and tries to create a basic framework of interpretation for further research. In the second part of the thesis, the practical interaction of freedom of religion and separation o state and religion is examined in four European countries. A recurring question goes to the current and expected European influence on the matters discussed. Throughout the thesis, I will therefore specifically look at European law and the European Convention on Human Rights, if applicable. In matters concerning state and religion, legal and political considerations are intertwined. Nevertheless, it is possible and desirable to define core, legal principles of religious freedom and to distinguish these from questions of a more political character. Discussions on religious freedom would benefit from more consistent judicial reasoning.
Books on the topic "Religious pluralism – Europe"
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Jamal, Malik, and Reifeld Helmut, eds. Religious pluralism in South Asia and Europe. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
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Sites and politics of religious diversity in southern Europe: The best of all gods. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
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European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies and ebrary Inc, eds. Interreligious hermeneutics in pluralistic Europe: Between texts and people. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011.
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European multiculturalisms: Cultural, religious and ethnic challenges. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012.
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T, Loenen, and Goldschmidt J. E, eds. Religious pluralism and human rights in Europe: Where to draw the line? Antwerpen: Intersentia, 2007.
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Lutheran World Federation. Office for Church and People of Other Faiths. Christianity and other faiths in Europe: Documentation from the meeting "Christianity and other faiths in Europe today" : 25-29 August 1994, Järvenpää, Finland. Geneva, Switzerland: Lutheran World Federation, 1995.
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Konfessionell-interreligiös-religionskundlich: Unterrichtsmodelle in der Diskussion. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2015.
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Boersma, Karla. More than Luther: The Reformation and the rise of pluralism in Europe. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019.
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Encountering religious pluralism in school and society: A qualitative study of teenage perspectives in Europe. Münster: Waxmann, 2008.
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Scott, Dixon C., Freist Dagmar, and Greengrass Mark 1949-, eds. Living with religious diversity in early modern Europe. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub. Ltd., 2009.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Religious pluralism – Europe"
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Karci, Bayram. "Religious Pluralism." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 231–42. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_18.
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Mehmeti, Jeton. "From Religious Nationalism to Religious Pluralism." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 217–24. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_16.
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Alexander, Hanan A. "Conflicting Conceptions of Religious Pluralism." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 87–102. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_6.
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Gianni, Matteo. "Accommodating to Swiss Religious Pluralism." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 127–42. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_9.
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Schluß, Henning, and Christine Salmen. "Teaching and Learning about Religion between Religious Plurality and Secularism." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 115–25. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_8.
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Pace, Enzo. "Religious Congregations in Italy: Mapping the New Pluralism." In Congregations in Europe, 139–56. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77261-5_8.
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Doktόr, Tadeusz. "Religious Pluralism and Dimensions of Religiosity: Evidence from the Project Religious and Moral Pluralism (RAMP)." In Church and Religion in Contemporary Europe, 25–34. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91989-8_3.
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Martínez-Torrón, Javier. "State neutrality and religious plurality in Europe 1." In Religion, Pluralism, and Reconciling Difference, 159–76. New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Series: ICLARS series on law and religion: Routledge, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315605043-12.
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Jashari, Muhamed. "Youth and Religious Dialogue in Macedonia." In Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe, 209–15. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12962-0_15.
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Morris, Carl. "Islamic Cosmopolitanism: Muslim Minorities and Religious Pluralism in North America and Europe." In Emergent Religious Pluralisms, 21–48. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13811-0_2.
Full textConference papers on the topic "Religious pluralism – Europe"
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Ugur, Etga. "RELIGION AS A SOURCE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL? THE GÜLEN MOVEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE." In Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement. Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.55207/clha2866.
