Calls for Papers

Posted on January 24, 2014January 24, 2014 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: Religion Indifference, Due 2/28

CFP: Religious Indifference

The Emmy-Noether-Project, “The Diversity of Nonreligion,” (www.nonreligion.net) is happy to be hosting a workshop on “religious indifference” in Frankfurt am Main, from November 13^th to 15^th.

The concept of religious indifference has been used to describe a specific mode of nonreligiosity that is an expression of extremely low concern for religion. As such “indifference” is to be distinguished from religiosity on one hand and avowed atheism on the other. Furthermore, religious indifference can take various modes, for example that of “existential” or “cognitive” indifference (Pollack, Wohlrab-Sahr, and Gärtner 2003).

As with other modes of nonreligiosity, the social status of religious indifference varies according to the constitution of the religious field and the general socio-cultural context (Quack 2013, 2014). Referring to the British case, Bagg and Voas (2010) argue that current indifference is primarily the result of changes in the religious landscape of Britain and the increasing religious and social acceptance of people who do not practice any religion. Conversely, if religion is deeply embedded in civil culture, religious indifference might be negatively perceived as a form of social dissent (Wohlrab-Sahr and Kaden 2013). Bullivant (2012) by contrast, has introduced an alternative meaning of religious indifference by hinting at the seemingly paradoxical situation of rising interest and concern with religion in European secularized societies; what is at stake here is not a positioning towards personal religious belief, behavior, or belonging, but the (dis)interest in public-political manifestations of religion.

While anti-clericalism or other anti-religious expressions have visibly accompanied processes of secularization, indifference seems to be an important yet unaccounted feature of contemporary societies. In the upcoming workshop, we seek to bring together different scholars who wish to (further) engage with the concept of religious indifference.

The workshop will take place in Frankfurt am Main, from November 13^th-15th.

Please note that the workshop’s primary goal is to develop a joint publication. In order to do so, we suggest that all participants write a draft article and distribute it to the other participants prior to the workshop. These articles will be discussed during the workshop itself. We welcome theoretical contributions and methodological and methodic reflections as well as case studies from different national or regional contexts.

Please send a short abstract for consideration to schuh@em.uni-frankfurt.de. Deadline for application is February 28th.

Further dates of importance:

All participants will be provided an extended conceptual sketch: Spring 2014
Participants submit a draft article: October 2014
Revision of articles by participants: Spring 2015
Final Submission: Summer 2015

Posted on November 13, 2013November 13, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: EASR Conference 2014 NSRN Panel Call for Papers

EASR Conference 2014 NSRN Panel Call for Papers

Nations and Nonreligions – Understanding ‘Secular Europe’

Panel sponsored by the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network, chaired by NSRN co-director, Dr Lois Lee (UCL)

Whilst the vitality of religion was the chief interest emerging out of the secularisation paradigm, recent years have seen growing interest in the new populations that emerge from secularisation processes. This enables the historicisation of these populations and allows scholars to attend to the specificities and contingencies of non- or irreligious cultures and of people’s experience of secularity and secularism. This panel considers these experiences and cultures in national context and will enable cross-national comparison by bringing case studies from different national settings together, allowing continuities and discontinuities to emerge. The panel scrutinises the extent to which national variation is a useful way to differentiate nonreligious cultures.

We invite empirical papers, contemporary or historical, that explore nonreligious cultures or secular experiences within a national context from famously ‘secular’ Europe as well as theoretical papers investigating the relationship between nationalism and secularity and/or nonreligious in general.

Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short biography should be sent to Dr Lois Lee at lois.lee@ucl.ac.uk by Wednesday 27 November 2013.

This panel is sponsored by the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN). The NSRN is an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers, founded in 2008 to centralise existing research on the topic of nonreligion and secularity and to facilitate discussion in this area. The NSRN co-runs an academic journal Secularism and Nonreligion (Ubiquity Press; run in partnership with the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC)) and a book series, Religion and Its Other: Studies in Religion, Nonreligion and Secularity (De Gruyter)

Posted on October 10, 2013October 10, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: BSA Annual Conference 2014: Changing Society

BSA Annual Conference 2014:

Changing Society

Sociology of Religion Stream

Keynote Plenary: Professor Adam Dinham

Adam Dinham is director of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is Professor of Faith & Public Policy. He is policy advisor to a number of faith-based agencies and policy bodies, including the Faith Based Regeneration Network and the CoExistence Trust in the House of Lords, and has advised central government on issues of public faith. Professor Dinham’s recent publication Faith and Social Capital After the Debt Crisis (2012) examines the impact of viewing faiths as social capital, exploring whether faith can help rebalance society by drawing communities together.

