[Discussion] CONF.: The Unravelling of Civil Society

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

Conference:
The Unravelling of Civil Society: Religion in the Making and Unmaking of the
Modern World

Call for Papers Deadline: 18 December 2005

The growth of religious and ethnic diversity as a consequence of porous, global
labour markets and population flows, the emergence of flexible citizenship, and
the partial erosion of state sovereignty, legal pluralism and multiculturalism,
the spread of fundamentalism, and the growth of popular religious movements are
important and characteristic aspects of globalisation. In the Asian context,
there are distinct arenas of social and political struggle between religious
groups in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines that create conditions for
significant civil conflict. This conference which will be held on 22-24 March
2006 in Singapore will examine how states and societies manage the social and
political complexity of globalisation, religious diversity and cultural
pluralism, and hence respond to diasporic cultures, conflicting religious
identities, cultures and communities. The conference will consider such issues
as emerging religious conflicts related to fundamentalism, the evolution of
citizenship and human rights, the creation of nation-state identities and the
sources of both religious tolerance and violence.

The idea of multiculturalism and its contemporary crisis is in many respects a
uniquely western and modern issue. It can be argued that historically societies
were religiously and culturally diverse, but not necessarily conflictual. The
Ottoman Empire and Islamic Spain are the classical illustrations, and most Asian
societies were, as a result of population movements, inter-continental trade and
missionary activity, social mosaics. In modern societies by contrast religious
conflict – ‘the clash of civilizations’ - appears to be
increasingly the dominant idiom of politic, or at least of political discourse.

Religious revivalism and fundamentalism are often closely associated with modern
Islam, and yet the same or similar processes are characteristic of Judaism,
Christianity, Hinduism and other ‘world religions’. In part these
religious movements are associated with the collapse of communism, educational
revival, globalisation, fundamentalism, and a communications revolution. While
global travel and communication have produced transnational religious
communities, the global labour market also creates a world of diasporic,
fragmented and localised communities, partially held together by modern
communication technologies and global religious networks. The new media
paradoxically make possible the integration of dispersed religious communities,
and constitute a challenge to traditional religious teaching, training and
recruitment. Traditional principles and institutions of religious authority are
paradoxically being democratised, fragmented and localised in a global
communication system.

These social changes raise very fundamental questions about how diasporic
religious communities survive in largely secular societies, and especially in
societies that are characterised by religious diversity. Although the clash of
civilizations thesis may be unduly pessimistic, there is a general sense either
that multiculturalism is failing or it has failed. The principal questions
facing religious leaders are (1) whether it is possible to live with social
diversity without compromising orthodox belief and practice; (2) whether
religious law can exist alongside secular law, and thereby accept legal
pluralism; (3) whether to accept the so-called Westphalian model in which
religion is a personal practice of individuals in their private lives outside
the public sphere of civil society; and (4) whether it is possible to retain the
loyalty of the next generation in a context of international terrorism.

Some sociologists and philosophers have recently argued that only a revival of
cosmopolitan values (respect for other civilizations, care for minority
cultures, and ironic distance from one’s own values, patriotism not
nationalism, and promotion of republican values) can provide a moral alternative
to fundamentalism and xenophobia. These philosophical debates are largely
secular, and hence the question arises as to whether religious traditions can be
cosmopolitan and tolerant in multicultural society without loss of content.

The conference will consider theoretical discussions of religion and
globalization, and empirical cases studies (both historical and contemporary) of
globalization, politics and religion. We welcome papers on conceptual issues in
the sociology of religion, historical studies of the growth of religions in
Asia, analysis of political conflicts in world religions, studies of the process
of globalisation, and case studies of particular societies and religious
movements.

Ms Manjit Kaur
Asia Research Institute
National University of Singapore
AS7, Level 4, 5 Arts Link
Singapore 117570

Tel: (65) 6516 4820
Fax: (65) 6779 1428
Email: arimk@nus.edu.sg

Visit the website at http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/ucs.htm