Freedom of Religion, the Role of the State, and Interreligious Relations in Myanmar
Author: Nyi Nyi Kyaw
Publisher:
Published: 2018
Total Pages: 65
ISBN-13: 9789555802277
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Lanterna Rally
eBook PDF Download Digital Library
Interreligious Conflict and the Politics of Interfaith Dialogue in Myanmar
Author: Nyi Nyi Kyaw
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
Published: 2019-06-26
Total Pages: 30
ISBN-13: 9814843873
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Amidst successive episodes of interreligious violence in Myanmar between 2012 and 2014, interfaith dialogue emerged as a crucial conflict resolution and prevention mechanism. The 2011–16 Union Solidarity and Development Party administration often indirectly promoted the use of interfaith dialogue to defuse interreligious tensions and conflicts, though its political will was questionable. Various governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental actors have engaged in interfaith dialogue, peace, and harmony initiatives in the past seven years. The present National League for Democracy administration has more actively sought to engage in intrafaith promotion of Buddhism and in interfaith peace and harmony initiatives. Intergovernmental, international and local interfaith actors also work in the interfaith dialogue field, but their impact is relatively weak because the government remains the most important actor in Myanmar in transition. Although the National League for Democracy has largely eliminated Buddhist nationalist groups such as Ma Ba Tha, Buddhist identity politics remains influential after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017 and the consequent refugee crisis. Although extreme anti-Muslim Buddhist identity politics may not see a resurgence in the approach to the 2020 general elections, it may come back in more nuanced forms. Interfaith dialogue and other training and activities for interreligious peace and harmony will thus remain relevant to the political scene.
Contesting Buddhist Narratives
Author: Matthew J. Walton
Publisher:
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 65
ISBN-13: 9780866382533
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Myanmar's transition to democracy has been marred by violence between Buddhists and Muslims. While the violence originally broke out between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, it subsequently emerged throughout the country, impacting Buddhists and Muslims of many ethnic backgrounds. This article offers background on these so-called "communal conflicts" and the rise and evolution of Buddhist nationalist groups led by monks that have spearheaded anti-Muslim campaigns. The authors describe how current monastic political mobilization can be understood as an extension of past monastic activism, and is rooted in traditional understandings of the monastic community's responsibility to defend the religion, respond to community needs, and guide political decision-makers. The authors propose a counter-argument rooted in Theravada Buddhism to address the underlying anxieties motivating Buddhist nationalists while directing them toward peaceful actions promoting coexistence. Additionally, given that these conflicts derive from wider political, economic, and social dilemmas, the authors offer a prescription of complementary policy initiatives.--Résumé de l'éditeur.
The Religious Landscape in Myanmar's Rakhine State
Author: Melyn McKay
Publisher:
Published: 2019
Total Pages: 40
ISBN-13: 9781601277701
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Rakhine’s recent conflicts and humanitarian crises can be understood as an intersection of numerous grievances—many of which are not explicitly religious. Interethnic tensions, economic inequalities, and political drivers all contribute to violent conflict. To date, few influential religious leaders and religious social service networks have been engaged by aid, policymaking, and peacebuilding actors—whether national or international. This lack of engagement has sustained pervasive mistrust of the international community at all levels of Rakhine society. Key opportunities to build trust with the religious sector include engaging religious actors in consultations, needs assessments, and aid distributions and providing dispute resolution training to religious leaders across all communities. International nongovernmental organizations need to be sensitive to the concerns that religious actors and networks have about engaging with them on social issues. When engaging with religious actors in programming, it is essential to bear in mind that though religious figures and networks may be able to influence community perspectives and attitudes, they rarely have the power to enforce broad behavior change. Furthermore, ordination is not essential to religious influence in Rakhine (and in Myanmar more broadly). The elderly and members of local religious committees and networks, including women’s and youth groups, are regularly cited as sources of religious influence despite their being lay persons.
Law and Religion in Indonesia
Author: Melissa Crouch
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-11-12
Total Pages: 282
ISBN-13: 1134508360
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Understanding and managing inter-religious relations, particularly between Muslims and Christians, presents a challenge for states around the world. This book investigates legal disputes between religious communities in the world’s largest majority-Muslim, democratic country, Indonesia. It considers how the interaction between state and religion has influenced relations between religious communities in the transition to democracy. The book presents original case studies based on empirical field research of court disputes in West Java, a majority-Muslim province with a history of radical Islam. These include criminal court cases, as well as cases of judicial review, relating to disputes concerning religious education, permits for religious buildings and the crime of blasphemy. The book argues that the democratic law reform process has been influenced by radical Islamists because of the politicization of religion under democracy and the persistence of fears of Christianization. It finds that disputes have been localized through the decentralization of power and exacerbated by the central government’s ambivalent attitude towards radical Islamists who disregard the rule of law. Examining the challenge facing governments to accommodate minorities and manage religious pluralism, the book furthers understanding of state-religion relations in the Muslim world. This accessible and engaging book is of interest to students and scholars of law and society in Southeast Asia, was well as Islam and the state, and the legal regulation of religious diversity.
Politics of Religious Freedom
Author: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2015-07-22
Total Pages: 361
ISBN-13: 022624850X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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.
Faith-based Diplomacy and Interfaith Dialogue
Author: Scott Blakemore
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2019-05-27
Total Pages: 130
ISBN-13: 9004408959
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Interfaith dialogue is a practice that could benefit diplomatic strategies but has not yet been brought into diplomacy’s scope. This paper uses the theoretical construct of faith-based diplomacy to recommend interfaith dialogue as a viable strategy within diplomatic activities.
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2007, February 2008, 110-2 Report, *
Religious Freedom in Islam
Author: Daniel Philpott
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-02-01
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 0190908203
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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.
Myanmar (Burma) since the 1988 Uprising
Author: Andrew Selth
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
Published: 2022-01-24
Total Pages: 370
ISBN-13: 9814951781
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Updated by popular demand, this is the fourth edition of this important bibliography. It lists a wide selection of works on or about Myanmar published in English and in hard copy since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which marked the beginning of a new era in Myanmar’s modern history. There are now 2,727 titles listed. They have been written, edited, translated or compiled by over 2,000 people, from many different backgrounds. These works have been organized into thirty-five subject chapters containing ninety-five discrete sections. There are also four appendices, including a comprehensive reading guide for those unfamiliar with Myanmar or who may be seeking guidance on particular topics. This book is an invaluable aid to officials, scholars, journalists, armchair travellers and others with an interest in this fascinating but deeply troubled country.
