Religious Minorities

La sharía y el derecho islámico son dos referentes fundamentales para la organización y supervivencia de las comunidades musulmanas en los países occidentales. Les han permitido configurar de una manera informal, pero decisiva, los márgenes de actuación y de buenas prácticas para el cumplimiento de los preceptos del islam en la diáspora. Este libro ofrece un estudio de las demandas de autorregulación jurídica de las minorías religiosas en Occidente. Una voluntad de autorregulación que surge de la necesidad de contar con un sistema normativo propio basado en la cultura y la religión de sus miembros, y que se enmarca en el denominado pluralismo jurídico de base religiosa, que aborda la posible coexistencia de dos o más sistemas u ordenamientos normativos. A través de estas propuestas y las controversias a las que ha dado lugar, se manifiesta la implosión jurídica que la diversidad cultural y religiosa ha provocado en las sociedades occidentales y la necesidad de comprenderla para, quizá, aceptarla y, en su debido momento, incluirla.

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.

The book focuses on the significance of the concept of minority in international law together with the legal norms and principles emerged in the periods following the two world wars. The first chapter focuses on the discussions in the legal literature concerning the definability of the concept of minority. The second chapter presents the main bodies and procedures of minority rights protection under the rubric of the international organisations. The main objective of this chapter is to provide new interpretations of international minority in relationship with the legal instruments and the decisions of the relevant monitoring organs working under the UN and COE. The last chapter discusses whether there exists a direct link between the protection of minority rights and internal as well as external forms of self-determination.

The study argues that a relatively non-assertive language adopted in international minority rights instruments gives a large margin of appreciation for states and international monitoring organs in promoting and protecting minority rights. In addition, the work places the issues surrounding minority protection in the larger political context of creating a new platform for real equality and non-discrimination discourse.

In line with this volume’s aim to highlight how countries govern and address religion – and particularly religious minorities – this chapter focusses on religious diversity governance in contemporary Italy, the existing official recognition of (and lack thereof ) religious groups, and the regulations between the state and the different confessions practised by various religious communities, old and new.

Since 2013, the wars in Iraq and Syria have revived the persecution of Christians of the Middle East as an issue in Europe, in the context of Islamist targeting of religious minorities. The French case is especially revealing of the NGO, ideological and political movements that have emerged to advocate for the “Christians of the Middle East”, or “Oriental Christians” (in French, “Chrétiens d’Orient”, “Christians of the Orient”). The use of this term is far from reflecting the diversity of Christian standpoints with respect to these wars. Rather, both in France and in Syria, it contributes to processes in which identities become redefined.

Religious Laws and Freedoms in Contemporary Poland: Legislation and the Sociocultural Reality in the Republic of Poland

The work at hand comprises a multifaceted analysis of religious rights and freedoms in Poland after the post-1989 political transformation. Its multidimensionality is anchored in a presentation of the legal state of affairs, yet expanded to encompass a range of determinant sociocultural factors, as well as a verification of the actual condition of religious rights based upon testimonies by religious minority representatives themselves. The book consists of three parts. In the first chapter, elementary rights and freedoms that fall within the realm of denominational law have been presented – above all, a guarantee of freedom of conscience and religion as well as the official equality of all denominations. This section of the volume is focused on the analysis of denominational law currently in effect in Poland, starting from legal acts of the highest order (e.g., constitutional or international law), through statutory law, and including acts of the lowest order (e.g., regulations and dispositions). Apart from more general laws, also presented here are detailed regulations describing the relations between the state and specific religious associations. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, the Concordat serves as one example; some of the other churches have entered into separate legal agreements. The Polish state model is described with respect to religious denominations: a separation amenable to the maintenance of institutional relations. The second chapter outlines different factors that strongly bear on the situation of certain churches and religious associations. Firstly, it relates to the statistical structure of denominations with the causes and effects of this structure for the situation in Poland. Secondly, it points to historical events that influenced the current situation as well as the consciousness and identity of Poles. Thirdly, it explains denominational politics after 1989, with its priorities, advantages, and failures. Finally, it presents the characteristics of global and international processes that influence the situation of religions in Poland. These include globalization, secularization, modernization, liberalism, and the emergence of new religious movements. In the third chapter, the attitudes of various religious minority representatives are expounded with regard to the legal resolutions that the state has accepted as well as their practical implementation. The primary source for this analysis was religious press articles. Among the most common topics appearing therein are the Polish constitution, attitudes towards the European Union, the Concordat, statutory laws, religious education in public schools, as well as ecumenism and inter-religious relationships. The selection of these aspects from among many was determined by the prevalence of recisely these problems in religious minority print media. Similar criteria were applied in the selection of periodicals: 'Zwiastun' from the Lutheran Church, 'Jednota' from the Polish Reformed Evangelical Church, 'Słowo Prawdy' from the Christian Baptist Church, and 'Przegląd Prawosławny' from the Polish Orthodox Church. Religious rights and freedoms in contemporary Poland constitute an incredibly complex issue. The legislation is maintained within international standards. Its sociocultural, real implementation, however, is at times constrained by certain difficulties arising, among other things, due to a lack of training among government officials or sluggishness in legal procedures. The nearly monolithic (Roman Catholic) denominational structure organically affects the potential for implementing certain religious minority rights despite the fact that the basic principles do remain the same for everyone.

