Sonia Sikka

Lori G. Beaman

Bindu Puri

Looking beyond exclusively state-oriented solutions to the management of religious diversity, this book explores ways of fostering respectful, non-violent and welcoming social relations among religious communities. It examines the question of how to balance religious diversity, individual rights and freedoms with a common national identity and moral consensus. The essays discuss the interface between state and civil society in ‘secular’ countries and look at case studies from the the West and India. They study themes such as religious education, religious diversity, pluralism, inter-religious relations and exchanges, dalits and religion, and issues arising from the lived experience of religious diversity in various countries. The volume asserts that if religious violence crosses borders, so do ideas about how to live together peacefully, theological reflection on pluralism, and lived practices of friendship across the boundaries of religious identity-groupings. Bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship from across the world, the book will interest scholars and students of philosophy, religious studies, political science, sociology and history.

Living with Religious Diversity

A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizen and of the limits of religious freedom, this book demonstrates that the stakes in debates on religious freedom are not just about beliefs and practices but also have implications for the construction of citizenship in a diverse nation. Lori Beaman looks at the case of Jehovah's Witness Bethany Hughes who was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction, reflecting a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom and reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen.

Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law

Defining Harm

Often when a religious minority challenges mainstream customs, the phrase “reasonable accommodation” is at the centre of the ensuing debate. But does reasonable accommodation achieve its goal of integrating the rights of religious minorities with those of mainstream society, or does it really emphasize inequality? Reasonable Accommodation seeks to define the meaning of this phrase and to provide a much-needed critical assessment of its use within Canada and abroad. Woven throughout is commentary about whether there really is a religious majority in Canada, how the idea of “shared values” obscures debate, and how tolerating religious differences simply isn’t enough to guarantee equality.

Managing Religious Diversity

Reasonable Accommodation

While religious conflict receives plenty of attention, the everyday negotiation of religious diversity does not. Questions of how to accommodate religious minorities and of the limits of tolerance resonate in a variety of contexts and have become central preoccupations for many Western democracies. What might we see if we turned our attention to the positive narratives and success stories of the everyday working out of religious difference? Rather than tolerance and accommodation, and through the stories of ordinary people, this book traces deep equality, which is found in the respect, humor, and friendship of seemingly mundane interactions. Deep Equality in an Era of Religious Diversity shows that the telling of such stories can create an alternative narrative to that of diversity as a problem to be solved. It explores the non-event, or micro-processes of interaction that constitute the foundation for deep equality and the conditions under which deep equality emerges, exists, and sometimes flourishes. Through a systematic search for and examination of such narratives, Lori G. Beaman demonstrates the possibility of uncovering, revealing, and recovering deep equality--a recovery that is vital to living in an increasingly diverse society. In achieving deep equality, identities are fluid, shifting in importance and structure as social interaction unfolds. Rigid identity imaginings, especially religious identities, block our vision to the complexities of social life and press us into corners that trap us in identities that we often ourselves do not recognize, want, or know how to escape. Although the focus of this study is deep equality and its existence and persistence in relation to religious difference, deep equality is located beyond the realm of religion. Beaman draws from the work of those whose primary focus is not in fact religion, and who are doing their own 'deep equality' work in other domains, illustrating especially why equality matters. By retelling and exploring stories of negotiation it is possible to reshape our social imaginary to better facilitate what works, which varies from place to place and time to time.

Deep Equality in an Era of Religious Diversity

Gillian Calder

Assumptions about the harmful nature of polygamy have left little room for debate, with monogamy coming to represent a hallmark of advanced societies, and polygamy the immoral alternative. Yet in this volume, eleven scholars ask whether this condemnation is justified by examining, among other perspectives, the lived experiences of polygamous families. In essays that fearlessly face difficult questions of choice, dignity, and love, the authors seek to complicate a conversation that is more often simplified. Thoughtful and persuasive, Polygamy's Rights and Wrongs is both a close consideration of polygamy and a challenging reflection on the ways in which we value family and intimacy.