Call for Papers

Submissions

The role of religion in social change has been one of the key questions in sociology ever since Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. What role is religion currently playing in producing change in contemporary society? And how are religious individuals, communities and institutions responding to recent changes in society? What might such responses suggest about the future of religion in the public sphere? How might this reconfigure the religious/secular divide? This event will encourage discussion of the particular religious contributions, and responses, to a changing society.

We invite papers on topics that may include (but are not limited to) the following:

· Relationship between religious and secular institutions

· Religion in the public square

· Evolving role and status of religious organisations

· Faith communities and social action

· Religion and welfare

· Religion and politics

· Religion and education

· Religion and technology

· Theoretical perspectives on religion and social change

How to submit

All paper abstracts and proposals for other events can be submitted online at:

http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/bsa-annual-conference/submissions.aspx

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18 October 2013.

For further information contact the Sociology of Religion stream coordinators

Jo McKenzie E: j.m.mckenzie@durham.ac.uk

Titus Hjelm E: t.hjelm@ucl.ac.uk

Alternatively, contact the BSA Events Team E: events@britsoc.org.uk

Posted on September 27, 2013September 27, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News, Uncategorized

Funding opportunity: The John Templeton Foundation is launching a competition to advance the scientific study of religious cognition.

The John Templeton Foundation is launching a $3m funding competition to
advance the scientific study of religious cognition.

Purpose and scope: Scientific descriptions of how people think about God
and gods are currently fragmented across sub-disciplines of the
psychological, cognitive, and social sciences. This competition is
designed to promote integration of ten existing lines of research and to
generate and test new hypotheses that emerge from this integration.
Applicants may request up to $250,000 for empirical or conceptual projects
of up to 30 months in duration.

Eligibility: The competition is open to researchers worldwide. Proposals
are encouraged from — but not limited to — scholars in the disciplines
of psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, religious studies,
sociology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science.

Deadline for online funding inquiries (letters of intent): October 1, 2013

Full details are available at
http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/funding-competitions/gods-in-minds-the-science-of-religious-cognition

============================================================================================
NSRN members: note that this special call includes how atheists think
about supernatural agents; note also the general open-submission call for
grant proposals, to which proposals on all aspects of non-religion are
welcomed.
Note also that the Fall Funding Cycle for open submission is now open, and
that proposals relating to all topics within the Foundation’s core funding
areas (which range from quantum physics to religious nones to archaeology)
are also welcome; visit https://portal.templeton.org/login to apply. The
deadline for core area online funding inquiries is also October 1.

Learn more about JTF’s grantmaking process here:
http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/our-grantmaking-process

Learn more about Sir John Templeton’s philanthropic vision here:
http://www.templeton.org/sir-john-templeton/philanthropic-vision

============================================================================================

Posted on September 25, 2013September 25, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: Minority Religions: Contemplating the Past and Anticipating the Future

CALL FOR PAPERS

Less Than One Week to Deadline!

Inform’s Anniversary Conference

Minority Religions: Contemplating the Past and Anticipating the Future

London School of Economics, WC2A 2AE

31 January – 2 February 2014

Celebrating over a quarter of a century of providing information that is as reliable and up-to-date as possible about minority religions, Inform invites you to submit a (maximum) 200-word abstract and 150-word CV on topics relevant to the title of the conference to inform@lse.ac.uk. The deadline for papers is Tuesday 1st October 2013, with decisions by 1st November 2013. Participants who wish to organise special (90 minute) sessions should submit the name, abstract and CV of each of the contributors to their sessions.

Unfortunately no subsidies can be offered to participants, who will be responsible for making their own arrangements for travel and accommodation.

Registration will open on 1st November 2013. See www.Inform.ac for further details and http://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/research/INFORM/forthcomingEvents.aspx

Draft Programme Outline (21/9/13)

Friday 31 January

15.00: Registration opens (tea and coffee will be available)

15.30: Introductory talk about the London School of Economics and tour of the campus

17.30: Welcome and Plenary Panel A: “Stakeholders”

when representatives of some of the sections of society that have used Inform will briefly describe what they have gained from their association with Inform and what they would like Inform and students of minority religions to focus on in the future:

The Established Church: The Right Reverend Graham Jones, Lord Bishop of Norwich

The Media: Dr Damian Thompson, columnist for the Daily Telegraph

Politics: Stuart Hoggan, Deputy Director, Integration Division, Department for Communities and Local Government

The Police: Ron Gilbertson, former police officer

The Law: Philip Katz QC, Barrister

Academia: Professor Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights Law, LSE

19.30: Reception and Launch of the Ashgate/Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements

Saturday 1 February

09.30–11.00: Plenary Panel B: Members or former members of new religious movements

with high visibility in the 1980s (the Unification Church; the Church of Scientology; ISKCON; the Children of God/Family International) will talk about how their respective movements have changed over the past 25 years and how they envision their future.