What is the manner in which Qadiani Ahmadiyya have propagated their beliefs and teachings to Indonesian Muslims and the factors that have attracted people to this movement and led them to convert to Ahmadiyya? What are the social implications of conversion? There is a perception that people’s receptiveness to Ahmadiyya is due mainly to its modernist character. But for Indonesians Qadiani’s most attractive feature is not its modernist stance, but rather its followers’ belief in the coming of the Messiah, its close knit organization and its sober and passionate missionaries. In contrast to members of the Lahore branch of Ahmadiyya, known for its rational tendency, members of the Qadiani branch have in their efforts at propagation of the faith emphasized their distinctive beliefs, such as the natural death of Jesus and the caliphate system. Qadiani Ahmadiyya has also tended to be a mystical movement whose members have a strong belief in supernatural experiences and dreams. They use these experiences and dreams to show God’s preference for them and God’s interference in human relationships, as when God sides with them.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, religious services worldwide were forced to migrate online. This phenomenon is still yet to be properly investigated, especially in the context of religious and ethnic minorities: a research gap that this paper aims to address. Herein, 18 semi-structured in-depth interviews with members of the Russian community in South Tyrol served as methodological tool to explore: (1) the role of the Orthodox religion and (2) of digital media for the community and, finally, (3) how its members enacted religion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical results show how community members, despite being highly familiar with digital tools and technology-based solutions, deliberately chose not to use digital media to search for religious content or to attend religious services. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic and an increasingly digitised world, the specific example of the Russian community in South Tyrol helps to better understand how migrant communities live and enact religion. The present study aims at contributing to the emerging field of the study of (digital) religion and embodiment of religion from a minority perspective

A significant movement of apostasy from Islam is underway in the Middle East, one that is simultaneously birthing a new religious minority. Kurdistan is experiencing a gradually intensifying revival of Zoroastrianism as increasing numbers of Kurds are converting to the tradition or affiliating with it at varying levels.

In this article, I present how various cultural identity factors can result in either having privilege or vulnerability. According to the latest hate crime statistics, the prevalence of religiously-motivated bias crimes is second only to racial/ethnic bias crimes. More specifically, Jews and Muslims are the most common victims of these incidents. This is concerning because there recently has been a spike in religiously- motivated bias crimes. However, on a subtler level, religious microaggressions threaten the self-concept of religious minorities. Examples are provided of how those who commit microaggressions might (a) endorse religious stereotypes, (b) engage in exoticization of Jews and Muslims, (c) pathologize different religious groups (d) assume their religious identity is the norm, (e) assume that all members of a religious faith practice their faith similarly (f) deny the existence of religious prejudice. I conclude the article by proposing several ways members of religious majority cultures and minority groups can approach microaggressions.

Canadian federal prison chaplaincy underwent a major shift in 2013 when the provision of its services was privatized and outsourced to a single for-profit company. This article presents a summary of the experiences and concerns expressed by minority faith chaplains serving in federal correctional institutions following privatization. It is based on ten in-depth, semistructured interviews with minority faith prison chaplains. The results show that minority faith federal prison chaplains are concerned about increased levels of bureaucratization that have compromised the quality of spiritual care available to prisoners, reductions in resources for chaplains, and increased levels of emotional exhaustion and frustration among themselves and fellow minority faith chaplains serving in Canadian correctional facilities.

