Religious Liberty for Whom? The Buddhist Politics of Religious Freedom during Myanmar's Transition to Democracy

Frydenlund, Iselin

doi:10.1080/18918131.2017.1288950

Cited by 22 publications

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“…89 E.g. proponents and opponents of arguably discriminatory laws on conversion and interfaith marriage in Myanmar both employ the discourse of religious freedom to advocate their positions; see Frydenlund (2017), p. 70. 90 Hibbard, supra note 68.…”

Section: Regional Trends: Asia As a Contested Space For Religious Nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon

Neo

Scharffs

2021

AsianJLS

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In recent times, religious nationalism has emerged as a major basis for identity and mobilization. In Asia, religious nationalism specifically challenges existing pluralist approaches to constitutional government, which have generally been seen as necessary to ensure peaceful coexistence. The increasing alignment of religious and national boundaries has the worrying capacity to neutralize the “cross-cutting cleavages” that could otherwise vitiate the centrifugal tendencies of pluralistic societies. In the context of pluralistic Asia, therefore, religious nationalism is fundamentally anchored in a rejection of ethnic, religious, cultural, and even legal plurality. This has serious consequences for the freedoms of religious groups, particularly minority groups and minorities within dominant religious groups. This article introduces the Special Issue studying not only the phenomenon of religious nationalism in Asia, but also its impact on the rights of religious groups and their religious freedoms, broadly conceived.

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Section: Regional Trends: Asia As a Contested Space For Religious Nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon

Neo

Scharffs

2021

AsianJLS

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“…As previously noted, monastic mobilisation had not been allowed back in 2007, but the transition process created new space for monastic mobilisation in the public domain. Buddhist protectionist groups in particular benefited from this new space, as the semi-civilian regime of Thein Sein saw such Buddhist protectionist groups as beneficial to its interests (Frydenlund 2017).…”

Section: 'Protect Your Religion!' -The Rise Of Buddhist Protectionismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2015, however, they urged people not to vote NLD on the grounds that it was too Muslim-friendly as the NLD had voted against the laws in Parliament. Moreover, USDP campaign posters explicitly mentioned the laws and the MaBaTha issued flyers urging the people to vote for parties that supported the laws (Frydenlund 2017).…”

Section: 'Protect Your Religion!' -The Rise Of Buddhist Protectionismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Outrage

Rollier¹,

Frøystad²,

Ruud³

2019

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is a sociocultural anthropologist who has taught at the Pratt Institute and at Rutgers and Harvard universities. His principal work examines the relationship of the political and the religious, as mediated by language and law, in colonial and postcolonial Pakistan. He is also the co-editor of Love, War and Other Longings: Essays on Cinema in Pakistan (OUP, 2019). Kathinka Frøystad is a social anthropologist and Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oslo working on religious offence, ritual crossings and other aspects of religious complexity. Her works include Blended Boundaries: Caste, Class and Shifting Faces of 'Hinduness' in a North Indian City (OUP, 2005), as well as a number of articles and book chapters.

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“…In India, scholars have mostly discussed anti-conversion legislation in terms of sovereignty and issues of religious identity, rather than regarding the actual political processes of the bills (see Osuri 2013;Fernandes 2011). The most recent development of anti-conversion trends have taken place in Myanmar, with a package of four laws around marriage, conversion, polygamy, and birth control (Frydenlund 2017). In Sri Lanka, studies have been more empirically grounded and have discussed the policy process of the various bills (see Mahadev 2013;Berkwitz 2008;Matthews 2007;Owens 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gifts of allurement: anti-conversion legislation, gift-giving, and political allegiance in South Asia

Hertzberg¹

2020

Journal of Contemporary Religion

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The last decade has seen an escalation of various acts of anticonversion legislation in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and in different states of India. Several scholars comment that the upsurge of anti-conversion legislation can be linked to the ascension of religious nationalism in India and Sri Lanka, yet recent trends indicate that such laws are also proposed by moderate political forces. What is notable about this anti-conversion legislation is that it criminalizes 'improper' conversions along the lines of force, fraud, and allurement/inducement. While Article 18(2) of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects against coercion, and thus forcible conversions, and while the concepts of force and fraud are already covered by the penal codes of the respective countries, the remaining element of controversy of anti-conversion legislation is that of allurement and/or inducement. 'Allurement' is defined as the offer of any temptation for the purpose of converting a person professing one religion to another religion, in the form of: "(i) any gift or gratification whether in cash or kind, (ii) a grant of any material benefit, whether monetary or otherwise, (iii) the grant of employment or grant of promotion in employment" (Owens 2006-2007, 337). Yet, despite critical remarks from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, that these anti-conversion proposals are vague in their formulations and may lead to religious persecution, the legislative attempts are persistent in their demand to criminalize the allegedly religious gifts of allurement. This article argues that the rationale behind anti-conversion legislation stems from a threefold objective: (1) the dislike of gifts from the religious Other in particular and proselytization in general, (2) legislation as a regulating mechanism of majority religious bodies vis-àvis religious minorities, (3) anti-conversion laws demanding the complicity of the state in relation to the majority religions, accentuating state patronage as a tacit form of state religion bill.

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Religious Liberty for Whom? The Buddhist Politics of Religious Freedom during Myanmar's Transition to Democracy

Cited by 22 publications

References 0 publications

Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon

Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon

Outrage

The gifts of allurement: anti-conversion legislation, gift-giving, and political allegiance in South Asia

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