With two new publications, the Museum of Mormon History in Mexico has firmly established itself as a leading venue for the production of Mormon history in Mexico. The Spanish translation and English commentary on Part 1 of F. LaMond Tulllis's Mormons in Mexico is a significant contribution to both Spanish and English readers. This text, published through Deseret Book, makes a valuable resource available to Spanish speakers. It also offers an impressive correction of documentary errors in Tullis's interpretation and historical data. A second significant contribution to the literature on the same subject is a series of four articles available in Spanish or English by Fernando R. Gómez Páez (museum president). Read side by side, the translation of Tullis's book and this new selection of articles by the museum's president provide a worthwhile and balanced introduction to Mexican Mormon history. Readers will recognize that Mormon history in Mexico extends well beyond the colonies in Chihuahua and Sonora. The most interesting stories may very well come from central Mexico. Mexican Mormons now have a significant voice in the writing of their own Mormon histories.

The Jamaican government reconsidering the Obeah Act in the summer of 2019 highlighted the legacy of prejudice and criminalization of Africana religious systems and practices left by colonization across ethno-linguistic borders and the broader Black Atlantic. It also highlighted how some traditions such as Béninois Vodun, Candomblé, Santería, and oriṣa worship in parts of Nigeria have successfully managed to combat state policing and prejudice to gain official recognition and legal protection. However, this article analyzes the way even the legal and conceptual success of Africana religions in the modern world places them in a Catch-22. Drawing attention to the fundamental differences between modern conceptions and assumptions of what constitutes “religion,” the article traces the history of how modern political and legal structures either exclude and oppress Africana traditions or exert subtle pressure on them to conform to conceptions of “religion” that are more intelligible and ac...

טַעַם וָדַעַת: בין אדם לאדם, למקום ולזמן, נפתלי רוטנברג, ירושלים תשפ"ב, 2022.
Naftali Rothenberg
Reason and Opinion
Among Person to Person, God and Time
טַעַם וָדַעַת: בין אדם לאדם, למקום ולזמן, משתף את הקוראים בניסיונות חוזרים ונשנים למפגשים בין אדם לעצמו, לקרוב ולרחוק. במשך כשלושה עשורים בחן המחבר נושאים רבים העומדים במוקד הדיון הציבורי בתרבות היהודית, בחברה ובפוליטיקה הישראלית: נגישות לידע וסמכות הפרשנות; זמנים ומועדים של חיבור וריחוק; מקומות קדושים כזירת-קרב; דמוקרטיה ומדינת-הלאום; רוב ומיעוט; דת ומדינה; זרמים ויחסים בין קבוצות ועוד.  כמה מן הסוגיות הנדונות, נתונות מזה שנים רבות, במחלוקות קשות וסוערות. קובץ המאמרים בספר זה הוא הצעה לניסיון אחר להבעת דעה ולהשתתפות פעילה בדיון הציבורי, בלי לטשטש את ההבדלים והמחלוקות. עמדה ביקורתית ומחלוקת חריפה ועמוקה יכולה להישמע תוך הקשבה לדעות מנוגדות ולאמיתות של אחרים.
לרכישת עותק מודפס 60₪ כולל משלוח: נא לכתוב לחיה, במייל  hayatikoch@gmail.com

Religion’s effect on individual tendency to engage in political protest is influenced both by the resources available to citizens at the individual level and opportunities provided to religious groups and organizations at the country level. Combining data from last two waves of the World Values Surveys with aggregate data on religious regulation, we show that private religious beliefs reduce an individual’s protest potential while involvement in religious social networks fosters it. At the country level, we find that government regulation of religion decreases individual tendency to protest, and has an especially detrimental effect on the likelihood of religious minorities joining peaceful protest activities. These findings are in line with opportunity structure theories that stress the importance of system openness for fostering political protest.