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This paper asks: when and under what conditions does religion become a source of coopera- tion rather than conflict? The Gülen movement is an Islamic social movement that bases its philosophy on increasing religious consciousness at the individual level and making Islam an important social force in the public sphere. It is this intellectual and social activism that has made the movement a global phenomenon and the focus of socio-political analysis. The Gülen community brings different sectors of society together to facilitate ‘collective intellectual effort’ and offer ‘civil responses’ to social issues, seeing this as a more subtle and legitimate way of influencing public debate and policy. To this end, the movement initiated a series of symposiums, known as Abant Workshops in Turkey. The scope of these meetings was later expanded to include a wider audience in Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East. This paper looks specifically at the Abant Workshops and the movement’s strategy of bridge building and problem-solving. It uses the press releases, transcripts and audio-visual records of the past 14 meetings to discuss their objectives and outcomes. This material is supplement- ed by interviews with key organisers from the Journalists and Writer Foundation and other participants. The discussion aims to understand how far religiously inspired social groups can contribute to the empowerment of civil society vis-à-vis the state and its officially secular ideology. Beyond that, it aims to explain the role of civil society organisations in democratic governance, and the possibility of creating social capital in societies lacking a clear ‘overlap- ping consensus’ on issues of citizenship, morality and national identity. The hesitancy at the beginning turns into friendship, the distance into understanding, stiff looks and tensions into humorous jokes, and differences into richness. Abant is boldly moving towards an institutionalization. The objective is evident: Talking about some of the problems the country is facing, debating them and offering solutions; on a civil ground, within the framework of knowledge and deliberation. Some labelled the ideas in the concluding declarations as “revolutionary,” “renaissance,” and “first indications of a religious reform.” Some others (in minority) saw them “dangerous” and “non-sense.” In fact, the result is neither a “revolution” nor “non-sense” It is an indication of a quest for opening new horizons or creating a novel vision. When and under what conditions does religion become a source of cooperation rather than conflict in the civil society? The Gülen movement is an Islamic social movement that bases its philosophy on increasing religious consciousness at the individual level and making Islam an important social force in the public sphere. It is this intellectual and social activism that raises the Gülen movement of Turkey as a global phenomenon to the focus of socio-political analysis. The Gülen community brings different sectors of the society together to create and facilitate a ‘common intellect’ to brainstorm and offer ‘civil responses’ to social issues. The move- ment sees this as a more subtle, but more effective, and legitimate way of influencing public debate and policy. Hence, the movement initiated a series of symposiums, known as Abant Workshops in Turkey. The scope of the meetings was later expanded to include a wider audi- ence in Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East. In early 1990s the Gülen Movement launched a silent but persistent public relations cam- paign. Fethullah Gülen openly met with the prominent figures of government and politics, and gave interviews to some popular newspapers and magazines. With a thriving media net- work, private schools, and business associations the movement seemed to have entered a new stage in its relations with the outside world. This new stage was not a simple outreach effort; it was rather a confident step to carve a niche in the increasingly diversified Turkish public sphere. The instigation of a series of workshops known as Abant Platforms was one of the biggest steps in this process. The workshops brought academics, politicians, and intellectu- als together to discuss some of the thorniest issues of, first, Turkey, such as secularism and pluralism, and then the Muslim World, such as war, globalization and modernization. This paper seeks to explain the motives behind this kind of an ambitious project and its possible implications for the movement itself, for Turkey and for the Muslim World in transition.
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Kayaoglu, Turan. "PREACHERS OF DIALOGUE: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND INTERFAITH THEOLOGY." In Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement. Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.55207/bjxv1018.
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While the appeal of ‘civilisational dialogue’ is on the rise, its sources, functions, and con- sequences arouse controversy within and between faith communities. Some religious lead- ers have attempted to clarify the religious foundations for such dialogue. Among them are Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, Edward Idris, Cardinal Cassidy of the Catholic Church, and Fethullah Gülen. The paper compares the approach of these three religious leaders from the Abrahamic tra- dition as presented in their scholarly works – Sacks’ The Dignity of Difference, Cardinal Cassidy’s Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, and Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue. The discussion attempts to answer the following questions: Can monotheistic traditions accom- modate the dignity of followers of other monotheistic and polytheistic religions as well as non-theistic religions and philosophies? Is a belief in the unity of God compatible with an acceptance of the religious dignity of others? The paper also explores their arguments for why civilisational and interfaith dialogue is necessary, the parameters of such dialogue and its anticipated consequences: how and how far can dialogue bridge the claims of unity of God and diversity of faiths? Islam’s emphasis on diversity and the Quran’s accommodation of ear- lier religious traditions put Islam and Fethullah Gülen in the best position to offer a religious justification for valuing and cherishing the dignity of followers of other religions. The plea for a dialogue of civilizations is on the rise among some policymakers and politi- cians. Many of them