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Publication: Secularism and Scottish independence

Some of the religious dimensions of the current UK constitutional arrangements and the opportunities that are afforded by the debate over Scottish independence for moves towards a secular state and a secular monarchy are investigated in an article in the current issue of the Political Quarterly by Norman Bonney.

It is argued that If the proponents of Scottish independence follow the expressed preference of the Scottish Parliament to eliminate the religious discrimination against Roman Catholics and other faiths in the line of succession to the throne – an opportunity afforded by the need to renegotiate the Acts of Union of 1707 in the event of a ‘yes’ vote for independence – this could result in a secular constitution for an independent Scotland and a need to rethink the monarch’s religious role as Head of the Church of England in a rump UK.

Tuvalu and You: The Monarch, the United Kingdom and the Realms -NORMAN BONNEY and  BOB MORRIS

‘Scottish Independence, State Religion and the Monarchy’, Political Quarterly, 83, 2, 2012, 360 -367.


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Event: TOMORROW – ‘Ethics as Piety’, Webb Keane‏

Speaker: Webb Keane (University of Michigan)
Chair: Charles Stafford (London School of Economics)

Date: 27 June 2012, 18.00-19.30

Venue: London School of Economics, New Academic Building Room LG.09 (off Lincoln’s Inn Fields)

Sponsored by the Anthropology Department and the Programme for the Study of Religion and Non-Religion.

Assuming that what we call “religion” and “ethics” are in principle distinct from each other, what is the conceptual relationship between them? What are the historical pathways along which the two often seem to converge? What are the social implications of that convergence where it occurs? And when they converge, what remainder escapes the conflation of these two? These are, of course, very large questions, whose investigation requires substantial empirical and conceptual work. In the interests of carrying out a preliminary ground-clearing, this talk is confined to reflections on a limited number of texts. Discussion of these texts will centre on how certain traditions within Islam and Protestant Christianity objectify ethics in ways that render them cognitively explicit and thus expose them to pressures toward rationalisation, generalisation, and abstraction. But these traditions also expect ethics to guide everyday life, in all its concrete particularity, with potentially paradoxical consequences.

The event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

See www2.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/research/PRNR/Events/events.aspx for more details

If you have any queries regarding this event, please contact Dr Matthew Engelke (m.engelke@lse.ac.uk)

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Publication: “Devolution fraying the edges of UK Church establishment”

Norman Bonney, ‘Established religion, parliamentary devolution and new state religion in the United Kingdom’, Published online in Parliamentary Affairs 2012.

http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/12/pa.gsr067.abstract

Parliamentary devolution in the UK since 1999 has had the effect of trimming the significance of Church establishment in the UK and introducing alternative expressions of official religosity and secularism in the proceedings of the devolved parliament and assemblies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The Church of England remains as the official state church of the United Kingdom performing religious services for the UK Parliament and state but the elected devolved institutions have devised alternative arrangements in relation to their own business with a secular Welsh National Assembly, silent contemplation in place of daily prayers in the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly and a multi-faith Time for Reflection in the Scottish Parliament.

The article examines the origins and reasoning of the new parliamentary bodies for abandoning the practice of Anglican prayers and adopting innovative contemporary solutions to the perennial tensions between the spheres of politics and religion.

http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/12/pa.gsr067.abstract

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News: Three Doctoral Fellowships in non-religiosity open for applications

ENP_PhD

Three Doctoral Research Fellows (E13 TV-G-U, 75% part-time) are sought by the Emmy Noether “Diversity of Non-Religiosity” Research Group at Goethe-University Frankfurt  based at the Institut für Ethnologie (Social Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy und History). The start date is 01.11.2012 and the positions are limited to a period of three years.

The Doctoral Fellows will develop their research projects under the supervision of the Principal Investigator. Their main task will be to complete individual research projects in collaboration with the other participants. They will have an independent budget for research and travel expenses. The Research Group further offers interdisciplinary and international collaborations and comprehensive supervision by the Principle Investigator who is also teaching and conducting research on this topic.

The Research Group is organized around the assumption that a comprehensive understanding of the role of religion(s) within contemporary societies has to take the “diversity of non-religiosity” into consideration. The aim of the Doctoral Fellowships is to conduct empirical research on non-religious individuals, groups or phenomena – preferably in different countries. For example topics may include but are not limited to indifference towards religion(s), worldviews alternative to religion(s), or criticism of religion(s) made in relation to atheist, humanist or skepticist thought or identity. The specific object of inquiry, methodology and theoretical approach will depend on the Doctoral Fellows’ training, interest, and research focus. Curiosity about the research topic, intellectual creativity, and an enjoyment of academic collaboration are crucial for the success of the project.