This paper presents a comparative approach to the study of majority (community of Palaichori) and minority (community of Cypriot Maronites) cemeteries and their ‘death-related’ practices in Cyprus. This study challenges the arguments of historians Laqueur and Ariès regarding death in modern western societies, in which the transition from the religious churchyard to the ‘cosmopolitan’ and secular cemetery in the modern west, meant the separation of the church from the cemetery. It showcases how in the communities examined in Cyprus (20th - 21st century), the transition from the churchyard to the cemetery did not entail a shift in secularity and inclusiveness, but rather a simulation of the churchyard that included only Christians.

In Cyprus, despite what many sociologists posited about the decline of religion and the triumph of rationality in modern societies, in the communities mentioned above, death-related practices are directly shaped by Catholic and Orthodox Christian dogmas. Moreover, the violent past of Cyprus (anti-colonial struggle, coup & invasion) that led to the division of the island has significantly affected the landscape of the cemeteries differently in each community as they were in different ways involved in the historical events. This article will analyse the context in which the Maronite community accords respect to their religious and political leaders, while in the community of Palaichori to their ‘national heroes’. Notably, the emergence of the death-industry from the late 20th century and its influence over the cemetery management from community authorities, led to different levels of organization and transparency in the cemeteries of Palaichori and the Maronite community.

ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INDIAN AND HINDU NATIONALISM
Indian nationalism and Hindu nationalism are two different things. While the former is unconcerned with a person‟s religious or cultural identity, the latter imagines the nation as an exclusive community of Hindus. From the time of Independence till now, this distinction has never been in doubt.
But today there is a move by flag-bearers of Hindu nationalism to equate it with Indian nationalism. What exactly is the provenance of these two nationalist ideologies? Who were their earliest proponents? What role did either play in India‟s freedom struggle? These are some of the questions that author and dramatist Shamsul Islam dwells on in Hindu Nationalism and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh , a fine primer on the history and dynamics of Hindu nationalism.
Islam cites extensively from the works of historians and thinkers who themselves are part of the Hindu nationalist canon, such as R.C. Majumdar and V.D. Savarkar, to interrogate many of its claims. For instance, he shows how Majumdar contradicts the Hindu nationalist claim of India being a „primordial nation‟, given the historian‟s observation that the idea of India “had no application to actual politics till the sixties or the seventies of the nineteenth century.”
Indian nationalism was born in opposition to British colonial oppression. Its most significant moment of resistance was the 1857 mutiny, in which Hindus and Muslims battled together against foreign rule. Islam cites Thomas Lowe, a British army commander, who observed that “the cow-killer and the cow-worshipper, the pig-hater and the pig-eater” fought together.
But this nascent Indian nationalism that was composite in nature underwent a process of bifurcation in the “third quarter of the nineteenth century”, notes Islam. Two things played a role in this: a „divide and rule‟ policy adopted by the British, and the bickering between the elites of the two communities “for securing a favourable place in the eyes of the victor”. Together they created a “scenario in which only competitive Hindu and Muslim varieties of nationalism could flourish.”
Islam‟s book also raises interesting questions: If Indian civilisation is more than 3,500 years old, why is it that only a period of 500 years (the period of so-called Muslim rule) is closely scrutinised by Hindu nationalists? What about the period before?
It might be interesting to read Islam‟s book alongside his primary sources: V.D. Savarkar‟s The Indian War of Independence of 1857 and R.C. Majumdar‟s Three Phases of India’s Struggle for Freedom.
Link for procuring Shamsul Islam’s books in English, Hindi & Urdu:
https://tinyurl.com/shams-books

This study examines the development of the Yazidi identity in Iraq after 2003, and the subsequent escalation of the controversial Yazidi identity after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) invasion of Sinjar in 2014, an invasion that has caused great division among the Yazidi community. Furthermore, the study identifies the political trends that continue to influence the Yazidi’s ethnic, religious and ethno-nationalist identity as a whole. The debate at the core of the controversy is rooted in Kurdish and Arab political parties’ agendas. Meanwhile, the emergence and crystallization of the Yazidi identity can also be observed in spheres quite removed from majority politics. Internal political developments and the Yazidi movement outside of Iraq, have also contributed to this development. Irrespective of such influencing factors, it seems that the development of the Yazidi identity into a distinct ethno-religion (which is still a matter of dispute) is imminent in the medium- to long-term future. The arguments of this study are mostly based on social media platforms and interviews with Yazidi politicians and activists.

Review of Eliz Sanasarian. Religious Minorities in Iran (Cambridge Middle East Studies, 13), xx, 228 pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 69, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 151-153.

