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Waarom Nederlanders geen taboes rondom seksualiteit moeten willen doorbreken

Date:26 January 2017
Author:Roos Feringa
In de afgelopen zes jaar zijn Seksuele Gezondheid en Rechten (SRGR) een speerpunt geweest in het ontwikkelingsbeleid. Zo noemde Minister PloumenNederland een voortrekker in het doorbreken van taboes rondom seksualiteit en gender. Deze week nog nam Minister Ploumen stelling in tegen het besluit van President Trump om de Global Gag Rule opnieuw in werking te laten treden.
A nativity scene at St Antony of Padua Church, Istanbul, decorated with objects found in shipwrecks of refugees on the Turkish coast. Christmas 15/16. Photographer: Pedro J. Pacheco. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

The ‘refugee crisis’, religion, and encounters with the divine through the human at Christmas

Date:24 December 2016
Author:Religion Factor
Whether you see it as truth, myth or folklore, the Christmas story is a powerful narrative in contemporary politics in multiple contexts. In the midst of fraught politics around refugees and immigration, refugee advocates often highlight that ‘Jesus was a refugee’, his family being forced to flee to Egypt shortly after his birth to escape King Herod. Yet as well-meaning as this argument is, does this emphasis on Jesus as a ‘refugee’ help to inspire compassion, or does it retain an emphasis on labels and categories that prevent us from seeing fellow human beings? In today’s post Erin K. Wilson and Luca Mavelli explore this and other dimensions of how the Christmas story speaks to the current crisis of humanity that is often referred to as the ‘refugee crisis’. Whatever your beliefs, we wish all our readers a safe, peaceful and joyous holiday season.

Can Religion Promote Reconciliation in Zimbabwe?

Date:21 December 2016
Author:Roos Feringa

Zimbabwe still struggles to cope in the aftermath of the economic and political violence of the early to mid-2000s. To many observers, Zimbabwe remains a divided and undemocratic ‘failed state’. In today’s post, Gladys Ganiel reviews a new book by Joram...

Review ‘Reconciliation and Religio-political Non-conformism in Zimbabwe’

Date:21 December 2016
Author:Roos Feringa
The day before Christmas we will conclude our series on Joram Tarusarira’s new book ‘Reconciliation and Religio-political Non-conformism in Zimbabwe’ (read the previous review here) with yet another review written by Vlado Kmec. Vlado currently works at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of the CRCPD. He offers expertise to the Centre in religion and migration; religion in conflict and peacebuilding; ethnic and religious conflicts; religion and international relations; mediation and negotiation; the United Nations peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and the EU Common Security and Defence Policy.

Reflections on a ‘horror campaign’ to draw attention to the global impact of HIV and AIDS (Netherlands)

Date:20 December 2016
Author:Religion Factor
On International Human Solidarity Day 2016 a blog post by Brenda Bartelink. Recently, the Dutch Aidsfonds stopped a confrontational campaign on the rise of HIV-infections and deaths worldwide after a complaint by a prominent Dutch lawyer that this campaign unduly stigmatized people living with HIV and AIDS. In today’s post Brenda Bartelink argues that there is more at stake than the stigmatization of people living with HIV in the Netherlands. To broaden the discussion, she compares the Aidsfonds campaign to a campaign that was developed by religious leaders in Sub Saharan Africa -now implemented worldwide- as an example of how the usual dilemma’s surrounding such campaigns can be overcome.

Reconciliation and Religio-political non-conformism in Zimbabwe

Date:20 December 2016
Author:Roos Feringa
Earlier this year, Joram Tarusarira published his important book that analyses religious actors and identifies a specific form of engagement that they display in contexts of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Joram Tarisarira is a lecturer in Religion and Conflict and Deputy Director of the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen.In today’s post, the author provides a summary of the main insights from the book.
Peace in Colombia

Peace in Colombia: An ambitious project finally starts

Date:15 December 2016
Author:Religion Factor
Two weeks ago, Colombia’s congress ratified the peace agreement that has been painstakingly negotiated, voted on and renegotatied in the last months. In today’s post, dr. Sandra Rios analyses some of the key factors, including the role of religious actors, at stake in the journey to peace in Colombia.

CRCPD’s public lecture by Prof. John Paul Lederach – ‘Mobilizing the moral imagination’

Date:30 November 2016
Author:Religion Factor
Tomorrow, 1st of December, Professor John Paul Lederach will, in a lecture organised by The Centre of Religion and Conflict in the Public Domain, talk about ‘Mobilizing the moral imagination: Religion in the landscape of fragmentation’. Join us for the lecture and the discussion with great panel of expert respondents: dr. Michelle Parlevliet, specialist in Conflict Resolution and Governance at UVA, Fulco van Deventer, director at the Human Security Collective in the Hague and Simone Filippini, previous CEO and current advisor at Cordaid.

Varieties of Religious Engagement with Climate Change

Date:27 September 2016
Author:Religion Factor
Next week, the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain, together with Studium Generale Groningen, will host Professor Mike Hulmefrom King’s College London, speaking on Religion’s Role in Climate Change. In today’s post, Professor Hulme provides a taste of some of the issues and themes he will address in greater detail as part of his talk on Wednesday 5 October.
The Lottery of Indecency – @LaSauvageJaune

The scandal of women’s bodies in secular Europe

Date:25 August 2016
Author:Religion Factor
On Tuesday this week, images of a woman on a beach in Nice being forced by armed police to remove portions of her swimwear began circulating on the internet. The so-called ‘burkini ban’ has sparked outrage and controversy, not least because it is yet another variation of an age-old problem – the control over women’s bodies in public. In today’s post, Kim Knibbe vents her frustrations and reflects on the complex array of factors that contribute to women’s bodies continuing to be objects for the exercise of power.