""An unexpected gem. An innovative book which explores the everyday lived reality of Muslim minorities in Hong Kong. The contemporary focus is framed by a fascinating history of South Asian Muslims which reaches back into the early 19th century. This beautifully wrought study sheds a great deal of light on a range of issues impacting Muslim minorities: from the extent of hybridity—adapting basketball spaces to cricket—to the challenge of eating halal in a culinary culture where pork is ubiquitous! Young Muslims in Hong Kong face racism and their inability to access Chinese language schools has huge implications for employment and social mobility. However, Islam is respected and they are not seen through a security lens. In all, a hopeful study." —Philip Lewis, author of Islamic Britain and Young British and Muslim

"There has long been a need for a book-length account of Muslims in Hong Kong; this readable and informative book admirably fills this void. Anyone interested in how Muslims make their lives and practice their faith in the Chinese city of Hong Kong should definitely read it." —Gordon Mathews, author of Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong

"In this insightful and fascinating book, O'Connor walks us through the bustling streets of Hong Kong where space, civility, hope and freedom are created every day by the territory's diverse Muslims. It provides a rare glimpse into an imperfect, but perhaps 'good enough' cosmopolitanism, lived in the schools, homes, shops and lives of ordinary people. Amidst the worry and panic about young Muslims in diaspora as either problems or victims, this is a refreshing and much-needed account of the valuable ways a global city deals with difference. An essential text for scholars and students of youth, diversity and contemporary multiculturalism." —Anita Harris, author of Young People and Everyday Multiculturalism

More than a quarter of a million Muslims live and work in Hong Kong. Among them are descendants of families who have been in the city for generations, recent immigrants from around the world, and growing numbers of migrant workers. Islam in Hong Kong explores the lives of Muslims as ethnic and religious minorities in this unique postcolonial Chinese city. Drawing on interviews with Muslims of different origins, O’Connor builds a detailed picture of daily life through topical chapters on language, space, religious education, daily prayers, maintaining a halal diet in a Chinese environment, racism, and other subjects. Although the picture that emerges is complex and ambiguous, one striking conclusion is that Muslims in Hong Kong generally find acceptance as a community and do not consider themselves to be victimised because of their religion."

The United States has long grappled with the question of how to maintain an appropriate combination of religion and politics in the public sphere. The current electoral cycle is no different, as Presidential candidates attempt to negotiate both the political and religious landscapes. This essay introduces a special forum on rhetoric and religion in contemporary politics and touches on some recent instances of how religious differences have played out in the current political environment. Some of the issues discussed include the separation of church and state, Mitt Romney’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Rick Santorum’s conception of the “war on religion,” and the controversy over contraceptives at religious institutions and Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on a Georgetown law student.

Between 1753 and 1836, the institution of marriage in Britain saw transformative change through the introduction of legislation by the State.This dissertation is a reevaluation of the the nature of marriage legislation between 1753 and 1836, and thus the relationship between the institution of marriage and the British state. It underpins the teleological assumption of marriage legislation as 'progressive' in nature, and challenges Lawrence Stone's theory of the rise of the 'compassionate marriage'.

This essay purports that from the 'Clandestine Marriage Act 1753' to 'An Act For Marriages in England', and the 'General Register Act 1836', the Legislature's primary concern for enacting reform remained the orderly inheritance of land and title. To accomplish this, the state brought marriage under its own regulatory authority in 1753, previously a total remit of the Church, with the main objective of reducing the number of illegitimately solemnised marriages, however still legitimate in the eyes of the Church, known as Clandestine Marriages. The recording of life events, 'registers', were gradually 'secularised' and standardised for legislation during this process, to aid this.

The process of change and the infringement upon the Church's historic prerogatives in this period must be seen as a step towards the 'modern information state', with a growing reach into, and over, the lives of its citizens. Greater volumes of increasingly accurate and detailed information was gathered on individuals through register regulation. Traditional records of religious milestone (Christening, funeral) was seen as insufficient and too inaccurate in the eyes of civil lawyers and the expanding government departments (especially the Poor Law Department). Legislation gradually withdrew the prerogative from the Church to civil, professional registrars who would record biological milestones (birth dates, death dates for cause of death) to attain a greater level of accuracy. Foucault helps us understand this gathering of information as 'biopower', fueled by biological information that must be collected by law and can be used by the state to control, or at least manipulate, its citizens.

