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Religions
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Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective
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Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 23088

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Paul Michael Hedges

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Guest Editor
Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798
Interests: interreligious studies; method and theory in the study of religion; postcolonialism and decolonialism; Christianity in global and interreligious perspective
Prof. Dr. Anna Halafoff

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, 3125, Australia
Interests: intercultural and interreligious relations; countering violent extremism; education about religions and beliefs; sacred places; gender and Buddhism; and Buddhism in Australia
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The notion of different traditions sharing the same ritual space is not new. At pilgrimage sites, shrines, and places of worship, different religious traditions have found common ground, ways to interact, and shared figures of devotion across the centuries and in many geographical contexts. Today, often seen as innovative, we see talk of multifaith spaces. From newly designed spaces to more traditional sites, there is increasing discussion about what these mean and how they operate. This special issue seeks to explore these from a variety of disciplinary and critical perspectives. Contributors may write from both academic theological and non-confessional perspectives, either supportive or critical of such ventures. Questions and issues which may be explored include: what are the practical hindrances to building or planning such initiatives; what power dynamics lurk behind the construction and agenda of their propagation; how can they be justified from within religious traditions; should they include the nonreligious; case studies of particular examples in terms of specific local dynamics; case studies of where actual or planned ventures have gone wrong or turned sour. Authors are encouraged to explore these issues from global perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Paul Michael Hedges
Prof. Dr. Anna Halafoff
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multifaith spaces
  • interreligious studies
  • interfaith interaction
  • sacred places
  • pilgrimage
  • shared spaces