11.00–11.30: tea/coffee

11.30–13.00: Parallel Sessions I

13.00 –14.00: lunch

14 .00 –15.30: Parallel Sessions II

15.30–16.00: tea/coffee

16.00–17.30: Parallel Sessions III

19.00: Anniversary Dinner (the cost of this will not be included in the registration fee)

Sunday 2 February

09.30–11.00: Parallel Sessions IV

11.00:11.30 coffee/tea

11.30–13.00: Parallel Sessions V

13.00–14.00: lunch

14.00–15.30: Plenary Panel C: “Cult Watchers”

15.30: Conference ends

Posted on July 17, 2013July 17, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: RELIGIOUS DIVERSIFICATION WORLDWIDE AND IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

ISORECEA in cooperation with Vytautas Magnus University

and Lithuanian Society for the Study of Religions

CALL FOR PAPERS

11^th ISORECEA conference

RELIGIOUS DIVERSIFICATION WORLDWIDE AND IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Kaunas, Lithuania, April 24-27, 2014

For a long time the secularization thesis dominated the field of studies of religions in contemporary societies. Many definitions and even more explanations of the process of secularization in contemporary societies led scholars of religions to search for new theoretical insights about the rapidly changing global social situation. Opponents of this paradigm claim that we are witnessing growing religious vitality at religious market or change in religion itself – here we find the privatization thesis, precarious religion or religious bricolage. Independently of how we approach it from theoretical perspective religious diversification is the process that is evident in the majority of contemporary societies. It is manifested through numerous religious traditions and new emerging religious communities not only within the religious traditions, but also at the individual level, as well as by the increasing number of non-believers and non-adherents, etc.

In many cases Central and Eastern European societies have been analyzed as places where the monopoly of scientific atheism was replaced by the monopolies of national churches. But after more than twenty years of the post-communist period, religious diversification processes within these societies is visibly emerging, despite the fact that the dominance of the so-called national churches is still obvious.

How do worldwide and CEE societies adapt to religious diversification? How do religious communities approach the diversification of religion? How do states react towards the changing situation? How do worldwide and CEE societies differ from each other in relation to religious diversification?

We would like to approach these questions in the forthcoming international conference and to encourage scholars from various parts of the world to share their theoretical and empirical insights about religious diversification.

In this conference we also invite discussion of the following topics:

· Religious diversification and Church and State relations;

· Religious tolerance and discrimination;

· Religious minorities and majorities;

· Religious diversification and human rights;

· Religious diversification and social participation;

· Religious diversification and social exclusion;

· Religious diversification and media;

· Religiosity or Spirituality – within or outside religious institutions.

Please submit a 250-300 words abstract of your presentation by e-mail to: isorecea2014@smf.vdu.lt by November 15, 2013. If you are interested in another topic related to the study of religion in the CEE or worldwide, we encourage you to organize a session/panel. In this case, please submit a 200-300 words proposal by November 15, 2013 to the same email address.

Key dates

Submission of paper and session/panel proposals – November 15, 2013

Notification of acceptance and opening of the registration – December 15, 2013

The final date of the registration for the conference – January 31, 2014

Final program – February 20, 2014

Posted on July 17, 2013July 17, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: (Non)religion in Question: Ethics, Equality and Justice.

ISA World Congress

Yokohama, Japan; July 13-19, 2014

Theme – Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a Global Sociology

RC22 theme is “Religion and Social Inequality”

Chair and Discussant: Johannes Quack and Jonathan VanAntwerpen

(Non)religion in Question: Ethics, Equality and Justice.

Call for Abstracts

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to submit an abstract for possible inclusion in this session.

Recent research shows how in different parts of the world expressive nonreligiosity goes hand in hand with aims for social reform. Competing visions of ontology and normative orders are played out in societal battles over education, sexual rights, gender equality and social justice. For a number of outspokenly nonreligious groups in Europe, the United States, but also the Philippines, India and other regions, demonstrating the secular nature of our world is a key strategy in socio-political activism.

Concurrently, the normative and ontological base of secularism has been criticized as a culturally specific yet powerful form of moderating legitimacy. Secularism has thus been discussed in relation to the legal and moral reshaping of colonial states. In a similar take political liberalism has been the subject of considerable debate regarding its potential to grant equal access to the public sphere to both secular and religious citizens.