believe a dialogue between Islam and the West has become more urgent in the new millennium. For example following the 2005 Cartoon Wars, the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conferences, and the European Union used a joint statement to condemn violent protests and call for respect toward religious traditions. They pled for an exchange of ideas rather than blows: We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue. Without dialogue, we cannot hope to appeal to reason, to heal resentment, or to overcome mistrust. Globalization disperses people and ideas throughout the world; it brings families individuals with different beliefs into close contact. Today, more than any period in history, religious di- versity characterizes daily life in many communities. Proponents of interfaith dialogue claim that, in an increasingly global world, interfaith dialogue can facilitate mutual understanding, respect for other religions, and, thus, the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths. One key factor for the success of the interfaith dialogue is religious leaders’ ability to provide an inclusive interfaith theology in order to reconcile their commitment to their own faith with the reality of religious diversity in their communities. I argue that prominent leaders of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are already offering separate but overlapping theologies to legitimize interfaith dialogue. A balanced analysis of multi-faith interactions is overdue in political science. The discipline characterises religious interactions solely from the perspective of schism and exclusion. The literature asserts that interactions among believers of different faiths will breed conflict, in- cluding terrorism, civil wars, interstate wars, and global wars. According to this conven- tional depiction, interfaith cooperation is especially challenging to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam due to their monotheism; each claims it is “the one true path”. The so-called “monothe- istic exclusion” refers to an all-or-nothing theological view: you are a believer or you are an infidel. Judaism identifies the chosen people, while outsiders are gentiles; Christians believe that no salvation is possible outside of Jesus; Islam seems to call for a perennial jihad against non-Muslims. Each faith would claim ‘religious other’ is a stranger to God. Political “us versus them” thinking evolves from this “believer versus infidel” worldview. This mindset, in turn, initiates the blaming, dehumanizing, and demonization of the believers of other reli- gious traditions. Eventually, it leads to inter-religious violence and conflict. Disputing this grim characterization of religious interactions, scholars of religion offer a tripartite typology of religious attitude towards the ‘religious other.’ They are: exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Exclusivism suggests a binary opposition of religious claims: one is truth, the other is falsehood. In this dichotomy, salvation requires affirmation of truths of one’s particular religion. Inclusivism integrates other religious traditions with one’s own. In this integration, one’s own religion represents the complete and pure, while other religions represent the incomplete, the corrupted, or both. Pluralism accepts that no religious tradi- tion has a privileged access to religious truth, and all religions are potentially equally valid paths. This paper examines the theology of interfaith dialogue (or interfaith theology) in the Abrahamic religions by means of analyzing the works of three prominent religious lead- ers, a Rabbi, a Pope, and a Muslim scholar. First, Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, offers a framework for the dialogue of civilizations in his book Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. Rather than mere tolerance and multiculturalism, he advocates what he calls the dignity of difference—an active engagement to value and cherish cultural and religious differences. Second, Pope John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope argues that holiness and truth might exist in other religions because the Holy Spirit works beyond the for- mal boundaries of Church. Third, the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue describes a Muslim approach to interfaith dialogue based on the Muslim belief in prophecy and revelation. I analyze the interfaith theologies of these religious leaders in five sections: First, I explore variations on the definition of ‘interfaith dialogue’ in their works. Second, I examine the structural and strategic reasons for the emergence and development of the interfaith theologies. Third, I respond to four common doubts about the possibility and utility of interfaith di- alogue and theologies. Fourth, I use John Rawls’ overlapping consensus approach to develop a framework with which to analyze religious leaders’ support for interfaith dialogue. Fifth, I discuss the religious rationales of each religious leader as it relates to interfaith dialogue.
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Malinowska-Petelenz, Beata. "Contemporary European spirituality: new forms of sacred spaces." In Virtual City and Territory. Barcelona: Centre de Política de Sòl i Valoracions, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.5821/ctv.8073.
Full textAbstract:
The 20th century witnessed changes which altered radically the world hitherto functioning in the same way for centuries. The pluralist global culture is characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeability involving continuous challenging of traditional values. Architecture is no exception to this rule, including religious architecture, which best reflects the spirituality of its time. Revaluation which took place in the last century resulted in the need of a new interpretation of the concepts of the sacred and the profane, as they have lost their clarity and significance. In consequence of the conflict between the dogmatic understanding of stability on the one hand and the modern culture, science, thought and world interpretation as well as the pace and style of living on the other, the need has emerged to build new places of cult that embrace the Zeitgeist of today – stripped of almost all ideology, visually modest, devoid in their décor of intense expression or a large number of stimuli. There are also temples which invite into the same space people of different religions as well as people who are seeking faith or are doubtful, places focused on catering for spiritual or contemplation needs, but also offering intellectual rest.