Overall, through reevaluating the history of marriage, we see the true nature of the change to the institution rooted in inheritance and accuracy of information gathering, not in a quest for a more 'liberal' and 'progressive' institution.

This study examines separation of religion and state in Western democracies and the Middle East using five measures from the Religion and State dataset. These variables measure the official relationship between religion and the state, the comparative treatment of different religions, discrimination against minority religions, regulation of the majority religion, and religious legislation. The results show that while all of these factors are more prevalent in the Middle East, all of them are also present in at least some Western democracies. Also, all Western democracies, except the US, have at least some of these five forms of government entanglement with religion. This implies US separation of religion and state is the exception for liberal democracies rather than the rule and that religious democracy, including Islamic democracy, is possible.

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This article is a case study of a lay Buddhist community that employs a business model called “living hall” (Shenghuo guan 生活馆) to facilitate the practice of Tibetan Buddhism among its members. The living hall model is explored in the context of the politics of religion in the People’s Republic of China (prc) and the dynamics of Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese in the past decades. The author investigates the model’s origin, its implementation in a contemporary Buddhist community, and its interaction with the discourse on Buddhism in the prc. The article joins a recent academic endeavor to illuminate the different modalities in which lay practitioners carry out Buddhist practice outside the sphere of institutionalized Buddhism. The article sheds light on the delicate dynamics between religion and state control in the prc and the role of entrepreneurs and materiality within lay Tibetan Buddhism.

This study elaborates the interaction between nationalism and religion in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia between two world wars. It analyzes the relationaship
between the Serbian Ortodox Church, representative of Eastern Christianity, and
Serbian nationalism.Focusing on religion or Serbian Ortodox Church, discourse and
dimensions of interaction between modern nation and modern nationalism have been
explained. Due to the fact that so-called interaction affected both modernisation and
secularisation processes, it has been a requirement to examine Church-State, Church-
Nation interactions pertaining to de facto status, past and rhetorics of Serbian
Ortodox Churh. However, evolution of nationalisation notion in what institutions
through what incidents have been discussed within the framework of political history
of The First Yugoslavia.
In that sense, this study aims atanalyzing the events, commemorating
ceremonies, myths and discourses about the interaction between Church and state,
Church and Serbian identity with their political implications.

The XVI book of the Theodosian Code contains a title, the seventh, which collects 7 laws on the topic of apostasy, emanated from Theodosius I (CTH 16, 7, 1, year 381) and up to 426 (CTH 16, 7, 7 ), behind the publication of the Codex. The essay shall consider and analyze in detail these seven constitutions, highlighting the progressive tightening of sanctions against apostates, to the overall definition of a specific crimen, according to the legal formula of finding the nomen apostatarum. The purpose of this set of laws is to clarify the legal position and social circumstances of a religious crime, unthinkable until a few decades ago. The definition of a nomen translates into permanent condemnation, who proceeds from the past, it remains steady and reliable in the present, is designed by the legislator to let it be perpetual in the future.

Il XVI libro del Codice Teodosiano contiene un titolo, il settimo, che raccoglie 7 costituzioni sul tema dell’apostasia, emanate a partire da Teodosio I (CTh 16, 7, 1 del 381) e fino al 426 (CTh 16, 7, 7), a ridosso della pubblicazione del Codex. Il saggio prende in considerazione e analizza nel dettaglio queste sette costituzioni, mettendo in evidenza il progressivo inasprimento delle sanzioni nei confronti degli apostati, fino alla definizione complessiva di un crimen specifico, secondo la formula giuridica della individuazione del nomen apostatarum. Lo scopo di questo insieme di leggi consiste nel chiarire la posizione giuridica e sociale di una fattispecie religiosa fino a pochi decenni prima impensabile, che diviene ora anche fattispecie criminosa. L’apposizione di un nomen si traduce in condanna permanente, che procede dal passato, resta costante e certa nel presente, è concepita dal legislatore perchè si perpetui nel futuro.