All applicants must hold a master’s degree (M.A.) or an equivalent qualification in anthropology, religious studies, sociology, or a related discipline. The University is an equal opportunities employer and supports women’s career development. Applications from women are thus explicitly welcome. Disabled applicants will be considered preferentially in case of equivalent qualifications.

Please send the electronic version of your application (including cover letter, Curriculum Vitae, university transcript/degree, two letters of recommendation, and a synopsis of the intended research project of approx. 5000 words) to: quack@em.uni-frankfurt.de by 31.07.2012. Please do not hesitate to contact Johannes Quack for further information concerning the research project and the application process.

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Event: “Ethics as Piety” Webb Keane hosted by LSE – All Welcome

Please see below for the upcoming Forum on Religion event.

“Ethics as Piety”

Speaker: Webb Keane (University of Michigan)
Chair: Charles Stafford (London School of Economics)

Date: 27 June 2012, 18.00-19.30

Venue: London School of Economics, New Academic Building Room LG.09 (off Lincoln’s Inn Fields)

Sponsored by the Anthropology Department and the Programme for the Study of Religion and Non-Religion.

Assuming that what we call “religion” and “ethics” are in principle distinct from each other, what is the conceptual relationship between them? What are the historical pathways along which the two often seem to converge? What are the social implications of that convergence where it occurs? And when they converge, what remainder escapes the conflation of these two? These are, of course, very large questions, whose investigation requires substantial empirical and conceptual work. In the interests of carrying out a preliminary ground-clearing, this talk is confined to reflections on a limited number of texts. Discussion of these texts will centre on how certain traditions within Islam and Protestant Christianity objectify ethics in ways that render them cognitively explicit and thus expose them to pressures toward rationalisation, generalisation, and abstraction. But these traditions also expect ethics to guide everyday life, in all its concrete particularity, with potentially paradoxical consequences.

The event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

See here for more details

If you have any queries regarding this event, please contact Dr Matthew Engelke (m.engelke@lse.ac.uk)


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Publication: Approaching Religion Vol 2/1‏ The New Visibility of Atheism in Europe

A new publication has been announced of interest to the NSRN. Contributors below include the NSRN director Stephen Bullivant and other contributors to our upcoming annual conference.

Approaching Religion

Vol. 2/ 1 (June, 2011)

Theme: The New Visibility of Atheism in Europe

Contributors:

Grace Davie, Phil Zuckerman, Teemu Taira, Thomas Zenk, Teuvo Laitila, Tiina Mahlamäki, Gavin Hyman, Mattias Martinson, Stuart McAnulla, Stephen Bullivant, Lise Kanckos, Mikko Sillfors.

AR is published by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History in Åbo, Finland. Its purpose is to publish current research on religion and to offer a platform for scholarly co-operation and debate within the field. The journal appears twice a year and consists of articles and book reviews. It addresses an international readership and, as the title suggests, approaches the field of religion from a broad perspective, engaging contributors from different theoretical and methodological traditions.

Posted on by katieaston Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: Rethinking Religion in India conference: Secularism, Religion and Law

Deadline for abstracts 15 August 2012

Rethinking Religion in India conference to be held on 24-27 November 2012 held by the  the research programme Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures)

In 2003, the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (“Comparative Science of Cultures”) was established at Ghent University, Belgium, under the directorship of Prof. S.N. Balagangadhara. The Research Centre promotes research on cultural differences between Asia and the West and has a special focus on European and Indian culture.

Parallel Paper Sessions

We invite submission of max. 300 word abstracts on the following themes:

  • The colonial construction of Hinduism
  • The caste system and Indian religion
  • Secularism in Europe and India
  • Religious conversion in India
  • Religious and communal violence
  • Religion and Law

In case there is a second author, please indicate this clearly in your abstract.

“How to…?” Workshops

We invite proposals for workshop sessions that address a concrete question such as ‘How to teach about the Indian religions and traditions?’ or ‘How to develop de-colonised descriptions of the Indian traditions?’ will be addressed. Even though the aim of these sessions is to involve the audience in a more active way, the structure of these sessions is left open: the sessions could consist of presentations, a discussion among a panel of experts on a particular theme, a discussion with the audience introduced and moderated by a chair. It is left to the organiser of a ‘how to…?’ workshop to decide upon this.

