Download or read book The New Religious Intolerance written by Martha C. Nussbaum and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What impulse prompted some newspapers to attribute the murder of 77 Norwegians to Islamic extremists, until it became evident that a right-wing Norwegian terrorist was the perpetrator? Why did Switzerland, a country of four minarets, vote to ban those structures? How did a proposed Muslim cultural center in lower Manhattan ignite a fevered political debate across the United States? In The New Religious Intolerance, Martha C. Nussbaum surveys such developments and identifies the fear behind these reactions. Drawing inspiration from philosophy, history, and literature, she suggests a route past this limiting response and toward a more equitable, imaginative, and free society. Fear, Nussbaum writes, is "more narcissistic than other emotions." Legitimate anxieties become distorted and displaced, driving laws and policies biased against those different from us. Overcoming intolerance requires consistent application of universal principles of respect for conscience. Just as important, it requires greater understanding. Nussbaum challenges us to embrace freedom of religious observance for all, extending to others what we demand for ourselves. She encourages us to expand our capacity for empathetic imagination by cultivating our curiosity, seeking friendship across religious lines, and establishing a consistent ethic of decency and civility. With this greater understanding and respect, Nussbaum argues, we can rise above the politics of fear and toward a more open and inclusive future.
Download or read book Promoting Religious Freedom in an Age of Intolerance written by Rieffer-Flanagan, Barbara A. and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an age of intolerance where religious persecution is widespread, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan explores how societies can promote freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental right of citizens.
Download or read book Promoting Religious Freedom in an Age of Intolerance written by Barbara A. Rieffer-Flanagan and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an age of intolerance where religious persecution is widespread, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan explores how societies can promote freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental right of citizens. Examining the extent of religious persecution throughout the world, this cutting-edge book explores mechanisms to address religious intolerance and develop religious freedom, outlining the necessary factors to measure progress on the protection of this fundamental human right. Chapters explore how freedom of religion or belief can be institutionalized in dispositions, laws, and policies through efforts which limit negative depictions of the religious (or non-religious) Other in public discourse. Rieffer-Flanagan demonstrates how reforms that enhance the ability of civil society actors to operate can also promote freedom of religion or belief, and how states and IGOs can support these efforts. Ultimately, this innovative book proves that reforms must be continually nurtured for freedom of religion or belief to exist in society. With interview-based research and a diverse range of regional case studies, this will be a vital resource for students and scholars of philosophy, religion, human rights law and political science. Considering the role of leaders in the promotion of religious tolerance, the book will also prove invaluable to policymakers concerned with human rights and freedom of religion or belief.
Download or read book Beyond Religious Freedom written by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives. Policymakers have rallied around the notion that the fostering of religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Beyond Religious Freedom persuasively argues that these initiatives create the very social tensions and divisions they are meant to overcome. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd looks at three critical channels of state-sponsored intervention: international religious freedom advocacy, development assistance and nation building, and international law. She shows how these initiatives make religious difference a matter of law, resulting in a divide that favors forms of religion authorized by those in power and excludes other ways of being and belonging. In exploring the dizzying power dynamics and blurred boundaries that characterize relations between "expert religion," "governed religion," and "lived religion," Hurd charts new territory in the study of religion in global politics. A forceful and timely critique of the politics of promoting religious freedom, Beyond Religious Freedom provides new insights into today's most pressing dilemmas of power, difference, and governance.
Download or read book The Limits of Tolerance written by Denis Lacorne and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern notion of tolerance—the welcoming of diversity as a force for the common good—emerged in the Enlightenment in the wake of centuries of religious wars. First elaborated by philosophers such as John Locke and Voltaire, religious tolerance gradually gained ground in Europe and North America. But with the resurgence of fanaticism and terrorism, religious tolerance is increasingly being challenged by frightened publics. In this book, Denis Lacorne traces the emergence of the modern notion of religious tolerance in order to rethink how we should respond to its contemporary tensions. In a wide-ranging argument that spans the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian republic, and recent controversies such as France’s burqa ban and the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, The Limits of Tolerance probes crucial questions: Should we impose limits on freedom of expression in the name of human dignity or decency? Should we accept religious symbols in the public square? Can we tolerate the intolerant? While acknowledging that tolerance can never be entirely without limits, Lacorne defends the Enlightenment concept against recent attempts to circumscribe it, arguing that without it a pluralistic society cannot survive. Awarded the Prix Montyon by the Académie Française, The Limits of Tolerance is a powerful reflection on twenty-first-century democracy’s most fundamental challenges.
Download or read book Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2007 February 2008 110 2 Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 848 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Politics of Religious Freedom written by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-07-22 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious freedom has achieved broad consensus as a condition for peace. Faced with reports of a rise in religious violence and a host of other social ills, public, and private actors have responded with laws and policies designed to promote freedom of religion. But what precisely is being promoted? What are the assumptions underlying this response? The contributions to this volume unsettle the assumption that religious freedom is a singular achievement and that the problem lies in its incomplete accomplishment. Delineating the different conceptions of religious freedom predominant in the world today, as well as their histories and political contexts, the contributions make clear that the reasons for violence and discrimination are more complex than is widely acknowledged. The promotion of a single legal and cultural tool meant to address conflict across a wide variety of cultures can have the perverse effect of exacerbating the problems that plague the communities often cited as falling short. -- from back cover.
Download or read book Religion and the Founding of the American Republic written by James H. Hutson and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A balanced and lively look at the role of religion between colonization and the 1840s.