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 406 KiB  
Article
Learning about Religions: An Indonesian Religious Literacy Program as a Multifaith Site for Mutual Learning
by Dicky Sofjan
Religions 2020, 11(9), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090433 - 24 Aug 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3379
Abstract
The term “literacy” has been mostly applied in the context of language, mathematical and cultural abilities as a basic competency in life and social interaction. Thus, competence in reading, writing and math subjects as well as cultural training are perceived to be the [...] Read more.
The term “literacy” has been mostly applied in the context of language, mathematical and cultural abilities as a basic competency in life and social interaction. Thus, competence in reading, writing and math subjects as well as cultural training are perceived to be the definition of literacy found in many societies around the world. This article examines the concept and application of Indonesia’s “religious literacy” program as a multifaith site for mutual learning among religious communities. This program is expected to offer a mechanism to moderate the religious fervour that is currently engulfing the nation and become a buffer against radicalism. Based on collaboration between university-based academics and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the program strives to promote social justice, religious harmony and multiculturalism. The religious literacy program mainly targets the Ministry’s religious extension officers, religion teachers and representatives of various so-called “strategic groups” in six provinces in Indonesia. Findings suggest that the religious literacy program has helped the frontliners to get to know each other, share their tacit knowledge, insights and experiences, making the program into a multifaith site for mutual learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective)
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16 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
Multifaith Third Spaces: Digital Activism, Netpeace, and the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change
by Geraldine Smith and Anna Halafoff
Religions 2020, 11(3), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11030105 - 26 Feb 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4260
Abstract
Multifaith spaces typically imply sites where people of diverse faith traditions gather to participate in shared activities or practices, such as multifaith prayer rooms, multifaith art exhibitions, or multifaith festivals. Yet, there is a lack of literature that discusses online multifaith spaces. This [...] Read more.
Multifaith spaces typically imply sites where people of diverse faith traditions gather to participate in shared activities or practices, such as multifaith prayer rooms, multifaith art exhibitions, or multifaith festivals. Yet, there is a lack of literature that discusses online multifaith spaces. This paper focuses on the website of an Australian multifaith organisation, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), which we argue is a third space of digital activism. We begin by outlining the main aims of the multifaith movement and how it responds to global risks. We then review religion and geography literature on space, politics and poetics, and on material religion and embodiment. Next, we discuss third spaces and digital activism, and then present a thematic and aesthetic analysis on the ARRCC website drawing on these theories. We conclude with a summary of our main findings, arguing that mastery of the online realm through digital third spaces and activism, combined with a willingness to partake in “real-world”, embodied activism, can assist multifaith networks and social networks more generally to develop Netpeace and counter the risks of climate change collaboratively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective)
13 pages, 259 KiB  
Article
Contested Histories, Multi-Religious Space and Conflict: A Case Study of Kantarodai in Northern Sri Lanka
by Elizabeth J. Harris
Religions 2019, 10(9), 537; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090537 - 19 Sep 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4880
Abstract
This article focuses on the archaeological site of Kantarodai (Tamil) or Kadurugoda (Sinhala) on the Jaffna peninsula at the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka to examine the power of spatially embodied, contested histories within postcolonial and post-war communities. The Sri Lankan military who [...] Read more.
This article focuses on the archaeological site of Kantarodai (Tamil) or Kadurugoda (Sinhala) on the Jaffna peninsula at the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka to examine the power of spatially embodied, contested histories within postcolonial and post-war communities. The Sri Lankan military who control Kantarodai view it simply as a Sinhala Buddhist site. However, when it is viewed through the lens of international archaeological scholarship, its multi-ethnic and multi-religious history becomes clear. Its present situation speaks of a failure to affirm the narratives connected with this history. In examining this case study, I first evoke the changing political and religious landscapes of the peninsula in the recent past, drawing on my own visits to Jaffna during Sri Lanka’s ethnic war. Second, I examine one dominant imaginary that is projected onto the peninsula, from the Sinhala Buddhist community, the most powerful community in the island. Thirdly, I move to Kantarodai, focussing on two recent representations of its history and the privileging of one of these in Sri Lanka’s post-war polity. I then assess the consequences for Sri Lanka of the failure to affirm multiplicity at Kantarodai, drawing out its wider relevance for the study of post-colonial and post-war societies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective)
12 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Understanding Neighbourhoods as Multifaith Spaces
by Melanie Prideaux
Religions 2019, 10(9), 500; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090500 - 24 Aug 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3744
Abstract
This paper asked whether it is possible to understand neighbourhoods as ‘multifaith spaces’ and whether doing so helps us think differently about neighbourhoods or about multifaith spaces. By referring to the English context, this paper explored the significance of the local and the [...] Read more.
This paper asked whether it is possible to understand neighbourhoods as ‘multifaith spaces’ and whether doing so helps us think differently about neighbourhoods or about multifaith spaces. By referring to the English context, this paper explored the significance of the local and the demotic in the experience of religious diversity, the construction of space as ‘multifaith’, and the practice and experience of interfaith dialogue. It concluded that thinking of neighbourhoods as multifaith spaces both challenges how multifaith spaces are identified and articulated and deepens the discussion of neighbourhoods as key to the experience of living with religious diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective)
16 pages, 309 KiB  
Article
The Secular Realm as Interfaith Space: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Nation-States
by Paul Hedges
Religions 2019, 10(9), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10090498 - 22 Aug 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5691
Abstract
While classically posited as the separation of religion from public life, it is suggested that the contemporary secular public sphere in multicultural contexts has become a habitat for interfaith dialogue. Looking at dynamics in classical secular theory as well as some recent theorists [...] Read more.
While classically posited as the separation of religion from public life, it is suggested that the contemporary secular public sphere in multicultural contexts has become a habitat for interfaith dialogue. Looking at dynamics in classical secular theory as well as some recent theorists of secularism and multiculturalism, most particularly Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Tariq Modood, and Rajeev Bhargava, it is shown that far from being hostile to religion much of the practice of secularism is often entwined with particular discourses of religious norms. Using spatial theory, especially that of Lefebvre, four cameos from the UK, USA, Singapore, and India are used as indicative of the way that interfaith discourse is embedded in various aspects of the secular public sphere from governmental, through official Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), to grassroots levels such that as forum externum religion is accepted in this space as interfaith dialogue. It is argued that a conceptual linkage of interfaith motifs is, if not inherent, then at least embedded in the secular realm in the contemporary multicultural context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifaith Spaces in Global Perspective)
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