Workshop proposals should explain why this workshop is important vis-à-vis the general objectives of Rethinking Religion in India. They should also contain an outline of the planned structure of the session with the number and names of speakers, moderator and/or other participants.

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Event: “The Power of the Sacred and the Secular” 14-16 August 2012

Registration for the Aboagora symposium closes on 15th June!

ABOAGORA – BETWEEN ARTS AND SCIENCES

Turku, 14-16 August 2012

Aboagora is an event that promotes dialogue between the arts, humanities and sciences, and aims at challenging and breaking boundaries between arts and the scholarly world. The programme consists of workshops, keynote lectures and concerts. Aboagora is a joint effort by the Turku Music Festival, the Department of Cultural History at the University of Turku and the Donner Institute, Åbo Akademi University.

“The Power of the Sacred and the Secular”

The theme for 2012 focuses on a process that is fundamental to Western culture, that of separation between sacral and secular culture. This opens a fruitful perspective on the dialogue between the arts and the academia, since the concept of the secular is vigorously debated in both fields. In 2012 Aboagora seeks to turn critical attention to such questions as the role of religion in contemporary society, the return of mysticism and spirituality to public discussion and the so-called post-secular. In special focus are the issues of power and religion in relation to questions of gender and sexuality, sacred and secular love, Medieval inquisition, cinema and architectural space, cognitive science and quantum physics.

Keynote speakers include Gianni Vattimo (Philosophy, Italy), Miri Rubin (History, UK), Marion Bowman (Religious Studies, UK) and Juhani Pallasmaa (Architecture, Finland)

The workshop members include Kari Enqvist (Physics), Ilkka Pyysiäinen (Religious Studies), Sabrina Maniscalco (Physics), Andrew Yip (Sociology), Salla Tuori (Gender Studies), Elina Pirjatanniemi (Human Rights), Peter Nynäs (Religious Studies), Benjamin Zeller (Religious Studies), Terhi Utriainen (Religious Studies), Erik Steinskog (Music Studies), Tom Linkinen (Cultural History), Reima Välimäki (Cultural History) and Pekka Tolonen (Religious Studies).

For full programme and online registration please visit http://www.aboagora.fi.

The registration fee for the symposium is 30 € (for students 20 €). It includes participation for all keynote lectures, admission to all workshops, three lunches at Hus Lindman and coffee/tea with small snacks during coffee breaks. Registration closes on 15 June.

WELCOME!

Asko Nivala
Coordinator
Department of Cultural History
FI-20014 University of Turku
FINLAND

Phone +358 (0)2 333 6294
Email: aeniva@utu.fi
Visit the website at http://aboagora.fi

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Podcast with Tariq Modood on the Crisis of European Secularism

The Religious Studies Project have published a half hour podcast with Professor Tariq Modood on the Crisis of European Secularism, recorded at this year’s SOCREL Conference in Chester:

http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/05/28/podcast-tariq-modood-on-the-crisis-of-european-secularism/

You can download this interview on iTunes.

Tariq Modood is Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy at the University of Bristol. He is founding Director of the University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, and co-founding editor of the international journal, Ethnicities. As a regular contributor to the media and policy debates in Britain, he was awarded a MBE for services to social sciences and ethnic relations in 2001 and elected a member of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2004. He also served on the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, the IPPR Commission on National Security and on the National Equality Panel, which reported to the UK Deputy Prime Minister in 2010.

His recent publications include Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea (Polity, 2007) and Still Not Easy Being British: Struggles for a Multicultural Citizenship (Trentham Books, 2010); and as co-editor, Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Is There a Crisis of Secularism in Western Europe?, which expands considerably upon the issues in this interview, is now available at http://www.bris.ac.uk/ethnicity/news/2012/36.html.

NSRN subscribers might also be interested in Linda Woodhead’s podcast on the Secularisation Thesis, and Bjoern Mastiaux’s essay on the same topic.

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Publication: An ethnography of the British Humanist Association, Dr Matthew Engelke

The ESRC has produced a report and press release on Humanist Funerals,  announcing the work of Dr Matthew Engelke, which explores early outcomes from his year researching with and within the British Humanist Association.

For more details about the research please contact

Dr Mathhew Engelke
Email: m.engelke@lse.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7995 6494 or 07800 835403
ESRC Press Office:

Danielle Moore-Chick
Email: danielle.moore-chick@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413122
Jeanine Woolley
Email: jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413119