More research about how (non)religious ways of ‘being in the world’ and social activism are linked is needed. The panel therefore provides space to discuss the multiple entanglements of (non)religion with questions of justice, equality, and ethics. Conceptual contributions, as well as empirical research from different regions are welcome.

Deadline for submission is September 30^th 2013 as laid out in the conference guidelines. Please submit the abstract (max 300 words) at:

http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22.

We wish to thank you in advance for your interest and look forward to your contributions.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate contacting us.

– s.schenk@em.uni-frankfurt.de

– Schuh@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Best regards,

Susanne Schenk, Cora Schuh (Session Organizers)

(http://www.nonreligion.net)

Posted on July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: ISA World Congress–(Non)religion in Question: Ethics, Equality and Justice.

ISA World Congress
Yokohama, Japan; July 13-19, 2014
Theme – Facing an Unequal World: Challenges for a Global Sociology
RC22 theme is “Religion and Social Inequality”
Call for Papers: (Non)religion in Question: Ethics, Equality and Justice.

Dear Colleagues,
You are invited to submit an abstract for possible inclusion in this session.
Recent research shows how in different parts of the world expressive nonreligiosity goes hand in hand with aims for social reform. Competing visions of ontology and normative orders are played out in societal battles over education, sexual rights, gender equality and social justice. For a number of outspokenly nonreligious groups in Europe, the United States, but also the Philippines, India and other regions, demonstrating the secular nature of our world is a key strategy in socio-political activism.

Chair and Discussant: Johannes Quack and Jonathan VanAntwerpen
Deadline for submission is September 30th 2013 as laid out in the conference guidelines. Please submit the abstract (max 300 words) at:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2014/rc/rc.php?n=RC22

We wish to thank you in advance for your interest and look forward to your contributions.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate contacting us.
– s.schenk@em.uni-frankfurt.de
– Schuh@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Best regards,
Susanne Schenk, Cora Schuh (Session Organizers)
(http://www.nonreligion.net)

Posted on June 5, 2013June 5, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

CFP: EASR Annual Conference: RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION

The 12th EASR Annual Conference will be hosted by the Bristish Association for the Study of Religions at Liverpool Hope University, 3-6 September 2013.

The conference theme will be RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION.The 12th EASR Annual Conference will be hosted by the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) at Liverpool Hope University. This will also be a Special Conference of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR).

The conference theme will be RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION.

Please see 12th EASR Annual Conference web site for more information.

Call for Papers

The conference invites papers and panels that examine what happens to religious beliefs and practices when they are displaced, and what occurs to religions when new cultural practices interact with them. The focus on transformation is not only to be taken in connection with movements of people but panels and papers are invited that deal with the issue of mutation in the broadest sense. We invite scholars from different disciplines to participate in the conference. RELIGION, MIGRATION, MUTATION is the 12th annual conference of the EASR and the second to be organised in collaboration with the BASR.

Panels will be 2 hours long and consist of 4 speakers (papers should be no more than 25 minutes long, allowing a 20 minute discussion period). Proposals should include Panel/Papers information: title, abstract for the panel and the individual papers (150 words), any unusual IT required, list of chair, panellists, and abstracts for both the panel and the individual papers.

Individual papers are welcomed.

Submission deadline has been extended: 15th June 2013

Proposed Papers and Panels should be sent to the Conference Administrator (Sara Fretheim): easrconference(à)hope.ac.uk

Posted on April 25, 2013April 25, 2013 by Beth Calls for Papers, News and Events

Event: BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Study Day

BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Study Day

Making Sense of the Census
The SocRel Response

Venue: London
Date: 18 June 2013 (9.45-5.00)

The UK government Office for National Statistics (ONS) administers a census questionnaire every ten years. The purpose is to provide data to inform decisions about policy and resource allocation. In 2001, for the first time in its 150-year history, the census contained a question about religious identity. That question was repeated, with a slight variation, in 2011 and results are prompting debate and discussion amongst academics, religious leaders, faith groups, nonreligious groups and various other interested parties.

To help form a response from SocRel, our annual Study Day will develop a synthesis of SocRel analysis in order to inform wider public debates.

The event will be of empirical and theoretical interest, both empirical and theoretical, to scholars in anthropology, geography, history, philosophy, practical theology, psychology, religious studies, sociology and social policy as well as to those working in specific faith traditions.

Please find the full event programme attached.

The event is £40.00 for BSA/SocRel members; £50.00 for non-members; £20.00 for SocRel/BSA Postgraduate members/unwaged; £25.00 for Postgraduate non-members.

Registration is available via the BSA website at the following address:
http://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/event/eventBooking.aspx?id=EVT10280

NSRN Online