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Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society
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Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2021) | Viewed by 62642

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Timothy Shah

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Religious Freedom Institute, Washington, DC 20003, USA
Interests: religious freedom; religious and political dynamics in theory, history, and contemporary practice; comparative politics with focus socio-political developments on religious freedom across South & Southeast Asia
Mr. Nathan A. Berkeley

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Religious Freedom Institute, 316 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20003, USA
Interests: religious freedom; equality; nondiscrimination law; institutional religious freedom

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This series seeks articles that address one or a combination of the following questions on the critical issue of the freedom of religious institutions in society:

  1. What is institutional religious freedom?
  2. How is institutional religious freedom faring in the world at the moment? Where is it flourishing? Where is it declining?
  3. Why should we care about institutional religious freedom? That is, how, if at all, does institutional religious freedom make a causal difference to the core economic, social, and political interests of the world’s major countries? Specifically, how, if at all, does it causally contribute to five measurable indicators of a society’s core interests—a stable social order, a dynamic economy, a free and democratic political order, a robust civil society, and clean and transparent governance?

When completed, this series of articles will comprise an interdisciplinary body of literature that builds upon three interrelated lines of inquiry. The first is a theoretical and analytical inquiry, informed by historical and comparative research, into the nature, meaning, and scope of institutional religious freedom. The second involves an empirical assessment of the state of institutional religious freedom within a particular country or particular countries. The third involves preliminary qualitative and quantitative assessments of the causal impact, if any, of institutional religious freedom on promoting a stable social order, a dynamic economy, a free and democratic political order, a robust civil society, and clean and transparent governance.

A wide range of historical and contemporary data suggest that institutional religious freedom has often proven to be a crucial underpinning of the common good. Throughout history and up to today, religious institutions have generated social and political goods that secular institutions or individuals acting alone could not generate. Though historical narratives and legal and political theory often valorize dissenting individuals and their struggle for a wider freedom of conscience as the decisive engines of historical change and social dynamism, institutions and organized communities have frequently acted as a bulwark of social autonomy and pluralism and a driver of social and political progress toward achieving basic elements that make up the common good. Furthermore, there is reason to think that communal and institutional participation is closer to the heart of religion than has sometimes been assumed.

However, despite (or in some cases because of) the potential of autonomous religious institutions to promote certain social, political, and economic goods, some societies and governments, including democratic ones, are imposing greater restrictions on the institutional freedom of religious actors. In addition, much of the discussion of institutional religious freedom has been confined to legal scholars, and has thus not benefited from the insights of other disciplines. The state of the conversation often analyzes the how of institutional religious freedom but typically misses the more fundamental question of why it is necessary to safeguard the self-organizing capacity of religious groups, both for the sake of the groups in question and for the sake of their pro-social contributions.

While theoretical and philosophical treatments of these issues are welcome, scholars seeking to delve into conditions in particular countries are encouraged to focus their analyses on one or a combination of the following: China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the United States.

Prof. Dr. Timothy Shah
Mr. Nathan A. Berkeley
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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

  • institutional religious freedom
  • freedom of religious institutions in society
  • church autonomy
  • freedom of the church
  • freedom of association
  • religious associations
  • religious organizations
  • religious institutions
  • religious freedom and the common good

