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Research Centre for Religious Studies Research Centres Centre for Religion, Conflict and Globalization
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Church in the area hit by Typhoon Haiyan

Disaster-affected People's Understandings of Secular Humanitarianism

Date:03 March 2020
In today's post, Dr. Olivia Wilkinson discusses her new book, Secular and Religious Dynamics in Humanitarian Response (Routledge, 2019)
Women in hijab taking selfies and enjoying the view

Documenting Conversion to Islam: Laughter in the Face of Trouble

Date:13 February 2020
How do women converts to Islam use humour to challenge negative stereotypes about their religion? CRCG-affiliated Research MA student, Lucy Spoliar, investigates.
Image of the feminist apostasy campaign that took place in Madrid on 25 November 2019. Used with authorization. Taken from Facebook.

Apostasy: Between the Personal and Political

Date:27 January 2020
Author:Dr. Julia Martínez-Ariño
Why are increasing numbers of Spaniards "apostasising," or actively removing themselves from the registers of the Catholic Church? CRCG Fellow Dr Julia Martínez-Ariño investigates.
Eid prayer at Lakemba Mosque, reported to be Australia's largest mosque, which regularly hosts around 40,000 people.

The Problem of 'Religion' in Australia's Proposed Religious Discrimination Bill

Date:25 October 2019
Author:Erin Wilson
Australia is currently debating whether or not to pass a controversial bill that would outlaw religious discrimination. But does it make sense to legislate to protect "religion"? CRCG Founder and Fellow, Dr Erin Wilson, explains why such laws can do more harm than good.
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Sexual well-being in the context of religious and cultural diversity

Date:24 September 2019
Author:Dr Brenda Bartelink
Which assumptions and stereotypes around religion and migration influence sexual health care for African migrants in the Netherlands? CRCG Fellows Drs Brenda Bartelink and Kim Knibbe investigate.
Veiled woman in front of Dutch Supreme Court

Exclusion through the Law: the Netherlands’ ‘Burqa Ban’

Date:16 September 2019
Author:Aukje Muller
How does an ostensibly 'neutral' law work to shore up racist notions of national belonging? Aukje Muller reflects on the Netherlands' 'burqa ban' (boerkaverbod).
Zimbabwe

Loved and hated in equal measure? The religio-political legacy of Robert Mugabe

Date:06 September 2019
Author:Joram Tarusarira
On the death of former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, CRCG Director Dr Joram Tarusarira reflects on his life and legacy.
Mount Athos monestary

Tradition and Contestation: Orthodoxy and Gender in Contemporary Greece

Date:20 August 2019
Mount Athos, which hosts an all-male Eastern Orthodox monastic community, is famous for an 11th-century decree banning women from entering the territory. In this post, Eline Westra examines how a disputed status quo has stood the test of time and how the new Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his embrace of conservatism, is unlikely to change that.
Women protesting veil ban

Legislative Catharsis, Part Two: A Primer on Québec’s Veil Bans for Europeans

Date:29 May 2019
Author:Muhammad Velji
The Canadian province of Québec is currently debating Bill 21, “an Act respecting the laicity [secularity] of the State," which would ban certain public officials from performing their duties while wearing religious symbols. Although it has been widely criticized as an attack on Québec's Muslim population, the Bill retains significant public support. In the second of this two-part primer, philosopher Muhammad Velji explains how the rationale behind such a ban switched from the logic of “civic-pluralism” to a more reactionary “romantic-conservatism.”
Young women wearing the fleur de lys, a symbol of Quebec. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz.

Legislative Catharsis, Part One: A Primer on Québec’s Veil Bans for Europeans

Date:22 May 2019
Author:Muhammad Velji
The Canadian province of Québec is currently debating Bill 21, “an Act respecting the laicity [secularity] of the State," which would ban certain public officials from performing their duties while wearing religious symbols (and would require those seeking public services to do so with their faces "uncovered.") Although it has been widely criticized as an attack on Québec's Muslim population, the Bill retains significant public support. In this two-part primer, philosopher Muhammad Velji explains how such "veil bans" came to be thinkable in contemporary Canada, starting with the "Quiet Revolution" of the 1960s.