Perspectives on Harm, Family, and Law

Polygamy's Rights and Wrongs

The world is confronted with multiple intersecting crises including exploitation, inequality, political polarization and climate change. World-repairing work is vitally needed. But just at a time when humans most obviously require robust moral imaginaries on which to draw, it is no longer clear what kinds of beliefs, meanings, stories and encounters inspire them to act. We know that nonreligious identities are on the rise in numerous countries throughout the world. But with so much focus on the non part of nonreligion, what we dont know is what nonreligious imaginaries actually look, sound and feel like. What do nonreligious people believe in? What stories inspire them? In what moments do they find meaning? This book seeks to answer these questions through a series of short essays exploring the nonreligious imaginaries that emerge in a range of world-repairing practices, including ethical consumption, community organizing, eating habits, and environmental activism. In so doing, the book provides a crucial contribution to two areas of increasing social and political concern: First, the need to understand not only what nonreligious people are rejecting but also their sources of meaning and action. Second, the urgent need for cultural tools for mobilizing people towards more compassionate and sustainable practices. Lori G. Beaman is the Canada Research Chair in Religious Diversity and Social Change and Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, and Principal Investigator of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. Timothy Stacey is a Lecturer in Religion and Politics at Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Nonreligious Imaginaries of World Repairing

This volume considers the phenomenon of yoga travel as an instance of a broader genre of ‘spiritual travel’ involving journeys to places ‘elsewhere’, which are imagined to offer the possibility of profound personal transformation. These imaginings are tied up in a continued exoticization of the East, but they are not limited to that. Contributors identify various themes such as authenticity, suffering, space, material markers, and the idea of the ‘spiritual’, tracing how these ideas manifest in conceptions and fetishizations of ‘elsewhere.’ To deepen its analysis of this phenomenon, the book incorporates a wide range of disciplines including architecture, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, women’s studies, religious studies, and history. While the book’s primary focus is yoga and yoga travel, contributors offer up an array of other case studies. Chapters delve into the complex questions of agency and authenticity that accompany the concept of ‘spiritual travel’ and ideas of ‘elsewhere.’

A Journey to Elsewhere

Constructions of Self and Other in Yoga, Travel, and Tourism

This text offers an outstanding selection of readings that represent an overview of the key issues in the sociology of religion from a uniquely Canadian perspective. Masterfully planned and united by clearly articulated themes, the second edition moves through three thematic cornerstones: contexts, identities, and strategies. Recurring sub-themes include the definition of religion, the secularization debate, the challenge of diversity, and the gendered aspects of religious experience. Key additions to this edition include a discussion on cultural diversity, an exploration of religion and sexuality, and a thorough historical overview of religion in Canada.

Contexts, Identities, and Strategies

Religion and Canadian Society

Jennifer Selby

Amelie Barras

Problems – of integration, failed political participation, and requests for various kinds of accommodation – seem to dominate the research on minority Muslims in Western nations. Beyond Accommodation offers a different perspective, showing how Muslim Canadians successfully navigate and negotiate their religiosity. The authors critique the model of reasonable accommodation, suggesting that it disempowers religious minorities by implicitly privileging Christianity and by placing the onus on minorities to make formal requests for accommodation. Through interviews, Muslim Canadians show that informal negotiation takes place all the time; scholars, however, have not been paying attention. This book proposes an alternative picture of how religious difference is woven into the fabric of Canadian society.

Everyday Narratives of Muslim Canadians

Beyond Accommodation

Designed for courses in Deviant Behaviour, and Introductory Deviance. This edited collection focuses on the construction of notions of deviance in everyday life. Discussions of traditional theories are included to provide students with a well-rounded overview of theoretical approaches to deviance. However, the guiding theoretical framework of the book is a focus on the social construction of deviance, both at the macro and micro levels. While the first section considers topics that are traditionally found in deviance textbooks-prostitution, drug abuse, alcoholism, and mental illness-the second section highlights assumptions about what constitutes "normal" families, bodies, and cultural practices. Most deviance readers and texts focus on very narrow conceptualizations of what constitutes deviant behaviour, with little attention paid to "everyday" constructions of deviance related to poverty, body image, and family values.

Lori G. Beaman

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