A family dispute in 1960, in which a grandfather refused to return his grandson Yossele Schumacher to the custody of his parents, developed into a conflict between secular and religious communities in Israel. Neturei Karta, an anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox movement that had opposed the State of Israel since its founding twelve years earlier (1948), orchestrated the kidnapping of the boy while smuggling him outside of Israel.
In confronting the abduction affair, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, needed to show that no group, even if it is governed by religious principles, has any privileges that put it above the law. After two and a half years of unsuccessful investigations, Ben-Gurion recruited the Mossad to find the boy. Eventually, Yossele was found in New York and was returned to his parents.
In this article, I discuss the conditions that led to the crisis and the measures taken to resolve it. The first part of the article discusses the founding of the Neturei Karta movement, its radical and insular ideology, and the deterioration that led to the kidnapping of Yossele. The second part presents Ben Gurion’s principle of Mamlakhtiyut (statism) and his attitude toward the conflict. The third part examines theoretical aspects of liberal thought regarding religious minorities that help analyze the ways in which the State of Israel confronted and resolved this episode.

Çetin Özek is a scientist once appearing with his ideas as an ideo-logical leader in Left Wing. İlhan Arsel is also a scientist well known with his criticism towards the Religion -Islam and he also participated in process of preperation of 1961 Constitutional Law. The opinions of both scientists above about the State-Religion re-lation are to be evaluated. In this study, Islam-Democracy and Is-lam-Secularism approaches of these two scientists will be dis-cussed and to points of similarities and differances between these two arguments will be referred.

This article reviews recent government efforts to address the “Alevi issue” and identify their successes and failures. It demonstrates that the “Alevi openings” constituted paradoxical processes: tracing various components of the “openings” through news media, it shows that, on one hand, they enabled the “Alevi issue” to be brought to public attention. On the other hand, once Alevis were made more visible in public, non-sympathizers could mobilize their representation for their own ends. These empirical findings have profound theoretical implications. They prove that “discursive claims of democratization” at the state level do not necessarily result in democratic mechanisms, which can resolve the demands of a civil society. The author argues that what she calls the “tutelary secularism” in Turkey, in other words, the management and disciplining of religious groups, continues under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule. This model not only fails, but also produces new sources of conflict in Turkey.

המאמר עוסק בהיעדר הסדרה חוקית מחייבת של מקצוע המוהלים במדינת ישראל. שלא כמקצועות רבים המשלבים מומחיות מעין-רפואית, מוהלים במדינת ישראל אינם מחויבים לעמוד בתנאים הכוללים, בין השאר, בחינות רשמיות, בדיקות רפואיות, היגיינה וחובת ביטוח. תנאים אלה וולונטריים, וההחלטה לפנות לוועדה הבין-משרדית לפיקוח על מוהלים של הרבנות הראשית ומשרד הבריאות, הפועלת במדינת ישראל משנות השבעים של המאה העשרים, היא בידי המוהל.
בעשרים השנים האחרונות נעשו ניסיונות רבים להביא להסדרה מחייבת של מקצוע המוהלים ולפיקוח על פעילותם, אך ללא הצלחה. המאמר בוחן את השאלה מדוע ניסיונות אלו לא צלחו, עומד על ההצדקות להסדרה חוקית של מקצוע המוהלים ודוחה את הנימוקים לאי-ההסדרה. לאחר מכן המאמר מציג הצעה להסדרה מחייבת המעגנת בחקיקה את מעמדה ופעילותה של הוועדה הבין-משרדית.