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 315 KiB  
Article
Who Speaks for Coptic Rights in Egypt Today? (2013–2021)
by Mariz Tadros and Akram Habib
Religions 2022, 13(2), 183; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020183 - 18 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4476
Abstract
This paper explores the nature of Coptic struggles for religious equality in Egypt in the period between 2013 and 2021. The key research question informing this paper is: in a context where the space for civic action to demand rights for equality and [...] Read more.
This paper explores the nature of Coptic struggles for religious equality in Egypt in the period between 2013 and 2021. The key research question informing this paper is: in a context where the space for civic action to demand rights for equality and religious freedom is deeply circumscribed, who fills the vacuum of mediating Coptic grievances and what are the implications for institutionalizing religious freedom and promoting the greater public good? The methodology informing this paper is a multi-scalar linking national level political analysis of the relationship between the President and the Patriarch with the relationship between the church leadership and authorities in the governorate of Minya and its implications for local level governance of sectarian violence against Copts. The paper makes three key propositions. First, the relationship between the President and the Pope cannot be assumed to be a proxy for state-church relations more widely because the positively demonstrated political will of the President has not led to the institutionalization of religious equality at different levels of governance. Second, the assumption of Bishop Makarious of a representational role in defending and promoting the rights of Copts has led to a trade off in institutional rights encroaching on the principle of ecclesiastical affairs being free from governmental meddling. The third proposition is that the political vacuum created by the elimination of mediation of rights via civil society actors has not only negatively affected opportunities for championing the institutionalization of rights at different levels but has also wielded a loss for the promotion of public good more broadly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
24 pages, 1055 KiB  
Article
The Causes of Societal Discrimination against Religious Minorities in Christian-Majority Countries
by Jonathan Fox, Roger Finke and Dane R. Mataic
Religions 2021, 12(8), 611; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080611 - 6 Aug 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7522
Abstract
Using the Religion and State-Minorities and WVS datasets, this study examined the impact of religiosity in Christian-majority countries on societal religious discrimination (i.e., discrimination by non-state actors) against religious minorities. We found that increased levels of religious activity and commitment in a country [...] Read more.
Using the Religion and State-Minorities and WVS datasets, this study examined the impact of religiosity in Christian-majority countries on societal religious discrimination (i.e., discrimination by non-state actors) against religious minorities. We found that increased levels of religious activity and commitment in a country lead to less discrimination against Muslim and Jewish religious minorities but more discrimination against Christian minorities. We offered two explanations for this complex relationship. First, when Christian-majority nations hold high levels of religiosity, other Abrahamic religions are potential allies in the fight against secularism. Second, in religiously active Christian-majority nations, the majority religion views Christian minorities (rather than Jews and Muslims) as an unwanted competitive threat because denomination switching is more common within the same religious tradition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
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21 pages, 321 KiB  
Article
The Freedom of Religious Institutions and Human Flourishing in India: A Present and Future Research Agenda
by Rebecca Supriya Shah
Religions 2021, 12(7), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070550 - 19 Jul 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4738
Abstract
In this paper, I explore how India’s complex regime of control and management of religious institutions and communities—ironically, particularly Hindu institutions—influences the capacity of these institutions to promote various dimensions of human flourishing and socio-economic uplift among the most marginalized. In addition, I [...] Read more.
In this paper, I explore how India’s complex regime of control and management of religious institutions and communities—ironically, particularly Hindu institutions—influences the capacity of these institutions to promote various dimensions of human flourishing and socio-economic uplift among the most marginalized. In addition, I provide an overview of India’s highly varied landscape when it comes to the freedom of religious institutions from state control, and in particular discuss how some minority religious institutions experience fewer government constraints on some aspects of their freedom to self-identify and self-govern, especially when compared to some majority institutions, such as Hindu temples. Although some minority institutions still face constraints on certain aspects of their operations, the freedom they have to manage their internal affairs can, at times, translate into greater agility and the ability to innovate and flourish in the context of 21st-century India. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
29 pages, 378 KiB  
Article
India’s Other Religious Freedom Problems
by Timothy S. Shah
Religions 2021, 12(7), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070490 - 30 Jun 2021
Viewed by 5764
Abstract
There is no doubt that India is far from perfect when it comes to religious freedom. Indeed, India’s religious freedom problems have become an increasing focus of scholarly and policy attention. However, almost all of this attention is directed at one particular subset [...] Read more.