RSS: MARKETING FASCISM AS HINDU NATIONALISM

Price: 250 INR
ISBN: 9789387298156

Indian democratic-secular polity is passing through the most critical phase since its birth on August 15, 1947. Our constitutional polity has been taken over by RSS/BJP leaders committed to Hindutva politics which was neither part of modern India's its anti-colonial heritage nor have been faithful to the principles enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution of India. The Hindutva politics  decried and continues to decry democracy, secularism, egalitarianism and an all-inclusive India.

This book provides an insight into the philosophical moorings of the followers of Hindutva and their action plans to convert India into a theocratic Hindu State. This insight is based solely on the internal documents of RSS/BJP and other fraternal Hindutva organizations.

It is hoped that this Reader on RSS book will help researchers and common readers in getting acquainted with an ideology and its perpetrators who present the most lethal challenge to democratic-secular India.
CONTENTS
Preface ............................................................................. 11
INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 13

Chapter 1
Surreptitious change of course: Converting democratic-secular polity into Hindu state....... 17
PM Modi’s favourite minister declares war on Indian Constitution ..................................................................... 23

Chapter 2
Manufacturing holiness of cow: A weapon of cleansing of Muslims and Dalits....................27

Chapter 3
Hitler and Mussolini as Gurus ................................... 35
Love for dictators and Neo-Nazis ............................................. 42
RSS building a deadly alliance against Muslims and Christians in India’s neighbourhood ...............................44
Neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway Breivik’s linkages with Hindu nationalists......................................... 47
Genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar: The Hindutva imprints ........................................................ 49

Chapter 4
Cleansing of Minorities as Priority ........................... 51
RSS facilitating the job of anti-national forces ....................... 55
Cleansing of minorities: Golwalkar’s direct involvement ...... 59
Everyday a trial by fire (agnipriksha) of madrasaas to prove patriotism.........................................................62
Madrasaas played great heroic role in India’s freedom struggle.................................................................... 64
Will Taj Mahal meet the fate of the mosque at Ayodhya? .... 66
Som’s hilarious sense of ‘History’ ............................................. 67
Three ways Taj Mahal can be harmed  ...................................... 70
Inflaming hatred against Muslims for votes ............................ 71
A Hindu girl forced to commit suicide for writing ‘she liked Muslims’................................................................ 73
1984 Sikh massacre: RSS/BJP rulers continue the façade of searching for perpetrators ................................. 74
Two kinds of justice .................................................................... 74
History of the farcical justice in the 1984 massacre case ...... 76
RSS ideologue Nana Deshmukh justified the massacre of Sikhs in 1984.............................................................. 78
RSS against former PM Manmohan Singh’s apology for 1984 massacre ............................................................. 83
‘Moments of Soul Searching’ ..................................................... 84

Chapter 5
Indian freedom struggle and RSS: A story of betrayal................................................................91
RSS denigrated tradition of the martyrdom............................. 95
Syama Prasad Mookerji: Hindutva icon who allied with the Muslim League and the British rulers................. 97
Backstabbing Netaji Subhash Chander Bose.......................... 101
Eternal belief in the Two-Nation Theory .............................. 102

Chapter 6
Denigrating Dalits and Women ............................... 105
History of continuous delay in presenting reports of National Commission for SC/ST................................ 107
Laws of Manu concerning Sudras/Dalits............................... 115
Laws of Manu concerning women.......................................... 117
RSS book shops market anti-women literature which propagates Sati and wife-beating ................... 120
Modi: Manual scavenging by Sudras is their “experience in spirituality”................................................. 121
Return of Untouchability: Courtesy RSS/BJP....................... 123
Last Words of Dalit Martyr Rohith Vemula........................... 127
Anti-Sudra Guru Dronacharya honoured on Dr. Ambedkar’s birthday.................................................... 130
Golwalkar on Crossbreeding in Kerala: Denigrating Kerala Hindus specially Women .......................... 132
RSS Rolls out Racist Project of Producing ‘Aryan’ Babies in India...................................................................... 134

Chapter 7
Hatred for democratic-secular-federal India .......... 141
Denigration of the Tricolour: the National Flag................... 141
When Indian Nation celebrated adoption of the Constitution RSS mourned it............................................. 144
Love For dictatorship................................................................. 146
Against Federalism ..................................................................... 147
Against secular India ................................................................. 148
RSS Oath: .................................................................................... 149
RSS Prayer: .................................................................................. 150