Download or read book In the Hands of a Good Providence written by Mary V. Thompson and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mount Vernon researcher Mary Thompson endeavors to get beyond the current preoccupation with whether Washington and other founders were or were not evangelical Christians to ask what place religion had in their lives. Thompson follows Washington and his family over several generations, situating her inquiry in the context of new work on the place of religion in colonial and postrevolutionary Virginia and the Chesapeake. --from publisher description.
Download or read book Freedom of Religion Or Belief written by Heiner Bielefeldt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 701 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This commentary on freedom of religion or belief provides a comprehensive overview of the pressing issues of freedom of religion or belief from an international law perspective.
Download or read book Religious Freedom in Islam written by Daniel Philpott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since at least the attacks of September 11, 2001, one of the most pressing political questions of the age has been whether Islam is hostile to religious freedom. Daniel Philpott examines conditions on the ground in forty-seven Muslim-majority countries today and offers an honest, clear-eyed answer to this urgent question. It is not, however, a simple answer. From a satellite view, the Muslim world looks unfree. But, Philpott shows, the truth is much more complex. Some one-fourth of Muslim-majority countries are in fact religiously free. Of the other countries, about forty percent are governed not by Islamists but by a hostile secularism imported from the West, while the other sixty percent are Islamist. The picture that emerges is both honest and hopeful. Yes, most Muslim-majority countries are lacking in religious freedom. But, Philpott argues, the Islamic tradition carries within it "seeds of freedom," and he offers guidance for how to cultivate those seeds in order to expand religious freedom in the Muslim world and the world at large. It is an urgent project. Religious freedom promotes goods like democracy and the advancement of women that are lacking in the Muslim-majority world and reduces ills like civil war, terrorism, and violence. Further, religious freedom is simply a matter of justice--not an exclusively Western value, but rather a universal right rooted in human nature. Its realization is critical to the aspirations of religious minorities and dissenters in Muslim countries, to Muslims living in non-Muslim countries or under secular dictatorships, and to relations between the West and the Muslim world. In this thoughtful book, Philpott seeks to establish a constructive middle ground in a fiery and long-lasting debate over Islam.
Download or read book Persecution Toleration written by Noel D. Johnson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-14 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Noel D. Johnson and Mark Koyama tackle the question: how does religious liberty develop?
Download or read book Piety Politics written by Reverend Barry W. Lynn and published by Forum Books. This book was released on 2006-10-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reverend Barry Lynn explains why the Religious Right has it all wrong. In the wake of the 2004 presidential election, the Religious Right insisted that George Bush had been handed a mandate for an ideology-based social agenda, including the passage of a “marriage amendment” to ban same-sex unions, diversion of tax money to religious groups through “faith-based initiatives,” the teaching of creationism in public schools, and restrictions on abortion. Led by an aggressive band of television preachers and extremist radio personalities, the Religious Right set its sights on demolishing the wall of separation between church and state. The Reverend Barry Lynn is a devout Christian, but this propaganda effort disturbs him deeply. He argues that politicians need to stop looking to the Bible to justify their actions and should consult another source instead: the U.S. Constitution. When the Founding Fathers of our great nation created the Constitution, they had seen firsthand the dangers of an injudicious mix of religion and government. They knew what it was like to live under the yoke of state-imposed faith. They drew up a model for the new nation that would allow absolute freedom of religion. They knew that religion, united with the raw power of government, spawns tyranny. Yet the Religious Right now seems distrustful of those principles inherent in the Constitution, viewing the separation of church and state only as a dangerous anti-Christian principle imposed upon our nation. In reality, the separation between church and state has been an important ally to religion: with the state out of the picture, hundreds of religions have grown and prospered. Religion doesn’t need the government’s assistance, any more than it is practical or appropriate for religious doctrine to be fostered in the government or taught in public schools. As an explicitly religious figure speaking out against the Religious Right, Lynn has incurred the wrath of such personalities as Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, who once said Lynn was “lower than a child molester.” Lynn has continuously taken on these radicals of the Religious Right calmly and rationally, using their own statements and religious fervor to prove that when they attack the constitutionally mandated separation, they’re actually attacking freedom of religion. In Piety & Politics, the Reverend Barry Lynn continues the fight—educating Americans about what is at stake, explaining why it is crucial that we maintain the separation of church and state, and galvanizing us to defend the honor of our religious freedom.
Download or read book The Battle for China s Spirit written by Sarah Cook and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.
Download or read book Teaching Intolerance in Pakistan written by U S Commission on International Religio and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-08-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The major findings of this report are that the content of Pakistani public school textbooks related to non-Islamic faiths and non-Muslims continue to teach bias, distrust, and inferiority. Moreover, the textbooks portray non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan as sympathetic towards its perceived enemies: Pakistani Christians as Westerners or equal to British colonial oppressors, and Pakistani Hindus as Indians, the arch enemy of Pakistan. These perceptions predispose students early on that the non-Muslim population of Pakistan are outsiders and unpatriotic. These grossly generalized and stereotypical portrayals of religious minority communities signal that they are untrustworthy, religiously inferior, and ideologically scheming and intolerant. These messages are reinforced by the absence of deeper content addressing the complexity of religions, the rights of religious minorities, and the positive contributions of religious minorities in the development and protection of Pakistan.
Download or read book Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE written by United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Age of Infidels written by Eric R. Schlereth and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eric R. Schlereth places religious conflicts between deists and their opponents at the center of early American public life. This history recasts the origins of cultural politics in the United States by exploring how everyday Americans navigated questions of religious truth and difference in an age of emerging religious liberty.