There is no doubt that India is far from perfect when it comes to religious freedom. Indeed, India’s religious freedom problems have become an increasing focus of scholarly and policy attention. However, almost all of this attention is directed at one particular subset of religious freedom problems—i.e., restrictions imposed on the religious freedom of India’s minority communities, and particularly Muslims and Christians. Meanwhile, serious religious freedom challenges experienced by members of India’s Hindu majority population tend to be ignored. In this article: (1) I first describe the religious freedom situation in India as a complex terrain that requires a multi-dimensional mapping. (2) I then survey existing, influential studies of the religious freedom situation in India and identify their tendency to generate flat, one-dimensional mappings, and their consequent failure to analyze restrictions on the religious freedom of India’s Hindus, including both Hindu individuals and institutions. (3) I briefly analyze India’s regime of “Hindu Erastianism”—i.e., its extensive system of state regulation and control of Hindu institutions—and suggest how and why this regime amounts to a direct attack on core features of institutional religious freedom. (4) I conclude by briefly suggesting that the whole range of India’s religious freedom problems—including its “other”, less discussed problems—can be traced to a longstanding and destructive pattern of ideological polarization that owes as much to an uncompromising statist secularism as to Hindu nationalism. The existence of this now deeply ingrained pattern bodes ill for improvements in India’s religious freedom situation in the short term, and suggests that it is the country’s public culture, rather than its political balance of power, that must change if the world’s largest democracy is to enjoy greater religious freedom and tolerance in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
16 pages, 293 KiB  
Article
Are International Human Rights Organizations Effective in Protecting Religious Freedom?
by Lihui Zhang
Religions 2021, 12(7), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070479 - 28 Jun 2021
Viewed by 3661
Abstract
This paper examines whether international human rights organizations (HROs) influence the protection of religious freedom, and whether the effect is different on the protection of religious rights for institutions versus individuals. This study not only reveals the institutional and individual dimensions of religious [...] Read more.
This paper examines whether international human rights organizations (HROs) influence the protection of religious freedom, and whether the effect is different on the protection of religious rights for institutions versus individuals. This study not only reveals the institutional and individual dimensions of religious restrictions with an exploratory factor analysis, but also uses fixed effects models to analyze cross-national time-series data covering 1990–2003. The results indicate that the domestic presence of HROs has a positive effect on reducing both aggregate religious restrictions and the two dimensions of religious restrictions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
20 pages, 341 KiB  
Article
Islam and Institutional Religious Freedom in Indonesia
by Robert W. Hefner
Religions 2021, 12(6), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060415 - 7 Jun 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8807
Abstract
By emphasizing that individual religious freedom depends for its realization on complex social embeddings, the concept of institutional religious freedom provides an important corrective to conventional, individualistic approaches to religious freedom. The concept also helpfully complicates the investigation of religious freedom by encouraging [...] Read more.
By emphasizing that individual religious freedom depends for its realization on complex social embeddings, the concept of institutional religious freedom provides an important corrective to conventional, individualistic approaches to religious freedom. The concept also helpfully complicates the investigation of religious freedom by encouraging analysts to recognize that different societal and civilizational traditions define religion itself in significantly different ways. Tensions such as these between different social definitions of religion and between different manifestations of institutional religious freedom have been a chronic feature of religious life in Indonesia since the establishment of the republic in 1945. This paper examines these legacies in the context of contemporary Indonesia, especially in light of ongoing disputes over the legal and ethical status of spiritual traditions (kepercayaan) long barred from full state recognition. The essay also explores the theoretical and policy implications of the Indonesian example for the analysis of institutional religious freedom in the late modern world as a whole. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
24 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
Institutional Religious Freedom in Full: What the Liberty of Religious Organizations Really Is and Why It Is an “Essential Service” to the Common Good
by Timothy Samuel Shah
Religions 2021, 12(6), 414; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060414 - 7 Jun 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4709
Abstract
Should the freedom of churches and other religious institutions come down to little more than a grudging recognition that “what happens in the church, stays in the church”? In this article, I provide a more robust definition of what I call institutional religious [...] Read more.
Should the freedom of churches and other religious institutions come down to little more than a grudging recognition that “what happens in the church, stays in the church”? In this article, I provide a more robust definition of what I call institutional religious freedom than a crabbed and merely negative understanding. In addition, I also go beyond a libertarian-style defense of institutional religious freedom as the ecclesiastical equivalent of the “right to be left alone” by suggesting a multitude of reasons why institutional religious freedom in a robust form deserves robust protection. Especially amidst exigent challenges such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, an anemic appeal to an ecclesiastical version of negative liberty on merely jurisdictional grounds will not be enough to defend religious organizations from an increasingly strong temptation and tendency on the part of political authorities—often acting on the basis of understandable intentions—to subject such organizations to sweeping interference even in the most internal matters. In contrast, the article offers an articulation of why both the internal and external freedoms of religious institutions require maximum deference if they are to offer their indispensable contributions—indeed, their “essential services”—to the shared public good in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Underscoring the external and public dimensions of institutional religious freedom, the article follows the work of law and religion scholar W. Cole Durham in that it analytically disaggregates the freedom of religious institutions into three indispensable components: “substantive”, or the right of self-definition; “vertical”, or the right of self-governance; and “horizontal”, or the right of self-directed outward expression and action. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
11 pages, 199 KiB  
Article
How Religion Contributes to the Common Good, Positive Criminology, and Justice Reform
by Byron R. Johnson
Religions 2021, 12(6), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060402 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6317
Abstract