Chapter 8
RSS and conspiracies: Made for each other ........... 151
Murder of MK Gandhi and Hindutva organizations............ 154
The military connection............................................................. 156

Chapter 9
Celebrating ‘vadh’ (killing) of opponents is embedded in the Hindutva politics.................... 161

Chapter 10
Resurrecting Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: A staunch believer in Hindutva, Hindu rashtra and Casteism who died a mysterious death................................................ 165
Hindutva, Hindu nationalism and Hindu State ascore beliefs............................................................................ 167
Militarist ambitions of the Hindu nation to rule over the world...................................................................... 172
Finding fault with the composite nationalism and freedom struggle.................................................................. 174
Staunch defender of Casteism.................................................. 176
Inimical attitude towards minorities......................................... 178
Upadhyaya as a perennial Muslim basher................................ 179
For unitary form of government............................................. 182
Linkages with CIA...................................................................... 182
Mysterious death of Upadhyaya .............................................. 184

Chapter 11
The Operation Take-Over Supreme Court............. 187
Full text of the letter to the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra by top Supreme Court Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph............................................................... 191
Conclusion.......................................................................... 197

ANNEXURE
What is RSS? By Madhu Limaye ............................................. 199
INDEX......................................................................................... 213

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Shamsul Islam taught political science at the University of Delhi (1973-2013). As an author, columnist and dramatist he has been writing against religious bigotry, dehumanization, totalitarianism, persecution of minorities, Dalits and women. He is known for his work on the rise of nationalism, specially religion-based nationalism and its development in India and the world. He writes in English, Hindi and Urdu.


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"Indigenous Messengers of God" (86-slide PowerPoint updated November 29, 2021) by Christopher Buck and Kevin Locke (Lakota hoop dancer and preeminent player of the Indigenous Northern Plains flute) which opens with  this Indigenous Land and Spiritual Acknowledgement — in the form of a prayer — by Kevin Locke:

Grandfather above, we acknowledge the holy ones you have sent upon this land to kindle the sacred fire in the hearts of us — your grandchildren. We are eternally grateful that, in ancient times, you have sent Deganawida, the Peacemaker, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Breath Maker, Sweet Medicine and a myriad others to breathe holiness and beauty upon this Turtle Island and your grandchildren here, and to teach us Your laws and to enable us to draw close to You and especially to love and cherish our relative, Grandmother Earth, and all that dwell upon her. In particular we acknowledge the holy ones You have sent to the spot upon which we stand and the nations and kindreds who have been the custodians of that sacred trust. We ask that You breathe upon and fan the embers of the fire of love and faith in our hearts and minds, that our footsteps may tread Your path and we may restore peace and order upon this blessed land.

— Prayer offered by Kevin Locke (Lakota).

This was occasioned by his virtual presentation for Green Acre Bahá’í School on October 9, 2021, and in advance of the following event:

On Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, the Patricia Locke Foundation presented a session, “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Centered on Spiritual Reality” in the 2021 Parliament of the World’s Religions Virtual.

A pre-recorded video, “Encouraging Grassroots Indigenous Land & Spiritual Acknowledgements” (44:12) was submitted.

Participants: Ceylan Isgor-Locke (Turkish); Nanabah Bulman (Navajo/Diné); Marylou Miller (Tlingit of the lineage of Chief George Kyan of Ketchikan, Alaska); Kevin Locke (Lakota & Anishnabe); Christopher Buck (non-Indigenous “ally,” co-author, with Kevin Locke and others, “Indigenous Messengers of God” series); George Holly (Deg Xit’an Athabaskan, Alaska); Lee Brown (Cherokee), and Jordan Bighorn (Lakota).

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.

Different historical and socio-political circumstances often were the cause of migration, especially in the countries of Southeastern Europe. Migration was also triggered by religious persecution of particular religious minorities by different political systems, one of them being the Nazarenes. The Nazarenes were founded by a former Reformed minister Samuel Fröhlich around 1830 in Switzerland, but they soon expanded to Central and Eastern Europe. Because of their pacifist beliefs and refusal to swear and to take an oath a large number of the Nazarenes were condemned to severe prison sentences. Defending their religious identity and escaping religious persecution, thousands of Nazarenes started to emigrate especially during the First World War and in the interwar period to North America. In North America they joined the Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarene), which was the official name of the Nazarene community in the United States and Canada. The material presented in this paper results from empirical research, conducted in Serbia and the United States, on the history of the Nazarene emigration to North America. The aim of this paper is twofold: to analyze how early migration is remembered by the Nazarenes today and how the Nazarenes, as a religious minority from Southeastern Europe, became a transnational religious community that developed in several branches. The paper shows how religion could be a 'channel for migration' and how immigrants used religion in processes of migration.