The paper involves the lack of a binding regulation of the circumciser profession in Israel. Unlike many professions involving medical expertise, circumcisers in Israel are not obliged by law to comply with requirements such as formal exams, medical tests, hygiene and insurance. These requirements are voluntary, and the decision whether to contact the inter-ministerial committee supervising circumcisers or operate independently is in the hands of every circumciser. Many attempts have been made in the last twenty years to regulate the circumciser profession to no avail. The paper examines why these attempts have failed, illuminates the justifications for regulation of the profession, and rejects the reasoning opposing regulation. In addition, the paper presents a proposal for regulation that sets in law the inter-ministerial committee's status and activity.

This paper discusses the compatibility of Sharia, or Islamic law, with the Canadian legal system and liberal values. The paper examines the key components of Sharia, including financial regulations, marriage and divorce laws, and penal law, and compares them to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and John Rawls' theories of social justice. The paper also considers the potential for conflict between Sharia and the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 and parliamentary tradition. The paper ultimately concludes that Sharia is incompatible with the Canadian legal system due to its patriarchal and discriminatory nature, and potential violations of the Charter and international human rights laws. The paper also discusses the challenges of dealing with a religious legal system within a Western state, such as the potential for discrimination against non-Muslims and suppression of freedom of thought and speech.

The objective of this article is to highlight the impact of regulatory issues of the Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB) on Shari’ah compliance in the contemporary Islamic finance industry. For institutions offering Islamic Financial Services (IIFS) to gain the trust of their Muslim clients, financial institutions normally incorporate a religious board in the form of an SSB. In theory, the function of the SSB is to ensure that IIFS operate within Shari’ah norms and teachings. However, given that SSBs in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and the United Kingdom are generally unregulated, concerns have been raised about the feasibility of a viable and functional Shari’ah governance culture in IIFS. Doubts relate mainly to the unclear functions and legal settings of SSBs; a lack of accountability and transparency; conflict of interests and the lack of independence of SSBs, as well as poor training and the inadequate qualifications of SSB members. The key argument in this article is that the prevalence of these critical governance issues largely reduces the level of Shari’ah compliance in the Islamic finance industry. Thus, the article argues that regulators in Islamic and secular countries need to intervene and regulate Shari’ah governance in IIFS so as to ensure a sound financial system and investor confidence.

Rothenberg, Naftali, Conversion in Transition: practical, conceptual and Halakhic changes in Israel, in: Leonard Greenspoon ed. Who Is A Jew? Reflections on History, Religion, and Culture, Purdue University Press, 2014
In this article I will introduce a general picture of the conversion status in contemporary Israel and a brief summary of the bureaucratic factors in the current crisis. Views of different streams in Israeli society like Ultraorthodox and Religious Zionists will be briefly referred too.
The main focus will be on the radical Halakhic changes regarding conversion that took place in rabbinical courts. We'll deal with questions flowing from and related to these changes through meta-halakhic discourse.

This article attempts to analyse a contemporary phenomenon from the sphere of alternative religiosity in the form of joke religions. The main subject of  the  analysis  is  a  new  religious  movement  called  the  Church  of  the  Flying  Spaghetti  Monster  (CFSM),  founded  in  the  USA  in  2005.  By  referring  to  the  theory of carnival fun, joining the sacrum and profanum, and passing through the various doctrinal threads of this religious movement, the author attempts to answer the question of whether the CFSM can be considered a genuine religion or only a joke.
The article begins with a short reflection on the possibility of joking about religion and faith, and the response to religious humour by people of faith, which may  range  from  anger  to  disgust  and  sometimes  even  to  aggression.  Then,  after a short history of this new (pseudo-)religious movement, a perspective is developed. It emerges that the whole structure of the so-called doctrine of this (quasi-)religion refers to other known religions and beliefs, including other new religious movements.

גיורים וממסדים
מתוך: פתח דבר, זהויות, כתב עת לתרבות ולזהות יהודית, גיליון 3, תשע"ג, 2013
תהליך הגיור עבר שינוי הלכתי ובירוקרטי מרחיק לכת בעשרות השנים האחרונות. מאמר קצר זה על פולמוס הגיור המתמשך, בעיקר בין קבוצות בציונות הדתית לבין עצמן, מתאר שינויים אלה.