This paper argues that religious freedom has consistently been linked to volunteerism and the work of faith-based individuals and organizations in addressing a variety of social problems including crime and delinquency, substance abuse treatment, offender rehabilitation, and prison reentry. Moreover, the emerging subfield [...] Read more.
This paper argues that religious freedom has consistently been linked to volunteerism and the work of faith-based individuals and organizations in addressing a variety of social problems including crime and delinquency, substance abuse treatment, offender rehabilitation, and prison reentry. Moreover, the emerging subfield of positive criminology is beginning to document the ways in which faith-based efforts are providing more positive and restorative approaches that tend to be effective in reducing crime and promoting prosocial outcomes. Indeed, religious interventions are proving to be some of the most innovative and consequential at a time when jurisdictions are faced with ever-tightening budgets. Moreover, the role of faith-based volunteers and even offender-led religious movements in the process of identity transformation and reform is particularly relevant and timely when there is such a widespread call for evidence-based approaches to justice reform. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
21 pages, 263 KiB  
Article
Litigating the Limits of Religion: Minority and Majority Concerns about Institutional Religious Liberty in India
by Chad M. Bauman
Religions 2021, 12(6), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060400 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4955
Abstract
Western religious liberty advocates tend to focus on restrictions placed on minority religious communities, particularly when advocating abroad, that is, outside of the country in which they reside. In all contemporary democracies, however, adherents of religious majorities also express concerns about religious liberty. [...] Read more.
Western religious liberty advocates tend to focus on restrictions placed on minority religious communities, particularly when advocating abroad, that is, outside of the country in which they reside. In all contemporary democracies, however, adherents of religious majorities also express concerns about religious liberty. For this reason, the article considers both minority and majority concerns about institutional religious freedom in India. This essay provides an overview of religious freedom issues, with a particular focus on institutions, though, as I acknowledge, it is not always simple to distinguish individual from institutional matters of religious freedom. After describing various minority and majority concerns about institutional religious freedom in India, and demonstrating that many of them are related to the Indian government’s distinctive approach to managing religion and religious institutions, I make the argument that while some cross-cutting issues provide the possibility of interreligious understanding and solidarity in matters of religious liberty advocacy, such solidarity will not emerge without considerable effort because of the fact that debates about religious liberty in India often fundamentally involve debates about the very nature of religion itself, and these debates tend to divide rather than unite India’s majority and minority religious communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
27 pages, 321 KiB  
Article
Institutional Religious Freedom: An Overview and Defense
by Paul Marshall
Religions 2021, 12(5), 364; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050364 - 20 May 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4760
Abstract
The idea of institutional religious freedom has become increasingly controversial, especially in the United States, and pressure for such freedom has been growing. The notion that institutions, including commercial ones, can have religious freedom rights has been described as unprecedented. However, the notion [...] Read more.
The idea of institutional religious freedom has become increasingly controversial, especially in the United States, and pressure for such freedom has been growing. The notion that institutions, including commercial ones, can have religious freedom rights has been described as unprecedented. However, the notion of such religious freedom has deep historical roots in a wide range of settings, is deeply intertwined with the growth of free societies, and is tied to the nature of religions themselves. This also applies to religious commercial institutions, which are far more widespread than commonly recognized. I focus particularly on what is it about such institutions that needs protecting and emphasize that what is central is the particular practice that typifies the organization. It needs the freedom to be what it is and to live out a religious commitment. If this calling is denied or subverted, then the institution loses its raison d’être. One of the principal reasons for forbidding government discrimination on matters such as religion is precisely so that private institutions will be able to appropriately employ staff and carry out policies according to their own particular beliefs as to what supports their distinctive mission. Governmental neutrality is intended to be a foundation for a lively and diverse societal pluralism, not for society to become a mirror of the government itself. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
23 pages, 655 KiB  
Article
Ensuring Individual Rights through Institutional Freedoms: The Role of Religious Institutions in Securing Religious Rights
by Jonathan Fox and Roger Finke
Religions 2021, 12(4), 273; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040273 - 15 Apr 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3885
Abstract
Understanding the restrictions placed on religious institutions and associations, or the freedoms that they are denied, is essential for understanding the limits placed on individual religious freedoms and human rights more generally. This study uses the Religion and State round 3 (RAS3) dataset [...] Read more.
Understanding the restrictions placed on religious institutions and associations, or the freedoms that they are denied, is essential for understanding the limits placed on individual religious freedoms and human rights more generally. This study uses the Religion and State round 3 (RAS3) dataset to track restrictions faced by religious organizations and individuals between 1990 and 2014 and explores how reduced institutional freedoms results in fewer individual freedoms. We find that restrictions on both institutional and individual religious freedoms are common and rising. Restrictions on institutional religious freedom are harsher against religious minorities than restrictions on individual freedoms. However, against the majority religion, restrictions on individual religious freedoms are harsher. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society)
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