Though Turkey has been a secular and democratic country for decades, the public
perception of Christians has been affected by rejection and prejudice. In the years
from 2001 to 2007, we saw a development from accusations by official institutions
and media against Christians actively propagating their faith to acts of violence
against Christians culminating in the murders of three Christians in Malatya/Turkey.
The study covers five Turkish daily newspapers and their perception of Christians at
the height of a media campaign in 2004/2005. It reveals that the different societal
groups in Turkey differ strongly in their view of Christians and their activities. Each
group, represented by one of the newspapers, tries to use the discussion for their
own political agenda. However, none of the newspapers leaves the opportunity
unused to instrumentalize words like “missionary” to arouse negative emotions.

“Kurdish Islam” – what is that? The adjective is derived from a noun that names a people and their languages living in Eastern Anatolia, Northeastern Syria, Northern Iraq, and Northwestern Iran. However, here it refers to only Iraqi Kurdistan. The noun refers to a religion. What a religion is and what Islam means is a much larger debate, which unfortunately cannot be covered here. For the purposes of this chapter “Islam in Kurdistan” actually refers to Muslim Kurdish society going back to the Tanzimat, an Ottoman set of legal reforms, which organized communities along religious divides. In particular, this article will examine what practices are considered outside of the scope of Islam and why. What constitutes the boundary? Unfortunately, a more detailed discussion of intra-Islamic discourses is beyond the scope of this chapter. Instead, it will focus on communal boundaries, social structures as they relate to religious institutions and authority, shifting  alliances and their influences on religious beliefs and practices, and, finally, popular practices.

The paper aims to offer a wide and dynamic overview of the development of the Melkite Catholic Church during the late Ottoman Empire up to extension of the Mandate system. The analysis will focus on detailing the relationship between ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ through specific cases and examples of the relations between the Melkite Church and the Holy See. This dynamic exerted a great influence on the ecclesial identity of the Melkite Catholic Church and its position and role within both the late Ottoman Empire and the Middle East of the Mandate system, offering a complementary explanation of the vicissitudes experienced by Ottoman Arab Christians during those decades. The paper analyses this issue through the archival documents, part of the Siria, Greci Melchiti and Melkiti series, preserved in the Congregations de propaganda fide and pro Ecclesia Orientali Archives.

In this report, the European Centre for Law & Justice and the American Center for Law & Justice examine some of the most pressing issues concerning religious freedom in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, with a special emphasis on the plight of the Christian communities.

This is an introductary presentation of the specifics of the Ottoman Empire, its emergence and the situations in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The presentation (in German) was hold on May 6, 2018, for participants of the AGA Lernreise 1 (guided study tours on Ottoman, Turkish and Armenian history in Berlin and Potsdam).

Yezidism: Between Continuity and Transformation
OMARKHALI, Kh. and KREYENBROEK, Ph. (eds.)
Series IRANICA, vol. 29
Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2021, XVI, 324 p.
ISBN 978-3-447-11800-2; eISBN 978-3-447-39269-3

The genocidal attack of ISIS on the Yezidi community of the Sinjar region in 2014, with its murder of men and enslavement of women and children, has had enormous consequences for Yezidi communities both in the homelands and in the Diaspora. At the same time, many communities are facing the intrusion of the modern world upon their hitherto very conservative religious traditions. This book focuses on the tensions between conservatism and the need to adapt to current circumstances in a religion which so far mostly resisted change. A number of specialists have been brought together here to offer insights into Yezidis’ often unexpected reactions to the pressures of genocide on the one hand, and modernity generally on the other. It deals with recent trends and developments concerning the Yezidis and is divided into two parts. The first part contains articles about the IS attack and its impact on Yezidi communities in the Middle East. The second part focuses on developments in the Yezidi Diaspora communities. The book will be of interest to specialists on religion, especially those working on the Middle East and on diaspora religion, but also to Iranists, Kurdologists and scholars of different disciplines working on the effects of genocide or other brutal attacks on the worldview of surviving victims, or on the influence of modernity on conservative societies.