For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the “natural” human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout history. Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart this assumption, Brent Nongbri shows that the idea of religion as a sphere of life distinct from politics, economics, or science is a recent development in European history—a development that has been projected outward in space and backward in time with the result that religion now appears to be a natural and necessary part of our world.

Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Nongbri demonstrates that in antiquity, there was no conceptual arena that could be designated as “religious” as opposed to “secular.” Surveying representative episodes from a two-thousand-year period, while constantly attending to the concrete social, political, and colonial contexts that shaped relevant works of philosophers, legal theorists, missionaries, and others, Nongbri offers a concise and readable account of the emergence of the concept of religion.

From an ethnographic and qualitative perspective, we will explore religious expression around the globe, including the major Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam but also Buddhism, Hinduism, African religions, and lesser-known faiths from small-scale, non-industrialized societies. Emphasis is placed on the analytic categories for understanding religious experiences and the prospects and challenges of cross-cultural comparison. We will adopt the techniques of anthropological inquiry to consider the social forces at work within religious life, including the political, colonial, gendered, and transnational dimensions of worship. Topics of ritual, mythology, ecology, witchcraft, trance, magic, and science will guide our exploration of belief and spirituality beyond the formal boundaries of institutional religions. Experiential assignments, including participant observation and interviews with practitioners of unfamiliar spiritual traditions, are combined with in-depth written exercises to strengthen intercultural and communication skills.

Содержание номера


Дашковский П. К. Радиоуглеродное и археологическое датирование погребения скифского времени из могильника Чинета-II (Алтай)
Сакович Е. Г. Тибетские источники о Чингис-хане
Серегин Н. Н. Погребальный обряд раннесредневековых тюрокЦентральной Азии: формирование и эволюция
Должиков В. А. Н. М. Ядринцев об этнокультурном взаимодействии крестьян-старообрядцев Русского Алтая с аборигенным населением
Гостюшева Е. М. Конфессиональный состав Кабинета Его Императорского Величества Алтайского округа в первое десятилетие XX в.
Кащаева М. В. Пятидесятничество в XXI в.: парадигмы модернизации
Мунхбат Д. Паломничество монголов: традиции и современность
Эшматова Г. Б. Репрессии против служителей культа на Алтае в первые годы советской власти
Мусаев В. И. Поворот в советской национальной политике в середине — второй половине 1930‑х гг.
Ильин В. Н. Старообрядческие браки в контексте государственно-конфессиональной политики Российской империи на территории Томской губернии в XIX в.
Dashkovskiy P. K., Shershneva E. A., Cedav N. Perception of ethnic and religious processes by mongolia population (a sociological study)
Щеглов С. Г. В. А. Должиков: ученый и педагог


В журнале представлены результаты изучения этнокультурных процессов и различных мировоззренческих систем народов, проживавших на территории Евразии в древности, эпоху средневековья и в период этнографической современности. Ряд работ посвящен изучению религиозных верований и обрядов современных традиционных обществ, новым религиозным движениям, а также особенностям государственно-конфессиональной и национальной политики. Издание рассчитано на религиоведов, историков, археологов, этнографов, культурологов и всех интересующихся историей народов и религий Eвразии.

Building upon the work that Robert D. Linder and Richard V. Pierard started in Civil Religion and the Presidency, this book begins with examinations of how Lyndon Johnson, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton employed civil religion during their presidencies. Convinced that the influence of civil religion expands beyond the White House, the contributing scholars of this volume also explore the broader effects of civil religion upon Christian denominations and American social development.                                                                                                               

This thought-provoking work analyzes the effects of American civil religion upon American politics and Christian denominations. Focusing upon particular presidencies and specific denominations, these essays examine how civil religion has helped to define religio-political discourse, revise the way certain Christians--most notably, Baptists, Mennonites, and Pentecostals--related to American life, and frame elements of debates about controversial issues such as gender, nationalism, and civic duty.

Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, it would be better to speak of 'equidistance' between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a 'balanced treatment' towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today's Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the 'epiphany' of well-armed, powerful 'Others' (Muslim, Christian or secular) which generated frustration and fear to such an extent that a religious nationalism (Hindutva) was born. Nehru and the Left of the Congress Party leadership thought that modernity would overcome religion, which is a remnant of the past. They were confident that a political culture based on pluralism and tolerance would become the foundations of the new society. This is exactly what Hindu Nationalism takes issue with: the 'pseudo-seculars' project of building the national identity without Hinduism or against Hinduism. Hindutva asserts that Hinduism is the basis of the Indian civilization. The Hindu ethos is the soul of the nation.

The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) was established in January 2007 as an autonomous School within the Nanyang Technological University. RSIS' mission is to be a leading research and graduate teaching institution in strategic and international affairs in the Asia-Pacific. To accomplish this mission, RSIS will:  Provide a rigorous professional graduate education in international affairs with a strong practical and area emphasis  Conduct policy-relevant research in national security, defence and strategic studies, diplomacy and international relations  Collaborate with like-minded schools of international affairs to form a global network of excellence Graduate Training in International Affairs RSIS offers an exacting graduate education in international affairs, taught by an international faculty of leading thinkers and practitioners. The teaching programme consists of the Master of Science (MSc) degrees in Strategic Studies, International Relations, International Political Economy and Asian Studies as well as The Nanyang MBA (International Studies) offered jointly with the Nanyang Business School. The graduate teaching is distinguished by their focus on the Asia-Pacific region, the professional practice of international affairs and the cultivation of academic depth. Over 190 students, the majority from abroad, are enrolled with the School. A small and select Ph.D. programme caters to students whose interests match those of specific faculty members.

Dereje Feyissa
University of Bayreuth
Bruce B. Lawrence
Duke University
Abstract
Ethiopian Muslims have only had access to public space and opportunity for religious self-definition and collective influence since 1991. During little more than two decades, how have they advanced subjective agency within the political constraints of the current government, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front or EPRDF? This article addresses that question by backgrounding the history of Islamic expansion into Ethiopia, tracing Muslim engagement with Christian political elites over several hundred years, till the latter part of the 21st century. After the deposition of Haile Selasse in 1974, the DERG assumed power and in the name of a socialist agenda, suppressed all religions from 1975–1991. DERG socialism has been replaced by EPRDF pluralism, yet the structural constraints of the latter have weakened the efforts of Ethiopian Muslims to find their rightful place in the public square. Abetted and assisted by overseas immigrant communities, in both Western Europe and North America, Ethiopian Muslims continue to contest securitization and marginalization by the state, even as they struggle with regional, national and transnational issues that impact all Muslim identity politics in the second decade of the 21st century.

In 2012, the Heads of State of ASEAN Member
States signed the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
(“AHRD”), uniformly affirming and committing to
respecting, promoting, and protecting human rights
and fundamental freedoms in the region.1
In the
Preamble to the AHRD, ASEAN governments stated
their “commitment to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations,
the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,
and other international human rights instruments
to which ASEAN Member States are parties.” This
pledge towards realizing the human rights and
fundamental freedoms of the people of ASEAN
Member States reiterates one of the fundamental
purposes of ASEAN as stated in the ASEAN
Charter, and further strengthens ASEAN’s political
commitments as set out in the ASEAN Community
Blueprints.

The present study seeks to contribute to this
discussion by providing an overview of state practice
on the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
across ASEAN, and highlighting serious issues of
religious persecution and conflict for ASEAN’s
attention. This report provides a critical analysis of
recent significant events, through which ASEAN,
its Member States, and civil society organizations
can reflect on both the progress made and the
challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that
this aspiration is fulfilled.